To ask if you think 6 fish fingers is too many for a 3 year old boy to have for dinner?

[BasinHaircut]

along with half a 400g run of baked beans and chips.

Need to settle an arguement.

Cheers

My DH put 4 fish fingers on the grill the other day thinking two for DS (18 months), two for him. Before DH even got a look in DS had eaten 4 fish fingers and half a tin of beans .

Generally day to day I think it's too much but we all have days where we're not as satisfied as others.

I could eat 6 fish fingers easily but would skip the beans and what not. I bloody love fishfingers, could sit and eat them like a punnet of grapes

That's way too much I wouldn't eat that myself.

This guide to toddler portions is really useful. I think one ff is plenty on this basis.
www.infantandtoddlerforum.org/portion-sizes-table-2015

it is, but only on MN can kids eat 18 chicken breasts and 500g of pasta as an afterschool snack and have kids whose clothes fall off them.

It's storing up issues for the future IMO. DD wanted to drop one of her sporting activities so I said that i'd reduce the size of her lunch if she wasn't going to be doing the activity as on that day i 'bumped' something extra into her packed lunch to pad it out a bit. She's old enough to understand calories in/calories out/balance/moderation.
This isn't to say we have a joyless existence of food weighing and saying no, for example they'll have a bag of haribos/box of maltesers on a saturday night in front of come dancing (with DP and i 'helping out') but they don't have it every day, they don't wilt with hunger if i don't meet from school with a secondary packed lunch to tide them over until dinner 3 hours later... it's trying to give them a bit of a fair chance at being able to stay slim and healthy as they get older and less active. I was amazed at the return to school in September at how many kids seemed to have tanked on a stone or so over the school hols.

www.kidsandnutrition.co.uk/correct-food-portion-sizes-for-kids.html

Yes. As an adult I'd only have an absolute maximum of 5, and I only eat half a tin of beans.

Far too much. My 6 year old sometimes has 3, which is the same as I would have.

It is a lot, but perhaps he was hungry! Children's appetites vary wildly, from day to day. who is to say what is too much for a child at any random meal.

If everyone in our family had 6 fish fingers each 36x20p each approx=£7.20. Of course, if adults eat more than children we'd be eating about 8 each as we are adults and teens here.

Plus 3 tins of baked beans Approx £1.50.

Plus chips £2.

Total £10.70.

Apart from any other arguments about nutrition (processed, salty) , quantity (too much) I'd say it's an expensive way to eat badly.

Blimey - yes! Sounds more like a 16 yr old boy going through a growth spurt. In fact my DS of that age doesnt do 6!!

I think your observations ring true, Winifredgoose.
I agree with Oblada that it is healthier to teach children to follow their own appetites while offering nutritious choices.

I think parents do more harm than good by being concerned about calories for growing children.

Well I'm feeling guilty now as my DD aged 2 eats four in a sitting. She's very slight but seems to love fish fingers, also they're not exactly massive are they, 2 would be gone in a flash in our house

I was all ready with the disapproval (my s-i-l was a feeder and her poor boy took until he was 17 to shed the blubber) but turns out it's just m-i-l once a week.
If the child is getting "normal" (and bear in mind I lived in the 80s in a trendy muesli-belt place where the midwife told more than one of my NCT friends that if they didn't start feeding their kids enough calories to stay alive, they'd take them away - oh how we chortled!) food six days a week, then one day of granny overfeeding is not going to kill him. All this stuff about children will stop eating when they're full - yeh right. Works for me - how about you?
Junior will stuff himself with things he likes way past satiety, just as adults do. Once a week - pah! But just be aware the capacity is there.

I am clearly of a different breed to the rest of you. Mine have fish fingers once every couple of months if that (because DH wouldn't eat them and we all eat the same) but they would inhale a box without blinking. And I'm stunned at all the delicate little tummies of the adults here who couldnt eat more than two without feeling bloated and having to fast for the rest of the week. Really, this thread is a parallel universe.

6 for a 3 year old is excessive.
6 for me as an adult... I'd nail them in a blink of an eye!

IMO children only overeat because we 'teach' them too. Because we use food as bribe, as treats, because we prohibit certain things etc. Because we make food into sth 'emotional'..
My girls will definitely stop eating an ice cream or pasta or anything if they have had enough (actually it amazed me initially!!). We, as adults, have often lost (to varying degrees) that but children do know their appetite.
My kids will definitely not be restricted in quantities. I'm only mindful of what I offer (without openly prohibiting anything, I just don't buy the stuff I consider to be unhealthy) and I try (try!)not to use the food as a treat or reward if possible. And I don't force the kids to finish their plate etc. Maybe when they are teens I will review this. Hopefully not.

Nodding here to ShelaghTurner and Oblada.

allthe, in theory the'granny feeding him up on loads of food once a week' is fine. But in practice I don't actually want her to get into that habit as he will come to expect it as he gets older.

I don't in anyway restrict food, if DS has dinner and asks for something else he can have something. However, what I don't do (or want MIL to do) is offer double portions on the first plate. That is just encouraging over eating and as someone said upthread, if we do that what chance do they have of staying a healthy weight?

You are overthinking this.

You are coming across to me as someone with a lot of anxiety about weight and food.

You are catastroophising at Thu 06-Oct-16 07:04:48^^

It depends my twins have just gone 4 they have 3 each with 2 spoonfuls of beans and chips but they dont eat many chips about 5 or so

My 6 year old has 4 because i find if i dont fill him up at dinner time then an hour laters hes hungry again neither of them are overweight so i kno im not iver feeding them my kids used to be fussy eaters and hardly eat at all now there actually eating im not complaing x

You are worrying too much about it Basin. Did he even eat it all?

Honestly, children that age will only eat what they want. The best thing you could do for him is guide him towards self regulation in his appetite. Your focus should be providing the type of food you want him to eat. He gets to choose how much of it to eat.

I really REALLY would not restrict a child that age from eating what he wants even if it is 6 ff (which I still struggle to be shocked at!). My kids eat an enormous breakfast but never finish their lunchboxes. We always offer them dinner in the evenings, sometimes my ds might eat 2 helpings, sometimes he'll hardly touch it.

Obviously, it depends on the inclinations of the child you have in front of you, (I try to curb the raging appetite my ds has for carbs for example) but broadly speaking, I think restricting food (or fussing at MILs who are doing you a favour) is a bad idea.

My four yr old would normally have three

I was just laughing at the poster who was aghast at the thought of the six fishfingers, saying she couldn't eat that many...

But she'd manage four - and TWO potato waffles.

Fishfingers are a hell of a lot more nutritious than a waffle ever will be, being full of salt and fat.

These threads are bizarre. I love Bertrand's rose dessert though, inspired!

6 fish fingers seems a lot, but I'm even more agog at the WHOLE tin of beans!

wilting I'm really not worrying. Nowhere did I say I restrict what DS eats. All I was after was a sense check on serving a 3 year old 6 fishfingers for dinner. Not 3 and then he asked for more; serving 6 straight off. He ate them all and trust me, MIL will take that to mean he needs more and more. She said she cooked 6 because he ate 4 last time. I just asked her not to serve him 6 as he didn't need them and I didn't want him to come to expect big portions.

Both of MIL's children are overweight. DH needs to lose about 3 stone, SIL similar probably.

Also where did I say she was doing me a favour?

If he is having a growth spurt then no. If he is eating it eagerly then...he probably is very hungry and needs it. Children don't overstuff in my experience - it's hard enough to get them to eat at times!