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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

ds2 aged 3 came back from an afternoon with pil with a fruit shoots and a bag of sweets

92 replies

sails · 04/05/2011 19:54

and I didnt go ballistic or read the riot act or ban them from looking after him again etc. I cant quite belive my reaction tbh. I dont buy him fruit shoots or sweets myself. But today it all seemed ok. If they had done this when my pfb was 3 I would have gone mad and probably all the above. I would certainly have done a very different aibu. Infact I have in the past. Whats happened to change me so much? Is my wonderful ds2 now officially a nsc and will he now grow up to have bad teeth and adhd?

OP posts:

Supermoo · 05/05/2011 08:25

Sorry, am new here ...

I have noticed that Fruit Shoots are universally despised on mn. Now, assuming they don't cause ADHD, what is so awful about them?

farkthatforagameofsoldiers · 05/05/2011 08:41

They are syrupy nasty shite, that's what is wrong with them. My dc have never drunk them but they do drink various fizzy drinks on occasion so I am not rabid about what my dc drink but for some reason Fruit Shoots just really bug me.

If dc come home with junk from grandparents it is usually put away for "later" and they nearly always forget about it. What they have when there is theirs and grandparents business. Although I do check they have eaten at all as grandma can be a bit lax with regular mealtimes and dc have come back hungry and grumpy before.

ChippingIn · 05/05/2011 08:51

Supermoo - they're not so much a drink as a chemical mix. I never buy them, but equally don't fuss if they're given one at a party of something, although I certainly don't encourage them to finish up their drink if they have one!

slovenlydotcom · 05/05/2011 08:55

they taste like nothing on earth, I don't know how kids can drink them

Bogeyface · 05/05/2011 08:57

Are those that despise FS all teetotallers?

Just wondering why its ok to ban a drink that your child may have once in a blue moon, but drink alcohol yourself, which is far more damaging to the body!

My lot come home every Sunday from their afternoon with my parents with a bag of sweets each. Its a weekly tradition now, and tbh the only sweets they have in a week as mean mummy doesnt buy them. It doesnt worry me in the slightest and I would never ever hide them or put them away "for later".

Its a few sweets and a sugary drink ffs, ok so not the healthiest fare in the world but as a one off treat it will hardly kill them!

clitorisorclitoraint · 05/05/2011 08:57

I was out on Monday and saw a young i.e. approx. 8-9 month old sitting on the floor of a social club drinking a Fruit Shoot.

I inwardly tutted I must admit.

Oakmaiden · 05/05/2011 08:58

They are just squash, aren't they? They are certainly not healthy, but they are not terrible either....

My children often have them for picnics, etc. Clearly I don't fit in round here... :)

ssd · 05/05/2011 09:01

sorry op, but I find your posts slightly smug

and what the hell's an nsc?

are we making up titles now?

Spudulika · 05/05/2011 09:03

YABU

You should think yourself lucky.

My mum used to dip her finger in her sherry and shove it in dd's mouth. When she was six months old!

Never mind the cheap meat products and trans-fat saturated cakes bought from the pound shop......

Fiddledee · 05/05/2011 09:04

I find those parents that are very strict about sweets, biscuits and fruit shoots are those that send their kids to nursery all week or have a nanny so they don't actually have to enforce these rules 24/7 as SAHM. If you have 2/3 under 5s with you all day every day then you find an odd fruit shoot when you are out seems a great idea.

Spudulika · 05/05/2011 09:05

"what is so awful about them?"

They're a triumph of form over content.

The brightly coloured plastic bottles. The garish labels. And what's inside is water and chemicals. Sweeteners. Bleurgh.

ChippingIn · 05/05/2011 09:08

Bogey - it's nothing to do with it being 'sugary' - it's the chemicals I object to. It wont kill them no, but those chemicals in a growing body are unnecessary and there are lots of other things they could have instead as a 'treat'.

clitoris - it's to be hoped it was a re-used bottle filled with water!

Oak - no, they aren't just squash. Well, not 'decent' squash anyway. Have you tried one? Urgh. Have a look at the contents of that and of any squash you buy.

ssd - Neglected Subsequent Child. All acronyms come from somewhere...

weebleswobblebutidontfalldown · 05/05/2011 09:11

bogyface in answer to your question, no I don't drink. On the rare occasion I do, maybe once or twice a year I don't drink to make myself ill, which is what happens to dd1 with fruitshoots.

I refuse to let my dc have fruitshoots on the basis that on the few times dd1 had them in the past, every time, she had a very bad stomach within an hour or 2 of drinking it.

There may or may not be a link but after cleaning up her nappies etc I don't want to risk my dc being ill again.

I am now more wary of giving them anything with artificial sweeteners etc in, but am happy for them to have full sugar squash every now and again as they are also happy enough to drink water and milk.

farkthatforagameofsoldiers · 05/05/2011 09:11

I am a teetotaller yes bogeyface.

I do not work full time, am with my kids 24/7. My kids have never drunk squash or fruit shoots and have never asked to. It isn't something that needs "enforcing" because they never had them in the first place.

Fruit shoots do not quench thirst they are utterly disgusting bottles of chemical shite. I honestly don't know why anyone would choose to give them to a thirsty child.

farkthatforagameofsoldiers · 05/05/2011 09:13

I like that acronym chippingin.

Tryharder · 05/05/2011 09:14

FruitShoots are just squash. They are a great design in that the bottle is light, opens and shuts easily and tightly and is easy to drink from - so great for young children.

My DCs have them occasionally. And then i take the bottle home and fill them with Robinson's squash from the bottle or water for the next outing! My DCs will drink plain water from a FS bottle but refuse it from a glass = mind over matter

soakingfromtheschoolrun · 05/05/2011 09:27

This is my only bug bare of mn. The fruit shoot divide.
My kids have them occasionally as they are easy to drink and of we are out and about I know they won't cover themselves in it. It's a strict no to fizzy drinks though, but I couldn't care less if other people give it to their children.

Now shock horror. My boys get sweets a couple of times a week if I take them to the shop. Their kids. They have a balanced diet, brush their teeth, run around etc. ihad a sweet everyday as a child, I have no fillings and I'm not obease.

It's hardly a huge thing. If you don't let your kids have them fine, but why judge those who do?

exoticfruits · 05/05/2011 10:05

I have never tasted one and luckily they came out after my DCs were of an age to want them. However, having one once in a blue moon is hardly the end of the world! As your DCs get older you are going to find that you can't control everything that goes in their mouth-or everyone they come into contact with (which is a good thig IMO)

ChippingIn · 05/05/2011 10:07

Fruit Shoots are not 'just squash'. Read a squash bottle, read a FS bottle. If you are going to make a choice whether to let your kids have something or not, it should be an informed choice surely?

I also disagree that they are a great design - they encourage kids to 'pull' them open with their teeth. There are other much better 'spot' bottles out there which are sold with water or other squash in them. There are small ones too if that's what you're after.

Soaking - just to be clear, even though I don't buy them I don't judge others who do, but I do get annoyed at being judged as precious for not buying them and when people say 'they're just squash' - when they aren't.

mrsoliverramsay · 05/05/2011 10:12

The new fruit shoots are fine. If you actually read the ingredients of the My 5 ones you would see that. No chemicals whatsoever but some people see the fruit shoot on the bottle and act like it's a bottle of bleach

exoticfruits · 05/05/2011 10:19

Whether they are fine or not is neither here nor there-it was an occasional treat and not the end of the world!!!
OP is to be congratulated for gettting over her pfb tendencies-which are far more damaging than one fruit shoot!

Supermoo · 05/05/2011 10:21

Wow, I had no idea of the amount of vitriol - Fruit Shoots are yet another divisive parenting choice? Who'd of thunk it?!

I give dd the clear ones when we are out. Am sure making it look like water is something of a marketing ploy, but the ingredients list reads like squash?

Oh, and I put water in a clean, empty fruitshoot bottle for dd2 who is 12 months - never occurred to me that I might be judged by onlookers!

GandTiceandaslice · 05/05/2011 10:22

How often do his GPs look after him?
Only GPs generally spoilt their grandchildren.
if it's only occasionally then I wouldn't worry about it.
They might be building up to Greggs though

When I have grandkids I'm going to feed them e-numbers & send them home hyper!

exoticfruits · 05/05/2011 10:25

If they had given him a Greggs sausage roll with the fruit shoot they would never see their grandchildren again Supermoo!!!!

icooksocks · 05/05/2011 10:27

There are plenty of other alternatives to FS if you want to look for them, but I stand by the truth that the odd one doesn't hurt. I wouldn't give my kids them all day every day mind.

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