To think this isn’t really enough food for a 13 year old?

[ChocolateCrepe]

DS has been given 2 slices of a supermarket pizza, 4 chicken nuggets, a handful of fries (literally about 12) and a few cucumber chunks for his dinner

I think this is nowhere near enough food for a growing teen
The adult who gave him the food thinks it’s plenty and I’m being silly

DS is far too polite to ever comment if he didn’t think it was enough but I’ve made him a sandwich and he is now eating it happily

WIBU?

Pizza, nuggets and fries is protein, calcium and carbs...

What an absolutely moronic thing to say. I’d be embarrassed to be this stupid.

It is clearly, demonstrably food.

Is it to your liking? Presumably not. Is it what we should eat at every meal? Of course not. Is it what the OP feeds their children at every meal? No, that’s very clear from the thread.

It is, however, food.

Jesus proper diet culture worthy paragraph there! And utter bullshit and disordered and fuck.you should not be hungry after a meal or need to appreciate when the next ones comes around.my god. Food isn’t something to earn or wait for.it’s to nourish the body with how much and when we want or need it.and ues I said “want” too.mental hunger is often just as important.
how rediculous and counter intuitive to be hungry after a meal. No wonder disordered eating and body and eating disorders are there worst ever.
mop if that isn’t enough for your dc it’s not enough.he should not need the same.equally though he might want less one night or the 3 year old might want more than him another night.such strict portions aren’t helpful. And your children need to no they can eat what they need

Erm… I was specifically saying you SHOULDN’T be hungry right after eating, and if you are it means you’re not eating enough.

Sorry I was meant to be quoting the one you did😑

😂

It was madness though. What’s the point of staying hungry with the goal of appreciating your next meal if you’re also going to be hungry after that?!

If you are in the room when the same size meal is dished up to your 14 year old and his 4 year old sibling, I'd be tempted to move some from the 4 year old to the 14 year old and say "if it's ok with you I'm going to give my 14 year old some of his brother's pizza as he eats a lot more at his age"!

1/4 of one of those wee 10" pizzas is really not much especially if it's thin crust. I wouldn't expect a 13yo to eat a whole one, but half would really not be unreasonable. His dad is too concerned about "fairness". This isn't sweets, it doesn't apply the same way. Kids don't care if their siblings get one more piece of pizza as long as they got as much as they wanted.

My 12.5yo would be starving after that. He's a bottomless pit at the moment. He's just had a 2nd bowl of spaghetti for lunch - which he made & will clean up afterwards - for himself (and enough for his little brother too).

I kind of do get the fair thing with pizza etc, my 15 & 12 year olds would leave nothing for my 9 year old if I let them help themselves to pizza! Well, no, I would expect them to care about their brother and be thoughtful, but they could manage to leave none if they didn't think about it!
We start out with a served up fair share, loaded with veggies to flesh it out (so, say, 2 slices pizza & half plate of salad + 1 or 2 pieces garlic bread). When they've finished everything on their plate then they can come back for reasonable seconds, no one takes the last piece without asking around if anyone else wants it first.

If his dad is happy with the same food and portion size, then that's a reasonable guide imo. In a year or two as he goes through puberty he will be needing more than his dad, but right now they probably need about the same.

But if he's still hungry, feed him more (a supper, for example) or teach him how to help himself eg cheese omelette.

It's beyond weird to expect a 4 year old and 13 year old to eat the same amount though!

Does your son say he's still hungry? That's the deciding factor as to wether it's enough or not. Our opinions don't really matter.

At 13 he can decide what to put on his plate, and if he wants more

Why doesn't he just say to his dad that he is still hungry, can he have more food or help himself to something else? If food is tightly controlled then this is the problem, not the portion size.

I’d be more concerned that your son does not feel able to tell his dad he is still hungry. What’s that about? When I originally read your post I assumed you were separated and your son was telling you what he got fed at his dads but it seems this is your husband who you live with. What I don’t get is when you all eat together does your husband not see how much more his son eats when you’ve made dinner?

So it sounds like dinner time is a bit of a struggle when you are not around.

A couple of things stand out for me from your posts…

is there any reason why at 13 DS isn’t able to go to the cupboard and fridge and make himself a sandwich, perhaps even toast it in a sandwich maker or under the grill in the oven or does he feel intimidated by his Dad?

does/can DH cook from scratch, and the 13 yo while we are on that topic? Is it possible he is being defensive about serving portions because he is struggling, has no idea and the kids are refusing to eat anything else but what he just served up?

do you own a slow cooker? do you cook at home any other time and possibly double up on servings so DH can whip them out of the freezer for meals when you are not home?

(and yeah I get that cooking shouldn’t fall to one person in an able bodied multi person household, but perhaps, if he doesn’t already, mister 13 can come into his own and give DH a hand, esp. with younger siblings around….)

My 8 year old grandson would eat that and he's small, both in height and weight. It's not really enough for a growing teenager, but does depend on what else he ate that day. A cooked breakfast a few hours before and that would be fine. A bowl of cereal, not so much.

At a very rough guess that’ll be about 600 calories a1/3 of what you need for a day

A perfect example of why we are one of the fattest nations and majority over weight
the fact you think they need more

What on earth made you ask that? She's described the teenager and the meal. That's all you need to say yay or nay.

That and all the competitive undertaking posts make mn a toxic place to ask about any thing to do with food. Recipes being the exception, although they frequently turn into a bun fight too.

A 13 year old boy needs around 2,400 calories a day. Not understanding that we don't l have the same calorific needs puts you in the same camp as the OP'S dh.

And that would not be enough food for a teenage boy trying to grow to adulthood. The ignorance on here is astonishing.

That' wouldn't be enough for my 3.5 or 8 year old. They would moan they're still hungry!!!

He won’t starve. Some on here are obsessed with overfeeding their teens (especially the male ones).

Depends on the child. Enough for my 14yr old DD but wouldn’t be enough for my son when he was that age. He doesn’t need to share food out equally when they are different ages. Your son needs to tell his dad he’s still hungry

If this is 'treat' food in your house, then mentally substitute bars of chocolate for pizza, and bags of crisps for fries, and most people would not give one child more than others.
The answer is either to stop presenting meals as treats, or if its too late for that, rather than give extra 'treats' to the 13 year old, add a jacket potato and beans/salad to his share of the junk.

I feel there may be a massive drip-feed coming which is that Dad isn’t dad to the teen but only to the smalls which is why there’s an issue of “fairness”. I don’t think this is really about portion size at all.

It could actually be as low as 400 calories.
1/4 of an Asda pizza - 170,
4 chicken dippers - 190,
cucumber ~0,
12 chips - ~40

You could add another quarter of a pizza and a yoghurt as a starting point.