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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Pudding after dinner?

172 replies

tuliplily · 26/04/2021 16:41

If you have small children, do they/you have pudding after dinner? If so then what? Do you have the same thing?

DH always had dessert as a kid but I only had it on a Sunday ( usually crumble) after a roast.

My toddler has fruit and yogurt but rarely anything else.

AIBU:

Yes- of course we have pudding
No- rarely or never

OP posts:
daisypond · 26/04/2021 22:07

Yes, usually.

tinofbeans · 26/04/2021 22:15

We always have pudding! Tonight's choice was cake, ice-cream or chocolate mousse... I am Shock at all the deprived non-puddingers!

Countrygirl2021 · 26/04/2021 22:20

No, I don't feel like it's a great habit. It teaches sweet treats mentality. We sometimes have one on a Sunday after a roast. We have rhubarb nearly ready for picking so will make some crumbles and then have those on ocassional Sundays but that's about it.

Love51 · 26/04/2021 22:24

@LordEmsworth

I am astonished by the people saying never. Do your kids know what apple crumble is but without ever tasting it? Or rice pudding? Or custard?

If I said to them that a Scotsman walked into a bakers and asked "is that a scone or a meringue" would they say "no obviously he was right, it was a scone" because they have never come across the concept of meringue? I find it hard to get my head round the idea that some children have never tasted jelly and ice cream...

Mine turned their noses up at the childhood Ambrosia that is Angel Delight. And mousse, and rice pudding. They are suspicious of everything! I'm trying to wean them off needing something sweet after meals. Usually it is only fruit, but occasionally a cookie or something their dad brings home, and recently Easter chocolate. My eldest seems to think she needs to keep eating though. My youngest only will if there is something he really wants. Luckily pineapple fits into that category.
Countrygirl2021 · 26/04/2021 22:25

while ago there was a thread on here about how many sausages people tend to eat, and most people answered 3 to 5 per person, which I found more unusual.

What is the right amount of sausage?

My husband has 3. I have 2 or 3. 4 year olds have 1 1/2 each.

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe · 26/04/2021 22:30

No, we don't do it. I didn't want to start it either when I had kids. I will make puddings sometimes but not as a regular thing and not with/after dinner, just as a separate thing.

My husband eats lots of puddings, at least one a day of some sort but he grew up with British parents and I didn't. I quite like a lemon meringue as it's sharp but prefer cheese and grapes/apple slices as a 'sweet'.

Misty9 · 26/04/2021 22:35

Yep, pudding fans here. There's always fruit and/or yoghurt available, but if you make a decent effort at your dinner then there's ice cream, jelly pots, rice pudding or sometimes custard if I can be bothered making it. Mostly ds is the one who eats anything and is bothered about pudding - but he'll also snack on celery Grin

I feel I want something sweet after meals and it's best for dental health to have it then. But I don't offer the huge amounts of chocolate and sweets I see other kids being offered so won't sweat a small pudding each day.

oceanswim · 26/04/2021 22:43

I didn't regularly have pudding as a child and nor did DH yet somehow our two DCs have got into a habit of pudding after dinner and ask for it. I'm not sure how it went that way. At least half the time though "pudding" is blueberries and raspberries which they get quite excited about even though these items are freely available throughout the day and they tend to have them with breakfast too. Maybe they're just young enough for us to get away with it!

Other times they have something like a mini box of raisins, mini fun pack of haribo, couple of squares of chocolate or pots of sugar free jelly. Muller corner yoghurts or little single serve trifles are Big Treats. Only occasionally do they have a proper crumble and custard or ice cream type pudding.

Maggiesfarm · 26/04/2021 22:50

LyingWitchinwardrobe: "...but prefer cheese and grapes/apple slices as a 'sweet'."

They are not sweet!
...
A pudding doesn't have to be very sweet, it depends how you make it. You also don't have to eat a lot of it but it is nice to have something different to finish off a meal.

Raspberries and blueberries, mentioned above, and strawberries, are lovely with cream or ice cream for pudding. I wish I had some right now! My last punnet of strawberries was finished yesterday.

Wanderlust20 · 26/04/2021 23:12

Dessert every night?! I'd be the size of a house ha.

2Rebecca · 26/04/2021 23:40

Rarely. Puddings are an occasional weekend thing. I just serve enough main course. I see puddings as something women did when they didn't work. Most other countries don't do puddings after most meals

NoIDontWatchLoveIsland · 26/04/2021 23:44

Its funny people think having puddings will turn you off other food but this isnt true of all DC.

Ds will accept an apple instead of pudding with glee, is also thrilled if given a handful of walnuts, a couple of slices of chorizo, a chunk of cucumber or red pepper. His favourite ice lolly is a little jude rocket one made with vegetable juices.

He's thin as a rake and I provide puddings as he genuinely needs the calories and life is to be enjoyed.

DD is only 5th% for weight despite the bread and butter pudding etc. If I didnt give her that I think she might waste away.

Lollypop4 · 26/04/2021 23:49

pudding here everyday, usually will be a yogurt/ ice lolly/icecream.
But only if all ( or v.nearly all dinner ) finished

Smokeahontas · 26/04/2021 23:51

Fruit / yogurt is not a pudding. That’s breakfast!

MajorNeville · 27/04/2021 00:10

My dsis is diabetic so I grew up very rarely having pudding, I was amazed when dh said he had it every night growing up. I don't serve any now, people can help themselves to a yogurt or what not.

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe · 27/04/2021 00:19

@Maggiesfarm

LyingWitchinwardrobe: "...but prefer cheese and grapes/apple slices as a 'sweet'."

They are not sweet!
...
A pudding doesn't have to be very sweet, it depends how you make it. You also don't have to eat a lot of it but it is nice to have something different to finish off a meal.

Raspberries and blueberries, mentioned above, and strawberries, are lovely with cream or ice cream for pudding. I wish I had some right now! My last punnet of strawberries was finished yesterday.

I didn't mean that it is sweet, it's a term that some use instead of pudding, eg. "What do you want as a sweet?". Could just be a regional thing.

I'm interested in what other people do, what their traditions are but it won't influence me to do the same as I was brought up without eating something sweet to finish a meal.

I'm not a particularly healthy eater though - you mention strawberries - well I had a punnet to myself for lunch yesterday, with some cheese, tomatoes and Wotsits. I have a Wotsit problem.

WorraLiberty · 27/04/2021 00:28

@LordEmsworth

I am astonished by the people saying never. Do your kids know what apple crumble is but without ever tasting it? Or rice pudding? Or custard?

If I said to them that a Scotsman walked into a bakers and asked "is that a scone or a meringue" would they say "no obviously he was right, it was a scone" because they have never come across the concept of meringue? I find it hard to get my head round the idea that some children have never tasted jelly and ice cream...

I am astonished by the people saying never. Do your kids know what apple crumble is but without ever tasting it? Or rice pudding? Or custard?

This post is so bizarre I can't get my head around it unless I'm misunderstanding here?

Are you saying apple crumble/rice pudding/custard etc can only be eaten after a main meal or not at all?

It's perfectly possible to eat those foods at other times of the day but the OP's question is regarding pudding after dinner.

Maggiesfarm · 27/04/2021 03:03

@Smokeahontas

Fruit / yogurt is not a pudding. That’s breakfast!
It is 'pudding' if served after a main meal. Anything, even just an apple on a plate on its own, is pudding then.

Fruit with cream is a lovely pudding.

Gothichouse40 · 27/04/2021 03:08

Yoghurt or a piece of fruit during the week. Not every day though.We have a proper dessert on a Sunday only. Due to myself needing a GF diet, dessert is a limited choice anyway.

Maggiesfarm · 27/04/2021 03:13

'Dessert' is French, or for restaurants, at home it is 'pudding'.

choli · 27/04/2021 03:36

I didn't mean that it is sweet, it's a term that some use instead of pudding, eg. "What do you want as a sweet?". Could just be a regional thing.
Don't worry, Mumsnet will make it into a class issue very quickly

IncorrigibleTitmouse · 27/04/2021 03:41

We always had dessert after dinner growing up and I make it for my family every evening now. When I was a kid we had all kinds of different things, ice cream, a slice of cake, jelly, iced bun, syrup sponge and custard, trifle, etc.

Happyhappyday · 27/04/2021 03:44

DD is 2.5, nothing we regularly call pudding here. We’ll do a cheese course occasionally or offer yogurt if she’s had a really small dinner (ie, we served something new and exciting and it was too much) but wouldn’t offer fruit or anything to fill her up. Very occasionally (less than once a month) might give her a very small slice of cake. Despite having not an amazing diet himself, DH thinks sugar is poison and includes fruit in this so gets very stroppy if she gets a bite of cake.

miltonj · 27/04/2021 08:16

Always have something for afters. I can't really remember but I think We did as kids too. My daughter doesn't but only because she's only recently started solids. It's funny to me that people are having toast and bagels for afters!

LillianGish · 27/04/2021 08:26

It's perfectly possible to eat those foods at other times of the day but the OP's question is regarding pudding after dinner. I personally would find it quite odd to have apple crumble, treacle sponge, rice pudding etc at any time other than after dinner (or possibly lunch). As PPs have said, I don't think eating pudding is necessarily what makes you fat - it's more about the the number of calories consumed in general. My DCs have grown up mainly in France so three meals a day with a snack at 4pm (often chocolate in baguette!!). Dessert is always offered at school, but constant grazing is not a thing (try getting something to eat in a French IKEA outside "l'heure de dejeuner" ie midday to 2pm - and yes I know that's two hours). Giving your toddler pudding will not make him fat - teaching him that eating all day long is the way to go might. And far from not giving him a sweet tooth, my own experience is that those children denied any sweet treats at home are the ones who raid the biscuit tin when left to their own devices.