Sneaking Food

My four year old has recently started sneaking food - almost on a daily basis.
He has unlimited access to fruits, veggies, cheese, etc. What he's sneaking is ice cream and chocolate chips, which are reserved for special treats. I don't like the fact that he's consuming a lot of junk during the day, but what really upsets me is the sneaking. He ate an entire half-gallon of ice cream in the side yard and then chucked the container and spoon into the bushes! I only found out because his 2 year old sister was sharing with him and came to me with a face dripping of chocolate ice cream.
This makes me more sad than anything. I want him to enjoy having treats and know how to partake of them in moderation, not feel that he has to sneak them in order to get them.

[allisonintx]

This is hard. I was a food sneaker, and honestly, I still am. I wish I knew how to fix it in a child, so maybe I could fix it in myself. It's a compulsion with me. I have a pretty free hand with treats in my house because I don't want them to become an issue (my mother was a very very tight hand with treats, but probably more because of $ than anything else.) My children are much better than I am about eating one cookie or a bowl (rather than a carton) of ice cream.

[Garnet]

my kids too. especially the oldest, since he is big enough to find most the stuff. climb on shelves, etc. last week we had ice cream and he ws in it, scooping spoonfuls whenever anyone was busy or early am before anyone got up. he's done this since 2 years old. we'd fine yogurt containers all over his room stashed with spoons, and peanut butter and crackers under his reading chair, a box of cookies in his closet.....etc etc.

I know this does not really apply but it made me think of it....
one morning I woke up and went to the kitchen to find out that my dd1 (almost 3) had eating 5 bananas before I got up.. ...........
I was like"you ate FIVE bananas" ....I did not know what to say ......

[RealLifeMama]

Originally Posted by blossomnatalia

I was like"you ate FIVE bananas" ....I did not know what to say ......

How about... "Man, you are sure gonna be plugged up!!!"

Amy, I know you already posted on my thread. Hopefully we can get some good answers!
I totally understand it is the sneaking more than the food itself.
I just don't know why they do it.....

[Mother Duck]

I have a 6yo food sneaker so I'm

I have a 9yo sneaker. And my 5yo is starting to mimic dd.
I have never withheld snacks or treats from them, unless it was close to a meal.
Whenever I clean dd's room, i always find stuff. I keep thinking, how is it we dont have ants or mice? Just today they both snuck icees before dinner. They are becoming partners in food sneaking.
I have a friend that has a 4yo and he is a sneaker too. I dont know how she handles snacks and treats though....
I *wish* i had the answer for you...I really do!


I am also

[Garnet]

I think the problem is that they are sneaking foods they shouldn't have at a certain time, etc.

[Mother Duck]

Originally Posted by mafiedler

I think the problem is that they are sneaking foods they shouldn't have at a certain time, etc.

that is exactly the problem in our home. It's very frustrating when I'm expecting to use something for another meal and find it's gone!

[ShangriLewis]

I just don't buy ice cream or cookies and I don't really care what my kids eat. I figure if I keep mostly healthy stuff around the house, it won't matter. My boys know they can always make themselves something to eat. But, then again I am not a person that believes everyone should eat 3 big meals a day. I think most people are much happier with small meals/snacks.

I'll have to think about this more because no one has to sneak around here. I'm wondering if it's the outlook.

Amy, I know you like a really clean kitchen. Do you think he is picking up on that? Like he realizes you don't want him to snack because he or you would have to clean up or something. So, he has found if he just sneaks it outside then it won't bother anything. Maybe you could start having a smoothie picnic everyday to get it out of his system.

[LadybugSam]

i have a 2yr old sneaker. I could feed him whatever he wants during the day but he will still go into the fridge and find something himself. I think he's more of a forager than a sneaker...

[Garnet]

Originally Posted by kiwimumtomykidz

that is exactly the problem in our home. It's very frustrating when I'm expecting to use something for another meal and find it's gone!

I have that problem too. Mostly with cheese, tortillas, stuff the kids can just grab and go with. I wanted to point out sneaking food is different than hoarding food. A child who has not had enough to eat before will hoard food, because they are afraid to go through that again. Sometimes children with mental difficulties will keep food, not because they are hungry or afraid, but to "posess" it and have it around.

I think sometimes sneaking food can point out a deficiency in a child's diet, much like a pregnant woman would crave something ( somethign good for you, not sweet or empty calories) But in the case of a child who sneaks sweets and empty calories, its just wanting something they shouldn't have at that time. I try to involve these foods in meal planning, if I find the kids are taking cheese, I tell them I'll make somethign with cheese for dinner if they leave it alone.

Last year we had a food drive at school and the class with the biggest haul of canned goods would get a piza party. Well for a whole month, I'd think I had something canned in the pantry and it would be missing. So finally when the big cans of soups started disappearing I started really looking.....I found Brandon had been taking canned goods out of the pantry and throwing them in his backpack. He was the biggest "collector" of his class, and wiped our pantry good down by atleat half! What I can't figure is when I was headed to work and dh took them to school how he didn't notice Brandon's bookbag was laoded with lumpy cans!

[allisonintx]

Oh, we did fix one of our two food-sneakers issue, and I had completely forgotten.

He was sneaking cookiedough, you know the pre-made kind. I buy it and keep it in the fridge for when I go to births, so that the kids can have a special treat while I'm gone and Daddy is home for the day. Anyway, the packages were disappearing, and I couldn't remember ever having cooked them. i found the packages stuck under counters and then the tell-tale packet in ds's closet.

Dh and I had a talk with him about how it was fine to want the cookie dough, but that using it like that meant that no one else got any at all, and asked how he would feel if dd1, 2 or 3 were the only ones getting any dough. He told us that sometimes he just wanted it really badly. Well, ok, so my dh said "The next time you want it badly, talk it over with mom and we'll get some just for you" We did that the next time I was at the grocery and Andrew asked for some. When we got home, he asked to have his cookie dough, and I told him that he could have '1 line' of it (you know, a row of break apart cookies) and he was actually satisfied with it. He hasn't sneaked dough since he has realized that I'm not just going to knee-jerk a "No" response, and for him, one row or half a row (which is what we're down to now) of cookie dough is not doing ANYTHING to his dinner appitite. He only remembers to ask about it maybe once every 10 days now.

[AmyDoll]

Marguerite Kelly touched on this issue today in the Washington Post: Family Almanac

You might find something interesting/useful in her advice.