Why do people enjoy giving little children junk food?

[Tietheapron]

I am very much in favour of balance in all areas. DS is two. At the moment, we haven’t got a massively fussy stage - there’s a handful of things he doesn’t seem too keen on and I imagine this will probably expand as he gets a bit older before then (hopefully!) getting a bit more variety. So to give an example, on Thursday he had porridge for breakfast and then a rich tea biscuit at a music group we go to in the morning. Then had to go into the bank so he had to go in the pushchair - had a banana to keep him quiet! As a result all he wanted for lunch was maybe half a ham sandwich and a few baby crisps. Then homemade pizza with veg on for tea. I’m explaining this so it’s clear I don’t completely raise him on fruit grown from the garden and eggs from our own chickens.

But then this morning he ate a bowl of shreddies and then DH gave him a biscuit, actually going in the kitchen to get him one (so not like DS found them and hoovered one up.) Visit PIL and they try to ply him with mars bars and ice creams, big ones for adults. (We don’t see PIL often, not for this reason as they are actually lovely people but they aren’t local.) Brother came to see DS and took him for a walk in the park, ignored the water bottle and bought him a fruit shoot and fruit pastilles.

I don’t want to sound like a neurotic mum here and I’m sure plenty of people will say to get a grip, I’m lucky people are nice to DS but I suppose this is my question really - why does kindness and love have to be shown through food? Isn’t it enough to go to the park with him, to read to him, play in the garden (they do this too!)

I hate sounding like a killjoy but I really don’t want him associating everyone but me with junk food!

Our grandson would choose carrots and sugar snaps over most things. He also enjoys chocolate and cake. Moderation.

Ah I have this too, last time my mum did this she was offering them chocolate penguins whilst they already had a Twix in their mouth 🙄

I also remember a long running battle with her when ds was 6 months old. Literally just started weaning and she was OBSESSED with giving them chocolate buttons because “babies love chocolate buttons” I kept refusing on the grounds that they don’t love what they’ve never had and there was no need. She snuck them in and gave them on the quiet in the end.

I think she is just a natural feeder and giving food is how she expresses herself 🤷‍♀️

I agree with you. When my kids were small we would often walk up to a little row of shops and they'd have the choice, sweet shop on the left or greengrocers on the right. They probably chose the greengrocers more often, a small bag of grapes/strawberries/blue berries/nuts or a peach/apple/banana but some days they chose the sweets but the sweets weren't a treat or a big deal, just another choice. I am hopelessly addicted to sugar (I wonder if sugar rationing still being a thing when I was born is part of it) but none of my children are.

I never kissed mu children on the lips buy I don’t see anything wrong with others doing it. It’s very natural.
My friend still kisses her father on the mouth though and her Mother come to think of it and it turns my stomach. Why on earth you would kiss your parents or siblings on the mouth as an adult is beyond me. Vile.

Rich tea are biscuits that should only be used for dunking in, erm, tea.
imho you are sadly misguided feeding it to a child without the tea to dunk in and therefore not a treat at all. More of an endurance with all that dry crumb.
unless of course they “ self dunked” by sucking it till the correct dropping consistency
😊😉

Off topic but I’m just responding to a comment.
Definitely your issue. Other people’s children I’m with you 100% but to never have kissed your own child on the lips (unless you are a sufferer of the dreaded cold sore) is unusual. I’ll still kiss mine on the lips and they’re adults and I kiss my parents on the lips too. Not every time I see them - but sometimes it’s just appropriate.

The type of food available is so different than what I remember or was allowed when I was younger (born in the 80s).

Yes I'd occasionally be allowed to delve my hand into my GP biscuit barrel and get a custard cream or a bourbon biscuit and ice cream after dinner would be a rectangle from a block with a wafer either side or a choc ice but everything is so much bigger and more processed now. You could have a couple of custard creams for less than 100 calories but a Mars bars is 300+ an in no way appropriate for a toddler.

Couldn’t agree more with this. Companies spend billions making UPF more and more appealing to us, lace the food with addictive ingredients that make us want more. As a result, we have an obesity epidemic in this country yet parents seem to think it’s appropriate for children to restrict themselves when being offered this highly addictive food adults struggle to have self-control with.

The answer is modelling through our own eating behaviours when younger and educating children as they get older. My 5 and 6 year olds know that whilst these foods taste amazing and we want to keep eating them, large quantities are not good for our bodies and the impact they have on their teeth and other body functions. They also know what is good for us, how it nourishes us and why it should be the main part of our diet. When at parties, they may have a little extra but I am not leaving it to their willpower to ensure they have a healthy diet on a daily basis.

I think every now and then is fine, but yes that can easily spiral to everyday.

It's not really food though is it. I mean what's in a rich tea biscuit that is good for a child? If kids were raised on healthy, real foods then they wouldn't know any better. So why do we force them to have unhealthy treats?

It's funny when people say my toddler will only eat X. Well where do you think they got X from in the first place that now they only crave and eat X?

Mistaken belief that is good for you, like a savoury version of Comfort food,
what 🍫 chocolates and sweets are for some people,

Also lack of or poor culinary cooking 🍳 skills ,
Their Parents lacked poor cooking 🍳 skills for whatever reasons,
So it becomes a next generation type of thing handed down,
Just like any Dysfunctional family thoughts attitudes/behaviours ect

Also it's appears to be relatively cheap,
But actually it's not,
Faulty perception, way of thinking 🤔

School children/people are not educated enough about the benefial properties of vitamins enough...

My mother had a strict no junk food rule in place while I was growing up. I now have a very healthy approach to food, I eat a very balanced diet and don’t have a sweet tooth. I don’t like sugary food, like chocolate, sweets, ice cream, cake etc at all. So that approach does work. I’m so thankful I don’t have the food as a mindset. I treat myself with other things, experiences etc. I will have a no junk food policy when own daughter is weaned too, as it worked for both my brother and I.

The answer to OP's question - "Why do people enjoy giving little children junk food?" - is (sad but) obvious: it is because junk food is a crazily profitable business, and so is advertised and hard-sold at great expense. Why is the cashier's till preceded by ranks of sweeties? Why does the local Tesco have an aisle (one of only three) of (just) crisps? Why are sweet things so prevalently advertised on TV? Yes, because commercial profit.

Of course, yes I know, "I am not at all influenced by adverts" ... We all think for ourselves ... What's wrong with a little treat now and then? ... "Never did me any harm" ...

But, well, follow the money. Of course advertising works; if it didn't money would not be spent on it. And, I'm sorry, but advertising works with you, too, whatever you may tell yourself. (And me, of course ...)

One of my daughters has a rule with her children, "No snacks between meals, no junk food." Not ever, not any. Her kids are healthy and strong ... and as happy and contented as the day is long.

Also, that daughter does not let her kids watch adverts on screens. That helps; needs a firm hand at the start, but it works.

I think its adults putting grown up feelings about food and trying to treat the child ie chocolate is a big treat you will like me for giving it to you. Whereas as you said your child was happy with a banana as a treat . Young children put value on food they love cheese fruit or goodies if they like them all are a treat. We teach them to value treat food more as they are forbidden ie chocolate crisp etc as something extra special so they want it more.

I never kissed mine on the lips, never let anyone else do it. An aunt kissed me on the lips, I was around 3, had the most horrendous herpes (cold sores) outbreak and they have dogged me all my life. If I could go back in time and stop that one thing I would.

As a teenager you could guarantee I'd get an outbreak for any party/disco or special occasion, it badly affected my self confidence. I come from a big Catholic family so lots of Baptisms and weddings, there isn't a photo of me at any event where I don't have cold sores.

Kissing them on the forehead, cheek, top of the head also shows affection without the risk.

So for me I'm not in the slightest worried about it being sexual but it isn't worth it. I'm sure people will tell me they've never had a cold sore so they are safe but most people who carry the herpes virus don't know they have it but they still shed virus.

An adult is an adult regardless of parent status imo it makes no difference.

I agree OP. Soon enough, all kids will discover junk food, sweets, chocolate etc . The longer you can delay that, the better. I miss the days when my now teens would happily eat the healthy packed lunch I’d brought, blissfully unaware of chicken nuggets and Big Macs!

"You are twisting and putting words in my mouth that I have not said or implied imo."

Where?

OP I apologize the thread has derailed because of my comment I’m bowing out now. I don’t know high coco chocolate had high caffeine my kids only had a bit and seem fine so don’t take my advice without researching first. Both my teenagers eat a small piece of 80% or above chocolate if they fancy a treat now and they never eat any other sort of sweets or chocolate. Their choice now they are teenagers. Good luck with the sugar issue.

It's a question of balance isn't it?
I mainly give fruit, cheese, raisins, yoghurt, avocado etc as snacks, but also a blueberry pancake or a baby snack just cause it's easy and won't make loads of mess

I'm with you OP, I don't get it. We have an obesity crisis and all you have to do is look at the number of ads for weight loss products and services for adults to know how many people have an issue with their relationship to unhealthy foods. And yet people throw this stuff at tiny children! Let's get them addicted young eh?

I used to get very frustrated with my kids (now older teens) that wherever we went (toddler groups, children's parties, school events etc) there were always biscuits, sweets, crisps, junk food etc. I also found it frustrating that grandparents always wanted to give big bags of sweets. The amount of food crap available to my kids outside my house meant I had to avoid giving them any sweets or chocolate myself or they'd have had way too much and I found that annoying too - I wanted to be able to give the occasional treat as a reward.

It didn't take me long to just kind of give up and let my kids eat the standard UK diet of crap, mine were both very fussy eaters and had enormous tantrums. I regret that I gave in, looking back I wish I'd been quite strict and raised them on salad and lentils, fish and chicken and vegetable soups instead of the 'kids food' they ended up eating. Not all of their diet was my choice as I worked full-time and DH did the cooking and he's a bigger fan of rich oily food and junk food than I am.

It's great to see that my 16-year-old is telling us he wants to eat more healthily and rejecting some of our family meals as being too oily or heavy. But my 19-year-old gets through a shocking amount of junk food and chocolate etc and I do worry about health issues he may have in the future because of this.

The teens I know who had parents who were strict about giving their kids brown bread, vegetables, lentils etc all eat more healthily than those teens who grew up with more junk food and treats.

Sugar is very harmful for your body. It stresses it. None of us should be eating it in anywhere near the quantities that we are. For tens of thousands of years, we have eaten a no sugar diet. Now, we are saturated with it and it shows in our societal lack of health and diseases caused by our unhealthy diets.

Giving kids sweets and biscuits isn't a treat. It's harmful for their bodies. We will all still give them junk but can we honestly say it is good or indifferent for them?

The amount of people here who think that the amount of exercise he does makes a difference show how little they know about nutrition. You can't mitigate a biscuit with exercise, that's ridiculous. There are so many reasons that junk food is bad for a kid other than putting on weight because they don't exercise.

The WHO recommends they shouldn't have sugar until 2 so a fruit shoot and packet of fruit pastilles is way too much. So many of my friends wouldn't let their kid have this.

For all of you who think it's ok to give your kids crap as long as they play out, well I hope you enjoy giving your kids an engorged fatty liver and rotten teeth.

What?! This is the most ridiculous comment I've ever seen!!

I always kiss my kids on the lips!!

This!! My parents were super strict about sugary treats, I didn't even know sweets existed till I started school and they couldn't hide it any longer 😂 even fruit juice was rationed.

But as soon as I was getting myself home from school and could go to shops I ate my body weight in treats and I still have a very unhealthy relationship with food - binging and guilt!! Happy medium is very important with these things.

But as a sugar addict I love a rich tea, def a treat in my book 😂

Absolutely this! I totally agree!!