To not understand why some parents make such poor food choices for their kids?

[Quit4me]

I was standing behind a mum with 2 children in a queue the other day. One child was a baby laying almost flat in a pram aged about 3 months. The other was around 6. The baby was really sweet smiling out of the pram which is what drew my attention to them. Then she grizzled and the mum said ‘whopps sorry I took away the milk buttons didn’t I. She was feeding her (the baby) milkybar buttons. Quite a lot of them.
I then noticed that that the mum was overweight, the nan who was also with them was overweight and most sadly the 6 year old was very overweight /obese.
Why would any mum be feeding their 3 month old chocolate? Obviously the whole family and little girl could have had a medical condition but Barring that why don’t parents see that feeding them sugar and too many processed foods early on is creating so many health problems for their children?
It makes me actually quite angry and sad for the children and I cringe seeing it.
Yes I know it’s none of my business directly, but this is everyone’s business because it’s a huge problem for the UK and is going to increase multi fold in the coming years.

[Gwenhwyfar]

We were given sweets and chocolates as children, not as little babies, but later on. I suppose people think that's what children like, that's what they eat as children, it's normal, etc.
It's changing with every generation though.

[TeenMinusTests]

because they don't know any better
because it is easy
because it is available

[FlibbertyGiblets]

Amazing that you only noticed the family was overweight once you had clocked what the baby was being given despite standing behind them in the queue. Startling, in fact.

Obvs we are not going to say choc buttons are ideal weaning foods, ofc.

[MyFloorIsLava]

Seriously, use your imagination. Is it that hard to think that someone who was brought up in an environment where food was sweet or processed, and hasn't been exposed to environments where that isn't the norm, will make the same choices for their own children?

[Chemenger]

Why didn’t you talk to her rather than come on here and talk about her, if it makes you so sad and angry?

[vodkaredbullgirl]

[unmarkedbythat]

You don't understaaaaaaaaand, OK

[Gooo]

I think that should be considered child abuse/neglect.

[Thehop]

Because they’re passing their own food and lifestyle choices on. Bloody awful to see.

[ComtesseDeSpair]

Because they were brought up by parents who loved them, who gave them those foods, therefore they associate them with love. Because they assume that their parents made good choices for them, so don’t see these things as bad choices. Because obesity is actually a pretty complex issue and many people don’t make an automatic connection between cause and result.

[Ileflottante]

The OP is not a new poster so I’m not sure what to make of this thread. You seem, however, to be very accurate in your ageing of the children.

Obviously a little baby should not be given chocolate. It sounds like, if this is true, then it is down to a distinct lack of education on the subject. Which is why, on a separate note, I cannot understand why how to live and feed yourself healthily, as well as an understanding of managing finances, is not taught in schools.

[MindyStClaire]

YANBU. Most parents want to do the best for their DC, so it's likely lack of knowledge.

I usually take a view of not judging when you don't know the full circumstances. But my birth month FB group with DD2 has been full of posts of people giving weaning babies a McDonald's or some of their (ie full salt) crisps etc.

I give my toddler pretty much anything and she's no stranger to chocolate,I don't believe in making food off limits except for allergies. But still...

[ThePlantsitter]

If it's everyone's business and it makes you angry, what are you going to do about it? You could directly campaign for more education and support, more tax on unhealthy food, easier and cheap access to proper healthy food and cooking lessons or even volunteer to help deliver this stuff yourself. Will you do that now you've seen this woman do you think?

[Whatwouldscullydo]

How were you close enough to see the baby? What happened to social distancing

[An0n0n0n]

Food = love?

Because food and sugar is a cheap and easy way to reward and show love.

[Susanthepig]

Yabu. Keep your nose out.
My toddler eats too many sweets and crap right now. I’ve just had my second baby, I’m living through a pandemic and having major renovation work to my home. I can’t see other people to help me out or leave my house unless it’s to go to the fucking supermarket. Just stop judging.

[Whatafustercluck]

Very few babies should be fed any solids at such a young age, chocolate or not. Most simply aren't physically ready to digest it.

I actually agree op. Regardless of why this happens (lack of education, poor role models or whatever) I'd probably be similarly shocked - as would most people on here if they were honest about it.

It's not fat shaming to agree that lots of fatty, sweet foods almost from birth is simply not healthy. And I say this as someone who is carrying too much weight and recognises I need to do something now to prevent diabetes and heart disease.

[Bluntasduck]

Yeah, I'm sure you never make dodgy parenting choices.

[Mykidhatespastabake]

Many reasons op-
Poverty
Post natal depression ( I had psychosis after baby's birth and some days it was a struggle to get through it)
Fussiness
Just because they like it
A treat

[madmara]

Doesn't sound like you were maintaining a 2 metre distance.

Why can't people follow health guidelines during a global pandemic?

[AnitaB888]

I brought this up on the thread about parents not being able to afford shoes for their DCs and got lambasted for it. Apparently I was being prejudiced and didn't understand their situation.

I've seen mums in supermarkets with trolleys piled high with crisps, sweets, biscuits, cakes, fizzy drinks and a total absence of fresh fruit & veg.
Usually the mum is morbidly obese, (but I'm not allowed to say that because it's 'fat-shaming')
Some supermarkets offer free fruit for kids to eat, so they must realise it's a problem.

The answer IMO is better education - don't they teach domestic science/housecraft any more at school?

This makes me mad - if mums/parents want to eat 'junk food' and shorten their life expectancy, that's their choice but they shouldn't force their unhealthy choices on their children.

[Badabingbadabum]

Whether this is a goady post or not, what I do find interesting is how I was given baby rice at a very young age, juice, sweet baby purees, chocolate, sweets growing up etc. My mums' generation ate sweets, pop, puddings as well but no where near as many people were overweight or obese as they are now.

No one is going to agree that giving a very small baby chocolate is a good thing but I don't thing small amounts of sugar occasionally is the cause of the growing number of obese people in the world.

[Maray1967]

The issue is at least partly down to lack of education/thinking and/or ignoring current advice. I was brought up with too much sweet stuff - the mouthful of fillings testifies to that as there was plenty of teeth brushing going on in my home. I listened to the antenatal guidance, read the NHS book we were given, considered HV advice, at least from my first brilliant HV. I did not blindly do things the way I was brought up. There are plenty of threads on here about dealing with overbearing DMs and MILs who try to do things the way they used to be done and most responses are about the need to make it clear what will happen now, drawing on current advice. My MI L was very helpful about how some things they did decades ago clearly were not good- she knew that. So why don’t other people know it as well? Who on earth thinks that chocolate should be given to a baby of that age? I used to see infant age kids out late at night with older kids (about 10.30) when I used to drive back from my grans - going in takeaways. Same issue - who on earth thinks that is ok? The issue is some kind of resistance to guidance - a kind of ‘they can get lost, I’ll bring my kids up how I like’. I think that’s the challenge - getting new parents to follow sensible advice not necessarily what their own parents did.