*

Jennifer Morgan

Motherhood Moments

-- Jennifer Morgan is the mother of three girls and lives in McCook.

I'm all snacked out

Thursday, February 16, 2012

To all those new moms out there, just a heads up for the future, you will be required to provide "snacks" ALL the time and for EVERYTHING. Almost every facet of your child's life includes snacks, school, church, sports, at home, you name it. Snacks, snacks, snacks! So, when you're sitting there rocking your new baby, you may think, "Oh, snacks are no big deal. It'll be kinda fun, providing healthy and delicious snacks for my precious child and their friends and teammates!" Well, it is "kinda fun" for your first child and for the first couple times but by the third child and 10 years later, the word "snacks" takes on the same meaning as paying taxes. You don't like it, you don't like to hear about it, but you have to do it and usually wait till the last minute to take care of it.

I realize there are some super moms out there that probably disagree with my views on snacks, and consider me quite lazy and a tad whiny. Those June Cleaver moms are the types that actually look forward to their turn at snack duty and more power to them, but that ain't me. I am totally and utterly snacked out.

It's just that every time I turn around, I have to bring snacks to something. I gave this some real thought and I don't recall 30 years ago, my mom ever having to provide snacks for all of our activities. I never remember my whole t-ball team getting snacks after each game. When my big girls were little and I was a new parent to the sports world, I joined right in on the snack train and had no problem taking my turn bringing snacks and drinks after their games. In fact, I admit to even putting together the actual snack sign-up sheet a few times. However, when my big girls reached about 3rd/4th grade, I started to realize that half the kids on the team only signed up to play, just for the darn snacks at the end. Plus, I started to despise the thought that my girls were going to get a full hour of pure exercise, only to get rewarded at the end with a chocolate ho-ho and a tube of koolaid. Sort of defeats the purpose.

Also, back in the old days, we never had snack duty in school. Kindergarten is the only grade I can remember where we got daily snack, and that might have been just milk, if I'm not mistaken. We got snacks at holiday parties at school and that was it. These days, there's snacks every day at school. It's not that I don't agree with the need for snacks for little kids. I know they get hungry and need sustenance to get through the day. Heck, so do I, but it's just that after 10 years of bringing prepackaged, store bought snacks for what seems like 48 kids in a class, I'm starting to get a little bitter about it. It doesn't help, either, that the prepackaged snacks you can buy are always one or two servings short of how many kids there are in the class, requiring you to buy an additional box. It's a racket.

I apologize to the school teachers out there that are scoffing at my complaints. I know it's not your fault. It's just society today. Like I said, it's not just school. It's church functions and Bible classes, it's club meetings, it's every get-together your kid goes to pretty much. It's to the point now where the kids expect snacks at everything and is one of the first questions out of their mouth.

Of course, it's the last- minute snacks that are the most frustrating. I admit most of the time, that it is my fault for not being prepared or checking the many calendars slapped on my fridge to see when or who needs 67 cupcakes and a meat tray by tomorrow morning. And I also admit, I have hard time saying "no" when some cheery PTO mom calls asking if I'd be willing to bring 12 lasagnas and a dessert that feeds 20 to the school by noon the next day. That's my issue and I get it, but "snacks" have really taken over my life in some form or fashion.

What probably increases my irritation is that my girls are ALWAYS asking for snacks, which is what kids do, I know, but I hear that word "snack" all the time. I hear it after school, mid-morning, before bed, all day, every day. Of course, then I have to make sure to have snacks with us when we travel, when we go to tournaments, at the lake, you name it. I'm telling ya, it's everywhere all the time, and the sad thing for me is it's not going to get any better. With my youngest starting Kindergarten in the fall, I've got years and years of snacks heading my way.

Guess I better figure out how to deal with it, cause at this point, I'm pretty snacked out.

Respond to this story

Posting a comment requires free registration: