to give access to unlimited fruit but virtually no sugar or juice

[sPJPPp]

I give my DC access to virtually unlimted fruit but they rarely have sugar or proccesed foods and no sugary drinks. I find with fruit it is easy to self regulate and that's not something most people can do with processed foods. Had a sleepover and when I told the mum how much fruit her dd had eaten she looked horrified as if I had given her poison. When I know my dd had beans on toast (sugar) with orange juice and ice cream. I found this less than ideal but I said nothing.

Aibu or is she?

Beans on toast is one of the most nutritionally balanced meals a child can have.

I encourage ds (a dancer) & ds to have that meal frequently b

My children don't get filled up on fruit and just keep eating, especially stuff like strawberries or raspberries, and then would probably give themselves diarrhoea! Maybe the mum looked horrified because the child had eaten what to them is a week's food budget?

I find carby snacks fill them up better.

On a sleepover I would absolutely give them icecream, popcorn with a film etc.

Ds eats lots of bananas for energy but I do try & limit fruit to 2 portions per day

wowfudge oh are we meant to be 'helpful' then???

I prefer to give quinoa balls and lentil dust. Along with boiled eggs (free range) and crudités.
[Wink]

26Point - why not? I don't think calling someone smug is going to elicit the information which hasn't yet been shared.

The OP would like to know why the other child's mum reacted as she did - could be any one of a number of reasons, but as we still don't know what fruit the child ate, how can anyone say?

DS 4 used to have unlimited access to fruit except I don't think he can self regulate as he can demolish whole tub of raspberries, then strawberries, grapes, banana then big apple in one sitting then turn round and tell me he's hungry 5mins later.

some chn get the runs after lots of fruit. Maybe she was surprised, not 'horrified'. Think it's possibly more to do with your opinion on food, rather than hers. Nowt wrong with beans on toast. Nowt wrong with lots of fruit. And remember, fruit has sugar too - fructose.

eating a lot of fruit is bad for their teeth. (dd has been banned/restricted about the amount of fruit she is allowed to eat)

eating a lot of fruit when the child is not used to it causes a bout of diarrhoea. takes time for the gut to adjust.

I had to massively reduce the amount of fruit my kids, especially dd2 have, due to their teeth. My dentist now recommends fruit being given in portions ie a piece for break at school, then a separate portion later in the day. No more grazing at the fruit bowl during the day, although tbf that was costing me a fortune.

Seriously! Is fruit bad bad for children now? Surely not - wtf are they supposed to eat??

bellybutton - everything in excess is bad for you regardless of fruit or sweets.

'Looked horrified'. 'Mildly surprised' possibly if her dd doesn't usually eat as much fruit as that? Or even 'reacting with slight bafflement but politely, since you had presented it as a major accomplishment on your part?'

Perhaps the mother was worried that fruit wasn't organic and possibly unwashed?

Perhaps the whole family had never seen fruit before.

It's so hard to know.

well, bellbuttonfairy, humans can survive on all sorts of things. It's not bad to eat lots of fruit, but there may be a few side affects like some acid erosion on teeth or looser stools. It's not bad to eat lots of beans and toast, although again you might have lots of bowel movements.

I think its a symptom of our western indulgence, where we have so many choices, mums get a little bogged down with the detail and like to compare tit for tat. Just like birthday parties. And what our kids wear. And how much telly they watch. And how many sports clubs they go to. And all the other stuff I can't remember anyone worrying about when I was a kid. We have too much choice and compare ourselves to eachother all the time. None of it is bad in moderation. We should all chill out. If they're happy and healthy and confident, job done.

"Ah yes on my sleepover we had a home made Shepard's pie with some steamed green veg and fruit for desert"

That sounds like a really fun sleepover!

I have seen articles which partly attribute the ongoing childhood obesity crisis to too much fruit. Children are eating 5 or more pieces of fruit for their 5 a day which should include vegetables. Fruit is full of sugar therefore too much of it rots the teeth and causes weight gain.

If you include "and veg" or "mostly veg" in their five or more a day, that's a different matter.

Wtf is wrong with beans on toast?? Fruit is bloody expensive and very high in sugar and acids that can potentially damage teeth.

Of course fruit isn't bad for children, but constant grazing, never giving their teeth a break from the sugar and acid contained in fruit is bad for those teeth. If the child had so much fruit that it became a topic of conversation, (unlikely if it was just one apple and one banana), I can understand the other mother's reaction. Whereas beans on toast (sugar) with orange juice and ice cream just constitute one meal.

It was just a few grape, blue berries, blood orange, banana and mango.

I highly doubt fruit is even a very minor cause of obesity, of course I'm sure the food manufacturing companies could sponsor a report that gives that conclusion.

Whilst, like many, my DC eat a couple of pieces of fruit or more each day, I'm keener that they eat vegetables to be honest. My dentist also warned about too much fruit not being the best thing for their teeth, although obviously not as bad as feeding them Haribos for breakfast.

Sleepover food should be fun though.

How old is the child?

I think the mother was just scared of the potential poonami that she could have to deal with.

How partylike a sleepover should be depends on how often they happen. In our case, they are often just overnight playdates, so no, i dont usually have especially treatlike meals, or provide indulgent quantities indulgent foods.

Saying that childrens teeth are worse, on average and since 5 a day was introduced and blaminf thin enamel on that assumes children are actually eating 'too much' fruit. Which is rarely the result when anyone surveys eating habits of the nation! I doubt very mush fruit consumption is a risk factor for most of the population: plain old sugar, especially fruit juices and sodas are.

Apples and oranges in the fruit bowl are available without asking in our house, but nobody usually has more than one a day. Maybe one of each. Bananas are in the fruitbowl too, but they are gone by day 3 after a shop. Softer fruits and berries are in the fridge, and portioned out.

But what was the quantity of fruit she ate? If it was just a little bowl of fruit salad with the fruits you mentioned that sounds fine but if you gave my dd a tub of blueberries, a whole orange, whole mango, whole banana and grapes I'd be shocked.

And yes, like others said the poor woman was probably worried about the prospect of her bathroom wall being pebbledashed!