Peanuts, Pretzels, and Mangoes

Snack time doesn’t have to be complicated. Some of our kids favorite snacks are simple and healthy fruits or basic foods. You also don’t have to have a snack at all. If you find that your kids aren’t eating a lot at meals, then cutting snacks out of your daily routine is also a great option. Whatever the case may be, finding a snack that your kids enjoy, that’s healthy, and that’s easy is the goal.

My kids have recently been repeating the same thing when wanting a snack: “pretzels, peanuts, and mangoes.” They’ll repeat this in a chant-like song and march around the house saying it. It’s pretty funny actually, and hasn’t gotten annoying yet. They’re not repeating it because they want it really badly, but rather simply because they like how it all sounds together. It’s just a fun chant to go with the snack.

While this isn’t a perfect snack, the idea is that we get them some fruit (mango) and they eat that along with something savory. They’ll get about 3 pretzels and 6 or 7 peanuts to go along with their mango, and that satisfies them. There’s no reason that a snack has to be huge or filling. It’s simply a bridge between two meals, and it will keep them entertained enough to get between the meals.

If you don’t like mangoes, or would prefer a simpler fruit, then just swap in a different fruit. Apples, bananas, oranges, or whatever you want go well with pretzels and/or peanuts. If your child is allergic to peanuts, then you’ll obviously be skipping that part of the snack, but you can always substitute in a different nut as well if you’d like. The pretzels are already savory, so there’s no need for the peanut.

What you should try to avoid at snack time are items that are loaded with sugar. Candy and sweets are not a great choice for snacks generally as that’s all that kids will really want to eat, and adding foods that are loaded with sugar will mess up their taste buds in general - they won’t think that fruit is sweet for example. If your child doesn’t think fruit is sweet, then you know they’ve eaten too much refined sugar.

That’s not to say that you can never have cookies or candy, but it should be a rare addition to a snack or dessert, and not something that is enjoyed every single day. Keep the foods that you eat simple and healthy - kids will learn to enjoy far more foods if you’re keeping overly processed foods out of their diets. The more junk food that they eat, the less likely that they are to enjoy new foods.

As mentioned earlier, skip snacks if you find that your kids aren’t eating their meals. Too often, kids won’t eat lunch or dinner knowing that a delicious snack is coming in between those two meals. If you’re struggling to get kids to eat at meal time, then the first thing to go should be snack time. If you’re still struggling with meals, then look at making your meals smaller as your child may be overeating at one of the meals.

Snack time doesn’t have to be hard. Find some simple and healthy snacks that your kids enjoy and stick to those.