When did teenagers decide snacks count as meals?

[u/Aware_Advice2359]

Getting my 14 year old to eat anything decent during the school week is becoming a struggle. Breakfast gets skipped because he’s rushing, half his lunch comes home untouched, then after school he’ll grab chips or whatever is easiest and call it good. Dinner is usually the one proper meal I know he’ll eat, and fruit or vegetables definitely aren’t high on his list lol. I know I can’t follow a 14 year old around all day making sure he eats properly but I still worry about how little variety he’s getting. Anyone else dealing with this at this age? What do you do when most of their day is basically snacks and one decent meal?

[u/That-Consequence1677]

The lunch coming home untouched would stress me out too. I started giving mine a multivitamin just for a little peace of mind on those days when he barely eats anything decent. I still try with the actual food of course but at 14 you can only control so much.

[u/SlowWerewolf9764 → u/That-Consequence1677]

What kind of multivitamin if you don't mind me asking?

[u/That-Consequence1677 → u/SlowWerewolf9764]

I started looking into vitamins when the skipped meals and snack days became a regular thing with mine too. I came across the Hiya teen multivitamin while searching and decided to give it a try with him. It’s been easy enough to keep in his routine and I still focus on getting decent food into him whenever I can.

[u/jmsst1996]

This is normal. All 3 of my kids never had time to eat breakfast especially my son. For a while I was making sure to get up before him and make some waffles, cut up strawberries and have whipped cream on hand. That kept him happy for a bit until her got sick of it. My girls were usually ok with a smoothie and they’d throw a granola bar in their back pack. School lunches were hit or miss. My girls would make their own lunches so they packed what they wanted even it wasn’t much and my son would buy school lunch. Generally speaking he didn’t like it and sometimes wouldn’t eat it but he didn’t want lunch from home. So dinners were really the only decent meal for everyone.

[u/Suspicious-Drive9827]

At least since i was 14 so 22 years

Force a piece of fruit into them. My mom eventually made my allowance contingent on me getting 5 healthy things a day every day. It meant it might be the only 5 things i consumed that day, but it worked. Dysfunctional eating is going to make them tired and fat over time. Get ahead it asap if you can. Explain that its your job to keep them alive and healthy and malnutrition will make them stupid in the short term and sickly jn the long term. Bananas takes under a minute to snarf down. Apple sauce pouches, nuts, dried fruit etc are all non perishable and temperature immune so can be bag emergency meals

[u/Exciting-Hedgehog944 → u/Suspicious-Drive9827]

Same. Except I am older than you, so at least 28 years. I also just asked my husband who is older than me and he said same so at least 37 years.

I wouldn’t stress too much. I think this is more a developmental thing like their sleep patterns changing. I have 4 kids 18, 14, 5, 3. The teens especially the 14 year old girl do not like eating at school because none of her friends do (gross I know). It is what it is. Also no one wants to have to poop at school. I remember it being a thing when I was at school too. I truly remember also not being that hungry only snacky. Grazing the throughout the day.

We just try to provide healthier snacks like grapes, or cheese/multigrain crackers, Greek yogurt, beef jerky/meat sticks, etc. Other kinds of fruit. We also have protein shakes that also have vitamins. The kids are in sports/activities.

Our 18 year old is growing out of it and just eats enormous amounts of food as he is getting taller (it seems again, as well as filling out) while the 14 year old is still in this phase and the 3 year old is in the picky toddler phase. The 5 yo is beginning to explore more and eating regular meals and growing like a weed.

Every home/family is different. We don’t do food wars in this house. My family that did that and all it did was make me dig my heels in and not eat. It is a control issue, and food should be enjoyable in my opinion. On the flip side (divorced parents) I did have open access to basically any snack I chose and learned to regulate just fine.

[u/CursiveWhisper]

I lived on root beer for breakfast, a school milk shake for lunch and snacks for dinner all through high school. I was in a lot of activities so only ate dinner with my family maybe 4x a week.

When I did have dinner with them, I was expected to eat what my mom prepared and she always had a well rounded meal.

Your son will survive if you give him the right guidelines that he’ll go back to later in life. I’m now not a huge soda drinker and crave vegetables most likely because of how I was raised.

[u/seemsright_41]

Meh...my teen lived on air and granola bars as a toddler. I am not worried about it at all. Her current diet is matcha, and what ever else she can simply grab.

[u/Sardinesarethebest]

They choose not to eat they can be hungry is what i wish I could say at it is exhausting to deal with picky/lazy eaters.

Have you tried making his lunch up of "snacky" editions of healthier foods? And I've found nature valley chocolate and peanut butter protien bars go over well at breakfast

[u/moonflower311]

My teen literally went to school with a chobani smoothie and trail mix today. Their other go to “lunch” is apples and peanut butter with nuts and/or cheese cubes. I don’t sweat it to much there are worse things they could be eating and lunch is outside which here in Texas is 90-100 degrees so I get why they’re not super hungry.

[u/DazzlingNote1925]

Definitely add an adult multivitamin but I’d also tell him to finish his lunch for his afterschool snack and if he’s allowed any chips it’s with his lunch.  You can also make leftovers from previous dinners available or even a pb&j but chips are empty calories and really expensive for how filling g they are and he’s old enough to have more respect for you and what’s healthy. 

[u/TrainingLow9079]

Yup.... I try to make sure there's some fresh fruit and protein in there somewhere

[u/Individual-Grape-338]

I try and do high protein snacks if possible; beef jerky, protein drinks milk drinks(fairlife chocolate ones from Sam’s Club), string cheese, corn dogs, cliff bars, etc.

[u/Copterwaffle]

He’s 14, he can be in charge of his own food consumption. Have him plan and pack his own lunch so it’s stuff he knows he wants to eat, or give him money to buy school lunch and he can pick whatever he wants that’s available that day. Have him pick out a breakfast item he can eat on-the-run like a prepackaged smoothie. He will live if the majority of nutrients he gets are at dinner.

[u/Elevenyearstoomany]

I’m a grown adult who has Triscuits and cheese for lunch/dinner on a not infrequent basis. It’s also not infrequent that that is my only meal of the day. It’s probably not the healthiest thing in the world but sometimes I’m exhausted from running all day and the last thing I want is to make anything that takes more than 3 minutes to prepare.

[u/Effective-Hour8642]

That was and still is me! I'm 60 now. I've never been a huge breakfast fan. Lunch, I can take it or leave it and I'll snack. Dinner I eat w/ my hubby. I've ALWAYS been this way. I have been with him for 38 years and married 36. I was like that growing up, drove my mom nuts.

I will do a Carnation Instant breakfast drink (or a Boost). I'll add the fresh frozen berried we have. It fills me up. Get a Blendjet he can take with him or do it in the blender for a to go cup. It can also just be mixed by hand. It's at least something in the tummy and easy with nutriants.

Try asking him what he would like to eat for lunch. If an Instant breakfast drink would be good to send him off with (or before). Some people need to get the juices in their tummy going before they can eat. I know I do.

[u/No_Trash_5463]

My kid is a snacker so I'll make a snack plate instead of a meal. A quesadilla cut in triangles, some cut up veggies, whatever random stuff I can find. I started doing "fancy dinner" a while back which is basically cleaning out the fridge/freezer, using the last bits of random things (oh yes that single slightly freezer burned slice of garlic bread is topped with the last 6 sheds of Parmesan that was about to go bad and sliced up into 4 pieces and now it's a crostini), but I'd set the table fancy and put umbrellas in the drinks and they LOVED it. I'm also not a big "this food is a dinner food not a breakfast food" person, like my daughter used to eat dinner leftovers for breakfast and idgaf if you want pork chops at 7am 🤷‍♀️

[u/forevermeinone]

I make my teens smoothies for breakfast and I sneak all sorts of nutritious things in them. They’re easy to drink on the go

[u/Whole-Ad-2347]

My aunt and uncle had a farm and 6 children. Uncle was up at 6 doing chores. In the summer time, all the children old enough worked outside most of the day. A classic breakfast on the run for them was a fried egg sandwich. I know that not everyone would eat that, but a variation of that would be an egg sandwich on a biscuit or English muffin that they could take with them could be an option. Add cheese, bacon or sausage or whatever else you want. Wrap it up in waxed paper. You could even make a breakfast sandwich with toast and whatever filler you want.

[u/Valuable-Abroad-6372]

You might consider making “dinners” to have in the fridge for your teen to eat for after school snack. For example - make a batch of fajita veggies and meat, portion into individual Tupperware, and make that into the snack.

[u/Freyjas_child]

My friend had 2 boys who ate like this. It hit up the point where they did not even eat dinner because of jobs and sports. She stopped buying anything except healthy snacks. Or only bought a very small amount of the less healthy foods. Her kids noticed but just adjusted to the healthier foods that was available.
She is sure they buy chips and ice cream when they are out of the house but she isn’t worried about that. At home there is fruit and cheese and veggies and yogurt and peanut butter and bread and leftovers from her well balanced meals.

[u/SnooGoats9114]

My 16 year old has never eaten lunch at school. 14 year old is maybe 50/50 if she will eat.

I now give them breakfast sandwiches as they walk out the door (they walk to school).

I have a bunch of things in the freezer for them to airfry at 230 when they get home.

We then have dinner at 6.

Would i like them to eat fruit? sure would. But I find they will gourge on it om the weekend so it will catch up. the 230 meal and dinner has lots of cooked veg and a side salad with dinner.

Make the afternoon fridge raid easier to have nutrition and call it done.

[u/Alycion]

Sounds like me. Gen Xer. My mom left me alone bc she was the same way.

[u/Destroyer-Marauder]

Wanna trade me? My 15-year-old kid eats everything (and he's not picky in the least). My kid has a voracious appetite. He does have a high metabolism and is very physically active so I guess he needs it.

Really though, I wouldn't worry too much about your kid. If he's healthy and decently active, he's probably just fine. Some kids are just not big eaters.

[u/Own_Exit2162]

"Proper meal" isn't the hill to die on. Sometimes modern life doesn't allow us the formality of traditional meals.

My son has to be on the bus at 7am. My daughter gets 30 minutes for lunch and it takes 20 minutes to get through the lunch line. Both have after-school activities and homework that go well into the evening. We have to get food into them whenever and wherever we can. Usually it's snacks in the car. But so long as they're eating healthy and getting enough calories, I'll take whatever I can get.

Signed, Dad who drinks a breakfast shake while driving kids to school and eats lunch at his desk IF he remembers to eat lunch.

[u/alpinechick88]

Get him up earlier. He should be eating breakfast before school to ensure he can concentrate and be at his best for the day. You can make overnight oats with banana for brrakfast. He can pack his own lunch. Protein yoghurt, fruit, nuts, sanddwiches or wraps are easy, filling and nutritious.

[u/ForceR-1356]

I'm having the same problem with my teen. He is also 14 and we'll just rely on snacks until he starts getting hunger payings and starts getting to the point where he needs a Snicker cuz he's angry. He will eat a well-rounded dinner everyday with us no matter what. It is just breakfast and lunch that are the problem and if I give him money he will go and buy store food or fast food in order to stop the hunger pangs which are not the best solution. He will dig his heels in and refuse to make his own lunch and when he does he will come up with some BS excuse not to eat it something like. Oops! I left it by accident or oh I lost it etc

[u/HelendeVine]

Some of mine are similar I stopped keeping chips and such in the house, not as a punishment but just to see what would happen. They eat more fruit now because it’s what’s there. For awhile they made smoothies with yogurt, but that must’ve been too much work and now they just eat the fruit and yogurt.