When you are planning a wedding or any type of family event, you have to take into account that your guest will probably bring along their little ones. So it is important to make sure that the kids are having a great time at your wedding too. Besides providing a trampoline or play zone for toddlers, you’ll also need to prepare different food options that are suitable (and taste good!) for the kids. What is the reason?

Here is Why Healthy Snacks are Important for Kids

The Snack for the little ones in the house is as important as the rest of the meals of the day. However, we don’t always pay the same attention to it. For this reason, I want to put the spotlight on this part of our children’s diet. That is why giving them a healthy snack is essential for them to face the rest of the day.

We are all clear about how important it is to eat five meals a day: breakfast, lunch, lunch, snack, and dinner. We also know that it is essential for a good academic performance to start the day with a good breakfast, which contains, depending on the child’s appetite, cereals, dairy products, fruit, etc …

But what about snacks? Nutritionists and pediatricians insist that up to 12 years of age you have to pay close attention to this snack since, in the growth stage, they cannot go long without eating. It is true that the majority of children, practically 75%, according to studies, drink something in the afternoon. This percentage decreases with adolescence, so that the number of young people who decide to have a snack does not reach 50%. We don’t even talk about adults.

At this stage, with school already underway, the physical and intellectual wear of the little ones in the house due to extracurricular activities, homework, or exam periods has to be counteracted with food for the muscles and the brain, in the form of glucose, to be able to perform well. This does not mean gorging on industrial pastries, snacks, or any other product, such as industrial juices, which supply empty calories and refined sugars that do not provide any benefit to the body.

What do pediatricians recommend? Go rotating, so that the little ones, always so “demanding” with gastronomic issues, do not get bored: fruit (rich in fiber and vitamins); dairy products (with a high calcium and protein content, which are essential for its growth but, please, always organic); chocolate (antioxidant. If you like black, better than better, because they have less sugar); cereals (they give energy to the body due to their contribution in carbohydrates, minerals, proteins)… The aim is that the snack provides the child with the nutrients he needs depending on the activities he performs. The snack has to suppose, approximately, 15% of the caloric needs of the day, reason why it has to be light. Let’s not put a loaf of bread …

In most of the developed countries, the majority of mothers and fathers opt for sandwiches (around 65%), pastries or bread with chocolate (20%) and the same, yogurt and fruit.

Confused about what to pick after reading all the sentences above?

If you are short on ideas, here are a few snacks suggestions:

Lemon Poppyseed Protein Cookies

You might be wondering why this is recommended. Well besides the fact that this is one of the few snacks for teens and under that has respectable amounts of protein, lemon poppyseed protein cookies are easy to get if you know where to find them. And as far as ingredients go this is one of the better choices out there.

Fruit Nuggets

Fruits in the forms of nuggets? This will be a no brainer for the toddlers! And it has amazing taste as well. No need to be afraid of your kids eating too many nuggets if you have any of the fruit nuggets around.

Oat-based Snack

You will be able to find a lot of options for snacks with oats as their main ingredients. The main thing to look out for is to make sure the sugar in any of the snacks does not look suspicious aka too much. Besides that, choosing any type of oat-based snack is the safest bet for your children if you are feeling lazy.

Conclusion

Whatever type of snack you choose to provide for the kids in any type of event, make sure to try your best in providing the healthiest options that are easiest for you to prepare. The kids probably already have lots of sodas and junk food in their homes, no need to add more to that pile. Good luck with your wedding preparations!