To think kids diets are getting better

[iloveMiWadi]

Thank goodness!

I do find lately a lot of kids/parents I know kids seem to be struggling less and less with eating 'normal' foods. And hopefully one day 'the kids menu' will be gone!

Hopefully the days of just chicken nuggets and sausages being on the kids menu are almost over. Obviously it all comes down to how me/you were brought up and our relationships with food.

I see a lot more toddlers eating/ choosing fruit and veg, nuts, dairy free at times.

Take it you don't have a fussy eater then?

I think there’s more awareness of diet, but you can’t base it on what toddlers like! Mine both loved anything and everything as toddlers. Once they hit 3 it was all beige, all the time.

Oh, I wish I didn't! I have one.

My other 2 kids are now thinking it's cool to eat your fruit and veg according to the kids at school. I won't argue!

Yes I agree TheFifthKey, you simply can't tell what their diet will look like in a couple of years. My 8 year old loved 'healthier foods' and I thought I was onto a winner until she turned 4.

Over all though even from watching online vlogs, I see a hell of a lot of kids enjoying their greens and balanced meals!

One of my kids is great with food, she'll eat anything and fruit and veg is her favourite part of a meal.

However, if it wasn't for 'kids menu' food (sausages, fish fingers etc) my other child would not eat, at all. I have tried her with anything and everything. She does eat fruit and veg but what she will eat is very, very limited, so I for one am glad kids menus still exist!

Yes I agree, people are so much more educated and aware of diet now than they were even 10 years ago.

Obviously it all comes down to how me/you were brought up and our relationships with food.

I don't think this is totally accurate. DS1 and DS2 have been raised in the same home by the same people in the same way with the same food.

DS1 from the moment he began to eat always loved fruit, veg and 'healthy' stuff. He could take or leave sweets and biscuits and now he's 12 he is still exactly the same. I cook most nights and he would always come in and head straight for the fruit bowl.

DS2, on the other hand, is the faddiest bugger on earth. One day he'll eat something, the next day I'm trying to kill him by putting it on his plate. He asks for sweets and biscuits daily, he insists on removing every single onion or mushroom from anything I cook and until quite recently was a bit of a bellend about food.

It's not just how you raise them; sometimes it really is how they feel about food and their preferences. DS2 will (I think) have a sweet tooth for the rets of his life.

Having said that, I would like to see a more varied choice on the kids' menu for my non-fussy eater so I do agree with you there. Just don't need to go 'Jamie Oliver' and get rid of the only food my fussy eater will eat!

We eat out perhaps once a week with our dc. I don't really know any families who eat out so regularly that 'children's menu' would be a problem. I quite like a children's menu as I have one fussy toddler (plus one much less fussy one)and , in general they have lower salt things on there than the adult menu.

My kids are all grown up now and I agree with others that they were all brought up the same and had different tastes. Eldest and youngest would eat everything and still have very healthy tastes on the whole. Middle one still laughs if you offer him salad and when young would never like to be offered food he wasn't familiar with. BUT he has got better as he's got older and will eat quite a wide range of things (except salad, obviously!).

I used to hate children's menus though - especially when we were away on holiday "self-catering" i.e. eating out every night. All that was on offer was something and chips and beans every night. My kids were bored by it. I used to order an adults portion of say roast dinner and a spare plate for the younger two and split it between them.

Glad there is more choice for them now.

I have 2 yo twins, 1 will eat everything on his plate regardless of what it is - and ask for more - the other is super fussy, doesn't like his foods touching and wants ketchup on everything (even cherry tomato halves). They've been raised exactly the same in every way possible, including around food and diet!! Can't explain it but definitely one for the nature side of the nature v nurture debate I guess

It's odd alright, yes children's menus are of course handier but some restaurants take the piss, No consideration for special requirements, I've often walked into a restaurant and they only have pizza/sausages/chips on the kids menu. They are great but need a wider choice.

I suspect you are looking at rather a narrow demograph of people.
It is certainly not the case with many of the families I work with.

Unfortunately I think my DS has a worse diet than my DBro and I had as toddlers. We lived in rural Italy and most people had their own chickens and allotments. The cheese was local and all the bread in the shop was baked daily....(rose tinted glasses of course, im sure my DM would have liked more choice in the shop/market).
I live in a flat in Croydon, I'm not sure I even trust the blackberries that grow around here!

yabu I'm afraid. there are children who are suffering from both obesity and malnutrition.

and my own kids only eat Haribo it seems!

Yes, considering that 150 years ago children from poor families wouldve mostly lived off bread and potatoes etc and rich children off milk puddings etc (as far as i’m aware)

Look up the % of dc that are obese at 11yrs old... or even at 4 yrs old. It's shocking.

The Times
The Guardian
[[https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childhood-obesity-applying-all-our-health/childhood-obesity-applying-all-our-health Government report]

Government Report - Link fail

YABU. My son gets free school meals, and has started secondary. Which means that he now chooses to eat crap. I wish they didn’t provide high sugar, high fat food but they do. The healthier options are expensive, and the fruit is awful and more expensive than Waitrose cafe. I despair.