Health Snacks for Kids in Classrooms

Some schools offer snack time for kids. If that is your case then you might want to ask your child to avoid cookies, cupcakes and doughnuts and instead send them to school with their own healthy snacks.

One healthy choice is fruit kabobs. You can make these out of chunks of strawberries, pineapple, apples, melon and grapes. Your child can help you assemble them on the sticks at home (with adult supervision). The trick to having them keep overnight is to smear a bit of lemon juice on the finished kabobs. This stops the fruit from turning brown. To add excitement to the snack you can also add some strawberry or vanilla yogurt for dipping. To really zap it up you can also add a marshmallow to the kabob for a treat.

You can also send your kid to school with healthy mini muffins. You can bake your muffin in mini-tins. Portion control helps prevent your kid from gaining weight. Great flavors are zucchini, banana, blueberry and carrot. You can also whip together a quick cream cheese frosting for a sweet treat.

Another nice idea is to make cinnamon tortillas with fruit salsa. Simply brush whole wheat flour tortillas with melted butter and then sprinkle liberally with cinnamon sugar. You can then bake them for ten minutes on a cookie sheet until crisp. You can then make a salsa out of any fruit you like by dicing it and mixing g it with sugar and lime juice. Good fruits to use for salsa include blackberries, pineapple, kiwis, strawberries and apples. Serve the salsa in little cups or bowls with the tortilla chips on the side.

Another healthy treat is sweet and salty! You can make your own chocolate-dipped pretzel. Simply buy your favorite pretzels and then melt a bag of dark chocolate chips over a double boiler. Dip the pretzels in the chocolate and then let the dry on wax paper. You can decorate these with sprinkles if you want too.
You can make a portable berries and whipped cream dessert for your children quite easily. Simply take clear plastic glasses and fill them up with any kind of berry. Top with freshly whipped cream and a sprinkling of mini chocolate chips. You can also add chunks of angel cake if you like as well. If you like you could mix a bit of yogurt in with the whipped cream as well.

Parenting Tips
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Why You Need to Give Your Kid an Allowance

Never just give your kid money. Give them an allowance! This is the primary way that they learn to manage money when they are young. There are no money shows for kids on television and commercials lead them to believe they can just spend, spend and spend!

Furthermore kids are now encouraged to spend money at a younger age than ever. It is easy for them to develop delusions about where money comes from and how it should be handled.

In fact most parents don’t realize that their kid does not know a thing about money until they become adults and need a loan. If you do not want to start supporting an older kid that has flown the nest but is in debt then you need to teach them good financial habits when they are young.

An allowance works because they can make mistakes using a minimal income. Knowing the limit of available funds forces kids to think about how much tings cost and to make wise choices between the things that they may. They also may have more appreciation and respect for the things they buy if they know they cannot be replaced.

You should give your child an allowance as soon as they show both an interest and an understanding about the concept of money and the fact it can be exchanged for goods. Most people say that you should give them a dollar for each year of age and that you should give them this once a week. However some other money experts say it is a good idea to check with other parents in the neighborhood to see what they give their kids as an allowance.

You might also want to sit down with your child and make a list of what they are expected to pay for with the allowance. This solves the conflicts that come up in stores and as they go out for friends for snacks or to the movies.

Keep in mind that when kids do use money they use it in three ways – spending, saving and sharing. Consider this when you are coming up with the amount needed to give them money.

If you want you can also tie their allowances to chores. However some people that you should not do this as this means they will be expected to be rewarded for things they should just do anyway like make their beds. It is a better idea to punish them if they do not do chores rather then pay them for doing normal housework or duties associated with regular self-care.

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