To think most kids hardly eat any fruit and veg

@ButteredRadish pls don't feel bad. This is MNs where the dc are reading in the womb, composing as a toddler, writing prose in reception & they all become striking & incredibly tall dc. This is not reflective of real life! 😆

They possibly don't get many biscuits or chocolate at home so always jump on the chance when at other people's houses!

I also wouldn't think what a child eats on a play date is necessarily indicative of what they eat at home.

MNs is not the right audience for this!

I tend to find sweet fruit is fairly popular & cucumber/carrot sticks. Other veg tends to be avoided.

My kids don't eat a lot of veg, they tend to stick to salad items. But fruit they love!

My son eats around 5 portions of fruit a day and around 3 portions of veg. I would like it to be higher.

Veg possibly. Fruit is an easy win with my DS tbh.

This thread is making me genuinely feel like the shittest mum alive. DD only eats carrots & apples. She does have diagnosed Autism and ARFID and the NHS dietician she saw has all but given up(!) but I do still feel guilty when I read about kids eating broccoli, watermelon, blueberries etc. breaks my heart 💔

My incredibly fussy child eats fruit with no issues but vegetables are another matter. Especially when the come in the form of bits e.g. bits of onion in a sauce, bits of brocoli, bits in salad. I can only hope they will grow out of it because as a child I hated bits too.

I think it probably seems like your own kids eat more because inherently what you have in the house reflects what they eat? In my house I would serve as a snack cucumber, apple slices, carrot sticks, blueberries and raspberries, say, and my kids would eat every bite. But if they went to someone else's house and were served bananas, cauliflower, satsumas, pepper strips and raw tomatoes they wouldn't eat them - and so someone might conclude, quite reasonably but entirely incorrectly, that they don't eat fruit or veg.

I've never met a child who doesn't eat fruit. I've known a few be fussy with veg but not fruit. I've met a lot of children too through work, family and my own children.

My kids eat a reasonable amount of fruit and veg, but almost never as snacks, so don't tend to think of them as snack food. Today they had apple slices & toast for breakfast, cucumber sticks & strawberry as part of lunch & will have carrots, green beans & broccoli with tea. But if I offer them a "snack" they would be expecting a biscuit, crisps or maybe nuts, and would feel disappointed if the snack on offer turned out to be fruit. (Snacks in our house are almost always treat food,but limited to one per day)

I find my son and his friends have voracious appetites for fruit. Vegetables much more variable. But things like grapes, cherries, bananas, strawberries and watermelon are always devoured.

This isn’t true for my experience at all. I’ve hosted dozens of kids parties and done the catering for all of my extended family. I’ve always provided fruit platters with rainbow fruit kebab, water melon sticks or mixed melon balls. The kids always hoover them up and the carrot and Pepper batons, onion bhajis and samosas always go down well too.

My kids like their fruit and veg just like it is at home, so maybe it's not presented in a familiar way. DD1 had a massive meltdown at age 3 because a friend cut the carrots the wrong shape (circles instead of batons) rendering them inedible. I wonder if the kids are just not used to berries? They are very pricey and lots of families probably can't afford to buy them often.

But what else are you offering? My dc eat a huge amount of fruit and veg. I’d say probably 6 servings of fruit a day at least, plus the veg they eat for meals, and veg is usually the first thing they eat off the plate.

But play dates are usually free for alls for getting other people’s parents to feed you junk. I definitely offer up crisps and biscuits and ice lollies when friends are over that we don’t normally eat day to day. If they asked for crisps and chocolate, and you gave them crisps and chocolate plus some fruit, I would totally expect them to gorge on the treats and leave the fruit.

My child who's nearly 3 possibly has ARFID and it took a long time to get him eating fruit. Hell still only eat grapes, apples and pears. I'm so bloody grateful he eats those as he's got such a limited diet. I think alot of kids obviously prefer chocolate and crisps so probably hold off on the fruit as they know they'll get the junk if they hold out long enough

It was late 1980s. My dad always wanted to eat like it was the 1950s though so we were well behind!

@spoonbillstretford Was that a long time ago? Spaghetti bolognaise is pretty standard fare at all the working class families I know. Butter much less so as it is very expensive.

I can still remember after we moved to live in a more middle class area, things like going to my friend's house when I was about 11 and her mum made home made spag bol - I was in heaven. And for breakfast we had really buttery toast and really nice fresh bread not Mighty White and with actual butter not Flora.

Also remember my dad moaning as he did the food shopping and I'd go with him and I always wanted something expensive- particularly after experiencing things at friends' houses. He was a soft touch though as he'd often buy it, while being grumpy about it. I was always a wannabe foodie.

To be fair my DS hates berries but likes plenty of other fruit and veg 🤷‍♀️

My kids ate fruit and veg at home but associate having friends round with eating more junky food like biscuits.
I don’t know if they still do free fruit at school but my kids knew which friends like which fruit.

He was raised by the classic mum in the 70s and 80s with salad and brown bread being seen as suspicious middle-class nonsense. Lucky bastard got potato waffles, which were the height of decadence to me at the time.

So was I, though we did have salad on a Saturday. All other veg was cooked to death. Fruit tended to be tinned or stewed. Oddly it made me love it though, the lack of veg made me want it more and anything fresh seemed a treat. Broccoli and spinach weren't a thing when I was little either (other than in Popeye cartoons), so I still think of them as something quite sophisticated and I absolutely love it even though I eat them twice a week at least.

You've answered your own question - you offer a favourable alternative and kids learn fast.

Kids often try it on at other people's houses because other parents aren't as invested in pushing a hard line for healthy treats over biscuits for other people's kids.

Mine will literally eat any fruit and veg gleefully at home (except raw carrot) and gets the 30 a week but as soon as goes to school she scrapes her veg and when offered a snack at a friend's house will ask what it is with her cutest hopeful face before committing.

At home we have an eat it or don't rule and all meals are diverse and healthy (yes, she gets treats in moderation) but there are no alternatives for meals and we don't do dessert.

But to see her in public, you'd be forgiven for thinking she doesn't like or eat much fruit and veg. You're only getting a snapshot.

My dds have always been pretty good with fruit & veg but I wouldn't really offer fruit as a snack on a playdate unless they asked for it. I do however always serve veg with lunch or dinner & I have noticed most of my dd's friends won't eat it. I do wonder if they would eat it at home but feel they can get away with not eating it at someone else's house. Dd2 had 1 v fussy friend who wouldn't eat the carrots I served as they were the 'wrong shape"!!