Why would you give your child unhealthy foods?

[RBBMummy]

At easter my son tried some unhealthy foods for the first time I don't like it but i thought he had come to a good age for his first taste. He didn't really care for it and much preferred the healthy treats. Now im struggling to see why i would offer unhealthy foods ever again. But i would hate to see him become an adult and make bad food choices because he hadnt had any exposure to bad foods. Why would you give your child unhealthy foods? Ive been overthinking this for days

Ah ah ladymonica

My 3yo DS refused to eat the carefully planned feast of crisps and chocolate I prepared tonight and returned to his reading of Proust

It might have been a
'Fruit Kebab' dipped in the devils juice

ElQuinto. I apologise for being remiss in leaving out the hundreds and thousands. Heathen that I am. Thank you for adding back in those two important food groups. Sugar and colouring. Phew. I can sleep easy tonight.

Because if you make 'junk food' a taboo, when they can to a stage where they can exercise choice, they will experiment then. Everything in moderation. Educate, don't scaremonger.

Oh no he has a wide, varied, balanced diet. He'll eat any fruit, vegetable, grain, seed, nut, or legume in existence. Only restriction being his allergies.

But thats beside the point. None of you seem to get my question. Im asking specifically why you would choose an unhealthy food each time. What would make you offer a biscuit over the fruit leather?

Oh and hes 4

Fruit leather?!
A wide and varied diet with no food being forbidden is the way forward.

Fruit leather has great long lasting chew to be fair.

What the 'eck is fruit leather?!
Sounds delicious

'Fruit leather'

Do you mean skin

Or piff 🤔

What fruit do you tan the hide of to make the fruit leather? Really rubbery strawberries?

Well I like the odd biscuit. My kids always pretty much ate what I ate. They are slim, immaculate teeth etc. As young adults they have pretty good eating habits.

The odd biscuit? Poor lonely biccies. Has nobody told you that biscuits must be consumed in pairs? Will nobody think of the cookies?

Op interested to know what your ds food diary like.

If you are desperate for your child to eat something you will
Offer 'unhealthy' foods.
You are lucky to have a great eater. My first son was introduced to solids with all organic Annabel Karmal receipies. As he got older he got fussier and fussier. Then after a year of fussy eating he eats a lot more again. But I'm that year he would regularly have pizza, chicken nuggets, fish fingers etc.

Christ almighty, I bet you're a barrel of laughs!

I had sweets and junk food as a child and guess what? I'm a size 10, healthy, functioning adult.

My daughter is so active, I don't begrudge her treats. Alongside her well rounded main meals! I never ever want her to feel guilty for eating a biscuit.

People are reading way too much into this thread as usual, mention anything about food or weight on mumsnet and everyone gets defensive. OP didnt say she was banning unhealthy foods or forcing her child to only eat healthily, she let them him try unhealthy foods and he didnt like them he prefered healthier things, so shes asking is their any benefit it continueing to give him these foods to let him get used to them and try and get him to like them.
OP I'm in the same boat, all 4 of mine dont paticularly like sweets, dont like greasy food, dont like crisps etc, they much prefer fruit in paticular dried fruit as a snack or as a treat, chocolate is the only 'unhealthy' food they enjoy but feel sick easily if they eat too much.
I dont ban any foods as thats extrememly unhealthy but I dont give them crisps for the sake of it, they dont like them and they would rather have crackers or rice cakes, I dont give them sweets for the sake of it when they would rather have dried fruit. Its okay to eat these foods ocasionally as part of a healthy diet but they are not a neccesary part of a healthy diet, no need to force them on our kids if they dont like them.

Can you really not work out why people give their kids junk/processed food after thinking about it for days? Seriously? Perhaps add a little omega oil to your diet...

People do it because that's how they were brought up. Because it's cheaper to buy a pack of value biscuits than a bag of apples. Because of advertising. Because their kids have issues around food and only eat a restricted diet. There you go, that only took me a few minutes worth of thought.

DS1 thought rice cakes were real cakes and had a lot of organic legumes
DS2 mainly eats pasta and had his first crisp at 1yo
Relax, breath, you're being extremely PFB

And you're getting a beating because it's very middle class not to understand what auntlydia just explained

upsideup except in her most recent post she asked why someone would choose something unhealthy over something unhealthy. And I’m assuming leather refers to a username??

I get where you're coming from. My son nearly 11 months for little eater eggs from family members. I have him a few tiny pieces and he didn't care about it. But one day, it will be nice as a treat. If they are restricted I guess they feel the need to binge when they can

Because sometimes when it's 4am and you call into the motorway services whilst you are all still on New York time, legumes and grains are hard to come by and a kid who happily eats KFC is suddenly a god send.

*got
*gave
My phone is awful!!!

Because many of us see than food isn't just nutrition and can be a pleasurable thing used to celebrate, to treat somebody we care for or enjoy as a tradition or ritual. Unless you've been raised by someone who has restricted your diet and only sees food as functional, it usually means you've been exposed to a lot of calorific crap.