I can't get over what people will feed their kids!

[kgalas]

So I'm babysitting my neighbor's kids today. She brought lunch and snacks cause the few times her son has played here, he has wanted a snack(real fruit roll ups, frozen organic yogurt tubes, whole grain goldfish crackers, etc.) only to refuse it once he tries it. This is what she packed:a lunchable consisting of crackers, bologna rounds, cheese, and chocolate chip cookies, a Trix yogurt that was blue and pink, a Kool-Aid Jammer juice drink, goldfish crackers, a cheese stick, and a few baby carrots w/gobs of ranch!! His breakfast before he came over? A poptart and oj. He had two of his "snacks" and was asking for lunch before 11:00! I wonder why?

Now, I am not the most clean eating parent. My kids have treats, etc. But I try to be health conscious-organic fruit twists, graham crackers, granola bars, weekend cereal, etc. And I try to make sure they have protein and fiber with every meal and snack. They have fruit with breakfast, raw veggies at lunch and more veggies at dinner, fruit for dessert, etc. I'm worried about what's going to happen over the summer when I watch these kids 3 times/week. My kids have never had bologna, pop tarts, etc. How am I going to enforce my food rules with them here? And what do I say when they ask-in front of the other kids-why they're eating a pb&j(made with natural pb and fruit spread) on ww with red pepper strips when so and so is eating a lunchable that has 37% sodium and 400 calories?

I just cannot believe this is how the majority of people feed their kids!

 

[lovetocamp]

I know what you mean. My stepdaughter would not eat anything but chicken fingers and pizza rolls. I tried a pizza roll one day and could not eat it. Maybe we should be more like our moms and just say dinner is ready instead of what do you want for dinner lol.

 

[elliemom]

Klaudia- i almost started a thread regarding childhood obesity. I had my boys at the park the other day (65 degrees) and we were the only ones there. Then I took them over to to the sign up for t-ball and was horrified at the number of VERY young boys who were obese, bordering on morbidly obese, 6 and 7 yr olds who have larger breasts than I do!!!!!!

I have found through asking almost every parent I know, how they find time to be supermom. How do you get to sports, get dinner done, homework, shower, reading and bedtime in all before 8 pm. Guess what??????? They don't!!!!!!! They stop everyday for fast food, buy all the preprepared lunches and "lunchables", they put bags of cookies and candy in their lunch boxes etc!!! The homework is done too late for the kids to really do it right, bedtime is way too late so the kids are tired and no one plays outside anymore.

I'm not against organized sports for older children, but I don't agree with it for young kids. It creates a world of fast food junkies who never learn to eat well. Let's face it, you are not getting a lot of good exercise sitting on the t-ball bench at age 5. You are wasting precious time. When my boys (aged 5 and 8) come home from school, they eat a fruit and/or a veggie. Then SHOCKINGLY they have a homemade dinner with veggies and protein etc. Then they can have a snack. There has never been a soda, iced tea, koolaid or any of that other crap in my house. What 5 year old needs a soda?????

I am soooooooooooooo sorry for ranting, but it bugs me when a parent says to me, "Oh no, they don't like water, they will only drink Soda with lunch!!!! Yeah well then they are gonna awfully thirsty at my house!!!!!!

ellie

 

[jdawnc]

I am a firm believer that the reason we have an epidemic of allergies, ADD and ADHD kids is due to the amount of processed food on the market.

 

[Gayle]

Maybe we should be more like our moms and just say dinner is ready instead of what do you want for dinner lol.

ITA!!! I don't have kids, but I am totally baffled by people who fix separate meals for their kids...not because of food allergies or any medical problem, but because kids "don't want" what's for dinner.

As a kid, I remember my sisters and I eating what was served (real food) or going hungry (which we never opted for).

 

[jdawnc]

Klaudia- i almost started a thread regarding childhood obesity. I had my boys at the park the other day (65 degrees) and we were the only ones there. Then I took them over to to the sign up for t-ball and was horrified at the number of VERY young boys who were obese, bordering on morbidly obese, 6 and 7 yr olds who have larger breasts than I do!!!!!!

I have found through asking almost every parent I know, how they find time to be supermom. How do you get to sports, get dinner done, homework, shower, reading and bedtime in all before 8 pm. Guess what??????? They don't!!!!!!! They stop everyday for fast food, buy all the preprepared lunches and "lunchables", they put bags of cookies and candy in their lunch boxes etc!!! The homework is done too late for the kids to really do it right, bedtime is way too late so the kids are tired and no one plays outside anymore.

I'm not against organized sports for older children, but I don't agree with it for young kids. It creates a world of fast food junkies who never learn to eat well. Let's face it, you are not getting a lot of good exercise sitting on the t-ball bench at age 5. You are wasting precious time. When my boys (aged 5 and 8) come home from school, they eat a fruit and/or a veggie. Then SHOCKINGLY they have a homemade dinner with veggies and protein etc. Then they can have a snack. There has never been a soda, iced tea, koolaid or any of that other crap in my house. What 5 year old needs a soda?????

I am soooooooooooooo sorry for ranting, but it bugs me when a parent says to me, "Oh no, they don't like water, they will only drink Soda with lunch!!!! Yeah well then they are gonna awfully thirsty at my house!!!!!!

ellie

Don't even get me started on soda! My niece started drinking soda before her second birthday! I would always have to bit my lower lip. Whenever she comes over she has water or non caffinated clear soda like 7 up and who would have guessed she wasn't throwing tantrums after her caffine high went away.

I know when I go through coffee withdrawls I get a crazy headache; I couldn't imagine a young child having to go through that.

 

[kgalas]

AMEN!! He finished his juice drink and wanted another! I told him his mom only packed one, that he could have water. His mom even told me not to look at his lunch cause she knows how we eat. I am far from a saint when it comes to feeding my kids-we had cake and ice cream for my dad's birthday last night. And they've had fast food and pop-on special occasions. My older daughter who's 9 dances 3 days/week. Two of those days she goes right from school-with a snack. She has nuts and a piece of fruit. Thursday nights she eats dinner at the studio. She'll take things like leftovers, soup, tuna cups, bean dip with blue corn tortillas, mini bags of frozen veggies, etc. Tonight it's mac and cheese (not stellar, I know) and red pepper. She's allowed hot lunch at school once/week. It doesn't take me more than 10 minutes to pack a healthy lunch/snack! And there are healthy convenience foods, too.

And don't get me started on school lunches and the so-called "snack cart"! What a joke!

 

[Fit_mommy]

I have been complimented more then once on what my son eats!

He eats most meats I cook as well as fish. He eats a huge variety of veggies (both cooked and raw) and he adores fruit! He drinks only milk, apple juice and water in our house. I buy sugary cereal, cookies, donuts, ice cream etc but DS has to follow the rules in order to be allowed to eat any of it. It's usually either his dessert or if it's a snack then he has to eat something healthy before he has the junk and he is only allowed a very limited amount of it. On rare occasions when we are out he will have a few sips of soda but for the most part he's not even interested in it. When it comes to giving him choices, yes, I admit that I do that at times and I also will allow him to not eat a few things that I know he doesn't like. I do these things because he is such a good eater in general. If he always gave me a hard time I would not allow these things to happen.

 

[lovetocamp]

My nephew is a healthy eater. He will pick fruit over a cookie anyday. Loves milk and water. He is easy to cook for.

 

[kgalas]

Wendy, the lunch ladies are always commenting on the lunches my daughter brings. And there's nothing like changing your 2 year old's diaper the morning after she's had asparagus for dinner My approach is similar to yours and it works great. My 9 year old tries to come up with her own protein/carb/fiber combos and will ask if this is the same or what goes with what, etc.. I've been trying to teach her about label reading. Once I told her about the shellac in certain foods she had no problem giving it up! I don't want her to become food obsessed, just aware. Hopefully, it's working.

 

[workoutaholic]

Well I have no idea how you get your kids to eat veggies. My 20-month old refuses all kinds...baby food, regular, doesn't matter (he ate them all the time when he was younger). I try giving veggies to him a few times a week, too. I buy whole grain everything and watch his sugar intake, and he has water with a little juice mixed in to drink. He eats fruit a lot, but the kid is totally anti-vegetable.

I do, however, know that some parents feed their kids unhealthy foods in an effort to get them to eat anything, especially toddlers. Some days my son won't eat anything, and I find myself offering sugary stuff just because I'm nervous about him not getting enough to eat. I'm making myself not do it, but it's hard because he's on the very low end of the weight charts.

 

[hiitdogs]

I am soooooooooooooo sorry for ranting, but it bugs me when a parent says to me, "Oh no, they don't like water, they will only drink Soda with lunch!!!! Yeah well then they are gonna awfully thirsty at my house!!!!!!

ellie

I have heard that a lot, too! And my response was the same as yours.

I am not perfect with my kids and they will have a soda every once in a while because I know if I forbid it all of the time it will get even more interesting. Aside from the occassional McDonald's, icecream or cake, they eat lots of veggies, fruit and salad, drink water instead of juice or soda but it is really annoying that some of the kids at school make fun of them eating salad and veggies for lunch. I had to dial it back a little bit and just make healthier versions of the regular lunch food for my 13-year-old. My 9-year-old doesn't care what other people say, he just rolls his eyes and tells his brother to ignore it

My neighbor's daughter is constantly drinking Diet Pepsi, several a day. They make "special" dinners for her because she will only eat certain fast foods. The only veggie she eats is the "tomato" in ketchup. She is 13 now, one month older than my son and 50 lbs heavier.
Her mother is 300 lbs and talking about gastric bypass surgery because diets don't work for her. Ummmh, yeah, because you kinda need to change what you you eat and exercise. And even though you are on a low-carb diet and vodka and diet coke is low carb, Michelob Ultra is low-carb, it still makes you fat if you drink several every day

If we don't change our habits as a nation this will end up in a health care disaster! But aside from that, it is really sad to see kids set up for health and weight problems !!

 

[Fit_mommy]

Klaudia,

My only hope is that my son takes some of what I am trying to teach him about healthy eating habits once he is old enough to make his own choices. I also do not want him to be obsessed. I am hoping that the fact that I do not DENY him the sweets/junk will help with that. He doesn't have to eat the way I eat but a healthy balance would be good. Moderation is the key, right?

 

[banslug]

I am a firm believer that the reason we have an epidemic of allergies, ADD and ADHD kids is due to the amount of processed food on the market.

This is exactly how I feel!!!

I work as a Monitor in the cafeteria at our Elementary School and I am OUTRAGED at so many things. I'm outraged at what the parents pack. I'm outraged at the kids who are allowed to pack their own lunch and it's a zploc of Chips Ahoy cookies, a single serve bag of Doritos, a Kool Aid Jammer or even a SODA, Little Debbie dessert cakes. I'm outraged that we even sell SECONDS to the students starting at 2nd grade. I'm outraged at the parents' lack of involvement when it comes to what their child is eating at lunch.

Our district's "Wellness Policy" says that kids buying lunch MUST have a carb, a protein and some fruit served to them. Wanna guess how much food is being thrown away????

It's just HORRIBLE and a disgrace!

Gayle

 

[lovetocamp]

Well I have no idea how you get your kids to eat veggies. My 20-month old refuses all kinds...baby food, regular, doesn't matter (he ate them all the time when he was younger). I try giving veggies to him a few times a week, too. I buy whole grain everything and watch his sugar intake, and he has water with a little juice mixed in to drink. He eats fruit a lot, but the kid is totally anti-vegetable.

I do, however, know that some parents feed their kids unhealthy foods in an effort to get them to eat anything, especially toddlers. Some days my son won't eat anything, and I find myself offering sugary stuff just because I'm nervous about him not getting enough to eat. I'm making myself not do it, but it's hard because he's on the very low end of the weight charts.

Not sure if this will work or you may have already tried this, but what I would do is start eating whatever food I wanted him to try and then of course he would want it and at least he would always try it.

 

[kgalas]

Gayle, I don't know how you bite your tongue! I'm on the Wellness Committee at my daughters' school and it's very frustrating. The PTO can no longer sell popcorn (a better snack than most) during lunch because it was cutting into the school's "snack cart" sales. If you consider snacks to be fruit roll ups, chips, etc.

I tell my kids a snack is something to tide you over from one meal to the next. Chips and cookies are treats-salty and sweet ones.

I talked to my girlfriend who lives in Traverse City, MI. She is a dietician and a very health conscious person. Her son's school has a salad bar with locally grown produce, whole grains, hummus, etc. They still have the standard school lunch items, but the kids have a choice. I'm always told it isn't feasible for us-it's too expensive, blah. We're having a VIP Night/Ice Cream Social at school and our committee wanted to serve frozen yogurt with frozen fruit, chocolate chips, and granola-PTO says it's too expensive, but there's always money for pizza parties, hot dog lunches, etc. Makes me so mad!

 

[MommaPew]

Last month my family vacationed with another couple whose kids are grown up and out of the house. We rented a condo so we were able to stock the fridge and cupboards with food. Everynight I made sure there was fruit for me and my 3.5yo DS. The other 3 adults with us never ate fruit I think the whole 2 weeks we were on vacation. My GF finally I guess got curious and asked if I served fruit for dessert every night, and my answer was YES.

We were at Disney so I packed fruit and veggies and just like dessert me and DS were the only ones eating them.

We have other friends with young kids who have a pantry full of junk food and they let their kids have full access to it and then they wonder why they can't get their kids to eat their dinner. They're shocked when they see DS eating salad and whatever else is put in front of him.

DS knows cookies and candy and chocolate are treats.

I remember growing up and Sat. night our family sat down and watched hockey and each of us got 1 glass of pop and a bowl of chips. That was all the junk food we got for the week.

I'm hoping that by keeping a bowl of fruit on the counter and ready cut-up veggies in the fridge that that will be all DS ever knows and "rubs" off on him later in life.

 

[janie1234]

This thread opens up mixed feelings for me. Not because I feed my kids crap. I don't. As a matter of fact they sometimes get picked on for having a lunch void of cookies, chips, and soda. I always pack a water bottle, fruit or veggie, a whole grain cracker snack, and a sandwhich on whole grain bread. They never even knew what an oreo was until they started going to elementary school. They hate soda. They are so compliant when it comes to me wanting to eat healthy that they won't eat a cupcake when a mom or dad brings in some for a classmates birthday. They know to as for a ziplock bag and bring it home and ask me if it is okay to have for dessert. Once my daughter packed a ice cream sandwhich that she got from class not knowing that they melt. The other mom's and teachers sorta joke and make fun of me. I think they think I'm a total evil mom or something. Now here is the mixed part. My sister does the total and complete opposite of everything I do. For breakfast once she just gave her kids a chocolate donut and soda. They are 3 and 5. They have chips for dinner which they eat at 9 pm. I could go on and on. Is it healthy? No. Quite frankly I think it is totally gross but I have a hard time judging why people do these things, . . . .we all visit this forum and talk about health and eating right, . . we've made that commitment, but there was a day and a time when I was just as guilty of eating garbage too and there was probably some health nut out there judging me too. When my sister comes over with her doritos, neon blue icee, and cookies in hand I just crack my whip and tell my kids no, . .luckily most of the times I don't even have to. They know to ask before putting something in their mouth that I don't approve of. I don't deprive them of occassional treats but my family does go by the motto of you get what you get and you don't have a fit. I'm hoping when they become adults they'll thank me.

 

[AEHaight66]

I've always tried to have my kids eat mostly healthy foods and generally they do pretty well. Both love fruits & veggies and my DS won't touch a soda (DD is another story, but I limit her sodas to 1/week). I remember LOL to myself one day when I picked my DS up at school after a party - all the kids had plates full of cookies - HE had cauliflower.

It IS tough when other parents are pushing a lot of junk, but hooray for us for trying. I would just try to hold your ground on the snacks for other kids in your house - YOUR house, YOUR rules! If they're truly hungry, they'll eat it!

 

[Stephanie0523]

I used to say that when I had kids that they would eat totally healthy. No junk. Yeah right. I think unless you've walked in that mom's shoes then you really shouldn't judge. Perhaps offer some non-judgmental advice to her if you've had successes with your kids eating healthily, but no judgments or trashing her on a web site. My kids are VERY picky. One only eats about four things and no veggies unless I sneak them into food and the other is really picky too. I'm hoping my baby doesn't turn out as picky. They were exposed to healthy food, but they just refused it every time. So I make separate dinners that I know they will eat. I swore I'd never do this, but I can't send them to bed hungry. At their last check up my pediatrician said their bloodwork was perfect. She laughed and said that those frozen waffles that my youngest son adores are fortified with lots of vitamins, as is the Trix yogurt, which is made by yoplait, BTW. We work on improving their diets every day and talk about the need to eat healthily and exercise.

I just think that every family is different. Some may not do things the way you would, but that doesn't mean they are wrong. I grew up on bologna, Chef Boyardee and Kool-Aid, and I turned out fine. I wouldn't feed it to my children, but that's just me. I also wouldn't deprive them if they wanted to try those things because deprivation can lead to rebellion in the future. My husband was denied sugary cereal as a kid, and when he went to college, he ate Lucky Charms and Trix three meals a day.

I believe everything in moderation -- WITHOUT judgment.