Episode 99 : After School Meltdowns: Why They Happen and What to Do About It

Episode 99 : After School Meltdowns: Why They Happen and What to Do About It

There is so much information out there about what our children should and shouldn't be eating, and honestly, it can feel like a lot. I don't want you trying to do everything, because when we try to do everything, we end up doing nothing.

So in this episode, I'm keeping it simple and sharing the three key areas that I personally focus on for my kids' health: gut health, quality protein and sugar.

First up, we'll talk about why gut health really is at the centre of overall health, and some really simple ways you can increase fibre and plant foods without your child needing to sit down to a huge bowl of vegetables. Then we'll look at protein, particularly the importance of looking beyond dairy and making sure we're getting enough iron and fibre into our children's day.

And finally, we'll talk about sugar. I'm not about banning sugar or making it the forbidden fruit. It's about understanding where sugar is creeping into our children's diets and making some simple changes, particularly with drinks and snacks.

In This Episode

Supporting Your Child's Gut Health

Why fibre, plant foods and a diverse gut microbiome are so important for children's health, plus simple ways to increase fibre every day.

Choosing Quality Protein

Why it's not just about getting enough protein, but looking at where that protein comes from and whether your child is also getting enough iron and fibre.

Making Snacks Count

How everyday snacks can be an opportunity to add more iron, fibre and other important nutrients, particularly for picky eaters and fussy eaters.

Reducing Sugar Without Banning It

Why I don't believe in completely avoiding sugar, and how to manage sugary drinks, cereals, yoghurts and snacks without creating unnecessary food rules.

Just Pick One Thing

The biggest takeaway from this episode: don't try to perfect everything. Choose one small change, start there, and build from it.

As a paediatric dietitian and children's nutritionist, I want you to feel confident making simple changes that actually fit into your family's life. It isn't about having the perfect diet. It's about those little improvements we make to our child's day and week that, over time, can make a really big difference.

Highlights:

Why After-School Meltdowns Happen - 00:32.398
Understanding What Causes Meltdowns - 02:49.110
How Food Choices Affect After-School Behavior - 05:03.566
Preparing a Filling After-School Snack - 07:24.020
Balancing Familiar Foods With New Options - 09:38.540
Final Thoughts on Reducing After-School Meltdowns - 12:02.018

Show notes

READ TRANSCRIPT

Show Notes & Resources

Healthy Recipes for Kids:
https://nourishwithkarina.com/healthy-recipes-for-kids

Nutrition Consultation:
https://nourishwithkarina.com/nutrition-consultation

Karina's Recipe Book:
https://nourishwithkarina.com/recipebook

Membership:
https://nourishwithkarina.com/membership

Introduction - 00:00.064
You're listening to the Easy Feed Podcast, episode number 99. After school meltdowns. Why they happen and what to do about it. Hi there, I'm Karina Savage, and with over 20 years' experience feeding children, including my own, I've learnt all the secrets that busy mums need to get their children eating better and actually enjoying healthy foods. So a huge welcome to the Easy Feed Podcast.
Why After-School Meltdowns Happen - 00:32.398
Today I want to talk about something that we all experience, well, most of us anyway, as parents. And look, after school meltdowns happen more often than we would like. You know, your child gets into the car and seems fine, or they walk in the door after school and seem fine. And then you ask one question, and you're lucky if you get an answer, actually. Often it's like good.
or they say, What can I eat? What treat can I have? When's and then like a few, you know, half an hour later, an hour later, when's dinner ready? What are we having for dinner? you know, it seems like we as parents sometimes walk on eggshells at that time of day and we're excited to see our kids. Well, some of us are, and we're happy to see them and we want to know about their day, but that is not the time when they are wanting to tell us about their day.
They are done. They've probably been on their best behavior all day. And sometimes when they're in their safe space or with their safe people, everything just falls apart. So, you know, it's not always food related, but definitely food plays a role. You know, when you're hungry, you're hangry, that can impact things. Blood sugar levels, you know, if they're really low, and if they've been sort of swinging about all day, that can also impact mood. If they're not feeling well.
There's many factors that will influence how much a child will melt down after school. You know, neurodivergent children, sensory overwhelm children will also have their own way of coping and maybe, you know, really keen to have some downtime, some quiet time after a an overwhelming day. So yeah, kids will melt down for a whole different lot of reasons. Absolutely, food plays a role in many children's meltdowns.
And sometimes it's good just to step back, take that 30,000 foot view and go, right, what is potentially impacting my child's meltdowns? I remember a mom walking into the school gates every day and she'd say to me, Look, I've got to have food with me at school pickup because if I don't, he's just gonna lose it. And so some kids, especially growing kids, you know, they're moving into year five, year six, and they're just hungry.
Understanding What Causes Meltdowns - 02:49.110
And they need that quick hit. They need food. I remember coming home from school and opening my mum's pantry and just diving into the mueslee baths because I was so hungry. So it's about being really I think strategic with our foods, especially as our children are moving into that age where they are needing more food. And look, there's certainly three and four year olds that I've worked with, their parents like, my gosh, they don't have an off switch. They just keep eating all day long. So look, it's not
just for those kids that are moving towards, you know, upper primary and puberty. It's all kids and it's really managing their sugar levels. And it really starts at the beginning of the day. So it's not necessarily just focusing on what we're giving them for afternoon tea. We need to look back. We need to look earlier at that day.
Because that can very much impact what's happening with that child in front of you at 3 p.m. or 3 30 or whenever you lay eyes on them, whenever they grace you with their presence, because we need to make sure that they're feeling as good as possible and that things run as smoothly in the afternoon as possible. So to start off with, I invite you to think about perhaps what they'd had at breakfast that day. Did it give them enough to get them through the morning, or was it a few rushed bites?
I've certainly got two very different children in terms of what and how much they would eat for breakfast. And so breakfast can very much impact blood sugar levels across the morning, the types of snacks that they then gravitate towards. And it can really impact them their whole day. So starting the day with something that's got more protein in it, more healthy fats in it, slow release carbs, fiber can really help set the child up.
For a smoother morning and a smoother day, really. Lunch, lunchbox. Was the lunchbox touched? A beautifully packed lunchbox doesn't help much if it comes home untouched. And there's certainly been many days where I've thrown, well, at least a third, if not half, of the lunchbox in the bin. So frustrating. my gosh. But you know, kids don't eat lunch for various reasons, didn't have enough time. I mean, granted, always the sweet things are gone.
How Food Choices Affect After-School Behavior - 05:03.566
And it's the healthy things, including the veggies that you end up throwing in the bin or trying to salvage and put them in the fridge for the next day or give it to them as part of an afternoon tea platter or dinner. But the lunchbox and what they're eating during the day will 100% impact their afternoon tea. How much protein, how much fiber, how much healthy fats, how full are they feeling through that afternoon so that when you see them,
What is their blood sugar level doing? You know, how satisfied are they feeling at that point? So I'll give you an example. A child that may have had, say, Nutch grain for breakfast and then maybe a bit of watermelon for their fruit break, a white bread vegemite sandwich for lunch, with maybe, you know, some cucumber and maybe a bag of popcorn and maybe a Milo bar is going to probably be ravenous.
by the afternoon because they're having faster sugars and they are not getting as much protein and healthy fats and fiber with their meals to help stabilize their blood sugar levels. And that's when you're going to see those meltdowns happening more often. Now, we layer this with the fact that kids will often refuse the healthy breakfast cereal or won't want the grainy bread or won't want the chicken lettuce mayo sandwich. They'll just want the plain vegemizer. So you know,
There's those challenges, of course. I'm a parent too. I get that. But the breakfast and the lunch will absolutely influence what's happening in the afternoon. So is there a way that we can help slow down the release of sugar into the bloodstream? What can we add to breakfast? What can we add to lunch that will help stabilize our children's blood sugar levels? What will help fill them up? What protein can we add? What healthy fats can we add? What fiber can we add? That they will
eat to get them through the day more easily so that by the end of the day they are not absolutely hungry and you are not up against a little monster. So I encourage you to think back when you are in that crisis point and think back and think what could we potentially do differently to support you know your child better throughout the day. At the end of the day though, you know, you can lead a horse to water, we can't make a drink. So
Preparing a Filling After-School Snack - 07:24.020
You do what you can do as a parent. You do the best you can. And I'm sure you are doing the best you can. I'm just here to try and give you ideas and suggestions. Now, with the after school snack, it's great if you have something ready. Now look, granted, parents are working. Kids may be in after school care. Kids may be with nannies. Kids may be just riding around with their mates and fending for themselves, depending on what age they are. But
It's really important if you are with your children to try to have something ready, to try to just throw together something that stops them going to the cupboard and just pulling out the tiny teddies or the biscuits or the chips or whatever they can grab their hands on that's a fast sugar, that's probably a processed food, because that's what they're wanting. They just want that quick here. I get it. It tastes good, they're addictive. The companies do a great job of making them highly palatable. So our kids want them. So
If you've got something ready, then the child doesn't need to take that next step and go foraging in the pantry or the fridge. If you've got something ready that is substantial enough to fill the gap until dinner, that's what a child needs. And they need that more than a tiny package snack. And as you see your child getting older and moving into upper primary, you'll notice that they need a more significant after school snack.
Rice crackers just don't cut it because it's not gonna fill them up enough. And then they're just gonna want more and more and more of these fast hits. So it's really important to give them something that is going to fill them up. And no, it's not going to significantly impact how much they eat at dinner if there is enough of a gap between after school and dinner. With the after school snack, I always encourage parents to have a mixture of food groups.
And always some foods there that your child does know, like, trust, and will fill up on. And then some less familiar foods that you are trying to get them to eat, but in smaller amounts, just to try and, you know, stretch them a little, give them that repeated exposure, but not to the point where you're saying, this is what's for after school today. You're having guacamole in carrot sticks and they've not really started eating either of those or not really
Balancing Familiar Foods With New Options - 09:38.540
regularly accepting either of those. That's not really fair on the child because you're not really giving them anything that they know, like, and trust and can fill up on. Look for all of the tips on what to give your child for after school, snacks, snack platters, dinners, lunches, breakfasts. It's all there in my membership. And every week we have Snack Club and we talk about kids' supermarket snacks and better options. Members will post their supermarket snack for the day and I'll review it and tell them
What's good about it, what could potentially be swapped. And if it's not good, then what a better swap would be. Because it's all about trying to make simple changes to improve our child's days and weeks, to increase nutrition, stabilize blood sugar levels, and reduce the afternoon meltdowns. So just in summary, when they're having those after school meltdowns, I encourage you to think back. Think back to breakfast, think back to their lunchbox.
And then when you are trying to manage that afternoon meltdown, think about putting together something that is going to be filling, something that has potentially got fiber, protein, healthy fats, because all of those three nutrients will help stabilize blood sugar levels, fill up your child, tick all the boxes until dinner is then ready. Perhaps think about one food option that you could incorporate.
Into their after school snack, or whoever's with them, perhaps encouraging them to add it into the after school snack, whether it's guacamole with corn chips or something else that is potentially gonna help fill them up, provide them with more long-lasting energy, healthy protein, healthy fats, because that's what your child needs to then satisfy that hunger and then get them through to dinner. And it also provides a bucket load of nutrients. So have a think about the pattern and what's happening at the moment with your children and think about.
Just one simple change that you can make. And I'm all about keeping things simple and just having one simple change that you can make to help your child and to help you. Because at the end of the day, if there's less tantrums and less meltdowns and happier, healthier kids, their parents are going to be happier too, right? And as I said, if you want more, the memberships there for you to dive into with my support as well as everything online. And if you want to know more about working with me, then send us an email to
Final Thoughts on Reducing After-School Meltdowns - 12:02.018
Hello at nourishwithkarina.com. Short and sweet today, but I hope that's given you something to think about and something to focus on. I wish you a beautiful week and I'll chat to you soon. Bye for now.