to refuse to eat this?

[bibbitybobbityhat]

Someone else's fussy eating thread reminded me about this. I never ran it past Mumsnet jury at the time, but I have a feeling you'll all want to make your opinions known on this :

Picture the scene. We are camping with a group of friends. One friend has a dd who is about 5. Her dd is encouraged to make cous cous. This involves pouring the boiling water on to cous cous, waiting for it to cool, adding some chopped up salad vegetables prepared by her mummy, a bit of olive oil etc, and squidging it all together through her fingers. The squidging goes on for a while so that the resulting dish is cold, grey, lumpy, manhandled cous cous from a young child who has been camping for two nights and probably not gone near a bar of soap in all that time.

I'm afraid I didn't take any when offered it by the eager child. I wouldn't indulge my own children if they wanted me to eat something like that, so fail to see why I should just to keep a friend's dd onside.

I suppose I probly should have done?

No, not unreasonable at all to refuse it, as long as you were nice about it.

OMG that's rank (to expect you to eat the bloody stuff)

A bit like dd1's 'crumble cakes' at nursery... so called so the children "really get the feel of the ingredients between their fingers, to explore textures"

Er, no thanks. That will be going out for the birds, then

I was all ready to say you were unreasonable, what's wrong with cous cous and veg? Until I got to the fingers bit. YANBU, that's rank.

NOOO! i was at a bbq once and the mother was encouraging her 3 yo dd to help.... lovely idea, excepting the fact that the little girl was running around inbetween 'helping' with her hands constantly down her knickers!

i only ate the meat at that bbq.. was the only thing the child didn't help make

oh dear. We are 'treated' to cooked delights every tuesday from nursery. We had cornish pasty last week. . I pretend to take a bite, ask how it's made, and MMMM with delight. Then it goes in the compost bin.

We cook at home - but it's closely supervised- i don't mind the over squidging or curious poking etc so long as I KNOW she's clean. When i see a snot enhanced finger prod the mix, I make a mental note not to offer it to other adults (other kids are fair gane i'm afraid!).

YANBU to refuse to actually eat it (but maybe it wouldn't have hurt to accept a little and hidden it)

I don't really like it when top chefs do it, let alone a child. YANBU.

game not gane

TiggyD, I read your post as meaning that you don't like it when top chefs prod the mix with a snot enhanced finger... Had a snorting tea through my nose moment

If it was the product of your child then you have to eat it, this is one of the joys of parenthood.
As it was the product of someone else's delightful offspring then YANBU, the mother should have eaten it all, we all have to suffer why should she be allowed to get away?

We have cous cous with veg in all the time. Not once have I squidged it through my fingers to mix it. What's wrong with using a spoon or fork? My 3 year old can manage a bit of mixing with a spoon, surely the 5 year old could.

at unwashed, camping, investigative 5 year old fingers in the food!!

YANBU not to eat it.

This is grim - why could they not have stirred it!

I do however cook with kids a lot and don't think there is much that 200 degrees for 20plus minutes won't kill. Refusing cooked stuff (eg. cinnamon buns) is just cruel when they have put so much effort in.

I have managed never to eat a fairy cake made by my monsters fair hands, but have fed plenty to MiL

YANBU. Especially with warm dirty hands in cous cous bleurgh.

I think as long as you are polite about it it is fine to make an excuse and decline.

Don't understand why it was done with fingers and not a spoon. Mad. YANBU.

bleeurgghh

I would never have eaten that slop

Eew, eew and double eew! Stay away.