When you’re a little kid, there’s nothing quite as exciting as food. Unfortunately, having parents who wanted best for us meant that we never quite had access to all the goodies we’d like – except for when we managed to get together enough spare change for the corner shop (those were the days).

Now that children have been off school for so long, the demands for snacks are probably coming in thicker and faster than ever before. When kids are bored, they eat. Yes, that might also be true for adults – but we can at least try and keep our children’s blood sugar low while secretly snacking on their goodies after bedtime.

One mom who was becoming increasingly concerned with how much sugar her kids were consuming during quarantine is Sarah Balsdon. The mom of 4 from Northumberland, UK, decided that there was only one solution to help them cut down on the snacks: installing a vending machine.

We all know just how much kids (and adults, to be honest) love a vending machine. There’s something inexplicably exciting about putting in your pennies and selecting your favorite snack. Though, of course, things get nasty, fast, if your selected snack gets jammed on its way out.

Sarah noticed that her kids – Shannon, 9, Lucy, 8, Jack, 5, and Elijah, 2 – were starting to develop particularly unhealthy snacking habits. The kids were even sneaking snacks upstairs in the hopes that their mom wouldn’t notice. We can hardly blame them – we’re facing a global crisis here! Sarah’s kids are definitely not alone in their midnight munching.

According to Sarah, she tried to pack lunches for them like she did for school, but her clever kids were still finding ways to sneak in the extra snack or two. So the vending machine was really her only solution to her problem – aside from locking the snacks away!

Sarah managed to find the vending machine on Facebook Marketplace, where you can pretty much nab anything nowadays. She collected it and installed it in her home, and it actually looks fairly impressive in her kitchen.

The snacks come at a cost, and the kids can earn money to pay for them through doing chores and schoolwork. This is simply Sarah’s solution for preventing “arguments about unhealthy snacks”, so we assume she still offers out the healthier stuff free of charge.

When Sarah posted her hack to Facebook, her post immediately went viral. People were seriously impressed with the idea, though of course, a few do-gooders dished out the usual parental judgement. This led Sarah to add to the end of the post, “I’m not unreasonable”, after people questioned whether it was fair to make kids pay for their food.

https://www.facebook.com/sarah.watson.501/posts/10158494437293894

But generally, Sarah’s post has gone down well, and she says the reaction has mainly been positive. She added:

“I think people are understanding that the kids are learning about money. They have to work for things, which was a big part of it too.”

Ultimately, Sarah decided to do this to cut down on arguments with her children, so her vending machine has created a happier family situation for all. She wanted parents to remember this:

“There are always fun ways to keep control of parenting during challenging times like lockdown.”

What do you think about Sarah’s unhealthy snack vending machine? Genius idea or a step too far? Let us know in the comments below!

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Source: Cafe Mom, Facebook/ Sarah Balsdon