An epiphany part II

Remember this post?

A second epiphany has struck!

As kids get older, they become much more independent. Which is a blessing, as we usually add more tiny, quite dependant members to the family over the years. With that independence, we as parents must let go a little bit more everyday as our children display maturity of character in making good choices and handling situations with grace and poise. They in turn are filled with confidence in their own abilities and attributes as unique, slightly self-sufficient, individuals.

Now, I'm sure I haven't always modeled self-control in the food department, as I have always been a slight emotional eater... along with eating-just because there's nothin' else to do! Ahem, getting much better about that, I must add!! My kids seem to have taken on that habit, or maybe it's just a 'kid thing' to grab way too much cereal in the morning and only eat half of it. Or fill a humongous bowl with fishy crackers, then slowly snack on them continuously throughout the afternoon only to then not be hungry for mommy's super yummy dinner later in the day. Or fill a 32 ounce cup with milk... now, I would find less of these 'lack of self-control' and 'lack of practicality' episodes in my children if I were able to be there monitoring every little thing they did ALL day long, but that isn't realistic or healthy for the kids for that matter, so we make guidelines. We do not operate as a dictatorship, but rather, we as parents model good behavior in hopes that our kids will mirror it right back!

Here is where the epiphany comes into play, as I have enlisted these handy dandy containers to serve as the guidelines to cracker snacking. We don't eat boxed snacks often, as I would much rather them grab an apple, a piece of toast, some yogurt or carrot sticks but once a day I may let them into the snack jar. To help keep them from grabbing gross amounts of snack crackers, I have enlisted a new order to how they will divvy them out.

Those pre-mentioned handy dandy pre-used clean fruit containers are perfect for the job. I keep a stack of them in a cupboard within the kids' reach. They are labeled "snack jar containers" from here on out, just in case you were wondering. Yes, I name containers.

Ahem... They can each grab one of the containers from the cupboard, dip it into the snack jar, fill it to the rim with snack cracker goodness and then have the perfect portion of snack to feast upon. And then still, be hungry for all of mommy's concoctions creative and healthy dinners.

Yayness!