Barnorama All Fun In The Barn
Sarah Balsdon, a mother in Northumberland in the UK, began to worry that her kids’ snacking habits were escalating at an unhealthy level as the family was forced to quarantine. Initially, Sarah tried packing her kids’ lunches for them regularly, but they kept sneaking snacks. So, she has bought a vending machine, and now, if they want to snack, they have to do chores first to earn money for them.
“They also started sneaking them upstairs without me knowing,” Sarah said.
Initially, Sarah tried packing her kids’ lunches for them regularly “and once it was gone, it was gone.” But her kids’ dietary discipline was lacking and ultimately they kept sneaking snacks. Clearly more drastic measures would have to be taken. Enter a vending machine!
Sarah had a random idea that a vending machine would require her kids to pay for their own snacks, which they could only pay for if they completed basically anything she asked of them. “If they want sweets they can do things (chores, school work, etc) to earn money for them,” she added.
But where would one find such a strange purchase? It was actually pretty easy, “got it from Facebook Marketplace,” she said. And then she went out and loaded it up with her family’s favorite goodies.
“Let’s see if they can sneak sweets and treats now!” she wrote in the post on May 24. “So sick of the arguments about unhealthy snacks (esp with lockdown) so I have bought a vending machine!”
Not only has Sarah’s vending machine scheme been curbing the unhealthy cravings, but it’s had other unintended positive effects as well. “I think people are understanding that the kids are learning about money,” she says. And now they have to “work for things, which was a big part of it too.”
“There are always fun ways to keep control of parenting during challenging times like lockdown,” she finished.
I say, good on you, Sarah. That’s certainly one of the stranger methods of parental control I’ve seen before, and frankly, after this is all over it will be fairly strange explaining a vending machine in your living room, but to Hell with what others think. If it works, it works.
As Les Grossman would wisely say, “We do not negotiate with terrorists”.