Mom-Of-Three Shares Her Snack Hack, Goes Viral

While families all over the world have been practicing social distancing, some were even homebound during our collective fight against the coronavirus pandemic. During this difficult period, we all have been getting bored. But it’s not the extra free time that’s the problem, rather what we do(n’t) do with it. Many kids, for example, have just been snacking all day, every day.

Mom-of-three and parenting blogger Jen Hallstrom, however, got fed up with her kids munching so much and decided to put a stop to it.

More info: Facebook

Image credits: Jen Hallstrom

Mom-Of-Three Shares Her Snack Hack, Goes Viral

Image credits: Jen Hallstrom

It worked!

The mom developed this clever trick after seeing a similar idea on Pinterest some time ago. “My two girls are complete bored snackers,” Hallstrom told Bored Panda. “I am also guilty of this! So this really helped us in the weird downtime we were in! My son is a fairly decent eater but ‘wants’ 4 snacks at a time. We loved how this eliminated that over the top snacking.”

Mom-Of-Three Shares Her Snack Hack, Goes Viral

Image credits: Jen Hallstrom

“It worked really well,” Hallstrom said. “We are now back into a normal routine so there is not really a need for it now. But long breaks and summer break next year I will bring them back for sure!”

An additional rule was no stealing from the siblings’ baskets, but substitutes were allowed. “An example being ‘I don’t want an apple today, can I trade for a banana?'”

Hallstrom had usually put 3-4 snacks in there for the whole day and often found that they wouldn’t even eat all of those. “If it was a refrigerated snack like yogurt or veggies, it was stored in a certain bin in the fridge. They also only got one cup a day which really, really helped with my constant dishes problem.”

People absolutely adored the simple yet brilliant hack

Mom-Of-Three Shares Her Snack Hack, Goes Viral

Since everyone loved it so much, the mom decided to share more quarantine hacks as well:

Mom-Of-Three Shares Her Snack Hack, Goes Viral

Image credits: The JEN Life

Mom-Of-Three Shares Her Snack Hack, Goes Viral

Image credits: The JEN Life

Mom-Of-Three Shares Her Snack Hack, Goes Viral

Image credits: The JEN Life

Mom-Of-Three Shares Her Snack Hack, Goes Viral

Image credits: The JEN Life

Mom-Of-Three Shares Her Snack Hack, Goes Viral

Image credits: The JEN Life

Mom-Of-Three Shares Her Snack Hack, Goes Viral

Image credits: The JEN Life

Rokas is a writer at Bored Panda with a BA in Communication. After working for a sculptor, he fell in love with visual storytelling and enjoys covering everything from TV shows (any Sopranos fans out there?) to photography. Throughout his years in Bored Panda, over 300 million people have read the posts he's written, which is probably more than he could count to.

Read less »

I'm the Visual Editor at Bored Panda, responsible for ensuring that everything our audience sees is top-notch and well-researched. What I love most about my job? Discovering new things about the world and immersing myself in exceptional photography and art.

Read less »

What do you think ?

POST

postboredom 4 years ago

I love this idea but those children seem well-behaved. My siblings would complete their snacks and jump on mine in the first 3 hours ( TBH I would be the first to do that ) ;D

10points

Hans 4 years ago

Alternative suggestions: make snacking dependent on nutritional value. My children will get anything with added sugar only after a full meal as desert or if anyone has something (like getting ice cream on a hot day). Healthy snacks such as fruit bars only come at times not close to the meals. A plate with sliced fruit and raw produce (cucumber, bell peppers etc.) will be restocked whenever they ask for it. Little quarrel as the result, and if they occasionally ask for an extra I am easy.

5points

Isle_of_stressed_pilots 4 years ago

ooo I love that

2points

Load More Replies...

Foxxy (The Original) 4 years ago

I wish this worked for my kids. I tried this a couple of times but with both my kids having almost no impulse control, being oral sensory seekers they ate the whole lot in the morning. My daughter coped fine without snacks for the rest of the day as she is 14 and understands consequences. Even though my son is 6 and should understand the consequences, the fact is he doesn’t, he has a significant speech and language disorder so is quite difficult for him to understand especially with poor impulse control.

5points

Martha Meyer 4 years ago

You could divide it up into three allotments throughout the day, that come at set times. After a while your son would get used to the pattern, I'd wager.

14points

Load More Replies...

Chez 4 years ago

Yeah - I'd love to try this with my 3 boys. However ... all 3 have ADHD and so their impulse control is sometimes non-existent. But still, it's a good idea - I may try it this weekend!

1point

Steve Cruz 4 years ago

I just learned about oral sensory seekers this year. It explains a lot of what I witnessed from kids when I was growing up. There are pill dispensers for people on serious doses that must be controlled -- everything taken on time, no doses missed or doubled. A snack dispenser would work great for everyone! It would help people like me who have "snack amnesia" -- we easily forget that we just stuffed our face and keep throwing goodies into our mouth.

0points

Catherine Hankinson 4 years ago

Same. We tried it too. Both my kids ate it within minutes then still drove me mental all day for snacks haha.

0points

Load More Comments

POST

postboredom 4 years ago

I love this idea but those children seem well-behaved. My siblings would complete their snacks and jump on mine in the first 3 hours ( TBH I would be the first to do that ) ;D

10points

Hans 4 years ago

5points

Isle_of_stressed_pilots 4 years ago

ooo I love that

2points

Load More Replies...

Foxxy (The Original) 4 years ago

5points

Martha Meyer 4 years ago

You could divide it up into three allotments throughout the day, that come at set times. After a while your son would get used to the pattern, I'd wager.

14points

Load More Replies...

Chez 4 years ago

Yeah - I'd love to try this with my 3 boys. However ... all 3 have ADHD and so their impulse control is sometimes non-existent. But still, it's a good idea - I may try it this weekend!

1point