Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think playgroups shouldn't give out junk food?

357 replies

neonyellowshoes · 29/05/2018 15:18

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?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
8
feathermucker · 30/05/2018 12:14

Occasional biscuits or other sweet treats will not cause obesity etc. Having them regularly might.

Tbh, you sound more than a little snobby about the whole thing, with the repeated "shit food" comments.

If it really means THAT much that it causes you this much angst, just don't go.

TheMonkeyMummy · 30/05/2018 12:14

Will attach pictures this time...

To think playgroups shouldn't give out junk food?
To think playgroups shouldn't give out junk food?
To think playgroups shouldn't give out junk food?
greatbigwho · 30/05/2018 12:18

The playgroup we go to costs a pound per family. I know of several families who use the toast at snack time (about 11.30) as a meal for their kids because that's all they can afford. Some of those kids don't have tables to eat at at home, so it's helpful for them to sit at the table as well.

We just rejig meal times a bit on playgroup days. It's hardly the end of the world.

neonyellowshoes · 30/05/2018 12:37

Yes, fruit contains sugar. Yes it can rot teeth if consumed in excess. However it also contains vitamins, fibre and some hydration. Iced biscuits generally don't.

Not comparable.

(To the poster who asked, yes I did do extended breastfeeding. Probably get flamed for that too 😜. No, I don't judge formula feeding mothers, sorry to disappoint).

🍀 for some, 🍫 for others (that's me being all fair and non-judgemental).

OP posts:
ILikeMyChickenFried · 30/05/2018 12:41

You save your judging for the biscuit feeders then?

neonyellowshoes · 30/05/2018 12:46

How is describing shit food as shit food, snobby?

Shit food is shit. Good food is not shit.

No class connotations there, just a perfectly good adjective.

OP posts:
neonyellowshoes · 30/05/2018 12:49

No, the organisers of publicly funded playgroups who serve shit food right under the bright yellow healthy eating poster. 'Just this once'- every other day. I judge them.

OP posts:
Kursk · 30/05/2018 12:52

All food doesn’t have to be good. You don’t have to like it or enjoy it. Sometimes it’s jyst calories that make a turd, which carries you to the next meal.

InDubiousBattle · 30/05/2018 12:53

Where is this group? A children's centre? How is it publicly funded?

icepop9000 · 30/05/2018 12:57

And people wonder why there are less and less of these groups.
Moderation is the key. I can't believe someone would deny the social interaction that toddler groups also supply over a friggin biscuit!!
I ran a toddler group and if people didn't like the snack they refused or brought their own. I must have been really bad as I provided home made cake for the mums.
All those complaining about cake etc do you eat it? Do you have a glass of wine? All can cause diabetes etc.
By the way, I'm a nutritionist. Banning foods for kids can cause problems in later life. These children are more likely to develop unhealthy relationships with food.....Get a grip!

ILikeMyChickenFried · 30/05/2018 13:00

Given the OP's overuse of profanities I doubt one could really describe her as snobby.

I'd be much more concerned about avoiding a parent who swears so much than I would a parent who offers an iced biscuit once a week.

GrandmasterGlitchBitch · 30/05/2018 13:05

Good food is not shit.

Dunno about that. Kale, Chia seeds and beetroot are all rank.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 30/05/2018 13:05

"The concept of treat food just buys into the narrative there is good food and bad food."

I agree 100%, @JacquesHammer. I don't think any food is bad - or shit - but there are some foods that should only be eaten in moderation, and occasionally. Learning that is vital - and in my opinion, it would help combat obesity.

I also think that, if you restrict a child's access to certain food groups - biscuits, sweets, fast food, then when they can access those things freely (when they have pocket money and are walking past the shops on the way to school, for example, or when they go off to university), there is a big risk that they will go overboard on these things - it is exactly what I did, because I had never learned to self-regulate.

Obviously, when a child is of playgroup age, they can't be expected to self regulate, but even at this young age, the odd sweet or biscuit will not set them up for a lifetime of obesity - as long as it is within a balanced diet.

If I were @neonyellowshoes, I would not be withdrawing my child from the group - because the social interaction is a good thing - but I might be suggesting that the snack should be fruit most of the week, with a biscuit just once a week, perhaps - and suggesting milk instead of juice or squash. Or I'd be taking a snack and drink for my child myself - and making it nicer than the biscuit - which doesn't have to mean unhealthy. A pot of strawberries or melon or pineapple would tempt me far more than a plain digestive, and I am sure the OP knows what healthy food her toddler loves, and would prefer to a biscuit - but which would still fit in with her philosophy about feeding him.

neonyellowshoes · 30/05/2018 13:09

@ILikeMyChickenFried

Thank you, glad to hear that you know that I'm no fucking snob 😇

OP posts:
GrandmasterGlitchBitch · 30/05/2018 13:16

there are some foods that should only be eaten in moderation, and occasionally. Learning that is vital - and in my opinion, it would help combat obesity.

People know that. They know what they should and shouldn't be eating. So why aren't they doing it? It isn't lack of knowledge.

GrandmasterGlitchBitch · 30/05/2018 13:16

I actually think portion sizes have got a lot to do with it.

Boredandtired · 30/05/2018 13:25

I just ate a party ring. I can confirm it is shit food.

GrandmasterGlitchBitch · 30/05/2018 13:28

Yes party rings are vile.

brownpurse · 30/05/2018 13:41

As a small child we ate three meals a day. We were allowed a drink of squash and one biscuit when we got home from school but no other "snacks" We had walked the mile home. If we said we were hungry the answer was that our meal would be ready in an hour. My children are now in their early 20's and whilst I was a little more generous with between meal foods I worked to roughly the same principle. Today we are all obsessed with snacks. Parents don't go out unless they have bags of things for children to eat at hourly intervals. The classroom door opens at the school I work in, and before the children have got out of the playground their hands are filled with their snack. Basically many of us children and adults alike eat too much. We have forgotten what it feels like to be hungry , we eat from habit and boredom. Our children lead far more sedentary lives. A biscuit at playgroup never hurt anyone, having another one an hour later and then numerous more snacks during the rest of the day may well do so.

Uyulala · 30/05/2018 14:00

I can confirm that beetroot and tomatoes are shit food, whereas party rings are lovely Blush

CaveDivingbelle · 30/05/2018 14:05

Why not actually ask them why they choose to serve it? Get involved and change it. No point whinging and all this militant stuff to a bunch of random MNetters. Or just don't go. Confused

ILostItInTheEarlyNineties · 30/05/2018 16:19

If we're talking about the risk of childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes it matters not one jot whether the sugar comes from a "better" nutritional source eg dried fruit.
Processed sugar and sugar from 100% fruit is sugar once in your blood stream.

This is where the danger lies in my opinion. Parents are under the illusion that they're filling their child with healthy foods because they're labelled "100% fruit" "No added sugar" "organic" "One of your five a day!" when in fact things like toddler fruit flakes, fruit gummies or coated raisins are just glorified bags of sweets.
And should be treated as such- an occasional treat.

BustopherJones · 30/05/2018 17:11

party rings are vile

Shots fired.

TheMonkeyMummy · 30/05/2018 21:43

@ILostItInTheEarlyNineties well, you have lost me there as no child that I know is affected by childhood obesity/diabetes. (I work with children and parents for a living, plus people around us in our daily lives and I really cannot think of one overweight child that I am in contact with). I do agree with you that posts like this suggest that people have lost their way, nutritionally, even if I have not seen it with my own eyes.

That said, (and we are arguing the same point here), within a normal healthy diet, of a normal healthy child, a weekly treat of a small (toddler) fistful of raisins and a plain biscuit with a drink of water is hardly the same thing as a glass of cordial, a chocolate biscuit and a bag of covered raisins. As I said previously, I am very careful about sugar intake (as are my children) and our diets in general and I would absolutely not give the latter things to my kids. We just don't have them in the house, or at my playgroups, but we do enjoy them out at restaurants/parties from time to time.

bluebellsparklypants · 30/05/2018 21:54

Think you are being bit precious op, it's what once a week, everything in moderation if your teaching your DC healthy eating at home then they'll understand about what food choices their making. Can you make suggestions to those who run the play group maybe about the snacks on offer. I've been to lots of groups up to 2hrs long and they always have refreshments of some kind seems quite a standard thing

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.

This thread is closed and is no longer accepting replies. Click here to start a new thread.