to think this is the root of the obesity crisis?

[Somethingorotherorother]

It seems like on every single parenting thread, about bedtimes, sharing, behaviour, potty training etc there are huge numbers of people advocating bribing your child with food for good behaviour. Giving sweeties in the morning for every night a child stayed in bed. Sweeties for every poo on the potty. Sweeties for every day a child didn't bite their sibling. Sweeties for good behaviour at mealtimes. Sweeties for getting dressed in the morning.

Is it just me or is this absolutely batshit crazy!? People are suggesting this like it's a great way to get your kid to behave, but surely it just teaches them incredibly unhealthy eating habits (ie i deserve an edible reward for each unpleasant task) that carry in to adolescence and adulthood the idea that junk food is a normal part of the everyday diet?

It also strikes me as really lazy. Bribing a child with a pack of Haribo is much easier than, say, bribing a child with a fun outing or one-on-one time, which is what we used to get as kids for particularly good behaviour/achievements.

I read somewhere recently that 65% of UK adults are overweight, and tbh reading the way some people are bringing up their kids on here, i can't see that figure improving any time soon.

The real issue is snacks every hour, a mini packed lunch so they don’t faint from hunger during the 20 min walk home from school, the snacks taken during a 45 min trip to the hairdressers for their trim, the snacks taken when you pop to the garden centre to pick up plants.
Kids weren’t so fat when all we got was a bowl of ready break and a cup of tea for breakfast, water from the fountain at breaktime, 1/3 bottle milk at 11am, small school lunch and then hoops on toast for tea. We might also have been allowed 2 cow biscuits and cocoa before bed. God forbid we also had a packet of crisps and a glass of Corona for a treat on Fridays and 5p of penny sweets on a Saturday morning.
Kids today consume far more sugar and fat more often.

@maddiemookins16mum

The real issue is snacks every hour, a mini packed lunch so they don’t faint from hunger during the 20 min walk home from school, the snacks taken during a 45 min trip to the hairdressers for their trim, the snacks taken when you pop to the garden centre to pick up plants. Kids weren’t so fat when all we got was a bowl of ready break and a cup of tea for breakfast, water from the fountain at breaktime, 1/3 bottle milk at 11am, small school lunch and then hoops on toast for tea. We might also have been allowed 2 cow biscuits and cocoa before bed. God forbid we also had a packet of crisps and a glass of Corona for a treat on Fridays and 5p of penny sweets on a Saturday morning. Kids today consume far more sugar and fat more often.

Agree with this completely.

We never grew up with 'snacks'. You had three meals a day and possibly a bit of fruit if you were lucky. Sweets were pocket money treats at weekends. We weren't afraid of the feeling of hunger - nowadays someone's stomach rumbles and everyone treats it as if it were the start of Coronavirus or something.

Being a bit hungry doesn't kill anyone and people need to learn how it feels to BE hungry. Not shove food in their faces every time they feel a little bit peckish.