Parents are the reason their child’s school day is derailed, new study reveals

Kids’ after-school “hangriness” strikes at approximately 3:36 p.m., according to a recent poll.

The survey of 2,000 parents of kids aged 5 – 17 investigated the highs and lows throughout the school week for both kids and parents and all the ways parents go the extra mile to do it all during the school season.

According to results, kids come home from school hangry (hungry and angry/grumpy at the same time) three days per week, on average. Parents even admitted they’re hangry two days out of the week.

Commissioned by Cabot Creamery and conducted by Talker Research, the survey found that it only takes a few simple things to derail a typical school day.

Top factors that throw kids and parents off include lack of sleep (54%), running late to school (39%), hangriness (27%) and crashing during the day due to not eating enough high-quality food (22%).

For most respondents (61%), the whole day can feel “off” if the family falls behind schedule while getting ready for the day.

And there’s not much wiggle room to lag on school mornings as parents reported they only have 33 minutes, on average, between waking their kids up and running out the door to school.

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So, unsurprisingly, 40% of respondents said getting their kids ready for school in the morning is the most stressful part of their day and a third (29%) admitted school mornings at their house are chaotic.

And within those 33 minutes from wake time to go time, more than half of parents (52%) are packing their kids’ school lunches.

“Nutrition plays a huge role in keeping your energy levels and mood even-keeled,” said Sara Wing, a nutritionist at Cabot Creamery. “Stocking up on convenient, nutrient-dense snacks that are high in protein like cheddar cheese, whole grain crackers and nuts can help fuel your family through the day.”

Looking into how parents forward-plan to combat moody lows, many will have pre-made snacks waiting for their kids when they arrive home from school (37%), stash extra snacks in their kiddos’ backpacks, that they can snack on throughout the day (33%) and make after-school snacks together at home (29%).

And when asked about tips and tricks to keep their kids healthy and fueled while on the go, parents said to keep snacking simple, forward-plan and stock up on snack foods and have kids pick out snacks they like, that they’ll be excited to eat throughout the week.

Most kids (53%) first order of business after school is to get a snack and must-have snacks, according to parents, are fruit (64%), crackers (49%), granola bars (47%), yogurt (47%) and cheese (46%).

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Looking at snacks through a health lens, respondents’ definition of a healthy snack for their kids includes being easy to prepare (69%), high in protein (52%) and vitamin and nutrient-dense (51%), and most (77%) agree that having quick, healthy snacks for their child makes the day run more smoothly.

Kids’ autonomy is also important to parents when it comes to choosing snacks, as more than eight in 10 (85%) said it’s important that their kids have snack and meal options they can prepare for themselves.

For those that have quick and healthy meal/snack options for their kids (85%), nine out of 10 agree that quick snack and meal options free up more time for quality time together.

And almost seven in 10 respondents (68%) shared that after-school snack time is a special bonding time between them and their child.

“Snacking shouldn’t be stressful,” said Wing. “Simple changes to your routine like packing lunch the night before, prepping meals in advance or buying healthy grab-and-go snacks for the kids — and yourself — can help free up time during the school week.”

Survey methodology:

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Talker Research surveyed 2,000 American parents of school-aged children (ages 5 – 17); the survey was commissioned by Cabot Creamery and administered and conducted online by Talker Research between July 3 and July 8, 2024.

We are sourcing from a non-probability frame and the two main sources we use are:

• Traditional online access panels — where respondents opt-in to take part in online market research for an incentive
• Programmatic — where respondents are online and are given the option to take part in a survey to receive a virtual incentive usually related to the online activity they are engaging in

Those who did not fit the specified sample were terminated from the survey. As the survey is fielded, dynamic online sampling is used, adjusting targeting to achieve the quotas specified as part of the sampling plan.

Regardless of which sources a respondent came from, they were directed to an Online Survey, where the survey was conducted in English; a link to the questionnaire can be shared upon request. Respondents were awarded points for completing the survey. These points have a small cash-equivalent monetary value.

Cells are only reported on for analysis if they have a minimum of 80 respondents, and statistical significance is calculated at the 95% level. Data is not weighted, but quotas and other parameters are put in place to reach the desired sample.

Interviews are excluded from the final analysis if they failed quality-checking measures. This includes:

• Speeders: Respondents who complete the survey in a time that is quicker than one-third of the median length of interview are disqualified as speeders
• Open ends: All verbatim responses (full open-ended questions as well as other please specify options) are checked for inappropriate or irrelevant text
• Bots: Captcha is enabled on surveys, which allows the research team to identify and disqualify bots
• Duplicates: Survey software has “deduping” based on digital fingerprinting, which ensures nobody is allowed to take the survey more than once

It is worth noting that this survey was only available to individuals with internet access, and the results may not be generalizable to those without internet access.

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