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?

You don't think tooth decay is serious?

And you don't think it's sad that the leading cause of hospital admissions for that age group is something that is preventable?

Tooth decay causes pain, missed days from school (life), disrupted sleep, can affect learning/confidence/self esteem, can lead to nutritional problems, can lead to speech difficulties, can cause infections / abscesses, negatively impacts adult teeth so the issues continue... I think it's fairly serious - and can be prevented by consuming less sugar and brushing teeth.

So what are you planning to do to help, OP? Or is this it?

Are you incapable of properly following arguments? Nobody said ‘chocolate buttons fine, squashies bad’. We’ve said food is on a spectrum with stuff like squashies - where you can’t name a single ingredient and there is no nutritional value bar UPF garbage - and chocolate buttons (not great, too much sugar, but some dairy and cocoa powder and some nutritional value, fine as a treat).

Don’t look up you might see the point you just missed

I assume you do then, hence all the projection and outrage

Ffs my kids are well educated on healthy eating and know very well what constitutes a balanced diet. I don’t, as I hand them a biscuit, remind them it’s junk. I can’t imagine that someone telling you you’re drinking poison every time you had a glass of wine would enhance your enjoyment of it.

It was a Twix! It was absolutely delicious - and its 14 ingredients mainly were shit. I'd rather she grows up knowing what she's eating.

Me too,
If A Mum had turned up with sweets. cake etc, . there would have been a lot of meaningful looks being passed between the other Mums!
You bet.
I just can't imagine it!

This is how I feel reading a menu with the calories on it 😂

I grew up in the 1960s. I had sixpence a day for sweets every day. It was safe then for children to walk to school on their own. How I wish now my mum had not given me that sixpence! I have had a lifetime of bad teeth, fillings,pain, expense, root canals, etc etc. it’s not judgemental to comment on excessive sweet consumption, it’s common sense and the children who grow up with good teeth will thank their parents for it

One child eating one packet of sweets on the bus is not a public health epidemic!

A public health epidemic is a systemic problem, stop trying to make it an individual one.

Then you should approach the parents OP! Call them out! There and then! That’s the only way. Go OP! Go OP!

When you assume you make as Ass out of U and Me. But mainly you.

Its also interesting that the idea of being hungry now is an unthinkable crisis. Their last meal was 3 hours ago, it doesn't hurt them to be hungry for a while.

The amount of time my DC is "starving".. until we pass the park and then suddenly she can wait 🤨

Its perfectly fine to be hungry for a while, especially if the alternative is junk food.

Eta, I wasn't disagreeing with you, I was agreeing on the point that junk is a waste if appetite.

I think people can disagree with aspects of this post regardless of the weight of their child.

I do genuinely worry this is why so many parents don’t engage with education/support and suffer in silence over other things… for fear of the shame that gets piled on as soon as they are seen to do anything less than perfect

They are indeed everybody's business, and our job in that business is to look after our own health and that of our own children. Are you getting it perfect for yourself OP? Are you the ideal weight, highly active, avoid alcohol, eat only whole foods, menus perfectly planned to maximise nutrional benefit? Because if not, you could improve on that. Its far more productive than moaning about things you have no power to change.

Perhaps, but the child poverty rate is closer to 18% in Portugal, so just over half of the UK.

A quick look at obesity rates in school age children - these aren't perfect statistics, obviously, and aren't all like for like - the rates for Portugal include some children over age 11

UK: 35% age 10-11
Portugal: 31- 40% school aged children
Sweden: 6-10% school aged children

Poverty is the biggest factor. And what you see isn't always an accurate reflection - I live in zone 1 and very rarely see an overweight child.

I've seen this a lot but it's not just about people who feed their kids crap. People who don't feed their kids sweets, sugar fizzy pop etc but naice healthy snacks never seem to let up with trying to stuff them with snacks between meals.

I've seen relatives gathered at the in-laws for meals and their little kids are constantly handed tipperwares of snacks, yoghurts, rice cakes to eat while waiting for the meal to be served. Then when the meal is served they are only able to pick at it. As soon as the meal is done out come the snacks again. There is never a time when they're not having things shoved under their noses to eat. I don't know how they are ever meant to work up an appetite.

Reading the thread I was just thinking back to when I was at secondary school. I used to be hungry after school but do not remember buying anything to eat on the way home. Dinner was not until 6 ish. I just stayed hungry most of the time - it didn't cross my mind to eat a load of sweets or biscuits or crisps. Same in Primary. If I wanted something to eat I was told that it would spoil my appetite for my dinner which was true!

I’m laughing at the idea of chocolate buttons being less UPF than a packet of sweets, or containing any dairy worth considering - assuming we’re talking cadburys which is more palm oil than anything else.

It’s the classic what I do is ok, what you do isn’t.

😂😂😂😂

Yes, it’s depressing. My dentist told me 98% of children in Cornwall don’t have access to an nhs dentist.

But it’s completely preventable so it’s not in any way good, is it?

I also agree with this.

Also, this is partly why state healthcare doesn’t work. People aren’t taking responsibility for their health and, when those who do support healthy living complain, we are told “don’t shame people!” or “it’s none of your business!”.

Well if it’s none of my business then why should I have to pay for your decisions via taxation?

The NHS can’t cope with the status quo, as we all know, so maybe private healthcare is part of the solution.