Why are people so competitive over what their kids eat?

[Fuebomba0]

Like eating a kids meal at a restaurant isn't that bad , just don't see why a lot of people are competitive over what their kids eat. Like wow your 5 year old DS eats seafood paella 👏👏

@Fuebomba0
im not sure that it’s food snobbery so much as some people feel bad that their children are living on a restrictive diet when other children eat almost anything.
We all know that some children are particularly fussy but for restaurants to only offer beige , unhealthy food all the time , for children, isn’t helpful. Children should not be eating unhealthy food every day.
We all know that.

I don’t appreciate the ‘FFS’ either.

@Nix2020

It starts with blw (which is just unnecessary) then keeps going. It's a competition basically.

BLW is absolutely necessary.

Specially when you’ve overheated the purée in the microwave and your kid is in their high chair going crazy with hunger. Bit of cucumber, chunk of cheese to keep them happy while it cools down.

I’d never heard of BLW when mine were little, but it turns out I was inadvertently doing it all along.

Totally agree with the pp that said children can eat plain food without it having to be deep fried, beige, freezer tapas. Children's taste buds are more sensitive than adults, so yes they often like blander food, but why does it always have to be processed sausage and chips, nuggets and chips, fish fingers and chips? My DC are by no means perfect eaters, but I do think it's important to have a balanced diet and offer a wide range from a young age. Obesity, tooth decay etc continue to rise and we need to start finding ways to reduce these. Surely widening children's diets (where there are no sensory/medical issues) would be a good start.

I've got the ultimate fussy toddler. Some days he eats so little I don't know how he sustains himself. He rejects nearly all foods - sweet, savoury, healthy, unhealthy.

But he loves risotto and paella. Perhaps I need to upload a video of him eating it onto Instagram and then beat my chest at my awesome parenting prowess.

When I go out to eat it's a treat. I eat what I want without thinking about the salt/sugar content or the calories. Heck I'll even have a pudding if everyone else is, which I never do at home. So why can't a child chose what they want to eat when out?

@JuniLoolaPalooza

I think people feel it reflects well on their parenting skills.
Mine are extremely poor.

That’s just competitive self-deprecation.

Heck I'll even have a pudding if everyone else is, which I never do at home. So why can't a child chose what they want to eat when out?

The problem is 9 times out of 10 they only get to choose from orange food.

Do I blame parents for not spending out on an expensive adult meal that a child will never be able to make a dent in? No. I just think its not great that restraunts only serve frozen processed crap for kids to chose from. Would be better it it was at least home made versions or higher quality versions or shock horror eceh do kids portions of some of the menu.

Surely something like a pasta bake or lasagna, soup etc can be served in a smaller portion?

I just never understood why kids food wasn't just small portions of the adult offerings because that's how I fed my kids - I'm lazy I cannot be cooking 2 different meals! But yes mine were eating paella and sushi before starting school, I didn't know that was odd until I had relatives tell me it was (they had fish fingers, chips and beans fans, mine still hate beans)

Agree. We are only 2 months in to eating actual food. Friends ask me how it's going. Some days are great, some days aren't but he's 8 months old! It's not that important. They then trip over themselves to tell me what I'm doing wrong. How their little one eats anything she's given because of how they weaned. For what it's worth we are doing BLW but not because it makes me a "better parent" I can't afford separate meals for everyone and we don't have the time either. This was is just easier.

@BlingLoving

I never used to see anyone feeling their babies jars either.

Where I grew up jars were absolutely standard. My mum was quite shocked when I said that the jars are actually full of crap and if I'm going for convenience I'll buy the organic pouch stuff. It had never even occurred to her to read the labels on them. So I think jars were pretty standard back in the day.

But ready meals etc, yes, you're right - much less of that.

FYI - the pouches are filled with crap too. X

I've noticed another type of competition, in the volume of food a child can eat.

There's great pride to be found in being able to say your young child eats multiples of what a teenager or adult has just been described as eating.

A poster revealing "my 16-year old has two slices of toast and jam for breakfast" could be not only greeted with the horror of the terribleness jam but could also have the "my three-year old would eat twice that and that's after his four weetabix and bowl of blueberries"

Whilst on holiday I’ve heard many a parent say that they have no kids food