I’m proud to partner with CVS Pharmacy to promote their exclusive Gold Emblem and Gold Emblem abound snack lines. I am being sponsored by CVS Pharmacy for my posts and activities, but all opinions expressed are my own, and all product claims or program details shared should be verified at CVS.com or with the appropriate manufacturers. #CVSSpringSnacking

If you have kids, then the upcoming spring and summer breaks may have you worried. The never ending, “Mom (or Dad), can I have a snack?” starts almost the moment their feet hit the floor first thing in the morning. It’s replayed throughout the day repeatedly until they go to bed. But it doesn’t have to be that way. You can give the power of choosing and serving snacks to your kids!

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Family Snack Bar: Empower Kids to Make Healthy Choices

One easy way to do it is to create a family snack bar. Located in a convenient location like a sideboard,  a cupboard, or even in the pantry, this easy-to-use snacking station is filled with healthy snacks from CVS that will appeal to everyone in the family. Plus there are snacks that fit every lifestyle including gluten-free, vegetarian, fat-free, and more.

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Family Snack Bar Suggestions:

Since every family’s needs are different and what means “healthy” to your family may differ from mine, creating a personal snack bar gives you a chance to have so many teachable moments with your kids. Lessons on portion control, nutritional choices, and more. Children as young as three can learn the basic lessons in how to choose a snack, scheduling snack time, and more.

My snack bar was created around our eating goals which currently is lowering our sugar intake. Instead of making it about what we can’t have, I created positive labels that identify those snacks that are low in sugar (under 5 grams) and those that have less sugar (under 12 grams). For your family, it may be calories, gluten, protein, fat, etc. Labeling the jars with simple colored dots lets even the youngest family member see at a glance which snacks are the healthiest. For instance, you might have your child choose two 3-dot snacks and one 2-dot snack for the day. That lets her learn to make choices based on the nutrients found in each snack. In our house, snacks with zero dots are treated like desserts and enjoyed less often than say a 3-dot high fiber, low sugar, high fiber treat like popcorn.

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Having choices from sweet to salty and soft to crunchy means you’ll have all tastes and textures covered. Using sealed glass jars keeps the snacks fresh so much longer, and there aren’t empty bags slipping around in the cupboard. There also aren’t’ any surprises – the clear glass lets you see how quickly the snacks are disappearing and when it’s time to replenish. Having paper snack bags and foil cups with lids takes care of the measuring for you and you and the kids can portion your snacks ahead of time. It can also be used to pack snacks for a road trip, a picnic at the park, or for school. Buying in larger sizes and making individual size snacks yourself saves money!

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Creating Your Family Snack Bar

Creating your home snack bar just takes some clean and dry jars (canning jars work great!), a few labels, chalk markers (or write on/wipe off markers), a chalkboard or piece of paper, and about 20 minutes of time. First, write a snack bar key for your family – see mine as an example. Then empty the bags into the jars by cutting off one corner. I kept the wrappers under the jar until they were labeled. Write the name of the snack and using the key you’ve made mark their nutritional properties. Adhere the labels, arrange them in your chosen location, and then introduce the concept to the kids.

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Empowering kids to take care of their snacking needs can get mom and dad off the hook from being the “no snack now” monitor. A few rules, some lessons on when it’s appropriate to have a snack and what a proper serving size is. It’s a lesson kids will benefit from long into adulthood.

You don’t have to have children to take advantage of a family snack bar. It’s a great visual way for adults like me to keep tabs on the calories I’m eating and what those calories are made up of. Eating lower sugar and higher protein snacks are my goal and having choices that are quick and easy let me stay on goal.

Save on CVS Gold Emblem Products

You’ll find Gold Emblem abound Snack, Grocery, and Beverage Coupons on the CVS Pharmacy Free Printable Coupon Page. Clip and print the coupons along with others that can save you hundreds of dollars on products at CVS.

Have you tried a snacking station in your home?