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?

Even type 2 diabetes isn't wholly diet-related, it's much more complex than that.

My 3yr old ate 2 party rings today. So if he's obese when he's an adult, I'll just blame it on that

I don't think it matters of its a bowl.of cherries a chocolate fudge cake or a plate of plain cous cous.

I would still think odd to be happy to pay to go somewhere to meet friends and play and run around only for half of it to be spent eating. They can do that at home.

It just wastes time.

Weerrrrll, you can't be too careful. It starts with a chocolate digestive once a fortnight, next thing you know it's dealing party rings and hula hoops behind the bike sheds and downing coke in pints. 🙄

Clenching over a bourbon. Taking pelvic floor exercises to a whole new level.

You're right Spudlet. A couple of fruit shoots at a party and the next thing they're main lining heroin.

You'll deprive your child of a sociable activity to avoid having to say no to him
My Sil gives her children a fair bit of chocolate. I'd rather mine has a limited amount. I'll either say no or let him have one depending on what else he's had that day.

TBF, given that

"In 2016/17, 1 in 3 children in Year 6 were classified as overweight or obese",

either mumsnet consists entirely of parents of the other 66%, or some of the people here saying "relax, my kids eat cake and biscuits sometimes and they're just fine!" are wrong and they're not fine.

Taking pelvic floor exercises to a whole new level

Maybe that’s why mine is so good all hail the simple biscuit!

only here for the deletion message

Ha ha "please dispose of the bourbon responsibly"

Kids do get type 2 diabetes these days, sadly.

Anyway!

We're lucky for playgroups round here. You could easily go to three or four a week. That's four mornings a week dominated by eating shit. Publicly funded.

I don't agree with that and I didn't realise how strongly I felt until I posted this.

I'm fully aware that he'll probably buy shit food on the way to school one day. All the more reason to lay a good foundation early on and not make shit food an everyday or even weekly occurrence quite yet.

Nice to see a few on here agree with me!

I agree with the chorus of YABU.
You are setting yourself up for a lot of stress in life if your dc having a biscuit of cake once a fortnight gives you this much angst. I suggest you may well be setting your dc up with a pretty unhealthy relationship with food too.

Just take it out of your child’s hands if you feel so strongly.

Really.

Should a tantrum ensue, well...deal with it.

My only warning is don’t do what my mum did and outright ban sweets, crisps, biscuits etc. The moment I had the funds and opportunity I’d gorge on “shit”.

Wrecked my teeth and has left me with a serious negative food association for life.

Is it just me who never knew juice was something people 'didn't agree with' until they came on MN?

I really can’t get upset over this. DD goes to two playgroups, she always has a biscuit at both. Occasionally it is - gasp - a chocolate biscuit. We don’t have treats at home generally, just when we go out as a family. She is active and healthy, there are bigger things to worry about in life than an active child who eats a good balanced diet having the odd biscuit!!

I always find these threads interesting because of the comments like “he will be eating chocolate for breakfast when he’s 13” as if being stricter about healthy eating makes them go the other way.

I can tell you OP from experience it doesn’t. I was very strict with my kids as babies and toddlers and loosened up once they were around 6 / 7. They have a love of healthy food and haven’t ‘rebelled’ by eating loads of junk. My 12 year old has free choice now and popped to the shop to buy lunch the other day and chose sushi and pomegranate seeds. There is no way he would have a love of these foods at 12 had I not made it a priority as a small child and kept him away from the junk until his palette had fully developed.

Stick with it but don’t tell anyone or talk about what your kids eat in RL or you will be called smug and come across as a bit of a dick. But definitely stick with it.

My mum was pretty controlling about food, especially sweets/treats - looking back, it was because we lived miles from the nearest shop, and she didn’t drive, so if we ran out of something, that was it, until Saturday when dad would be at home whilst the shops were open, or until she could get to the nearest shop on the once-a-week bus (it picked up in the morning, and dropped them back after a couple of hours in the little market town).

But whatever her reasons were, I grew up with a very disordered relationship with food -and as soon as I had my own money, and left home, I started eating far too much of all sorts of rubbish, and piled on the weight because I had never learned to self regulate. I still struggle with this.

I don’t think there is any such thing as ‘bad’ food - but there are foods that should only be eaten very occasionally and in small amounts - and it is important that children learn this. A balanced diet is the best thing for anyone, adult or child.

That's four mornings a week dominated by eating shit Or you could word that as four biscuits a week. I think you're over reacting.

That said, it's great that you want to teach your child to follow a healthy diet. It's fine not to have sugary foods in the house. I don't think that's a groundbreaking approach, lots of parents do the same.

Just don't take it to extremes and start having kittens if he does consume the occasional treat.

Oh dear OP reminds me of me with PFB 48 years ago. I don’t think she knew what chocolate or sweets were till she went to school. Then I had DS and DD2 and I realised that the occasional biscuit or cake wasn’t going to kill them.
Cleaning teeth twice a day and lots of water has resulted in none of them having any fillings even now.
I have a mouthful of crowns and fillings.

@TeasndToast

That's pretty much how I was brought up. I didn't rebel (least not regarding food ha ha) either.

Oh and to those who think that playgroup organisers (unpaid volunteers) are 'lazy' for laying on food and that its 'corner shop crap' - create your own fucking playgroup if you know how to do it better. Then you and the sanctimonious parents can gather and titter about how wonderful you are for just giving kids water and probably a complex about food. Stop pissing and moaning about hard working people making efforts for YOUR kids you entitled fuckers

Haven't read all the replies, so this might have been said but rather than not go back, why don't you approach the leaders and say that maybe healthier snacks might be more appropriate.

Also, however said that a toddler should be able to wait for food between breakfast and lunch - I can't believe you've ever been around little children! They need a little snack to keep them going!

I know that MN is made up of individuals all expressing different opinions and so on, but even so...there's always a tidal wave of criticism about kids having snacks all day, but as soon as someone posts asking they shouldn't let their DC have a junk-food snack at nursery, there's another avalanche of criticism for NOT allowing it.

And of course, there's always the OTT replies that seem to think the OP has suggested never feeding her child a grain of sugar again.

Oh OP. I despair of people like you
You people have food issues. It's a fucking biscuit

And of course the half a dozen 'smug, much?' comments.

People do love a food-related pile-on, don't they?

OP, if you don't want your child to eat sugary snacks, that's fine. Lots of people don't. Just make your decision, and in rl, thankfully people won't yell 'smug, joyless fucker!' at you for doing it.

It's a biscuit, not crack. If you don't want your DS to have it then just say no thank you and steer him towards the things you don't want him to have.

DD goes to a toddler group which is also publicly funded (why does this even matter!?) and they have a snack at the end of the session, usually fruit/veg, bread sticks, cheese, the occasional biscuit. The session ends at 11.15 and I find if she has the snack then she won't eat her lunch, her appetite is teeny, so instead of making a fuss about the existence of the snack I simply say "no thanks" and DD carries on playing while the other have their snack then they come back and join her on the carpet for song time. No one cares, least of all DD.