Snacking in the car seems so prevalent nowadays. Many children in my school come in covered in crumbs from eating breakfast in the car. Some are even upset because they have had to leave their sippy cup in the car. And I’m left wondering what happened to eating at a table. I talked a little about that yesterday in my post about using an open glass instead of a sippy cup with toddlers.

Now hear me out, I get it. Sometimes you are on a road trip and you have to get somewhere and can’t stop. Or every once in a while you have a morning where everything goes wrong and the only thing you can do is shove a granola bar at your kid as you pull out of the driveway. We all have those days.

But there are two major problems that come from regularly snacking in the car and no, a dirty car isn’t one of them.

Constant Snacking

Some parents seem to give their child a sippy cup and a snack every time they get in the car. It is like they are afraid their child will starve to death on the way to school. In case you didn’t know, most children will do fine with one to two healthy snacks a day in addition to their three meals. And even if they miss a snack or a meal time, they will be okay.

One of the neat things about toddlers is that most of them will not starve or stuff themselves while eating. I think it is very important to not hinder that body awareness. If we encourage toddlers to be constantly snacking, they will learn to disregard their hunger cues and simply eat whenever they want. Childhood obesity has become such a hot topic and I believe a (small) part of the problem is that we are so afraid of children going hungry that we offer food constantly.

Unhealthy Choices

Most of the snacks that children are given in the car are not the healthiest. I don’t usually hear about a child having an apple in the car, but I certainly hear about children having sugar filled granola bars, fruit snacks, and juice. I’ve said it before, but I am all for moderation. So yes, if we were on a special trip and bought these sorts of things as a special vacation treat, that is one thing. But I would never make fruit snacks an everyday, car seat experience. Especially because once you make it part of the routine, you won’t be able to break it. (Read about that and toddler sense of order here.)

So tell me, do your kids eat in the car?