Ah Teenagers!!!!!!!!!!

On a regular day I have one teenager and one almost teenager. This week I have two teenagers and one almost. The amount of food is astounding that we went through this week. On Monday I did a mini grocery trip to stock up on the basics, granola bars, milk, fruit, yogurt. In the forty eight hours since, the granola bars, yogurt, snack mix, and fruit are either gone or almost gone. UGH!!!! I need to come up with some plan so they don't go through eighteen granola bars in two days. In the past I've hidden lunch food so no one will find it. Then when I make lunches at night out comes the little bags of chips and granola bars. I feel bad hiding food from the kids, but I don't know how to control the nonstop eating.

Alex will come home from track or tennis and eat two pb&j's, then dinner, then atleast two more pb&j's before going to bed. I guess you need to add a bunch of granola bars and bags of chips to it too. Tyler eats almost the same way. So starting next week I'm going to ration the lunch food. They don't need to be eating endless quantities of chips, granola bars and other lunch items. I used to buy the yoplait yogurts until the boys were eating six a day. UM HELLO!!!!! Now I buy the safeway ones (cheaper and bigger) and we don't go through as much. We seem to be going through peanut butter alot lately!! Again, used to buy jiffy but now the safeway brand. I'm sure its the same stuff but cheaper and in larger quantities.

What's interesting is really from the beginning the kids have been grazers instead of kids who sit down and eat a large meal. Ok, well Alex and Tyler do both now, but at this stage of growing I guess that cannot be eliminated. When they were little they used to always want to eat a little something. The rule was always that they had to sit down at the table and use a plate. No walking around with food. That's not working as much anymore now that they're older. How do I know this??? I find wrappers all over the house, in the washer and dryer, and on their desks.

A surprising offender is Riley. He has learned to pull Maggie's dog food bin up to the shelves in the pantry, climb up and find food. He does this alot!! He also sees the olders eating food all over the house and naturally does the same thing. I can usually catch him in the pantry and direct him somewhere else or insist he sit down with a plate. I think some major overhauling of my kids eating habits are about to take place. I'm not usually one who tiptoes into things. I'll let you know how it goes.