Remember that snacks, whether they are eaten mid-morning, after school, or before bed, should be thought of as mini meals, an opportunity to refuel a depleted body. They need not be large, as long as they are nourishing to growing bones and maturing bodies.

A snack needn't be a processed food full of preservatives and refined sugar. (Though there is nothing wrong with it if they are, at times.) It is preferable for a child to take five minutes to microwave a potato with butter rather than to grab a package of potato chips, to roll a slice of Swiss cheese around a few slices of turkey instead of grabbing a protein bar.

When soda pop is not available for the thirsty child, it's a cinch that he or she will pour a glass of water, fruit juice lemonade, decaffeinated green tea, or milk instead.

Nutritionally dense foods are bound to fall to your child's hand if cookies, pastries, candy, chips, and ice cream are not to be regularly found on your pantry or freezer shelves as a matter of course.

Here are some easy, quick and healthful snacks that kids can make all by themselves, or that you might want to prepare ahead of time and leave for them:

• Peanut butter on crackers
  
• Cheese on crackers
  
• Cream cheese with olives on open-faced bread
  
• Raw or dried fruit or fruit rolls
  
• Vegetables, which stay fresher and are more inviting to your child when they are pre-washed, pre-cut, and/or pre-peeled and left standing up in a glass jar of water in the refrigerator.
  
• Cocoa with milk
  
• Water, flavored with a heaping spoonful of your child's favorite jelly or preserves.
  
• Tuna salad rolled in a lettuce leaf
  
• A blender-prepared smoothie containing yogurt, banana, OJ and berries of choice.
  
• Hard boiled eggs
  
• String cheese
  
• Baked apple with cinnamon and raisons, topped with a dollop of Marshmallow Fluff
  
• Yogurt with granola, fruit or nuts
  
• Soup in a cup
  
• Cereal and milk
  
• Leftovers from dinner the night before. Invite your child to be creative. Cut up left over chicken and have your child mix it together with leftover cold pasta, broccoli heads, and cashews, then top with salad dressing. Not too much left? That's okay when it's only a snack.
  
• Pre-cut bagged lettuce salad sprinkled with Parmesan or feta cheese and your child's favorite dressing.
  
• Chocolate dipped bananas, strawberries or dried apricots
  
• Microwave Popcorn
  
• Nuts, sunflower seeds, trail mix
  
• Hummus