Snacks?

[Gold Winger]

"5. Can the snack. A boy will not starve during the course of an hour to hour ''n half den meeting. The 10-15 minutes or so of feeding time is not necessary - they can eat when they get home. "

 

I have yet to understand why we need to accompany everything with a snack. Play basketball for an hour and you need a snack. Eat dinner and then go to a den meeting and you need a snack. An hour long flight and you need both a drink and a snack.

 

Don't get me wrong, I like a snack as much as the next guy but I won't die if I go an hour without eating and I'm sure that most kids won't either.

 

 

[Joni4TA]

I don't know GW. Maybe if folks had more nutritious snacks available they'd want to eat them less. Carrots and Celery vs. Rice Krispies Treats kind of snacks.

 

But seriously, you're right. Going an hour or two without adding body fuel is pretty darn feasible.

[packsaddle]

I am sympathetic to the idea that most of us need less to eat and that most snacks fall into the class of 'junk food'. But my den would, mostly during the winter, sometimes have an activity like making cookies or cupcakes in the church kitchen. The cubs would do almost everything themselves and we'd even let them 'customize' the stuff from some occasionally very imaginative ideas.

There is no way that activity would be complete if they weren't allowed to eat the products (and sometimes throw it away due to inedibility).

 

For those days when the boys ran hard for about an hour or two, I would give them juice and cookies as they left. A final reward for a good meeting. I'm not experiencing strong feelings of remorse, I think.

[Gold Winger]

In that case, that was an activity and it wasn't a regular thing. I see far too much "Here, Johnny have a plate of cookies. You've been working really hard at coloring."

 

I'm sure that we must have had a snack at my den meetings back in the 60s as they were right after school. Of course things were different then, we all walked to school and didn't have video games.

 

Back then, if you had told people that in 40 years kids would rather sit on their duff and pretend to ride a bike than actually riding a bike, we'd have thought that you were crazy.

 

 

[packsaddle]

Man, I'm with you on the video game thing and with regard to the sedentary lifestyle (which reminds me, I need to get off this thing and do something useful ).

But I splurted some comments about the above a while back and got yelled at in another thread. Think I'll just go have some cookies.

[AnaMaria]

We don't usually have snacks at Den Meetings. Did at the first one this year because a Mom wanted to "bring something". We made "Choctaw Flat Bread" (or something along those lines) at the last meeting and ate the result, but I don't usually include a snack in the meeting plan.

[msnowman]

Our dens may or may not snack, depends on the DL (and usually on the activity and age of the boys involved). The Tigers almost always have snack where the Webelos I's & II's almost never have snack.

However, we do always have snack after the Pack meeting. Who brings it rotates by den each month. Why do we bother? It gives the boys something while the parents get their questions answered. Then everybody helps set the church's tables back up, put the chairs back and sweep the floor. For us it works.

 

YiS

Michelle

[Joni4TA]

I think there are going to be quite a few that DO the snack. My GS Daisy Troop did snack every meeting last year, and as Brownies this year we do a snack too. I haven't been involved with Cubbies in a long while but when I was a DL we did snack at every meeting up until Webelos 1 if I remember correctly. Our Troop doesn't snack though

 

It's certainly worth looking at - do we really NEED all that snacking? In our GS case, we meet at 6pm so a snack at 7pm could have either ruined the dinner the girls didn't get before the meeting that Mom was saving til after, or effect bedtime routine depending on what time that runs in each household.

[eolesen]

Depends on the timing of the meeting. My son's den meets at 1830, so we don't bother with it.

 

If we were running a den meeting that was immediately after school, a snack at the beginning makes a little more sense.

[ScoutNut]

My Tigers meet every Sat at 9 AM and I do not generally provide a snack.

 

Every so often one of my Teams will bring something for all of the boys. I think it is usually because they did not have time for something before they left and are heading out to something else right after our Tiger meeting.

 

I don't mind. The boys can snack while doing a gathering activity.

[eagle-pete]

It's not about body fuel. It's about bribery.

 

But seriously, snacks are relatively harmless, if kept under control. I do suggest saving them until the end of the meeting. Don't need to add to the already hyper nature of boys during the meeting.

 

How about not providing snacks for EVERY den meeting... just a few. I would also consider trying to go healthy - less sugar. Doesn't mean you need to get out the rice cakes, but I'd avoid candy and soda. Again, the hyper problem.

 

The fact is, boys like to eat and they like activities which involve food. I might cut back, but I would not eliminate it altogether.

 

Just my opinion

 

Eagle Pete

[April-D]

I have two kiddos in my den that are autistic and having something to help them fixate on their oral sensation actually keeps them focused on the meeting... it's generally something as simple as crackers, goldfish, pretzels. Typically I didn't provide a snack but doing this has really helped keep my den under control (10 Wolves)

[resqman]

Was a den leader for 4 years, Wolf through Webelos II.

 

Never had a formal snack at any meeting. We met at 1830 on weekday evenings. Most times it was tough getting all the tasks done within the 90 minutes. No way we could have given up 15 minutes every meeting to snacking and the accompanying mess and disruption.

 

There were two occasions that the scouts got a snack but not from me.

 

Once my wife was trying out a new recipe prior to serving it for some other function. She made the dessert and offered it to the scouts. The den met at my house and it was easy enough for her to walk in from the kitchen and distribute samples.

 

Once we made box ovens and cooked muffins in the oven. They were given the opportunity to eat their labor.

 

Never had a parent or scout request snack time. I would have allowed snacks to celebrate a birthday but otherwise would have discouraged them.

[ElyriaLeader]

I allowed a snack at the end of the meeting from tigers through bears, though once they put on the checkered neckerchief I figured "they are now getting ready for being boy scouts" the troops I visit with don't have a snack sooooooo.....the boys missed it the first couple of meetings....and then haven't mentioned it since.

[WVCubDad]

We used to have snacks at our Pack meetings until this last meeting when the CM announced that there had been one too many complaints about apple cores being shoved under the piano bench and other trash being missed. It also turns out that he and his wife had been supplying the snacks, plates and utensils for the past few years, some parents had questioned the nutritional value of them and I guess that's that.

 

Knowing that we did a pretty good job of cleaning up after the meetings, I suspect it wasn't our Pack that left the messes, but I understand his decision to not provide snacks any longer.

 

I provided snacks at 3 or 4 of our Tiger den meetings last year (including a hilarious attempt at baking, thank goodness I have two chef parents in my den), and we've only had a snack once this year as Wolves. I'm not a big fan of snacks and don't feel it's necessary to always have them, but I haven't made my mind up yet about it for when I take over as CM. I think we'll have enough goodies at the Halloween and Christmas parties and the B&G and end of year picnic to not have to worry about the other meetings. We'll see what the other leaders and parents think too.

 

YiS,

 

John

Assistant Cubmaster

Pack 13

Shenandoah Area Council