British kids and eating habits - IABU ?

LOL

yes, bread is well known to be quick and easy when made from scratch. 😂

Are you on crack?

We took DS to France when he was 6 months old. His first weaning foods were the frites and chunks of baguette the waiters kept giving him in restaurants!

No she’s not. Sweeping statements comparing ‘the continent’ to the UK as if everyone in these places all think and act exactly the same way - that’s bllocks. (My SIL is from ‘the continent’ and she eats shed loads of processed crap btw) Also, kids from ‘the continent’ don’t have tantrums - utter bllocks.

🤢

Swedish school lunches are rank 🤢

My half-Spanish kids living in Spain do but maybe it's my dastardly British influence. I have occasionally been known to feed them baked beans 😱
I would agree that baked beans are very frequently referred to as a pretty healthy option, though. One of your 5-a-day, their protein and fibre content being described as positive.

I don’t think that most kids would eat lentil or vegetable soup or vegetarian chilli unless they were vegetarians and used to it.

What cheap jacket potato fillings are there if beans are excluded? A “delicious” chickpea curry?

Schools in the Netherlands don’t provide lunch

You also see it on kids menus in restaurants. Id always much rather order a selection of adult food that introduces new tastes, textures and varieties for the kids and share those than the usual tomato pasta, burger, fish fingers or chicken nuggets shown as suitable for kids. Don't think this is an issue in Europe.

There is nothing you can do about that though. If this is important to you, you need to just say no. Just as dome parents say no to screen time.

In our house what ' so and so i allowed' is never a valid argument. You just have to fight the battles you feel are worth fighting.

Also, a lunch at school/nursery still gives you plenty of chance to instil good habits at home.

You cant change what others feed their kids, or what the school feed them. Chances are you willncome
Across as pretentious or unpleasant. Just feed them what you like at home.

@NotAlexa is right. Read the french children don't throw food book. It has been the model for how we raise our little one. Veg and meat mainly followed by fruit, cheese and yoghurt. In France, nurseries serve three course meals. Veg/salad to start, meat or fish course and then a cheese and fruit course. I can't believe reconstituted chicken and smiley face potatoes can be cheaper than some grated salad, chicken drummer and a slice of cheese.

Can't believe MN has let the racism on here stand. Literally people telling OP to go back to where she came from. Horrific, can't believe you aren't all seeing that for what it is. It's ok to ask a question about British culture, and it's ok to not know if those things are the same in other countries if you haven't also been a parent in the other country.

Why not just stick to discussing what is healthy food and if schools should and are providing it, why get into a "go back to where you came from" cesspool.

If you don't like the food provided at your childcare surely the options are to only have a packed lunch, get over it, or lobby the school - the option is not omg you must leave the UK for wondering if something is as good as it could be.

I don’t think this is true or anyone I know and you can certainly buy processed meats and cheese in Northern Europe and people do, In fact certain cheddars here are better for your gut bacteria than the above. I have Scandinavian heritage and sausages, bacon are certainly a feature of the diet.

Apologies if this has been said…but instead of a subtle underhand mocking of British ‘people’, what about recognising the marketing and food production methods used in the country, presented to parents, normally frantically running around a supermarket with small children following, (because our childcare system is shocking and we are spending a full wage on paying for nursery-but that’s a different story), or struggling to find food to fill their children because of low wages, and the BOGOFs and ‘frozen meal bundles for £5’ are the only thing that person can manage.
School lunches-not conjured up by parents. The guidelines are created by the government, and councils have minimise funds to provide the food.

I would say, for the sake of your kids try to explain to them the back of the ingredients list on packaging and definitely show them pictures of obese people so they know what can be the result of sugar/aspartame overdose and processed food eating. Definitely going to do that to my DD when she is old enough to read.

This sounds like a future eating disorder just waiting to happen…

It costs hardly anything to make veg or lentil soup, or a jacket potato with toppings, or a vegetarian chilli though.

What utter b*llocks

With respect, it is a bit of a tradition to have dessert after a Sunday roast.
You are within your rights to give your child what foods you think are best. I’m sure most children haven’t suffered terribly having baked beans and sausage.

🙋‍♀️me pre kids would have thought like you.but you’ve pretty much described my child’s diet. She’s 2. BUT I think you think this stuff is worse than it is. in my case the sausages are high quality meat, similarly fish fingers. Chips are natural ones, I use no added sugar Heinz beans and the salt is 0.4% I was skeptical of your suggestion of 10% sugar, 20% salt. Normal version is 4.3% sugar 0.6% salt. We give low salt free range ham sandwiches. My daughter refuses many foods. I do try her on other things, she loves rice and fruit and occasionally veggies. I’d love her to eat the lovely home cooked meals I make. But she doesn’t and so I think this is fine.

The food in the UK is noticeably more processed than in other countries I've lived in. The higher obesity rates reflect this. YANBU

Just a little something for the OP here ...

Croatia and Malta (both 64.8 per cent) had the highest proportion of overweight people in the EU. Almost two out of every three were considered overweight in these countries.
20 Dec 2023
Adult obesity in England. The Health Survey for England 2021 estimates that 25.9% of adults in England are obese and a further 37.9% are overweight but not obese.

All parents have a choice in what they feed their children. Most parents with young children I know restrict sugar and cook healthy meals for their children, from 'scratch'. School meals are not a very good example of British cuisine to be fair. Schools receive funding of around £2.50 per meal but remember that's not just the cost of the food as schools have to pay for staff, energy to cook the food etc etc., so the budget doesn't really lend itself to avocado, spinach and organic chicken. Most schools that I know also have a salad bar for children to help themselves to. As I said though, you have a choice whether you want your kids to eat them. As a final note, if the meals were super healthy and without any sugar, and all boiled or steamed for example, then lots of children probably wouldn't want to eat them. In an ideal world they would but of course ...

Also - I had to check my hunch - but OPs country has some of the highest rates of obesity in Europe 😂(Malta, for those who missed it).

Oh you give your children juice, do you? Mine only drink filtered water.

Just everyone stop with the ghastly food snobbery and chauvinism.

Everyone’s doing their best. In general, food in the UK is good, having overcome the privations of years of rationing after WW2. School dinners are badly underfunded but some children like them. I’ve had good and bad meals all across Europe, and noticed plenty of fast food joints and processed ready meals sold in supermarkets there. Someone must be buying them.

OP you don't say what country you originate from, but many European countries have unhealthy options - just different ones.

European countries generally invest more money into school lunches than the UK so lunch nutrition is better.

The option of course is to send your child in with a packed lunch.

It's undeniable that obesity is currently higher in children in UK than many other countries. It's probably a mistake to think this is all nutrition based though. We also work longer hours, have worse weather, have a more crowded island - they all contribute to making choices around exercise and recreation more difficult.

As a parent, it's your choice how you feed your child. UK has many more things going for it, lower child poverty, free healthcare, lower child severe health issues, free vaccinations, better education, the list goes on.

The sweet at the end of the meal, either before or after the cheese, is a northern European trope. You will find it in both France (cheese then sweet course btw) an also e.g. Germany. It's a different tradition. It's not a bad thing and the British are renowned for their enormous variety of puddings, both hot and cold (and also savoury as well as sweet).
NB I can't know you are an ex-vegetarian, but again black pudding (and white) are northern dietary tropes based on pig husbandry. You will find them both in most northern European countries, or variations upon. I did not like black (blood) pudding on reputation but tried it and loved it - in my first marriage I was 98% vegetarian, too.