Smug fruit shoot feeders - don't you ever worry about 20 years down the line?

[welliemum]

Lots of people here talk about feeding their dcs crap food as a badge of honour - it's a weird kind of street cred.

"My kinds eat junk food - so shoot me, ha ha"
[subtext: I am a laid-back cool person and people who fuss about junk food are so up their own bums it's unbelievable]

But.... there's a big worry out there about obesity, about additives in food, about the way bad eating habits often have their beginnings in childhood...... and the concerns are likely to get stronger with time.

Don't you ever worry that 20 years from now when times have moved on, one of your dcs will read your light hearted comments and actually feel a bit that you seemed so proud of feeding them crap?

Whereas what I'd hope for with mine is to be able to say, "Well, you did sometimes eat rubbish at parties and I wasn't all that happy about it, but I let you because I didn't want you to feel left out. I didn't stress about it too much because I knew you ate well the rest of the time."

[subtext: I was never a perfect parent but I did my best to find the balance between feeding you well and not being obsessional about food].

No, I don't agree with "Everything in moderation" necessarily.

To pick a ridiculous example, I don't fancy the idea of heroin in moderation for my dcs.

well, neither do i ! but food is not comparable to a drug like heroin....and it is an insulting comparison to make

like mums who allow their kids to eat a happy meal , or sugary junk at a party are on a slippery slope

i really like your posts, welliemum,and you have posted some wonderfully intelligent and thought provoking stuff, but this seems destine to cause a row ! which i am sure is not your intention at all

food is such a sensitive thing, and ishooos we might have with it as mums ,might have come down from our mums and their mums, it is really complex and cannot be distilled into bad / good and therefore bad/ good parents

IFYSWIM

I know my parents made an effort to get us to appreciate good food, whilst keeping the junk within reasonable limits, and I think that was a brilliant thing they did for us.

exactly ! everything in moderation and context !

if you were eating loads of stuff containing tartrazine, that will have set you wheezing. its one of the main triggers for dd1 asthma and eczema. so obviously we avoid that for dd1 and the other two. at parties i check labels etc before they can eat, but heck if theres food there they can safely eat then i let them.

No no no - please don't let this kick off.

I'm not commenting about what other people feed their children.

I don't care. I really really don't care.

I also don't believe that occasional junk food is poisoning a child - that's ridiculous.

What I'm saying is, attitudes to food are undergoing a HUGE change right now.

Making jokes about the crap our children eat now, might sound very different in a few years time. And that is exactly my question - don't you worry about that a bit?

i think giving your child additive pumped junk food is tantamount to abuse.

and i dont care if you all hate me for saying it.

I don't think anyone, in full seriousness, either does or admits to, substantial feeding of junk food as a child's main diet.

I think that people get a bit...tired, perhaps, of constant worrying about small amounts of sugar and so do an ironic 'I'm a bad mother, shoot me' about the inclusion of small amounts of processed food etc.

In which case, a sense of humour is perhaps what is required when reading it rather than yet more worrying about small amounts of food (which has been approved by the FSA etc) alongside a generally v healthy diet.

oh ffs, I don't know where to start ivelostmyboobs...

There's no heroin in beef?

Damn

OMG so to give your child a fruit shoot is abuse or akin to giving them heroin ffs !

you are contradicting yourself hugely here. firstly you say you don't believe in everything in moderation and then you say thatyour parents allowed you to have some junk while teaching you about good food. that loosely translates into "everything in moderation".

and come on you don't eeriously expect people to believe you weren't after a row? you've been on mn long enough to know that a food thread with the words "smug" and "fruitshoot" in the same sentence is going to kick off.

ie it's got nothing to do with what you feed your child - but everything to do with what you say about feeding your child.

"They eat a bit of junk, I wish they didn't"

vs

"People who worry about junk food are completely up their own bums"

(Where the children in question might be eating exactly the same amount of junk)

i think giving your child additive pumped junk food is tantamount to abuse.

i think that you need to get a sense of perspective !

welliemum - i see what you are saying. i think ! BUT we cannot parent now in a way that takes into account things that might be known 20 years down the line! it is impossible, we need to do the best we can now, on the info we have, and i still believe that everything in moderation and not dividing food into good/bad and allowed/ forbidden is the way to do it! well,it is for me ! for instance, smoking was supposed to be good for your lungs many moons ago, pregnant women were encouraged to drink guiness and eat liver, babies were weaned at 12 weeks....

you have to do your best now !

don't be so ridiculous ILMB.

Smug

fruitshoot

everything in moderation

ah! so this is what they mean by an "active" conversation?!

in a word welliemum, no I don't worry about making jokes about fruit shoots

Do you know what my kids drink diet coke too so what. They have it once at weekends as dare I say, a treat

They also get sweets, McDonalds, chocolate, biscuits etc. Along with a proper roast dinner (today) broccoli, carrots etc etc

"i think giving your child additive pumped junk food is tantamount to abuse."

if you are who I think you are then your child is what, days old? all I can say is ...

you'll learn.

No, I used the word smug because I think it is smug - and I know it's ironic.

What I'm saying is that the irony is likely to look very differetn in a liitle while.

I don't give my children junk out of a sense of "everything in moderation" - I let them eat things I don't like at parties because parties are social events and Iit would be cruel not to.

p off ILMBBH. bollocks is it.

So, it's more the way that people talk about this issue than what they do that is your concern?

Exactly welshboris - ad bloody nauseam

OFFS It is sunday noght and MN is back to the old crap

Yikes, and anyone who thinks junk food is child abuse needs their head read.

i know im going to open up another can of worms here but do all of these i dont feed my kids crap parents never eat any crap themselves? i cant tell dd she cant eat sweets etc coz i do! and i think the alcohol i drink is worse for my health than the occasional fruit shoot she has! or do none of you drink either?

and i must be a really bad parent as when we were on holiday we went to mcdonalds all ate loads of junk and even worse me and dp had a beer with ours!!!!!!!!

I don't give my children junk out of a sense of "everything in moderation" - I let them eat things I don't like at parties because parties are social events and Iit would be cruel not to.

but they are still getting a moderate amoutn of junk, in the context of a balance and healthy diet....regardless!