Junk food in nurseries

[RamblingRosa]

I don't know if I'm just being uptight but I'm really annoyed that twice I've been to pick up my DD (16mo) from nursery to find all the other kids eating cheesy wotsits that one of the mums had brought in "as a treat" while my DD is sat in the corner on her own with a cream cracker because the nursery staff know that I don't like her to eat junk food.

I just feel that they shouldn't really let any of the kids eat junk food in the room because it's too hard to then not allow some kids to eat it. I don't want my DD to feel left out or excluded but I really don't want her to eat cheesy wotsits either! Am I being too uptight or should there be a policy to not allow outside junk food into the baby and toddler rooms?

[ScottishMummy]

yes,and the policy at my nursery is no junk food,you know that joining.long waiting list so parents clearly approve

if you likey dont enrol yer wotsit eating child.simple

[ScottishMummy]

your child do what you want!we all make different choices

my point of view is,only offer healthy etc.with full knowledge that once peer pressure and marketing kicks in they will exert their preferences.inevitability,also eschewing parental preference

[spokette]

These threads always make me laugh. It is always the strident, aggrieved parent complaining about the fact that their child is forced to miss out because the majority of parents in the situation are not as anal are more relaxed about something that only ever happens once or twice in a blue moon (according to OP this has only happened a couple of times).

You know, some nurseries actually expect parents to supply their own food. No doubt the likes of the OP and Ooops would also go apolectic with rage about the choices the other fee paying parents decide to feed their children.

The moral of the story is to choose a nursery that will cater absolutely to your personal beliefs. If you cannot find such a place, either compromise, find alternative childcare or stay at home with your child and that way you can guarantee that every morsel that passes its lips meets with your approval.

When I put my DTS in nursery, I told the staff my preferences for what they should eat and was told that some parents would bring in birthday cakes plus other treats to share. The nursery asked me to let them know if the boys could have them and I acquiesced. The boys are now 5yo, healthy, eats lots of fruit and veg, can walk three miles easily and as far as I can see, they have not grown two heads through eating the occasional treat courtesy of parents who only wanted them to share in their celebration.

[spokette]

Also, there was an 18month waiting list for the nursery because it is one of the best in the area.

[ScottishMummy]

yes,love the counter view give em a wee "treat".don't deprive.do exactly as i did.i tell ya

food isn't a do as i say or else competition
it is simply parents having a preference.

which has no bearing on amount of heads children have

the stereotype that if one doesn't give chocolate or wotsits that you are anal and suckass is bitty clichéd

[spokette]

Ooops, "i'm not that anal about it- but i'd like to feed my kids what i feel they need. Not to have it decided by another parent without asking."

Other parents do not decide what to feed your child. It is your responsibility to instruct the nursery about what your child can and can't have, just like I did. So if the other parents want to bring in food that you are against, the nursery staff will know not to give it to your child. I don't understand why you think that you should be able to dictate and impose your standards on other parents whose standards may differ from your own.

Nurseries are not cafes as you have said several times but children do eat there.

[babbi]

Good post spokette ...

[mimimilk]

I honestly to goodness cannot believe that people can be so genuinely upset and aggrieved that their children are occasionally being offered 'junk' food, in a group care situation.

Do you lot even watch the news, there are children all over this bloody world dying of starvation and here on middle class mumsnet people are whingeing that their precious child is having to eat a cracker while the children on the next table are tuking into (and enjoying- sorry but worsits taste nice to a lot of people) a bag of crisps.

get your heard out of your arses and wake up!!!!

[purepurple]

simple, if you don't want the nursery to give them junk food, keep your children at home and monitor what they eat. Don't rely on other people to care as much about what your children eat as you do. Because they don't.

[LadyOfWaffle]

I recon this is OP

[spokette]

You know, a lot these parents who whinge about the evils of snacks like wotsits guzzle down litres of wine and other forms of alcohol each week. If they looked into the chemical constitution of wine, they would have a fit but would not give up drinking it.

Junk food is defined as food with limited nutritional value. Where is the nutritional value in wine? There isn't any but it is drunk because it provides pleasure. So in essence it is junk food. However, because it is favoured by the middle-classes, it is acceptable.

All junk food is equal but some are more acceptable than others.

Wotsits btw is good with sunflower oilsunflower oil. Just like olive oil which is naturally high in mono-unsaturates naturally low in saturates. Other ingredients are Maize, vegetable oil, cheese flavour [cheese powder 7%, flavour enhancer (monosodium glutamate), colour (paprika extract), flavouring], salt.

MSG is quite benign compared to the stuff in wine.