Sasha
Proud Parent
- May 15, 2013
- 1,583
- 3,515
Personally, I would ..
1) Sweetly ask the girl if she is ever hungry before or during practice, and if so, ask if she thinks she needs more to eat. Assuming she does mention wanting more sometimes, ask if there is a reason she doesn't bring more food. Ask if she has already asked her mom/dad to pack more and if so, what they told her. Ask if she has any food restrictions (though kids sometimes lie or don't know).
2) Talk to the Mom in person or a phone call (not text or email), and share your insights with her and have an honest discussion of what the Mom would like to do. If you have given the girl snacks in the past, be honest, and also honest about your ability to provide additional snacks (whether you're happy to do that regularly or just occasionally, or prefer not to try to pack extras for another child). Share what you bring for your daughter as an example.
In all likelihood the Mom is sane and kind, and just not 100% informed on her daughter's appetite and what is needed for gym. She probably thinks lunch and a tiny snack before gym is fine until dinner after gym, as perhaps that is all she needs as an adult, or all her other children need. She probably just doesn't realize how much young athletes need to eat, and how often (though of course individual kids vary).
If you do find anything more questionable - as in Mom outright refuses to believe Girl needs any/much snack and denies girl should be hungry during practice, etc, declares child is fat and needs to eat less, etc., then that's more of a pickle. I would try to listen and understand as much as possible how the Mom came to the conclusion about her food needs so I truly understood her viewpoint and what logic she is following. As a last resort, if the Mom became very defensive about her parenting and was truly being extreme and unreasonable about feeding her child, I would end the carpool arrangement. And if I thought the girl was truly in danger of being under fed and potentially unsafe for practice, I would express this concern to the Mom outright. I would also tell her that I will be keeping an eye on the Girl and if I did see any evidence that she was going hungry, that I would alert the Coach out of concern for the Girl, and I would also give her a snack if I had one. I don't imagine it will come to that, but that's what I would do if I truly met a parent who seemed to have an extreme view and restricted her child's food in an obviously unsafe way.
1) Sweetly ask the girl if she is ever hungry before or during practice, and if so, ask if she thinks she needs more to eat. Assuming she does mention wanting more sometimes, ask if there is a reason she doesn't bring more food. Ask if she has already asked her mom/dad to pack more and if so, what they told her. Ask if she has any food restrictions (though kids sometimes lie or don't know).
2) Talk to the Mom in person or a phone call (not text or email), and share your insights with her and have an honest discussion of what the Mom would like to do. If you have given the girl snacks in the past, be honest, and also honest about your ability to provide additional snacks (whether you're happy to do that regularly or just occasionally, or prefer not to try to pack extras for another child). Share what you bring for your daughter as an example.
In all likelihood the Mom is sane and kind, and just not 100% informed on her daughter's appetite and what is needed for gym. She probably thinks lunch and a tiny snack before gym is fine until dinner after gym, as perhaps that is all she needs as an adult, or all her other children need. She probably just doesn't realize how much young athletes need to eat, and how often (though of course individual kids vary).
If you do find anything more questionable - as in Mom outright refuses to believe Girl needs any/much snack and denies girl should be hungry during practice, etc, declares child is fat and needs to eat less, etc., then that's more of a pickle. I would try to listen and understand as much as possible how the Mom came to the conclusion about her food needs so I truly understood her viewpoint and what logic she is following. As a last resort, if the Mom became very defensive about her parenting and was truly being extreme and unreasonable about feeding her child, I would end the carpool arrangement. And if I thought the girl was truly in danger of being under fed and potentially unsafe for practice, I would express this concern to the Mom outright. I would also tell her that I will be keeping an eye on the Girl and if I did see any evidence that she was going hungry, that I would alert the Coach out of concern for the Girl, and I would also give her a snack if I had one. I don't imagine it will come to that, but that's what I would do if I truly met a parent who seemed to have an extreme view and restricted her child's food in an obviously unsafe way.