To despair at the crap some people feed their kids

[Apotofrealcoffee]

Currently watching a kid who can’t be more than age 3, tuck in to a packet of ‘squashie’ sweets on the bus. No sign of a tantrum, kid seems perfectly happy looking out the window, but out come the sweets. And to pre empt the ‘snobbery’ thing, the parent seems middle class to me and certainly eloquent.

I regularly see kids tucking into chocolate bars, packets of crisps, lollies, all on the school run. Many of them toddlers in their buggies dropping off older siblings. Parents meeting kids at the school gate with full packets of Oreos, bottles of pop, doughnuts.

I’ve been trying not to judge for years and have been repeatedly told it’s ’just one snapshot of their day’ but honestly, I feel like the time for judgement has entered. I have never fed my toddlers crap like that, let alone just after breakfast. My 3 year old has never had a fizzy drink.

Why, just why! AIBU to feel there needs to be some kind of very direct public health campaign at this point? Maybe even a ‘no sweets at the school gate’ rule?

I don't think a Freddo has any fibre "from the cocoa beans"! In fact, fibre content is listed as zero.

I used to jump in with it’s a snapshot but seeing a child in a pram with a can of something or a full share bag of crisps or haribo- there is levels and they seem to be fairly eroded:( Parents could easily give a bag of buttons, normal sized bag of crisps, digestives or crackers instead of Oreo’s, juice instead of a fizzy drink

I said earlier there’s also more calcium in a Freddo too.
I love a banana!

I just can’t stand the judgement and hate it when we use moralising words like better, good, bad, crap, junk etc and then act all surprised when society has a massively dysfunctional relationship with food.

No doubt these posters would be appalled at a parent smoking in the car with their child, and see that as a societal issue that should be banned. Yet feeding them junk which results in tooth decay, obesity; and a thousand other horrible conditions is ‘none of our business’

My 5 year old had some haribo in the car this morning whilst parked outside the school...whoops!

For many I do agree that you may just see a snapshot, people might have seen my son eating sweets this morning but they didnt see he had watermelon, half a banana and cucumber for breakfast, he will eat healthy food at school, he will have chicken & sweet potato mash tonight for dinner and his dentist last week said his teeth were perfect because we brush twice a day 😊 but i still let him have sweets on the way to and from school 🙂

But it doesn’t have a dysfunctional relationship with food because there’s shame and UPFs are a rarity. It’s the opposite.

Tbf I don’t see sweets at the school gate. I’m not looking particularly so can’t be certain there aren’t any but it’s not an issue is any way.

But children are increasingly being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease.

I absolutely am. It’s fine, you go back to “being fun at parties”, feeding your kids shite and then getting defensive about it on the internet and I’ll go back to being a responsible parent who cares about my kids health and wellbeing 😌

Except I never said anything about fun or otherwise.

Yeah I was absolutely shocked but it is 100% true. He was in a pram (3 y/o), which somehow added to how depressing it felt.

Really ?
How many nursery aged children have you seen being met with a Dominoes pizza?

I’ve seen a baby under six months fed Wotsits. I judged.

Seeing as I’ve seen them with swizzles lollies, sharer bags of chocolate, kiplings cakes etc why is dominos such a large stretch?

What got us in this mess is profits-first food manufacturing where edibles made of cheap ingredients and zero/ low nutritional value are made to taste addictively good.

Calcium added to industrially manufactured food does not have the same physical effect on the body
as calcium found naturally in grown, whole foods - look into food matrix collapse and upf-s.

Sweets dont cause ADHD HTH.

So many parents just don’t seem to want to put in the effort to parent their children. They obviously don’t care about their health. It’s staggering!

I think it's east to judge what other people feed their kids without knowing their circumstances. Most parents are trying their best, and sometimes convenience wins when it's been a long. But at the end of the day, it's all about balance

Let’s see what that poster replies. I bet I can guess.

100% Just what the teachers needs! A 5 year old stuffed with sugar and additives before class... I wonder why we have attention issues in class!

You are quite right. Google AI added some fiber - greenwashing Freddos.

In health and diet? When? Are there research papers on this?

It is generally known that shame leads to depression, anxiety and can exacerbate disordered eating. People experiencing shame are more likely to engage in self destructive behaviour. There’s a fair bit of literature on this.

Of course they don’t CAUSE it, but they heighten symptoms. Hence warning labels on certain sweets marketed to kids saying they “may affect hyperactivity and attention span”.

Omg! They’ll still deny it though..!