"On average, children reach for cookies, chips and other treats about three times a day, consuming nearly 600 daily calories from snacks. That’s an increase of 168 snack calories compared with what children ate in the late 1970s."
Here's the rest of the article from the New York Times.
While checking out of my local sporting goods store, this is a quick snapshot that I took . . . candyland! By the way, you see the Skittles in the picture? It weighs in at 680 calories and 31 teaspoons of sugar.