To not understand adult food vs kids food?

[SofandaCox]

I meet up occasionally with my old baby group. Our babies are 3 now. We met up yesterday for lunch and there’s a few in the group that are firmly in the adult foods are separate to kids food camp and I find it so bizarre. They make really weird comments like “why would you give that to a child” “my child would never eat that” “I wouldn’t waste that on a child” etc. my child has a long list of allergies and I’ve had gastric surgery so can’t much so we usually share a meal. The offending meal? Calamari. Basically chicken nuggets but wish squid. They acted like I had just purchased my toddler a fillet mignon with champagne and lobster tail. Which, again, don’t see the issue if that’s what he wanted! Has anyone experienced this? And also just to be so rude as to sit there and actually make comments about it. I’ve had judgey thoughts about them feeding their 3 year old jarred baby food but I’ve kept that to myself. It’s making me not want to meet up with them anymore but it would be a shame for my son as he enjoys spending time with the others toddlers.

Very strange. My son is ridiculously fussy but loves calamari!

It's a British cultural thing.

If your son is happy does it really matter what other people think??? But feeding a 3 year's old baby food.....🤔🤔 By that age my sons were eating the same as me, they are fine.

It’s why the kids menu is often fishfingers rather than a small portion of adult food like many countries overseas. Calamari is not at all “weird “
imo but I’m also a mum who has faced shock that my young child’s food had spices like pepper, garlic and ginger in it.

My kids have never really eaten 'kids food'. Of course they'll eat chicken nuggets etc but more often than not they used to choose a starter when we were eating out. (now they have three courses and eating out is bloody expensive!).

If you see them again I'd start commenting on feeding a 3 yo jarred baby food.

At home my children eat what we eat - maybe some slight variations on spice level or separating a few things out (different veg etc).

When out, my DD has her own meal (nearly 3) mainly because her brother (7) does. I normally only order of the kids menu as its cheaper to be honest. If it was cheaper to order off the adult menu for them I would.

Someone feeding an able bodied pre schooler slop from a jar wouldn't have any culinary opinions worth hearing.

I find it weird how so many restaurants kid menu section is chips and beans, chips and nuggets, chips and sausages instead of just small portions of the menu items.

I fed my kids the same food I ate with all the spices: chillies, ginger, garlic, turmeric. Much easier. I dont believe in adults food.

Aren't they weaning them twice? Once onto "children's food" and then again onto "proper food" it's a strange way to exist.

The jarred food at 3 years old is weird. When my 3 year olds were having a fussy day they would still eat stuff like bread rather than jarred food.

They are just jealous their kids only eat beige food I would guess. I personally would be a little smug, then move on with my life

It’s a modern construct.
Growing up in the 60s/70s there was no “childrens food” it was just a smaller portion of whatever everyone was eating.

I remember the days before domestic freezers when most mums didn’t work. Everybody had the same meal at the same time.
With frozen foods like nuggets etc and capacity to keep a variety of foods in stock it’s been easy to transition to separate foods and eating times.
It works for lots of mums and kids seem to like it but the least fussy young adults I know were given a wide variety of foods, the same as their parents ate.
I am the least adventurous eater but didn’t feed my kids separately and they all eat a much wider variety of foods than I.

My kids ate exactly what the adults ate, even from a very young age. People were horrified that mine ate curry, spag bol etc. It's only in certain countries that kids eat what is basically slop.

Glad it’s not seen as the norm. I’m not British so it’s a very foreign concept to me to have separate menus.

It really isn't

My kids have always eaten very similar to me with the exception of hot curries. I'm British, most of my friends are too, it's a "strange group of friends things" jarred food at 3 years old! That's odd

Your first kid is 3? You may have many years of negotiating with a fussy eater ahead of you. Save your judgey pants for other things.

It's not a "British" thing it's a laziness thing. Although if you were truly lazy you'd only cook everyone one meal.

Some kids are much fussier than others - I have a two year old and a five year old, weaned the same way and get served the same foods now, and the two year old eats whatever he's given whereas the five year old will go hungry rather than eat something he doesn't like.

He won't eat most fruit, or melted cheese/creamy sauce for example. He does actually love fish and seafood though, and would happily eat calamari. Calamari actually is beige food, really.

That said, feeding jarred baby food to a 3 year old is extreme. At 3, I think it's sensible to give them a bit of what you're eating but have a backup like bread or a banana on hand to make sure they do actually eat something.

As someone who feels strongly that her DD's fussy eating is at least partially the fault of DD's parents (yes, me and DH) because when we weaned her, I was really busy and not around a lot plus had recently lost my mum so wasn't exactly on the ball and DH frankly has the cooking/food skills of a 2 year old... and as a result, she ate way too many fish fingers, spag bol and chicken nuggets, I'd say your approach is by far the better one!!!

I mean, buying your child a filet steak if they're only going to eat 3 bites is a waste, sure, but if they're eating the food and it's not bad for them, I'd say go ahead (and yes, both of my DC will sometimes order steak in restaurants, and that's fine by me).

No he’s not my first.

Its a British culture thing I think. Ever since I moved here I've been shocked at the rubbish people's children seem to eat. Fresh nice food is never a waste. Yet children's food here seems to be processed a lot

I didn't encounter it at home (European country) before moving to the British isles.

I used to find it strange as the other PP as I'd no kids, but now that I'm more familiar with how kids are at meals I think it's a good idea.

Given how much food kids might leave on the plate, throw away etc, it saves a lot of waste on 'adult' food, not as bad if it's kids food wasted.

I am very lazy. Thats why I fed mine spicy curries and fermented foods as that"s what we eat.
Tim Spector now seems to be saying this is a good thing.

I'm in the same camp as you. One meal, take it or leave it.