To think there is no such thing as childrens food

[Willowtree7]

I believe children do not need "childrens food" just smaller versions of... well... just food. It makes me so sad to think that children have fish fingers and chips for dinner followed by a petit filous yoghurt and washed down with squash because that's what we have been led to believe children should have.

I'm totally in favour of an ice cream on a hot day and the odd treat but not coco pops or cheerios for breakfast. It's like people recognise you shouldn't give too many sweets but beyond that don't see nutritional value in meals.

Our diet affects our learning, concentration and health. It's the most vital thing we all need to get right and yet we feed children processed rubbish that is so bland it needs sugary ketchup to give it flavour and this is considered normal.

Before anyone says it's about money and crap food is cheaper, i think A) that's a vop out for people that buy it and B) that's not the main reason people feed children poor diets. It's about lack of understanding of what food is. People that feed children wholemeal bread, humous and porridge are considered to be the unusual ones on some circles!! How did we get to this?

Mommybunny (how do I tag someone?) you make an excellent point! I am guilty of all these things! Luckily my kids diets are all brilliant, through perseverance and sheer effort. I hope it lasts!

I eat a lot if freezer food and always have. Why do I? Probably because I had it when young and it hasn't had any effect on me. It's also quick and easy and I like the taste. Not really a drama in my life.

But I do agree that kids menus in restaurants are just crap. My dc have never eaten that. We tend to go from the 'sides' menu for them.

I wish a restaurant would just do plain food for kids. Eg list 7 things on menu; plain pasta, potato, peas, cucumber, tomato, chicken, cheese and kid has to pick 4.

Are you one of those mothers that says things like 'oh little Tarquin is so funny - he only eats organic kale and olives. He won't touch sweets'

I agree actually, in general children can eat smaller portions of healthy adult food, and experience lots of flavours and variety. Obviously there will be exceptions eg sensory issues. But in general there is no reason why children can only enjoy chips, beans and varieties of breaded protein.

However.... My 3 year old is much pickier now than when she was younger. I don't know whether it is the "terrible 3s" and wanting to assert her will, or her taste buds have actually changed, or having more exposure to "kid's meals". But she sadly says "yuck" to new foods, whereas as a baby she ate everything. I'm hoping it will pass.

When ds was 9 months he was happily eating mousaka on holiday. Would eat anything given except for "children's foods"

Now he is 7 and anything he eats is a bonus. Today it was a bit of salad and 2 chips!

Most small children don't like spicy food though (and we eat quite a lot of spicy food), sometime you can take a portion out before adding spices but not always.

In theory I agree with you but IRL it's not always that simple. I have two dc, both weaned on the same foods and I have one who eats everything (tried fresh mussels last weekend and loved them!) And another who eats about 10 foods in total (and not "kid foods" but just really pernitecky about food).

I do think in general though, resteraunts should offer children better food-there are a few that do. Strada is quite good of the chains.

I think give them the healthiest and most varied diet you can get them to eat, 95% of the time. The odd chip won't harm them. If they won't eat quinoa, fish fingers might have to do.

Hummus is rank and makes adults and children absolutely reek

YANBU though I agree with Glitter re spicy food, and funnily enough I no longer like spicy food much as we just don't eat it any more.

I love it when restaurants just do a half portion of an 'adult' meal instead of having a separate kids' menu.

The part of your OP that I really disagree with is that people use the expense factor of healthy food as a reason not to provide it, I disagree. I think it's really expensive to feed children healthy food - people bang on about going to Lidl or whatever but these supermarkets are often on the edges of cities where people can't always travel. There are millions of kids in the U.K. living in poverty and one of the biggest issues with this is hunger. If you have £26 to feed a family of 4 for a week are you going to go to Farmfoods and stock up on foods that actually fill your child's belly (and they eat) or fuck about with some salmon fillets? Get real OP, the kids you're talking about in a lot of cases have never had the sort of opportunity that allows you to grow up in a house where you are encouraged to explore different tastes and textures.

For the record, I have two kids - one who's 6 would eat fish fingers and pizza every bloody day if he could. The other who is 3 has a very specific favourite dinner: scallops and prawns in chilli, lime and rocket served on ciabatta. She will basically tell me to go hike for it if I offered her fish fingers. Guess which kid I made breakfast, lunch and dinners from scratch every fucking day using every veg, fruit and fish for years and which got offered a bit of this and that with some Ella's Kitchen?

Your kid eats well? Brilliant. Others don't. Suck it up.

While I do think Op is perhaps a little sanctimonious I can't entirely disagree. I can understand that struggling with a picky eater can mean you give them what you know they'll eat for peace of mind (because at least they won't starve!) but I sometimes wonder how the picky eaters discovered a love of chicken nuggets, fish fingers and oven chips in the first place?

I doubt in most cases these items were first introduced in desperation and of course not all children are fussy eaters anyway. Rather I know a lot of people automatically buy this stuff as soon as the child is old enough to eat it, it seems to be just because it's fixed in their heads that's what children eat.

I get that for some cost and/or cooking skills are a factor but I'm not convinced that's the case for the majority. Definitely advertising plays its part and seems to ensure a high number of parents reach for "kids food" without any real thought. Dsis was very particular about her dc when weaning. She made everything from scratch, dn never tasted a jar of baby food ever yet once he turned two she moved straight into buying frozen, beige and breadcrumbed

Children do need different food to an extent - they can't eat anywhere near the same levels of salt as DH and I do, they need more high calorie /full fat foods, (as a 7 year olds calorie requirement isn't far off mine but quantity wise can eat far less), and few can happily eat food cooked with a lot of chilli/ spiced.

They don't need freezer crap, but neither do adults, it's amazing how much shit some adults eat.

I often do separate meals for the dcs because they can't wait until DH will be home to eat, and if I'm not doing something re-heatable so it'll be cooking twice, might as well do something with a load of chipotles and salt in it for me and DH.

Why does it even matter what anyone eats? I get a lot of this at work like 'ooh thats unhealthy it will catch up with you'. It's always said by unhealthy and overweight people ime

I agree OP.

What I don't understand is when people say "DD/DS is a fussy eater - they'll only eat fish fingrs" but how do they even know that fish fingers exist? If you never had given them a fish finger they would have found something proper that they liked to eat instead.

I give my ds fish fingers and chips with a yoghurt and some juice for his dinner, other nights could be pizza, spag bol or steak pie. He also likes cheerios for breakfast too. I see no issue so long as he is eating

One of the greatest food pleasures is a fish finger sandwich. Especially with potato waffles and ketchup. -drool-

Why shouldn't children have fish fingers or chicken nuggets or anything else as part of a balanced diet though?

What harm exactly is it going to do?

Drinks is my main thing- my kids only drink water or milk on a day to day basis- I do think other drinks except for on special occasions are unecessary... but again- I'm lucky in that both my kids hate juice/squash etc.

A lot of the time 'children's food' is something I can dish up quickly. I don't eat the same time as my two, so they don't 'eat what I eat'. So yes, quick and easy is sometimes fish fingers and chips. Very tasty as far as I'm concerned!

OP you say it makes you so sad that kids eat these things.

Pull yourself together you daft bugger.

I think a lot of the problem has to do with the fact that relatively few families seem to eat an evening meal together anymore, often because the kids have to go to bed before one (or both) of the parents is home from work. That will usually mean one of the parents will have to prepare two meals, and will quite understandably want to make the preparation as quick and painless as possible. Pulling stuff that you know your kids will eat out of a freezer can therefore seem a no-brainer.

My DH and I both work from home, so we are lucky that we eat dinner with our DCs almost every single night. There is no way I am preparing two meals, so they either like what we have or they lump it!

We've just given the kids what we eat. So they eat crab, curries, funny vegan food, liver, whatever. All 4 are slim but I've never worried about weight and they choose to eat or leave whats on their plate. No alternatives. It probably helped that I actively dislike fishfingers and nuggets, so never bought them and it wouldn't occur to me to serve them. I can see that children with sensory issues might get understandably hooked on some foods

Fun mum of the year award! 🙄

Jesus OP calm down. Not all children like quinoa for supper or acai berry bowls for breakfast. I was really fussy as a kid and my favourite meal was white bread sandwich with butter and sliced tomato even though my mum was eating avocados in the early 90s before they became fashionable and really encouraged me to explore new and healthy foods. My palette developed as I grew up, like most people.

And guess what what, I grew up to be an economist and a size 8-10.

I agree to some extent. We persisted with our pfb (now likely to be diagnosed with asd) and he pretty much eats everything now - though obsessed with fizzy drinks and sugary stuff these days (didn't taste sweets or chocolate until 3 years old).
Youngest much pickier. Meanwhile we've got more adventurous (eldest now 12 - youngest is 3) so sometimes she does have fish fingers and peas while we have a Thai curry.

No one dies!