To think playgroups shouldn't give out junk food?

[neonyellowshoes]

I go to one may be once a fortnight. The standard snack is fruit plus juice (don't agree with the juice) but there is always other shit 'just this once'. Chocolate, cake, iced biscuits today...

This is publicly funded.

It's a nice group but the shit food is putting me off.

Am I being precious?

I actually remember having milk and a bourbon biscuit at NURSERY. THE HORROR.

Whoa, some of these responses are really rude. It's not just a 'fucking biscuit'. These are very young children picking up habits all around them. Being overweight is becoming 'normal'. Sugar is not ok. Treats all the time are not ok. The playgroup should be encouraging healthy eating and if they can't do that then they should ask parents to bring along a healthy snack for their children, or just let the kids go two hours without having to eat something.

You're going to be flamed for your raisins, MonkeyMummy...

How come?

@boredandtired it's not that hard to make healthy snacks if that's what you are used to! It goes back to what I was saying about what your "normal" is. Clean up with fruit is easier as well.

@SeamusMacDubh flame away. It doesn't affect me one bit...

It’s interesting that people state that it’s too much hard work to cut up apples and biscuits are easier

Yes and ..... cut up a banana then ! Get rice cakes !

It all leads down to the answer that trans fats are easier and cheaper

Which is why we have this issue sadly

And then we have the environmental issue on top !

Tea bags and apple
Cores can be composted

Biscuits packaging cannot

They really are the devils work !

My toddler just had an Ella's fruit pouch, a yoghurt and a piece of granary toast for breakfast, do I need to call social services on myself?

What kind of comment is that banjo ?
You have your toddler a healthy bfast

That’s got fuck all to do with this thread which is about the creeping normalisation of giving toddlers unneeded and unhealthy snacks and the fact that is coinciding with a child obesity crisis

What relevance is the bfast you gave here

He will probably have a digestive biscuit later too. 😱😱😱😱😱

YANBU

I don’t know why so many mums on here are mean. Defensive perhaps?

chocolate have you read OP's subsequent posts? She was the one being "mean".

@neonyellowshoes I love your responses and attitude to this mass defensive hysteria against regulating treats. I could practically see your Miss Piggy hair flip when you wrote “twat waffle”. 😂

My toddler just had an Ella's fruit pouch, a yoghurt and a piece of granary toast for breakfast, do I need to call social services on myself?

Depends - what type of yoghurt was it?
Joking ..(not joking.. )

aus, it's OK, he had an organic low sugar yeo valley one. Only the best for my little darling.

I have no problem with biscuits, cakes etc. but I don't think that snacks need to be offered constantly, and I am a firm believer in the snack culture of the last 20-ish years being a major contributor to the obesity crisis. Kids do not need to have a fist full of food, regardless of what the food is, constantly.

We're raising a generation of hobbits, basically.

But the biscuits aren't really the issue, the incessant snacking and overavailability of food is.

Bangojam

I started to read through the thread but couldn’t bear it- a lot of rudeness here for a Wednesday morning! But I could see from the first few pages that the OP was being called smug and various posters were getting sweary and aggressive.

I think OP raises a good point, but of course it’s totally valid for others to disagree. My question is why on earth can’t these posts remain civil? It’s fine to disagree but there is no need to be mean, sarcastic or to get personal. It’s a bit embarrassing to read... (yep just waiting for all the bullies to turn on me now!)

why flamed for the raisins?

One of those little boxes of raisins that usually go in lunchboxes contains 26 g of sugar (6 teaspoons of sugar) so that's the same as a can of coke.
It is a bit laughable when people unwittingly go for a (marketed as) healthy option and it's no different to an iced biscuit or something.

Eg, let's look at some healthy alternatives parents might choose as snacks:
Yo Yo fruit bear= 4.9 g sugar
Fruit bowl 100% fruit strawberry flakes=12 g sugar
Small 20 g bag of yogurt coated raisins=15.2g sugar
A (gasp) bag of Haribo= 7.5g sugar
It's a bit off topic but people aren't seeing the hidden sugar in foods. I think that's a real problem. As is portion size for children. If parents aren't aware that a Fruit Winder is a treat food then they're going to overload their diet with sugar.

The way treat foods are marketed has a lot to answer for.

This is such an odd thread as no one has disagreed that regulating and restricting the amount of sugary snacks a child has is wrong.

I'm sorry but I can't agree with a parent getting so incensed at her child being offered a biscuit at an occasional toddler group. It's optional.

Children at toddler groups have been offered a biscuit and drink since the beginning of time. There was no obesity crisis in the 60's or 70's.

When I said that my DC got fruit and water at a toddler group we go to, she laughed and said ‘it was custard creams and orange squash when I used to take you’. That was early 80’s.

Wow @lostinthe90s that's really scary!!

I think there is a certain amount of guilt-ridden, cognitive disconnect going on here.

What I say: maybe eating shit food regularly is bad for children?

What people think I say: you are poisoning your children and I think you should be tarred and feathered

Hmmm....

There was no obesity crisis in the 60's or 70's.

No, but a lot of those people born in the 60s and 70s are now obese, and they've raised children who are now obese, or are statistically likely to become obese in the future.

So something is contributing.

RedDwarves

Yes, I agree. I hear the previous generation talk a lot about having a poor diet in the 70s and 80s and saying it didn’t hurt them. But surely they have contributed as we now have a generational problem with obesity.

The playgroup I used to take mine to in the late 90s/early 2000s always had biscuits and squash. And mine did in the early 80s. It's not a 'creeping normalization', I don't think.

Yes regularly feeding children "shit food" is bad for them neon
Losing your head because your child was offered a biscuit and being all dramatic by banning him from attending because all his teeth will fall out, he'll get obese and diabetic is rather silly.

People were defensive because you claimed to be smug and judgmental of parents who allowed their child to eat a biscuit at playgroup. That biscuit could well be part of a healthy balanced diet and they're well aware of the need to keep those sorts of foods to a minimum.
If you could take off your judgy pants that would be great.