Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to think parents whos dc eat well should be glad rather than try to tell other parents that is entirley down to their parenting

39 replies

thescurvysockmonsterofdoom · 19/09/2008 17:06

therefore suggesting that the parent of the child who doesn't eat is crap?
I overheard smeone who is a bit shy at school today talking to another mum and saying her child has no eating problems because she sat him down and told him he had to eat his tea, the other mum was then saying Im too soft I dont know what i am doing etc. it made me really as I remember people doing it to me when dd wouldn't eat, actually she ad coeliacs, was in opain and had veyr bad food associaitions but the amount of people who thought this could be put right by not giving her pudding never failed to amaze me.
I really really felt for this other mum today.
If your kid eats be grateful and dont be smug about it, it does not make you a better person.

OP posts:
Hulababy · 19/09/2008 18:18

My DD eats really well and will try anything put in front of her at least once, including things like snail and alligator. i know that I am very lucky not to have any problems with her eating and never have done.

I also know that even the best parents in the world can have fussy eater, and would never comment negatively to another mum about them having a fussy eater/

Yanda · 19/09/2008 18:19

YANBU. I have a fantastic eater. She is a human hoover. It is nothing I did or didn't do.

thescurvysockmonsterofdoom · 19/09/2008 18:21

my dd1 is now a hoover as well, dd2 is just entering the phase. it is easier to be strict woth er as she doesn't starve herself and is not seriously underweight.
dd1 trie everything now and loves most things.

OP posts:
LouMacca · 19/09/2008 18:23

I have twins.

My DD is a fantasic eater. Her favourite meal is a Sunday Roast. She loves fruit and veg and will try any new food. Can't think of anything she won't eat.

My DS is a fussy eater. Will not eat Sunday Dinner, has a bowl of tomato soup with crusty bread instead. Will not eat any fruit other than banana and any veg other than peas - I have tried to make him eat a variety of food until I am blue in the face.

They have both been brought up exactly the same and were weaned on the same food as babies.

AbbeyA · 19/09/2008 18:58

It is very heartening to hear people's stories, especially in the case of twins.
I hope that the smug people are reading!
The research that says children won't have a sweet tooth if they don't have sweet foods before they are 2yrs is rubbish IMO, children either have a swwet tooth or they don't-it is nothing to do with parenting.

amethyst86 · 19/09/2008 19:07

It is jack all to do with parenting imo. My ds eats, chicken nuggets, fishfingers, pizza, chips and thats about it. The only fruit I can get into him is orange or apple juice once or twice a day and the occasional satsuma. I practically force him to eat spaghetti bolognaise twice a week because I make a sauce with veg blended into it.

On the other hand I have a dd who today alone has eaten banana, grapes, cucumber, avocado and a raspberry and blackcurrent smoothie. If I make fishfinger, chips and peas, she eats the peas first as they are her favourite and I usually make her a jacket potato instead of the chips as she prefers it.

Dont think I did anything that much different. I have learned to give ds a multivitamin a day and hope for the best. What else can you do?

newgirl · 19/09/2008 19:12

i completely agree with op and it is not helpful for parents to be smug definitely.

i have seen people say some weird things to their kids though to try and get them to eat stuff that most people with any common sense would not eat - so im afraid that although all kids are different and like different stuff, of course parenting affects the kids too.

soopermum1 · 19/09/2008 19:26

agreed. DS eats anything and always eats all his very healthy packed lunch, but this is down to him being a human dustbin as much as anything. given the choice of broccolli or maccers, i know what he'd go for

AbbeyA · 19/09/2008 19:50

There was a survey in the Times last week and a lot of children were throwing their packed lunch in the bin-even more were swapping their healthy options for chocolate bars! Some parents wouldn't be so smug if they knew what really went on!

SmugColditz · 19/09/2008 21:28

Do people not REMEMBER being a child?

Children are not 38 year old administrators. If they don't want to eat an apple because they'd rather go and play, they won't eat the apple. They have no concept of scurvy, or of learning by what has happened to other people they don't personally know.

My brother started eating fruit after a bout of constipation nearly turned him inside out - he was 5. I started eating things other than bread and ketchup when I went to school and was nowhere near my mother - who was under no illusions that I ever ate the fruit, because I just used to leave it in the lunch box. For Days.

38 year old administrators eat fruit, and say things like "Really, green vegetables are so much nicer when they are crisp, don't you think, Jeremy?" and they go to the gym and sweat occasionally and they never eat foam prawns until they vomit pink froth.

6 year olds are not the same breed. Many prefer to live on sausages, garish shaped potato products, false coloured dips and side dishes, and sweets. It's not a matter of bad environment, you could put even the greediest of 38 year old administrators in the position of only having sausages, garish potato, weird side dishes and sweets, and because their tastes are innate, they will tire of the diet rapidly - well this goes for small children and virtue food.

Children like salt, they like sugar, they like packaging and garish orange food shaped like unlikely objects, and plain plain plain carbohydrates. It is our job as adults to steer them towards a more species appropriate diet, but we mustn't expect them to take to it immediately. It's nice when they do, it must be satisfying to see your preschool children chow down on sage marinated mussels on a bed of bitter romaine and lollo rosso, but it's unlikely to happen immediately, with the best will in the world!

beansontoast · 19/09/2008 21:36

laughing alot here colditz..wipes eyes

yeah i think there is a whole lot of luck involved a dollop of genes and a bit of conditioning in the womb/early days of b.feeding.

my two differ quite significantly and dd is only one...she can take or leave cheese...which i think is WEIRD...weird weird weird.

elmoandella · 19/09/2008 21:40

some people eat to live

some live to eat.

same with adults as with dc.

i've 2 dc. both extreme opposites in the eating and drinking departments

roseability · 19/09/2008 23:17

Absolutely smugcolditz - the 'you have to finish what is on your plate' method surely encourages bad eating habits

Lowfat · 19/09/2008 23:28

DD lives on half a sandwich and air and DS is a fish, who refuses to get out of his cot in the monring until he has had at least 2 'anyway up cups' of water.

Cheap food bills are a bonus

New posts on this thread. Refresh page