Do you often find your child procrastinating when studying? Have you considered providing some study snacks as they get through homework and exam prep?
Today, we’re going to be talking about why providing snacks to your children while they are studying can be great for reducing procrastination. This may sound absurd, but we are going to dive into varied research about the benefits of snacks for your HSC student.
If you can get through this article without getting hungry, stick around! It’s time to learn all about why treating your child may make them more studious.
Are snacks actually good for your child when they study?
What types of snacks should you be providing?
How Providing Snacks Can Reduce Procrastination During Study
Implementing a Snack Service
Are snacks actually good for your child when they study?
The short answer: YES!
On a biological level, teens need a large amount of nutrient-dense food. They are in one of their most rapid stages of growth and therefore need food to stay energised. Snacks can help tip the balance between overeating and feeling hungry between meals.
These small bites of food can also be really great for students in stressful periods, if they don’t feel as if they can consume a whole meal.
Snacks also keep morale high. There is a physical change in brain activity after you consume healthy snacks!
How? Our brains use neurotransmitters to control our moods. The chemicals that affect these neurotransmitters, for better or worse, can often be found in foods. These ‘happy’ foods will work to keep our morale higher throughout the day!
What types of snacks should you be providing?
When considering snacks for your child, you want to be providing things that are healthy, yet they will still enjoy eating. We think there are three key things to keep in mind.
First, does the food you’re offering have any nutritional value? To maintain a good energy balance throughout the day, your child needs to be eating a combo of carbs, protein and fats.
The second thing to consider is the psychological value of the food you’re giving your child. Providing food that positively affects our brain’s neurotransmitters, like we just discussed, is a great idea. This includes a lot of different fruits and veggies, along with some other snacks you can find here.
Another thing you may think about is providing food that will help stimulate their brain while studying. Eating foods full of good fats and protein will help boost memory! You can try things like fish, blueberries or nuts.
Finally, does your child actually like the snack you’re offering? There’s nothing wrong with throwing in some yummy food, like a chocolate or some lollies, every once in a while.
Three Ways that Providing Snacks Can Reduce Procrastination During Study
#1: Eliminates an excuse to get up
We all know that food is used as a form of procrastination. Working from home, you’ve probably used it as an excuse to leave your desk many times. In fact, there’s whole articles written on the affectionately termed ‘procrastineating’.
Let’s break this down on a practical level. If your child is hungry, at a minimum they are going to spend a few minutes going to the kitchen and grabbing a packet of chips.
While this isn’t catastrophic, it can disrupt their workflow. It’s likely they may spend 10-15 minutes preparing snacks at times when they are meant to be working. Do that just four times throughout the day, and they’ve suddenly lost a whole hour of study time!
There’s a reason this happens so commonly — when we are stressed, our brain often looks for a simple delay. Benefits of that delay can release dopamine and help us feel good.
By providing snacks, you limit the opportunities for your child to break their study cycle. They are more likely to stick to a routine and not move each time they are feeling a bit peckish.
This point is super simple to understand — providing snacks increases potential for productivity.
#2: Ensures your child has energy to work
This point bounces off what we have already discussed. When your child is working hard, they are going to need increased energy (on top of the huge amount teenagers already need!).
It’s likely your child is already rather tired, as most students do not get enough sleep during HSC. For these reasons combined, they’re not completely lying if they tell you they can’t stop procrastinating.
The good news is, you can help eliminate this! By providing your child with healthy snacks, you will help boost energy and increase concentration so they can get a great study flow going.
#3: Shows your child that you have tabs on their work ethic
Our final point on this topic is a little more big picture. By giving your child regular snacks, you create a very tangible (yet unobtrusive) parent presence in their study.
This is good for a couple of reasons. First, it shows your child that they have parental support throughout the HSC. As teens get older they often don’t want to be outright told that you’re supporting them, and may respond better to simple actions.
Implementing a snack service shows that you know they are stressed. It also shows that you pay attention to their taste enough to provide things they enjoy and that are beneficial for them.
Showing your children that you have eyes on their study may benefit workflow, too. By providing snacks (and therefore an invested presence like we just discussed), you subtly suggest that you have tabs on their study habits. You know if they’re not working. The simple knowledge of this can help many students to increase their productivity.
What’s the next step?
Now that you know the workflow benefits of providing snacks for your child, you may be wondering about the specific way to implement this system. We have a couple of tips.
#1: Provide healthy snacks at regular times
As we have already chatted about, providing snacks only works well if there’s actually health and morale benefits to what you are offering. You may not have time to bake at home, and that’s okay. At a minimum, be intentional when you go shopping.
Think about providing your child with those good fats and proteins. It’s also a good idea to offer these snacks at regular times in the day, much like you would a meal.
#2: Talk to your child about the reasons you are doing this
You now know all the reasons for offering a snack service, but your child doing their HSC doesn’t! Let them know the idea behind it. Ideally, you’ll explain the reasons without driving it home too far.
Make it a simple conversation, so they know you support them and are meeting them where they’re at.
#3: Teach your child a new skill!
While you might start by entirely providing the snacks, use it as an opportunity to guide your child in nutrition and food preparation. Perhaps show them some of your favourite, healthy recipes that they can prepare for themselves.
Encourage them to only grab snacks in predetermined study breaks. You ultimately want them to come out of this experience with some very practical skills!
And that’s it!
Alright, we’ve been talking about food for a long time now and it’s time to bring it to a close.
This article has given you all the theory and practical points for providing snacks to your child for study. Play around with the system, and find what works best!
Searching for other educational resources? Check out some of our other articles below:
- Negative Self Talk: 3 Ways to Respond to Your Child’s Inner Critic
- How to Help Your Child Reduce Digital Distractions to Stop Procrastinating and Start Studying!
- The Ultimate Guide to Helping Your Child Stay Motivated for the HSC
- Why Study Breaks are Critical to Helping Your Child Maintain Their Wellbeing During the HSC
- The Ultimate Study Skills Handbook: How To Help Your Child Get Organised For The HSC
Are you looking for some extra help for your child during the HSC?
We have an incredible team of HSC tutors and mentors!
We can help your child master their HSC subjects and ace their upcoming HSC assessments with personalised lessons conducted one-on-one in your home or at one of our state of the art campuses in Hornsby or the Hills!
We’ve supported over 8,000 students over the last 11 years, and on average our students score mark improvements of over 20%!
To find out more and get started with an inspirational HSC tutor and mentor, get in touch today or give us a ring on 1300 267 888!
Lucinda Garbutt-Young hopes to one day be writing for a big-shot newspaper… or maybe just for a friendly magazine in the arts sector. Right now, she is enjoying studying a Bachelor of Public Communication (Public Relations and Journalism) at UTS while she writes on the side. She also loves making coffees for people in her job as a barista, and loves nothing more than a sun shower.
