To be horrified at giving a 3 yr old crisps, chocolate biscuits, cheesy bites...

[starofastorath]

....at 10 in the morning? After having sugary breakfast cereals?

I'm horrified by scenes of starving children, personally. Not one that is stuffing crisps in its gob.

I see OP disappeared once posters didn`t agree with her!

Is that a sugary ??? Tsk, tsk

I have a bit of a "thing" about catorgorising food for children as good or bad tbh.
Ok a diet of just biscuits and crisps isn't good but IMO once you make an issue of a biscuit being "bad" then you just end up causing issues with food.
Everything in moderation, no? Mine eat all sorts of crap (teenagers) but they eat a half decent breakfast and dinner.
They have friends who's parents made a huge issue about biscuits and chocolate being bad and a very rare treat.
They are the ones at the bus stop eating a whole Victoria sponge from tescos at 7am

Who the fuck eats rice cakes? Let alone inflicts them on a child?

I like ricecakes
Dh says they look like polystyrene ceiling tiles and are probably less nutritious

We dont have take aways and i dont take my kids to macdonalds either country kitten, but neither do I have a hissy fit at the idea of a child having a piece of cake.
Each to their own.
It's not a good idea to be too prescriptive about anything when it comes to parenting - diet included.
What if - god forbid - your next dc was an FTT baby like my ds1 was?
Trust me, you would shovel custard, chocolate, biscuits, anything into the child to make them put on weight.
Seems to me it's just another club for mothers to beat each other with and I for one will not join in.

I like rice cakes too cockadoodle' much to Dhs disgust :)

Stopgap, as said earlier upthread, not everyone can afford grass fed steak or corn fed chicken.
It's not that they don't want to eat it, they can't afford it!
This govt needs to slap tax on sugary additive full foods, and stop classing things like fruit juice as a luxury item and make organic food more affordable.

I see the op never came back to answer any questions.

When I was 11 and went to secondary school in my first year science we all had to be weighed and all that crap for an experiment. I was just over 3 stone. The teacher nearly fainted,

My mum was told by all HCP to let me eat what I wanted. I could of had 5 bags if crisps, a million biscuits and I was never made to feel bad. Imagine people's judgy pants then. Probably up round their neck they've been hoiked so high.

It was only when I went to tech aged 16 I was between 7/8 stone.

To the OP, yanbu. There is no reason to give 3 y-os (or older children for that matter) biscuits and crisps except as a very occasional treat. That is the method in our family I'm sure that is why my kids enjoy fruit and vegetables and eat them lots, without ever treating them as a dull necessity. Unlike many children around us, they do not divide food into a) unhealthy and tasty and b) healthy and dull. Giving children bags of crisps as a matter of routine is stupid.

While I believe families that can't afford fresh fruit and veg do exist, I suspect that their numbers - rather like benefit fraudsters and the third-generation unemployed - are exaggerated. I expect the majority could manage if they reprioritised their budgets, but I suspect they simply prefer to give their children junk instead.

Toad...my ds2 eats chocolate, cakes and biscuits and shed loads of fruit.
The 2 are not mutually exclusive!
My ds1 has never had chocolate or cake because he doesn't like it.
Dont see what all the drama is about tbh...think the op must have a lot of time on her hands :)

Love the rice cake debate going on. My DDs (2&4) love the apple ones by Organix, which I serve with sliced banana/naice dried fruit/milky way stars. That last one is an occasional treat but yes chocolate can feature as part of a snack.

I do try to limit unhealthy snacks as it they do seem to, quite quickly, come to expect them. Their favorite demand as soon as we enter a supermarket is for apples or pears so I'm winning the battle so far.

We have just had this discussion. My DP's dad had a sweet shop. DP never eats sweets/chocolate and only has if I have made one and it needs eating up.

My parents were very strict on sweets and cakes and I rarely had them.

I would much rather eat cake than another fucking carrot stick or bloody floret of raw cauliflower. I have to really limit myself on sweet stuff.

I think moderation is the key. Or get yourself a sweet shop.

Toad, my3 year old DD gobbles up fruit and veg. The veg is the first thing she will eat in her plate, ignoring roast potatoes and meat. She will ask for bananas and blueberries in the supermarket. Yet she has sweet stuff too, as I have mentioned earlier my DS is to have pudding after every meal as he has a restricted diet and is underweight, so she gets it too. She could take it or leave it tbh, she would rather have a banana. She doesn't see fruit and veg as healthy and dull.

My gran was always filling our pockets with sweets to the annoyance of my mother when we were children. We ended up refusing them most of the time Neither my sister or I have a sweet tooth at all, we would both rather eat savoury stuff. I never eat dessert in a restaurant. Anecdotal I know, but im of the opinion that restricting types of food makes it more attractive.

I agree withg trixymalixy - I was never allowed sweets as a child, I have a terrible sweet tooth.

My dc have unlimited access to sweets/crisps but are only interested in the packaging - they hardly eat any but when their friends visit, many of the little friends absolutely stuff themselves if given the opportunity.

What is forbidden often does make it more attractive ...

Forbidding a 'bad' food may make it seem more attractive, but allowing kids free access to as much junk as they can eat doesn't necessarily mean that they'll get sick of junk food and not eat it.

My parents always had loads of chocolates, biscuits and crisps in the house when I was growing up, and we were usually allowed to help ourselves whenever we wanted. I have real problems limiting my consumption of these foods because I find them so tempting - if they're in the house, I find it very very difficult to leave them more than a day or so before I start stuffing my face with them.

I'm aiming for moderation with DS. Not forbidding junk food, but not having it on tap for whenever he fancies it.

I expect that for every person put off sweets by being deluged with them as a child there are fifty who have various health ailments for the same reason.

There is no need to forbid certain foods. Just don't get them on the radar. Except as special treats. There is no need to keep sweets, crisps, chocolate, fizzy drinks, cakes in the house.

I have crisps and biscuits in the house, but would never give DS free reign, he would eat the lot!! Often though he won't ask for any,I find if I get in first with a sandwich and yoghurt when he comes in from school, he doesn't think about it.

treats in moderation are fine, and one chocolate biscuit? NOT horrifying!!

Well I'm obviously going to hell too, DS1 is sooooo fussy (he's 2.11). I took him to be weighed & measured recently as I was so concerned. He's on 50th centilitre for weight but only 2nd for height, I was a bit but HV said he's perfectly healthy, not overweight & basically said 'keep doing what you're doing' so I try not to worry it. If you're lucky enough to have kids who love fruit & veg then great, but not all of us do. It basically comes back to smug parenting akin to those parents whose babies slept through from 1 minute old, it's as much to do with the child as it is the parenting (in my opinion anyway).

I do fret everyday about what DS1 is or isn't eating though, but I have a 4 month old and PND so really don't have the energy for a pitched battle every mealtime.

MrsHelsBels74,

I find the harder I try the luckier I get.

..and with it the right to be smug - unlike those who have a good sneer at those who try and fail.

I don't think anyone has the right to be smug or sneery, they're not nice characteristics but you go ahead if you want.

Do you think I haven't tried? I offer my son everything but he just refuses. So I'm caught between him eating something unhealthy or not eating at all, neither is ideal. I can't force him to eat.

MrsHels:

I'm in no position to offer you advice because I don't know what you have or haven't tried.

However, I think I can remark that it is wrong to say that healthy eating is all down to luck. It isn't. And as for smugness - well, I'm sure you agree that complacency isn't the path to success.

Why would people prefer to give their kids junk food toadinthehole?

I also don't think it's realistic to think you can keep junk food off your kids' radar once they start school.

FWIW we have crisps, biscuits, chocolate in the house. There is a bowl of christmas chocolates on the kitchen table. DS never touches them. He's much more likely to grab an apple