The 5 Kid Snacks Every Parent Secretly Wants to Eat

I have a semi-shameful secret. It’s a victimless crime I commit either alone in a dark kitchen, crouched in front of my fridge while my family is glued to the television, or during the 15 minutes a week I am alone on the train or in a taxi. I know it’s ridiculous and it’s stealing from my children, but I just can’t stop.

I love children’s snacks. Not all the time and certainly not all of them, but some of those little goodies marketed towards the youngsters are just too tempting to resist. Time and again, I try to make myself gravitate towards the snacks I bought for my husband and myself and yet I still find myself reaching towards the kid-approved section of the pantry. These are the kids’ snacks I (and several moms and dads I know) can’t stop eating.

Annie’s organic snacks likely have some illegal substance in them (kidding) because the only way to stop eating their stuff is to physically remove the boxes from your home. The cheddar bunnies are crunchy and cheesy but not greasy. The chocolate chip bunny grahams taste like the ideal tiny chocolatey cookie treat. And the boxed mac and cheese? Just stop it.

Don’t look at me like you haven’t cooked the entire box then eaten it out of the pan while you watch Vanderpump Rules. And if you haven’t, you haven’t lived.

My husband loves these things. He pops them like candy and then lets them melt on his tongue. He loves that they are sweet, creamy, and don’t need to be chewed. It’s the ultimate lazy treat (well, cotton candy and ice cream don’t need to be chewed either, but they really feel much more like junk food).

Learn more: Frozen Yogurt Dots

These are tater tots disguised as healthy snacks. They are absolutely delicious baked until crispy and then topped with Sriracha or dunked in sour cream. They are creamy inside, crispy outside, and — bonus — actually contain kale and all its healthy properties.

These two-ingredient pancakes can be augmented to include peanut butter or spinach, or kept as is. They are great foods for babies to practice picking up and gumming, an ideal way to make sure older kids get a healthy breakfast and, truth be told, they are so tasty with maple syrup that I have been known to scarf down an entire batch on my own during nap time. Oops.

Get some recipes: 10 Little Upgrades for Your Two-Ingredient Banana Pancakes

It’s not a foot-long fruit roll-up like you had in your lunch box as a kid, but it is sticky, chewy, and intensely sweet. I guess not everyone likes chewing a plank of tacky strawberry-jam flavored health candy to make sure they get their day’s fruit intake, but some days it totally fits the bill for me. Bonus: When I was pregnant I kept them in my bag for last-minute sugar crashes and they both lasted forever and never made me nauseated.

Get a recipe: You Only Need 2 Ingredients for This Watermelon Fruit Leather

What kids’ snacks do you secretly love to eat? Let us know in the comments.