Half Term Guilt in the lunch box!
It’s approaching fast, half-term already, it feels like only yesterday that I was looking forward to the summer holidays.
The October half term is a strange half term for the parents, we have all taken a fair amount of our yearly holidays with the family up to the end of summer, and the rest is saved for Christmas holidays so we can make the most of the magic that only happens at Christmas.
The October half term luckily comes with plenty of clubs and offers of placements for your children, great opportunities for them to spend a week doing their favorite sports, making new friends and of course as a bonus, you have childcare for the days while you work.
What usually happens to the parents during this period is “Half term guilt”.
This the same for all of us, we make our children a packed lunch for the days they are at the clubs and put in treats to keep the children happy.
When you fill lunch boxes with healthy foods it can make us feel like we are depriving our children almost, like our explanation is “well the children are at kids camps/clubs all week and they at least deserve a treat in their lunch box”.
After all, it is half term.
We are all in the same boat, having the same feelings, what is it that makes us use sweet food for kindness though? Could a carrot not be a treat? That’s sweet!
That’s sweet!
I have researched this and come up with the following explanation which I hope will help, When we don’t receive any treats, we start to feel deprived. When we feel deprived, we feel entitled to put ourselves back in balance. Hence the self-talking “well I have eaten healthy for a couple of days, I deserve a reward.
Simple! No one likes to feel deprived.
I believe we feel pressure to give treats so the children do not feel deprived in front of other children, we do not want them feeling emotional when at half term clubs, we want them to be happy.
All parents have the same issues, what if the clubs said “No chocolates, fizzy drinks and general junk food” I mean let’s face it, we want our children healthy and happy, a balance is what is needed.
I have some lunch box ideas if children are eating well, I mean a balance of the protein and fat to carbohydrate ratio, they will not crave or need sweets and as many treats. Also, we can’t expect them to perform at an optimum level at sports camps or activity camps on sugar-laden and high processed high salt-laden foods.
Treats do not have to be dismissed altogether but a balance is what it’s all about.
Just click on the download:)
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Have a great Monday
Maria
x
