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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

AIBU playgroup snacktime

142 replies

boursin · 28/07/2011 08:05

The playgroup (stay and play) we usually go to with my 2yr old was closed so we went to one in a nearby town.
In my usual one each parent brings a piece of fruit and we cut it up and dish it out. I thought this was normal....
Yesterday for 11am snack my child was offered bread, wotsits, cheese crackers, biscuits and chocolate cake and cheese.
Children of course loved it and I was slightly AIBU as it wasn't a party but happens every week apparently.
Is this what happens at other mum run play groups?

OP posts:

Alibabaandthe80nappies · 28/07/2011 13:53

Those goodies things vile and overpriced - major PFBness on this thread

Yesterday DS1 ate 3 large biscuits because I opened a packet to have obesity a cuppa and he climbed up and grabbed them.
He has also been known to break down weeping because we have run out of melon

I grew up having 'treats' very restricted, amd so developed an unhealthy longing for them whereas children who were allowed them more often didn't.
Result is a very destructive relationship with food, and I've been overweight since I was 16.

Be careful Oh Smug Ones, that you don't cause exactly what you are trying to avoid.

supergreenuk · 28/07/2011 14:05

Yes I think a lot of our attitude to food comes from our up bringing. I was encouraged to binge eat, was always told to finish all the food on my plate and was given chips before bed on occasion even after my dinner. This eventually lead to bulimia. I really hope I am giving dd a much more sensible approach to food than I was.

4madboys · 28/07/2011 14:05

one toddler group offers fruit and rice cakes, fine, my kids are happy with this, another one has biscuits, plain ones for the kids and breadsticks and then for the adults there are homemade cakes, scones etc its great and my ds4 often has a scone or small cake as well, its once a week, he eats a healthy balanced diet, a couple of biscuits and a small cake once a week arent going to kill him.

dd is only 7mths so not interested yet but as she gets older she will have a small biscuit as well she is baby no 5, my standards have dropped (ds1 didnt have any biscuits till he was well over one yr old)

that snack sounds very carb based but you dont have to let your child eat all of it, or any of it, i would have let mine have a small piece of cake and maybe a cracker and cheese etc just because those were the snacks on offer you can if you wish still say NO to your child!

AnansiGirl · 28/07/2011 14:08

'We only know about it when he comes back into the room, lifts his top, points at his belly and announces "gone in there".'

Fantastic, kungfu!

limitedperiodonly · 28/07/2011 14:09

choceyes Wotsits are orange which is, in fact, a fruit.

SoupDragon · 28/07/2011 14:13

Good lord. Talk about sucking the joy out of things.

Alibabaandthe80nappies · 28/07/2011 14:15

I have no idea why the word 'obesity' is randomly in the middle of my sentence a few posts back. Rather apt! Stupid iPhone

choceyes · 28/07/2011 14:30

I gave DS those Goodiees Wotsits alikes, and he didn't like them. He loves their biscuits though.

He has had icecream after dinner everyday this week I think, and I always offer him a piece of my cake or biscuit if I am eating in front of him, so I am not a killjoy at all.

But I really think that at toddler groups, they should be serving healthy stuff. Especially if they are run by Surstart etc, they have an obligation to.

At our local library rhyme time, I asked if I could bring in a cake to celebrate DS's birthday, but was told no, and then I offered to bring in a platter of fruit, which they said was fine and went down well with the children.

limitedperiodonly · 28/07/2011 14:35

Wasn't calling you a killjoy choceyes, honest.

I have to say though that I'd prefer Wotsits over oranges any day. Horrible, stringy watery things.

choceyes · 28/07/2011 14:38

I suffer from terrible travel sickness. And I've found that only wotsits will help. I buy a massive bag of them when I am on the Virgin Pendolino.

FortiesCromarty · 28/07/2011 14:42

As a volunteer I run one of these groups, and we offer whatever the parents bring to share. Some weeks it's all fruit, sometimes they all bring more unhealthy snacks. The children only have a very small amount and spend the rest of the time racing about so I think it balances out.

sootytotherescue · 28/07/2011 14:45

The group we go to serves fruit, crackers, raisins and best of all and the definite all round favourite, POM BEARS!!

ChunkyPickle · 28/07/2011 14:46

I'm a porker, and I really don't think it was the rich-tea biscuit and weak squash they gave me at playgroup that caused it.....

Original poster

boursin · 28/07/2011 14:49

Me again, Thanks for the comments.

I'm not all PFB about snacks but just assumed most places did fruit or crackers and cheese if the session is 10-12.

It definitely wasn't the last session or a birthday, just a very generous mum who had baked a delicious chocolate cake with thick vanilla frosting and choccy buttons on the top.

Big slices given to the children first, then the adults. I tried to refuse a slice (still needing to get rid of the baby padding after 2 yrs.. sigh) but she looked so sad I had to wolf it down followed by, another cup of coffee. Yes I can also confirm they were wotsits, mini cheddars, butterkist popcorn and chocolate animal biscuits and orange squash.

My child thought heaven had landed on a plate, and as the session cost 2.50 I thought fill your boots lad, get stuck in! Whilst on the other hand thinking crikey that's not v healthy where's the fruit and carrot sticks!

Still back to the fruit chunks next week :o

OP posts:

BriocheDoree · 28/07/2011 14:50

Well, here in France everyone gives biscuits and sweets to their kids and they are the skinniest people in Europe, apparently. OTOH they never get biscuits mid-morning, only for afternoon tea

ChaosTrulyReigns · 28/07/2011 14:52

I love the Wotsits as travel sickness remedy.

I have to eat cake all day long to counteract the fact that my my nails grow exceesively if I cut down on cake.

RabidRabbit · 28/07/2011 14:59

I think it's fine. Just because it was on offer, it doesn't mean you had to/your children had to eat it.

The only one I have dared take DD to served up toast, plain biscuits, little boxes of raisins - plain and yoghurt covered, cheese and plain crackers and fruit. Drinks where either water, or little cartons of milk.

I know there is an obesity epidemic but my god, if I ran about as much as a toddler did all day and then someone tried to make me eat cherry tomatoes and rice cakes - I'd chew their ankles off. As long as food at home is well balanced then a packet of crisps or a slice of cake at S&P is hardly going to turn them into adult heifers.

joric · 28/07/2011 15:01

Supergreen- pffft... again...I'm fat and I had a super healthy 70's m+d who were shopping in the then first health food shops and growing their own F+V. We were brought up on fruit, veg, home cooked food- low salt, low fat, not too much red meat, nothing processed everything freshly made- a world of bran, quark, cottage cheese, fish, lentils and soups..... No crisps, pop, cake, sweets, butter, full fat milk ( cream was always skimmed off), no coffee..they didn't exist in our house. Blah blah...
People are ridiculous .. The minute I was old enough to go to the sweet shop I did.. It's absolutely right to limit unhealthy food but to have 'concerns' over a bit of cake at a playgroup... Again Pfft .

joric · 28/07/2011 15:08

Boursin, I've just seen your latest post, I'm glad you ate cake :) !!
I 'm also :( at your list of snacks - now I've seen the complete list, I agree- more like a party and far too much!!

(But OTT health Obsessives still P me off...) Sorry for my rants ! :o

supergreenuk · 28/07/2011 15:55

Joric I think my concerns or comments are regarding a bit of cake every week at the same group every week. Nothing healthy just cake EVERY week. I don't believe I have come across that I am a health freak in any way if you read my comments.

soverylucky · 28/07/2011 16:01

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

joric · 28/07/2011 16:13

Supergreenuk - I would like to know how many mums who have posted comments like pfffft are over weight?Some parents are trying to be responsible with there childrens health and hearts in this obese society and rising cases of diabetes.I do allow my dd treats I just hate that groups cannot seem to grasp that there are healthier options that kids like.

Of course there are healthier options - I'm just pointing out that it isn't always necessary to go for the healthy option and that every morsel DC eats can become a bit an obsession for some parents which isn't healthy either. (I speak as a product of such parents).
So what if cake is served every week? Also, so what if there is no healthy option? Its one day out of 7. Balance is good I agree- I think if the DC who ate this party snack food then had same at home later in day ( and every day) it would be a bit :(.

Sirzy · 28/07/2011 16:20

We are at a point now where we risk a generation of children who worry about everything they eat because they are being brought up with parents so obsessed with every mouthful of food.

Children shouldn't be thinking about certain foods as being bad, they should be learning that everything is fine in moderation but you can eat more of something's than others.

hocuspontas · 28/07/2011 16:24

Can't we just enjoy food sometimes? Does everything we eat have to be healthy and nutritious?

joric · 28/07/2011 16:26

Here here Hocus and Sirzy :o

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