Bottomless pit children rant

[Joeydoesntsharefood25]

This is lighthearted before anyone thinks I am really moaning.

My boys are 7 and nearly 5. They never stop being hungry. Both are tall for their age but skinny and very robust. Today they both had a huge bowl of porridge with fruit, nut butter and flaxseed in it, a mid-morning snack cheese, nuts and an apple, then a substantial lunch of homemade lentil and bean soup and 2 slices of toast, fruit. Then we went to soft play where they had a small chocolate bar and a drink. Then at home they had some oatcakes and another apple, then they've just had dinner of 3 fish fingers, a huge pile of new potatoes, peas and green beans and then a bowl of grewk yoghurt and banana. And my nearly 5 year old is still hungry!!!! He eats more than me, God help me when they are teenagers!!

Crickey. Im going to need a second job by the sounds of it!

Ah, I have five sons. They never stop eating. The teen is a swimmer and eats double what his dad can put away. The 12 yr old is skinny but never stops eating. The 10 year sees punnets of fruit as single portions. And the 4 and 1 yr olds are not far behind.

Both of mine (out of teens now but both into lifting and swimming) live off chicken, veg and rice dinners (batch cook), porridge, eggs, fruit, full fat yoghurt, avocados, bagels, eggs, cheese.

When they’re at home they both do that opening the fridge thing, where they stare at the contents, grunt, close the fridge and then open it again in the hope that it has been magically refilled.

Lol at a punnet of fruit as 1 portion. Thats why it never lasts more than a day here too.

I am loving the solidarity of all these mums and their ravenous boys!

My 8 year old eats 6 wheatabix as a snack.

He had a whole pizza, half a garlic bread for tea tonight but then decided before bed (45mins later) that he needed a massive bowl of cereal as he’s hungry.

I will give him a bigger portion than myself for most dinners he loves as he doesn’t stop!

Snacks:

Hard boiled eggs, hard to eat more than 3

Peanut butter sandwiches

Full fat yogurt with homemade apple stew

Banana bread

Cheese sandwiches

Yep mine is 24 as is girlfriend. They're grazers. They'll eat at midnight after meeting friends for a drink. I send them off to Lidl, tell them to buy whatever they fancy, give DS my credit card. They fill the fridge and cupboard with stuff on top of the meals we cook. DS does cook for us too. I love his mexican and Thai cooking.

I think girls that are heavily into sports training will be equally ravenous, but may be under pressure about body image.

My parents are pescatarian but when my brother was a teenager they actually bought meat just for him as they couldn’t keep him fed! Meat is cheaper as I’m sure you know well so they’d cook a chicken or a roast for him and he’d eat the whole thing after school one day.

I would think you need more after soft play than a wee chocolate and a drink - post activity my kids really need a protein bump. My daughter is 13 and a dancer and constantly eating so tends to eat peanut butter by the spoonful after a long class.

This is my boys. I remember going to Bruges in Feb when pregnant with my second, it was absolutely freezing and I was quite grateful my 2yo seemed to need a full meal every few hours as we could stop inside at places and be warm, while I couldn’t eat any more myself. My eldest is 10 and I am starting to keep a mental list of things they can cook themselves as teens to keep my sanity. Pastas, fried rice, baked potatoes. We do 4 meals a day when he has a lot of sport on, plus snacks and fruit of course, the 4th meal is often just half a dozen eggs on toast, then for supper he has 6 weetbix. No low fat anything in our house, both boys are tall and sporty.

But I’m impressed they eat lentil bean soup - is it a particularly delicious one? Recipe please if so!

This is eggtortionate

Chocolate milk is a great thing to have after exercise.

Haha eggscelent

Maybe they are having simultaneous growth spurts? I’ve got two boys and a girl and noticed over the years that the boys have sudden insatiable appetites / for a few weeks while being a bit more tired - then suddenly notice they have grown out of their clothes / shoes 🙈🤣!! My daughter’s growth spurs were more gradual. Obviously that’s my own experience but my boys have always eaten a lot more than my daughter does!

One thing to consider is that it’s a myth that we should all eat exactly the same every day as our appetites vary depending on growth and development phases, activity that day but if had a very active day the day before this can impact. Other days when having less active days - often appetite may be less. This is why I try to allow my children to listen to their own interception for hunger and thirst - I think when I grew up in the 80’s etc we were told how much to eat by our parents and often had to eat whether hungry or not or sneak extra food as I did at times!

sounds like your kids are eating a great diet though. Mine are teens now and our food bill is often eye watering 🙈

It makes you wonder how they survive at school without much food 🤣

Protein. Definitely more protein.

Boys need eggs, meat etc. From the morning, to lunch to dinner. You are giving them watery stuff with no subtance

It’s not just boys. My grandaughters - all active and sporting - eat enormous amounts.

They all know better than I do where food is in my house.

Fried eggs and bacon on two slices of bread in the mornings will do the job

You're totally right about food being restricted in the 80s and 90s. It was 3 meals a day and minimal snacks but actually I did end up binging and dieting over the years. I dont want that for my boys. If theyre hungry they get food, proper food. My oldest is a bit more tired and grumpy than usual. I think youre right about the growth spurt. Although hes only had his shoes a few weeks!

Both my mum and MIL baked a lot. They also bought big joints of meat, so there were leftovers.

My mum discovered pasta as a granny so would make big dishes of chicken and sweetcorn pasta bake. Kept the leftovers in the fridge. The boys would dive into it.

We ate a lot of hot fruit pudding with custard in the winter. Was a long cold walk home from school. She made cocoa in a pan with full fat milk.

I found that it came in fits and starts. When she was 2yo DD used to eat as much as DH! Having said that, DS’s appetite really went up a notch when he started exercising/physically exerting himself seriously every day, so 9yo. Pints of milk, loads of yogurt, apples, cheese, pastapastapasta, bananas, ricericerice. Then a growth spurt and it doubles briefly. Back down to normal.

@herefortheclicks

lol no one needs meat every single meal of the day.

Also, OP is a pescatarian - she’s not randomly gonna sack that off and start cooking hunks of steak for her kids when they already have a really good healthy diet full of of protein, is she??