I have two little boys who have a snacking problem, and I?Tm their dealer. My husband is a little better about the snacking than I am. For instance, he will not let the boys have any kind of sweet snack earlier than 10 am. I used to have no problem letting them have a cookie or even a brownie right after breakfast. It seemed reasonable to me. I always like something sweet after I eat a regular meal too. But I think I may have created a monster with this one. Actually a couple of little Cookie Monsters!

My older son somehow makes it through all day kindergarten with only one lunch break. Then why on Earth is it impossible for him to get through a 3 hour period without snacking on something once Saturday and Sunday arrive? He came home from a 3 hour snackless playdate the other day acting like he hadn?Tt had food in a week. Oh the horror! I think I need to call that smart mommy up and ask her how she does it? She needs to give me some tips soon because these little munchers are driving me crazy.

On a typical day, my 3-year-old son starts hounding me for more food about 10 minutes after breakfast and lunch. ?oMommy?I want a cracker.? Those damn crackers again. Or, ?oMommy?I want a yogurt.? And the whining doesn?Tt stop until I either give in or wait it out. The outcome usually depends on my health and mood at the time. If I have a headache for instance, he is going to be rewarded for all kinds of obnoxious behavior. But if I?Tm feeling like SuperMommy, he better watch out because I can take on any kind of tantrum then. I also seem to have amazing blocking out powers when I?Tm wearing my SuperMommy cloak.

A bit of advice I received recently seemed like the most reliable solution. Somebody advised me to have the kids pick out 3 snacks every night for the next day and put them in a jar. Then every time they ask for a snack on the following day, they can withdraw one from the jar. When the jar becomes empty, snacks are finished for the day. End of story. Sounds reasonable to me. I hope it works because I literally and figuratively can?Tt afford to keep feeding this snack addiction.

If anyone else has any ideas on how to fix this problem, I am open to suggestions. In the meantime, I will be checking out the parenting section of JustBreathMom.com