To think she’s just lucky her kids aren’t fussy and not to do with parenting

Well, if I go to a bog standard UK restaurant/ pub and have a look at the kids menu its all chicken nuggets, pizza & chips across the board.

In my home country, kids meals are a smaller version of adult meals.

If I go to a supermarket its similar, smiley potato faces, chicken nuggets, pizza & co are all marketed as children's food from premium brand to budget brand.

I go to my home country and I am lucky to find a child sized cheese & tomato pizza or anything resembling smiley potato faces.

UK parents often pander to their DC food wants rather than giving them what they eat. Making them appear fussy in the process because it's easier or at least they eat something, .... So yes a lot (not all) is actually parenting.

Don’t know about the ME but all the French people I know wouldn’t put up with the crap we do in the UK where kids rule the roost.

It’s definitely both. Just this morning the news is full of stories about how terrible pouches are for our babies and toddlers. They make very sweet and very texturless food normal. Kids raised on these struggle with textures and flavours.

In the UK we’ve also stopped eating home cooked food together at the table so our kids don’t see us eating normally. We generally have a terrible relationship with food, and terrible diets.

Bit of both.

Our eldest was fussy, so we played the long game and now he eats a huge variety of food, will still go for snack things that aren't fruit so we are looking at how to encourage that to change this summer.

We basically "starved" him into eating. But this was when he was younger, no access to own money, didn't leave the house without us, there were no snacks in the house and we introduced flavour, spices, blended onions and garlic so he couldn't "find" them. Oh and lots of other tricks.

The annoying thing is, when out, or on holiday, he happily eats up everything, salad, fruit, veg, spices, as he likes the ceremony, or social, cultural aspect. It's just now in the house although it is getting better.

He wants to get fitter and has been on the treadmill so we are planning on using some further persuasion techniques to make progress.

Youngster will eat everything, bar a couple of dislikes.

My children can definitely be more fussy when they are around other children for mealtimes who are fussy and don’t eat X,Y or Z.
Personally I think there are very few scenarios when a 3 year old will only eat junk that doesn’t just come down to parental responsibility.

I think it's a bit of both too tbh.

She can't just have been lucky with all 4 of them without it being something to do with food culture. My kids weren't fussy, but they had food made with different spices etc from a young age because that's my culture, and that's what is on the table. I think ME food is similar in that there are many more different varieties of flavourings and even vegetables etc used in cooking that would mean the kids would just be exposed to many more flavours and textures. Edited to add yes she's lucky none of her kids are ND or have sensory issues.

Culture definitely has an influence. If lots of other people in their sphere eat well and assume the kids will too, it can have an impact. Both sets of my kid's grandparents serve beige and sugary foods constantly and school meals are rubbish too. The only place he gets served healthy meals is at home but he'll no longer tolerate them 🫤. Eats healthy snacks though, so I don't feel quite so crap about it.

I would say it's probably a combination of things. She's lucky that none of her children have additional needs that could cause restricted or 'fussy' eating. But also I do think it matters what is regularly available on the table as well as the culture around eating and meal times. If she's offering a wider variety of foods consistently and meal times are more social and slower then that's pretty conducive to kids having a better relationship with food in general. Would you have regularly serve the same food or types of food she does when your kids were tiny?

I think it's both.

I think its a bit of both