To be disgusted with Elf on the Shelf.

[ElfShelfIssues]

NC.
DS has ADHD. It is a daily, gruelling challenge to avoid him going hyperactive and to bring him down when he does. We're not sure on DD yet.
SIL bought the kids these "decorate your own elf" from the Elf on the Shelf brand. They contain 2 x tubes of "icing" (coloured gel) and a small packet of sprinkles, as well as a milk chocolate elf. DH gave these to the kids. They were so badly made that when you squeezed, the backs of the "icing" tubes burst on two of the colours, covering DH and DS with green and red gloop, respectively.

I had a moment which I told myself was paranoia, but decided to check the ingredients on the box to put my mind at ease, which is when I saw that they've used those shit food colours that can cause hyperactivity, but the kids had eaten it by the time I found this out.

I'm not mad at SIL because she wasn't to know, but we should be able to trust the food we feed our children and I am disgusted that a brand marketing their products specifically at children would use these E102 and E129 when the issues with them are so well-known that the packaging has to carry a warning! There are so many other red and green food colourings that are safe for children.

AIBU to be disgusted with Elf on the Shelf for making this rubbish and targeting children with it?

I wish these bloody food colours would be banned, there's no need for them, TBH.

Buckling up for an afternoon of pure hell now. Thanks Elf on the Shelf.

Blimey I'm glad I've heard this from someone else. Whenever my son ate quavers or wotsits when he was a child he would act nuts for about 2 hours.
I had to stop him eating all yellow crisps. Even thought annatto is listed as 'natural' it clearly has an effect.

He was diagnosed with ADHD by the NHS (after many other additional issues) a few days ago at the age of 15.

The question is should any of us be eating food coloured with azo dyes?!

I remember synthesising these in A level chemistry by nitrating phenol with a mixture of concentrated nitric and hydrochloric acids.

Anything with a benzene ring in it has the potential to be carcinogenic, although the specific dyes used have been found to be (relatively) safe.

I agree that nothing can be totally safe but I think the risk/benefit (what benefit?!) analysis of these dyes should lead to us banning them, as others have.

Its utter bollocks that food causes hyperactivity, I was a hyperactive kid and barely ate and when I did ate really natural (raw veg etc...).

My middle child is similar with hyperactivity as I was, he eats exactly the same sweets etc... as his sibling but they are chill and laid back and he bounces off the walls and could argue alone in and empty room.

Its the same vein as when my best friend convinced herself back in our teens that chocolate caused acne. She cut it entirely out of her diet and proclaimed herself cured of spots. As someone who lived with her and looked at her face daily I can honestly tell you there was fuck all change to her skin (she didn't have 'acne' before, just regular odd spots and still had exactly the same afterwards). If it makes her happy no harm her not eating it but then she started lecturing everyone else on the 'spotty' dangers of chocolate and others weren't so nice at pointing out it was entirely in her head.

There's too much unnecassary shit in our foods, especially in the food aimed at our kids! Totally with you, OP. Why should be have to read all the lists of ingredients, instead on being able to trust manufacturers to provide wholesome food? I'm glad the lists are there, but too many manufacturers rely on the 'it's the parents' responsibility' clause so they can get away with filling the food they advertise to our chidren with stuff they love but shouldn't eat.

It doesn't 'cause' hyperactivity, and I don't think this is what the OP meant. It can have negative effects on kids who have ADHD and cause episodes of hyeractive behaviour, which is true of several food additives. Even seen a group of five-year-olds on a sugar rush?

But to be fair, applying common sense, how else would they get the lurid icing colours? It’s obvious there are artificial colourings in it.

Why should be have to read all the lists of ingredients, instead on being able to trust manufacturers to provide wholesome food

Because if you want wholesome food, you have to make it yourself. If you want manufactured food then you have to expect it to contain ingredients to stop it from looking like shit, or going off after a day. And to be honest, if you are buying something that contains packets of food colouring, what do you expect it to be?

I mean, coloured gel CLEARLY has food colouring in it. I’d see your point if it was in eg chicken nuggets or chocolate ice cream, but any bright red sugary food is clearly a UPF-fest.

Oh, this takes me back to my childhood where everything was blamed upon food colourings. I still get occasional flashbacks to 'YOU CAN'T HAVE ANYTHING BLUE' and 'You're not allowed that <thing that all the other kids had> because it turns you stupid', normally when the orthorexia is rearing its ugly head again.

Thought those days had disappeared into the mists of time.

So true. Always a kid at the party who wasn’t allowed squash because his orthorexic parents insisted it made him hyper 😳

Then clearly the answer is not to give anything to a child until you've checked it.

That stands for everything I would have thought, gifts, party food at other peoples houses, restaurant and cafe food, shop bought food, school dinners, snacks in the playground shared out

Theres no such thing as a sugar rush that significantly has an effect, its been debunked.

Because this is a cheap playset sold in the likes of Poundland, which very clearly contains tubes of coloured icing and coloured sprinkles, as you can see without even opening the box. It’s more akin to an edible toy than actual proper food. It’s hardly marketed as a healthy snack!

And “Elf of the Shelf” is no different to “Paw Patrol” chocolate lollies and the like, it’s just a cartoon character on confectionary, it’s not a company even pretending to be some kind of healthy product like Organix. If you think they’re some kind of trusted brand with kids interests at heart you’re a naive fool, they’re a toy company providing a product which meets all legal requirements - which is fair enough! My kid could die if he ate Nutella (also marketed at kids) but I’m not out arguing it shouldn’t exist.

Yes, there’s a case for these colourings being unnecessary in food - which would be made stronger if people didn’t buy this stuff in the first place! Buy a non edible elf decorating kit (there are millions out there), mix some icing sugar with water and use that to decorate a chocolate Santa, just find something entirely unrelated to do… but if you found the cheap colourful item attractive well, that’s why they used the colours isn’t it!?

No one is being forced to buy super cheap mass produced junk food and give it to their children without even looking at the ingredients just because it has an elf on it!

Ah ok. Yes I just looked online. Not banned here but it is banned in other countries.

I can’t stand anything to do with elf on the shelf. I really don’t get the appeal at all. The Christmas season is special and exciting enough without it.

While I agree that we, as a society, need to start paying more attention to what is being put in our food, and demand better standards, this is on you, OP.

I'm not entirely sure what you expected to be in a brightly coloured sugar and water substance if not unnatural food colourings?

I'd have had to peel my DS off the ceiling if he ingested that. Food colouring sugar taurine aspartame the lot turned him into a Tasmanian devil. YANBU

How was it not labelled if OP said she saw it there in the ingredients list which she bothered to check AFTER the children had been given it?

Chocolate with sprinkles and icing was never going to be wholesome! It should be blindingly obvious to most people that it contains colourings and additives.

If you know your child has a problem with particular ingredients, it is your responsibility to check labels, not expect everything to have a big warning across the front.

https://www.poundland.co.uk/elf-on-the-shelf-decorate-your-own-chocolate-elf-61g

Has a warning on the website

Doesnt show the picture of the rear of the package

Is there a warning on the back of the package as well as the ingredients?

ADHD does not have anything to do with colouring. It's such a small qty

The packaging isn't suggestive of healthy food or natural ingredients.

FGS OP, bright red icing is clearly not a health product. You need to check these things yourself.

What are you talking about, Ive got a red and green icing salad today. Its a superfood!