I Quit Being the Afterschool Snack Sherpa, and Did This Instead
The snack idea I stole from Pretty Woman / snack cabinet rules / what I did when they just kept snacking / snack tray inspo for your kids/ our current snack sitch with teens
There is a vivid memory that lives in the corner of my mind, of being a preschool teacher in a tiny downtown nursery school in the financial district. Every day at 11:45, the lobby filled up with the chaos of strollers, nannies, parents, and grandparents, arriving to collect their young children. The NYC air would push its way into the tiny lobby: warm pretzels, street smog, and the mixing of perfumes in a crowded space. They were harried from lugging strollers through the NYC hustle and bustle, but there they were. Every single day, ready and waiting to collect their kids. They’d make brief but connected small talk with one another in the hallways, the same people grouping together in little clumps, always keeping a trained eye on the classroom door, ready and waiting to greet their little.
And if you looked closely, every one of them came bearing one coveted item. It wasn’t a special stuffed animal or a Paw Patrol pup, it wasn’t a toy at all. It was… a snack.
Because these parents and caregivers knew one very important thing about the transition from school life to regular life. A kid with low blood sugar was not a kid you wanted to be hurrying onto a crowded subway car. A hangry kid was not about to transition smoothly to their ballet class or the The Little Gym. And they certainly wouldn’t be able to wait their turn for the slide at the playground.
So as these parents and caregivers cajoled their charges into their matching Bugaboo strollers with one hand, they were opening pretzel packets and handing over bodega smoothies with the other. They were proffering cheese sticks and Goldfish like these children hadn’t just eaten their weight in graham crackers during story time.
And, my childless, twenty-something preschool teacher brain formed a mental note to my later self. An afterschool snack gives kids more than just food. It is a moment to pause. To rest and transition. To refuel before moving on with the day.
Years later, with three kids of my own, afterschool snack became kind of a thing in our house.
In today’s post I am sharing:
The snack rule we followed when the kids were little, and what I did when it didn’t work
a few favorite snack trays that I could prep the night before or in the morning when I was making school lunches, and pull out just in time for the afterschool crew
How I “closed” the snack cabinet without a negotiation, including the child lock and the post-it note that helped even the most disappointed kids
The snack tray idea I stole from Pretty Woman, what goes in it, and what I put next to it so they start playing
What I put out when a crowd of kids is wiping out the cabinet
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