High Maintenance Mom

Prior to kindergarten, I had considerable say in what my kids ate. Now that B is at school and after school for 10 hours a day (yikes, it's painful to write that), he trades food, eats crappy snacks, and has started to get awful stomachaches. We are seeing our pediatrician next week and have been asked to keep a food journal. I have also been trying to buy more natural versions of the snacks other kids have. Snikiddy Grilled Cheese Puffs are one of his favorites. He gets a snack that looks like his friends' snacks so maybe he won't want to trade food as much...

We first tried Grilled Cheese Puffs this summer on the east coast and I took a package to our local Whole Foods to request them. Several months went by and now we have them in our snack aisle. Of course my celebration of the snacks has been tempered by my findings in our food journal. I really had no idea how much food was being traded and how many cookies he was eating in his after school program. When we signed up for the program there was a menu that had foods I wasn't overjoyed with but was trying to tolerate. In the past month the program has started to accept kids who are funded by the state and they are now given a different set of snacks. I'm bummed, but I guess not surprised, to see the influx of non-nutritional snacks. Sure the cookies are fortified with some calcium but they are more fortified with sodium and high fructose corn syrup.

Armed with my success in bringing the Grilled Cheese Puffs to our Whole Foods, I am hoping to add better snacks to the after school program. Health e-Lunch Kids has lunch, camp, and after school snacks for school in DC, MD, and VA so maybe there are other programs starting in my area. I'm also trying to add more fruits and vegetables to our dinners. And as B's teacher said, "I can take comfort knowing B is helping others have healthy meals."