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?

my friend has 2 kids and is quite strict about what and how much they eat. My dd is encouraged to eat fruit and veg and is allowed to eat pizza, sweets, biscuits etc whenever she wants.

My friend's kids are constantly asking for food and eat any available sweets until they are physically stopped. My dd quite often does that too, but more often stops independently.

This may well be coincidental, but I suspect the rationing has made my friend's dc more obsessed with food and sweets.

My kids (6 & 9) have pretty much free reign of a biscuit tin full of hobnobs, digestives etc. DS2 CBA and DS1 might sometimes have 3 digestives in a day and I don't care because we struggle to keep weight on him. He's extremely bouncy, whatever he eats, but worse when he's low on energy. A handful of something sweet and carby actually calms his jitters, sometimes and has averted many a meltdown.

As for rice cakes, I used to keep them in my cupboard to chuck at the boys while I was cooking and the smell of the food was making them wail and want to eat NOW! Sometimes they even ate them :o

I offer DD unhealthy snacks on occassion. She has tried most foods . But to give her free for all on that shit stuff. Oreven once a day. No way. I don't understand the point.

No wonder there is an obesity crisis in the UK. And weight is not the only factor impacted by eating crap.

Children need to be taught control, you cannot be as controlling on them for ever. That is all.

You can only control them and what they eat at a small age.

Some of these children may turn into mini mes and others may well gorge given the chance. Ive seen it happen.

Exactly - so what is the problem? Some parents are ok with their kids eating crap (either every day or as a 'treat') and some are not. Simple.

Sorry - in response to a previous post! I omitted to refresh.

I dont see the need to call people dumb. Thats all.

I think its more normal to eat the odd buscuit rather than shouting about them being toxic crap and dreadful and calling people dumb.

Julia - your daughter is allowed to eat 'pizza, sweets and biscuits etc. whenever she wants'......!!!! And you think that this is a good way to feed her?

And for those saying people who don't eat/feed junk are 'judgy'...there are a lot of silly (in fact pretty hilarious) comments going the other way.

And Badvoc - your post was verging on hysterical.

country my DCs also have free access to biscuits etc, they don't feel the need to eat the whole packet in 30 seconds.
My DDs best friend, aged 14 isn't allowed any of the type of food you call "crap" at home. It's never in the house.
Do you know what she does? Every morning she goes to tescos and buys either a Victoria sponge or a Madeira cake. And eats the whole lot on the way to school.
At least my dd waits til she gets home, gets a knife and cuts one slice.

That always makes me laugh.

'I feed my children crap which means they don't gorge on sweets when offered them' - no because you have spent the day filling them up on crap. Logic?

IMHO it's about teaching them healthy habits. Yes yes, they might be stick thin at 10 when they are burning everything off with football practice, PE and 1000 jumps on the trampoline. But when he is older and living a more sedentary lifestyle (eg working in an office, kids, little time for the gym) what is going to happen if he thinks he can shove any old food in his mouth at any time of the day?

It's not anal to teach everything in moderation. You don't teach moderation by teaching them crisps and chocolate can be eaten whenever you get the urge. You do it by showing them what you can eat a lot of, and what should be enjoyed occasionally.

It's basic common sense tbh.

I had free reign of sweets, chocolate and crisps growing up. I don't stuff my face constantly with them now and I am far from obese if I do say so myself.

The toddler doesn't have free reign as hes only 3 but when hes older he will too.

Country, I think you have the edge on hysteria on this thread.

I have to say.

Tantrums I know a hell a lot of kids who are allowed free reign on junk and eat bags of crisps and chocolate bars on the way to the school.

They think this is normal. Because no one has ever told them what a decent breakfast should consist of. They think well my mum has always let me eat shit at 10am so why shouldn't I just eat it at 8am?

Then they go into school, on a sugar high, then they crash and can't concentrate. And the schools have to put on breakfast clubs to try and get a class of children that can listen and sit still.

your example is one in a million. My example is much more commonplace.

Country
My dcs are 15 and 17 now they have always eaten a mixture and certainly had things like crisps and biscuits when they were little. I never restricted anything.
They have never been obese and are fit and healthy. They have a really good attitude to food.
When Ds was 4/5 his idea of a food treat was a sea food platter.

But it isn't though.

If something is forbidden than when said child is out of the house they are much more likely to shove junk down their neck as quick as possible. Because its bad and naughty

My DCs eat breakfast. And they know that there are chocolate bars, crisps etc in the house so they don't need to waste their money buying it secretly and eating it out of the house.

It's not anal to teach everything in moderation. You don't teach moderation by teaching them crisps and chocolate can be eaten whenever you get the urge. You do it by showing them what you can eat a lot of, and what should be enjoyed occasionally.

I agree. I think they "they can have what they want when they want" is an odd way of doing things, especially with young children as they do need to learn that too much of anything isn't good as part of a balanced diet but that some choices are going to be more suitable than others at a given time.

And just for the record, allowing chocolate and crisps and biscuits doesn't mean no one has ever showed them what a decent breakfast is.

That is truly one of the stupidest things I have ever read tbh.

In your opinion, people who give their chikdren crisps are neglectful parents who do not teach their children about food? Get a fucking grip would you?
My DCs know about food and don't have a negative relationship with it, thinking there are bad foods.

"In your opinion, people who give their chikdren (sic) crisps are neglectful parents who do not teach their children about food? Get a fucking grip would you?"

Before you start swearing and therby losing the argument would you like to read the thread, where I have stated more than once, that I believe in 'everything in moderation.'

Which kind of moots your point about 'bad foods'.

"so they don't need to waste their money buying it secretly and eating it out of the house."

No, they can just gorge on it indoors whenever the urge takes them

No you said They think this is normal. Because no one has ever told them what a decent breakfast should consist of. They think well my mum has always let me eat shit at 10am so why shouldn't I just eat it at 8am?

So again, children who are allowed, like mine, to have crisps, chocolate etc as they please would, in your own words, have no idea what a decent breakfast is.

And if I chose to swear, as a grown up that is my choice. I am not losing any mythical argument with you. That is how I speak.
And your argument, IMVHO is idiotic.

Like I say, cramming a Victoria sponge down your neck at 7am because you are not allowed it at home is not a healthy relationship with food.

Yes and I stand by my point.

There are children in this land who have never been taught about food. Who have been allowed to eat whatever they want, whenever they want. Causing problems other than obesity.

I never said any child who has come within a yard of a crisp is going to end up like this. I merely said I think this problem is more typical than teenage girls who eat a whole cake on the way to school.

I don't see how that is idiotic. Esp not when headteachers are saying exactly the same thing - and the poor teachers who have to try and control teach these children.

Thats an extreme carried and on the other side you have horror at a biccy.

Where I stand is in somewhere in the middle - however I dont think that the approach of total and utter denial of unhealthy snacks at home is the way forward either.

I do believe it's mostly luck as to whether you have a fruit/veg eater or a sweet crap eater. Ds and dd were born 22 months apart and brought up by dh and myself so there's next to no room for parenting changes. Ds will stuff his face with crap if it's on offer while dd chooses fruit/veg every time. Tonight's dinner was fish fingers and chips. Dd chose to have pasta and green beans instead. Ds had a biscuit for his after school snack yesterday while dd chose frozen green beans.

As a child I was allowed free reign on all the bad foods in the house - crisps, biscuits, chocolate fizzy drinks etc. It didnt matter because we did so much excercise we were never fat kids.

However, now I cannot have any of that stuff even in the house now as I will just gorge on it. If I ate junk food whenever the urge took me I would be obese. I certainly was not denied it as a child, the opposite in fact.

I dont really understand why parents think that allowing their kids to just eat any old crap all the time will mean that their kids will have a healthy relationship with food later on. Its not very logical.

My plan with DS is to let him have junk food when it is available, so at parties, special occassions etc as a 'treat' (dont get why that word is so wrong either), but not on any kind of regular basis.