I have encountered a new phenomenon this season in baseball. Snacks.
Specifically that there is a snack sign up and all parents take turns bringing snacks for the players to eat after the game. It was then that I turned into one of those parents. You know the one. The one who asks why they need to have snacks when they are leaving the field and going home. And then asks if they can be healthy snacks.
The answer to that one was that yes they could be, if I wanted to bring healthy snacks. The snack suggestions are fruit snacks with a bag of chips, a bag of cookies, a candy bar, and don’t forget a juice box or gatorade. We have several games a week. I cringe just thinking about it.
We have never had a team that brought snacks for the group. We always were responsible individually for our snacks, or not.
A friend of mine was just telling me that her son’s team used to do snacks, but the second year they all played together the mothers decided that it was just prolonging them from leaving the field (YES! I agree with this, too!) and that they stopped bringing snacks.
What does everyone else do? Is this a common thing?
We’ve had years where we did the snacks thing and I didn’t like it at all. At one point, we had a kiddo who had a horrible peanut allergy and I just felt like we were stacking the deck against him, as well as wasting time and money. I did notice that the younger the kids are, the more parents seem to be prone to the snack situation. I don’t get it either!
Comment by Nikki — March 6, 2009 @ 8:35 pm
I know Antique Mommy had a whole diatribe on the snacks thing as well. Yet another thing to dread if my kid wants to do lots of activities!
Comment by Brigitte — March 7, 2009 @ 7:58 am
A bag of oranges or apples (or whatever fruit is in season) and a thermos of tap water should make you very popular. I have never had children but did attend many baseball games and am not in favor of snacks (except for the people in the stands).
Comment by Kathy from NJ — March 7, 2009 @ 9:03 am
I manage 12 teams of 8 year olds (Dixie Youth AA Division, in case you’re familiar). Yes, you read that right. I am a division team mom, aka Saint, but more probably known as Sucker. The snack thing is entirely up to each coach/team. Some of our teams do it, some don’t. Sometimes the team mom asks for a “donation” and she organizes a snack (and you know she’s getting screwed over on the money thing). On the teams that do have a snack rotation, we rotate who brings snacks, and everyone gets a turn. There is also an option to buy snack “tickets” at the concession stand, and then each player gets a drink (juice box) and a small bag of cookies or crackers.
Personally, I do contribute snacks when asked, but I make sure that what I provide is something I’d allow my kids to have anyway. I bring small bottles of water and a small apple or individually bagged grapes.
The snack thing seems to be more for the younger players, like you said. T Ball does it, and some of the AA teams, but none any older.
It’s not a big deal to me now, but I only have one boy playing baseball. My girls don’t care anything about his gatorade and cheez nips. As for me, because it’s only HIM, I don’t mind if he has a snack after the game. However, I can’t say that I’ll miss it next year when we don’t have to think about it any more!
Comment by Missy — March 7, 2009 @ 3:41 pm
I have 2 boys, 8 and 11. They love having snacks after games.
Everyone on the team had to take turns bring snacks, but who ever brought them would hand them out and everyone would pretty much leave after that.
I think the kids enjoy having something to look forward to after the game. Most of our games were pretty far away and it helped them to have something in there tummy until we got home.
As far a spending money on snacks, it doesn’t have to be very much. Granola bars, rice crispy treats or cheese crackers with kool-aid jammers and you maybe spent $5.00 and that’s with brand name items, which you could always go cheaper, or bring homemade snacks.
You usually only have to do it once, unless you have more than one child playing, and even at that you should be able to talk to the person in charge and let them know that you are not able to bring a snack.
I think that kids deserve a little something after their game, whether they win or lose. They played a good game, reward them!
Comment by Andrea — March 8, 2009 @ 12:41 am
We do team snacks for baseball and soccer. My son asked if we could bring Doritos or chips because kids don’t like when we bring the healthy snacks. It can get costly and I don’t always want them having junk after baseball games. Especially if they haven’t eaten dinner yet, which is often the case.
Comment by Sharon — March 9, 2009 @ 9:33 am
We used to do the snack thing. Then during soccer mom discussion we decided it is easier to just pre-pay the concession stand, say about a dollar or 1.50 per kid wich allows them to get a drink and small snack item or 2 snacks, whatever they choose. That way everyone gets what they want and everyone leaves happy.
Comment by Eva — March 11, 2009 @ 9:50 am
Ugh. I am one of those moms too. I hate the post-game snack. It’s expensive and most people bring snacks that I would not feed my kids. And what lesson are we teaching our kids? Play sports and be active and THEN you can chow down on the Doritos?
My daughter has snacks at Brownie meetings too (that start just after dinner and last for 90 minutes. Can they not go 90 minutes without food?) She comes home from every meeting so sugared up, I can’t get her to go to bed. I suggested dropping the snack, but no one else was on board.
Comment by Sue — March 12, 2009 @ 2:51 pm
I definitely think snack is a great thing, but they should be limited to healthy snacks. Sometimes, the only way I can get my kid to play is by reminding him of the snack at the end of the game. I have 3 boys, and we have been doing sports with at least 2 of them at a time, 3-4 sports seasons a year, for 3 1/2 years now (and with 3 different groups/sport programs), and we’ve ALWAYS had snack at the end of the game. The kids work hard and really look forward to it. Most of them don’t even care what the snack is, but it’s a little award to them for working so hard. I usually bring clementines (sometimes with raisins or pretzels, and sometimes by themselves) and a bottle of water or a water Caprisun for each kid. When the parents see how healthy that is, how much the kids love them, and how easy they are for the kids to peel by themselves, they love it and do similar snacks if not the same.
I don’t believe the problem is having snacks (and I’m a woman on a tight budget, and I don’t think the money is an issue), I think it’s what is considered an acceptable snack. Our new group that we’re with right now suggests fruit, fruit snacks, or granola bars, and I love that.
Comment by Kris — April 20, 2009 @ 1:05 pm
We did snacks in my daughters sport and only cam across issues with allergies. The solution was simple. Those moms (I was one) gave a allergy free snack substitute for our child that was placed in a marked bag for them. Some of the more creative ones were, fruit cups, applesauce cups, nuts, trail mix, dried mango or pineapple, dried cereal, cheese sticks, cheese its, graham crackers,and mini marshmallows. (the cups were opened 1/3 way, then the kids drank the juice or sauce, then opened up 3/4 way to “drink” the chunks.)
Comment by Claire — April 27, 2009 @ 4:14 pm