So DH has just told me that the DCs diet today has been rubbish. I disagree what do you think?

[Virgil]

Ok so it's not exactly going to win awards for healthy day of the year but I genuinely don't think what they've eaten today is too bad.

Two Weetabix with raisins (and sugar)
Slice toast with marmite
Strawberry and banana smoothie

Lunch spaghetti bolognese which had mushrooms peppers onions, tomatoes in it as well as beef mince and some lentils and herbs
Muller fruit corner for pudding
Water to Drink

Large lemon curd cupcake at movie time (plus a lick of the bowl each)

Ham roll with crisps and grapes, another lemon cupcake and a glass of milk

It's not that bad is it?

Never done supper.

Ds1 might have a bowl of porridge or some toast and peanut butter in the evening but he is 13 and generally only after sports activities or if we have to have an early dinner.

No supper here.

I grew up eating supper and I find not snacking in the evenings now really difficult.

I want my dc to think dinner is the last thing you eat in the day.

NovackNGood - What about sliced ham from the counter at a supermarket?

Weeeelll, I think it sounds a fairly crappy day's food, but we all have them sometimes.

I don't eat much carbs because they really make me put on weight. But I don't make a fuss about not eating them as has already been said upthread about passing on issues about food. We have told them that everything we have at home is okay in moderation, along with lots of exercise.

I think Virgil needs to give us the lemon curd cupcake recipe.

2 hot meals a day is insane! I have better things to do, TBH, its totally unnecessary. Esp in the summer.

Mine have cereal/porridge or toast ( occasionally eggs if time ) for breakfast, sandwich for lunch, hot meal in evening.

Every day.

PorkyandBes - What do your dc have on an average day?

Yes, recipe please!
Just out of interest, I would like to know why some have said the the OP's food was a fairly crappy days food. Yes, there are cake and fruit corner but also looks like a good portion of fruit, veg and protein over the day too.

bythemoonlight at 4 I wouldn't be going on about this is bad for you

Personally I think at 4, it's way too young to have negative food associations. But that's just me.

At 4 I was just offering fruit and veg as snacks, treats occasionally and if they wanted 2 lollies I just said no, 1 is enough.

I also wouldn't be giving a burger for dinner and then saying 2 burgers are unhealthy because I would think its confusing for a 4 year old tbh.

But it's all opinion, isn't it?

Everyone deals with food in a different way, I grew up in a family with very negative food association so I try very hard to make sure my DCs have a healthy relationship with food. It's worked with my teenagers so far.

Oh and I said the fairy cake with lemon curd has more sugar than coke. Don't know how you make your lemon curd but the recipe I use it's nearly all sugar to take up the liquid of the eggs to get that creamy consistancy. Depends on how much you use as teh topping I suppose but you'd be getting close to and past a good few dessert spoonfulls per cake as per a glass of cola.

It sounds absolutely normal to me. And now I really want a lemon cupcake!

Torn on this one. There is a lot of sugar (a lot of sugar) in that list, thought I do understand some days are worse than others. On the other side of the coin, I don't think he has any right to ask for a report or complain without offering to do it tomorrow an alternative.

No one needs raisins and sugar on cereal. DS is nearly 3 and has no idea sugar on cereal is even an option.

What about Greek yogurt with a small amount of honey or some fruit instead?

A cupcake every now and again isn't a big deal, but two large ones in a day is a bit OTT. Plus - movie time? Not only are they eating quite a lot of junk, they're also not burning it off.

Bread sticks and vegetable slices with humus instead of crisps. Or rice cakes.

If you can make cupcakes you can make some savory snacks as well.

TantrumsAndOlympicGoldBalloons - But when she dc asks for two and you say no just, then you are, unconsciously sending the message that two lollies are bad.

And I think you are missing out on a chance to educate. All I would do in that situation is say, no one lolly, you've had enough sugar for one day. Therby not telling her lollies are 'bad' but educating her that some foods (eg vegetables) are ok to eat a lot of but some foods have to be eaten in moderation. Not bad, I never use 'bad' when referring to food.

And she didn't have burgers that night as she doesn't like them. Or sausages. She isn't a red meat fan tbh, she had salmon fishfingers (it was quick dinner I had to throw together at the last minute from the freezer)

There is nothing wrong with home baked cupcakes.

However, if I was baking, I would not also offer crisps and fruit corner. It would be one or the other. Not both because I baked.

Most supermarket ham I've seen in the UK and saw last week was just the same crap they have in the packets except in the large reformed lumps they use for the slicer. Nothing like a proper jamon or a home cooked joint of ham you could then slice yourself a lot cheaper as it would go further. Don't forget a lot of that cheap processed ham is just water that was forced injected into the mixture to plump it all up so the weight you buy appears greater. Supermarkets are nice that way.

Virgil....it sounds fine to me... And no we don't do supper...no time.
Today mine have had
Ready Brek, wholemeal (gluten free White in DS2 s case ) toast, yogurt and fruit
Grapes and snack size caramel bar for snack
Sandwiches (2 had ham 1had tuna), crisps, fruit, small yogurt and raisins
Rice crispy square bar
Ice-cream
Sausage, mashed potato and carrots, yogurt.
This is fairly standard. Some days they have more veg which is a good thing!
For info DS2 is badly gluten intolerant and during his diagnosis when I kept a food dairy for him dietician told me I was giving him too much fruit and needed to seriously up his fat intake. Kids can have too little fat. I have to mix butter and oil into things to make them more calorific and feed him ice cream and full fat milk smoothies.... He is not massively underweight (9%ile)...
It gave me a lot of food for thought. Mine spent four hours in a playground and on a Hugh wire course burning off endless calories. They are always hungry and fruit, carrot sticks don't cut it....

They worked it off believe me. DS1 competed in the Olympic triathlon cycling running and scootering ten laps of each around the house and driveway. He won the gold medal despite DS2 throwing balls at him every lap to make give up. DS2 bounced on the trailing for about ninety minutes without stopping. I'm not for one moment going to be made to feel guilty about letting my children watch a movie during the summer holidays.

I think that's absolutely fine and dandy and rather delicious sounding. For children.

Cos there's a difference isn't there, between what constitutes a healthy diet for adults and one for children?

I cannot abide this idea that everything a child eat should be low fat, low sugar or plucked off a frigging tree. It's putting constraints necessary for adults on someone not adult.

If your children are slim and healthy then IMO a bit of everything is great.

sounds fine to me - bit of everything, right?

FWIW, mine had:
B: cornflakes, fruit juice
L: Bagels, salami, cherries, apple
S: Cheese, crackers
D: Pasta with tomatoes, olives, bacon. Cherries and Strawberries, milk

there's often more veg, but sometimes not.

and throughout the day they had unlimited sugarfree squash

To be honest, it is not so much about whether they work it off or not, but the effects of the sugar on the body. It goes through the system anyway, whether the calories are burnt or not. That happens after the event. Sugar is not teleported straight out of the tummies of active children!

When I want to remind myself to keep my children's sugar intake down, I google diabetes legs for a kick up my own bum.

bythemoonlight fair enough. I don't agree with your theory that saying no sends the message that sugar is bad, I don't think a 4 year olds mind processes that without it being explained, and I personally think 4 is too young to be suggesting food is good or bad.

But like I say, it's a personal thing, isn't it?

Some parents like to educate their children about healthy foods and unhealthy foods, others prefer not to.

I preferred not to specify good or bad foods at a young age but to provide a mix of healthy food and the odd treat and promote activity as the best way to stay healthy. But again, just my way.

High wire ....nothing to do with Hugh!

Ooh but don't you know about all the other hidden nasties in sugar free squash .

I think it could be a lot worse. I assume two cakes in a day is not the norm. I would agree about not putting sugar on cereal though. My DS has never had it and so doesn't miss it. Can you cut that down very gradually?

I thought it was now accepted that more, smaller meals throughout the day is better. So if supper is one of a run of smaller meals, fine, but not if it's an extra full sized meal.

I also thought one hot meal and one sandwich or toast meal was the norm now.