to pity these children

[lilacclery]

Met a friend yesterday who is delighted that her 15 month old is now eating a variety of breakfast like honey loops, frosties, 'multigrain shapes, cocopops instead of weetabix and ready brek every second day which are boring!

I'm health and sugar conscious & love that my 10 month and 4 year old have a variety like weetabix porridge ready brekkie scrambled egg and on occasion homemade pancakes or sausages.

here OP, I don't think anyone has given you your medal for being better than everyone else yet

Get a fucking grip!

I think you've worded this bad, op.
I think its a shame though.

How did we get to the point where sugary processed shite, fizzy drinks, supersized meals are seen as normal eating?

But I save my pity as such for children in war torn countries, and children in extreme deprivation.

Ok Miss Poppins....

Wow, not a popular point of view op. But I agree with you. Ok, in the great scheme of things its not such a big deal, but it is a shame that such young children are being given such sugary cereals because we do know sugar is bad for health in so many ways, and is addictive. The food children have when they're little influences their long term eating habits, so I think it is a diservice to give them such sugary food when its so easily avoided at that age.

I pity any child who has a mother that calls ready brek ready brekki

smug parents should be pitied too but I prefer to laugh at them

pity??

A friend of mines dd eats only sugary cereal for breakfast as it's all she's offered...coco pops, frosties etc. I do feel a bit 'sorry' for her as a bowl full of sugar every morning of the year is a bit of a shit habit to be put into.

We've fallen into the habit of a more 'decent' bowl of cereal before school and fruit (weetabix, porridge, branflakes), a bowl of sugary shite on a Saturday (usually coco pops) and a cooked breakfast all together on a Sunday - sometimes just egg on toast, sometimes a full cooked breakfast.

All in moderation, it seems to work for us.

I will say though that things tend to go a bit to the wall in the holidays and the amount of coco pops consumed increases dramatically a bit.

I think you should call the nutrition police straight away have her arrested for nutrition neglect those poor poor abused babies honey hoops and ready brek or you can wind your neck in and pity children with real problems

I find it strange there seems to be thresholds of pity of mumsnet.

Example:

rape = pity.
poor nutrition = no pity.

Surely life is more of a spectrum than solid thresholds? There isn't a limited quota for pity. I pity child abuse victims and I pity those with poor nutrition.

Pity is a very strong emotion.
I feel sorry for those who eat badly.
I feel pity for those who starve.

Thers is hidden sugar In weetabix least frosties is honest about smug parenting and pity is sanctimonious twaddle wrappped up as concern imo.

What's wrong with porridge? What is ready brek anyway? The nuclear glowing of the kids in the old ads put me off long ago.

I've never had chocolate cereal - is it nice?

We were brought up with corn flakes, rice krispies and country crunch (and toast, porridge, cooked breakfast on a sunday). We are still alive.

Remember all the tat goodies you used to get with cereal packets? Tipping out a whole box to get a plastic horse? Happy days...

I'd save my pity for children who are not fed at all and go hungry.

I like the no sugar weetabix-alikes. I think they are called 'biobix'. Very nice with butter and jam (try it before you say 'yeurchh!').

The fact pity about abuse and pity about sugar in the same statement is quite telling.

I ate nothing but coco pops - sometimes frosties from as early as I can remember until about the age of 16. Dinner was usually some form of processed food - crispy pancakes, pizza, burger and chips etc. I have a photo where I'm drinking coke from a bottle aged about 5. I have to say though my siblings and i
are slim and always have been. I'm now in my mid 30s and still fit and healty and have no fillings! I feed my kids better than I was, but I'm living proof that the child you pity may turn out ok!

Maybe sanctimony has a place in a moral society..

Bobbins

Yes YABU.

I agree this sounds sanctimonious but...

There is a complete double-standard on MN regarding obese children.

If you had said: AIBU to think it doesn't matter much if my child is a bit 'stocky'?

You would have had everyone queuing to tell you that it does, you are setting them up for a lifetime of obesity, you are contributing to the obesity epidemic, why can't you just eat healthily etc.

If you eat sugar for breakfast (and I agree Weetabix has some sugar, but not more than Honey Loops FGS) and then go and eat a free full of carbs school dinner with lovely pudding to go with it, you are setting yourself up for poor future eating and probable overweight/obesity.

People keep saying 'but I ate that in the 1970's and I'm fine' ignoring the fact that the generation who grew up in the 70's are the fattest ever to have lived!

It may not show on a small child running around lots, but hit mid-life and large portion sizes, mainly carbs and heaps of sugar all take their toll and leave 40/50% of us overweight.

I am not fussed about size but I am about being healthy and being able to move freely, and shitty sugary breakfasts are all part of a wider pattern of being given rubbish processed food for which we are all suffering.

I don't feel better than my friends if I avoid these cereals, and like another poster, we eat them on weekends/holidays/if given them, so no food is taboo. But how have we sleepwalked into this being a standard breakfast to fuel the next generation? The branded cereals aren't even that cheap!

But the AIBU is to feel pity....what possible positive effect can pity have on their breakfast habits?

Are you going to stand at the kitchen window wailing and genuflecting every morning OP?

Maybe she is 'delighted' because the child is now eating the same sort of cereals as her older children, so she doesn't have to buy both.

You realise that Weight Watchers refuse to include Weetabix in their 'filling and healthy' list because of the sugar and salt content...?

God your life must be perfect if you pity kids who are getting an actual breakfast to eat.

I grew up in the 1970's on a deprived estate and there were plenty of kids who came to school hungry and for whom the hot meal at lunchtime was all they got.