Discussion Board

Taken at a friends gathering for her kids. I had to work hard to keep my mouth shut.

No kid is going to eat those tiny tomatoes after that junk food explosion.

Is the image posted from your gmail? I don't see one, and when I try to 'view image', I get a Google server error message.

oh, yes it is.

sorry. not sure how to load an image from a file, not a url.

it is crumbled oreos and gummy worms. in cups. for kids' lunch.

You need to open an account with a free photo sharing site like photobucket or imageshack. Upload your pictures there, and then you should be able to follow their instructions for posting images.

Maybe if an event like that happens again, you could try bringing your own version of an edible arrangement? http://www.ediblearrangements.com/
If you have kids, too, it might even be fun for them to help cut out the fruit with some snazzy cookie cutters.

I use tiny pic. No account needed. you can pick the size too.


http://tinypic.com/?t=postupload

RE kids not eating healthful food. I tell my daughter all the time that if kids have a choice they will eat the oreos and gummy worms. Heck. If I had a choice I would eat the oreos and gummy worms. That's why I keep nothing in the fridge or cupboards that is not healthful. So if my sweet tooth kicks in there is only fruit.

My children say my grandchildren won't eat the more nourishing food. If people are hungry they will eat just about anything. And frankly, I do not know what the problem is with my grandchildren. When I was raising their parents, if I cooked it they were expected to eat it--if only a teaspoon or two.

Didi

Parents have to start the kids when very young and not give up after the first spoonful of a new food if the child spits it out.

My granddaughter is six months old and just began eating solid foods. She loves it all ... rice cereal, oatmeal, pureed squash, pureed sweet potatoes ... doctor doesn't want her to try fruit just yet, but soon.

I have nieces who wouldn't eat their dinner, but they were still allowed to have Oreos afterward. They are nearly grown now, and very picky eaters. One of the girls is always constipated because she never eats anything with fiber. They live on spaghetti -- the white kind, of course.

Does it look like this

This is really something that frustrates me when talking with other parents. They seem obsessed with this 'forbidden fruit' concept and not wanting their kids to think of terms of 'good' food versus 'bad' food. It frustrates me because I agree 100%, BUT only when it comes to food... oreos and gummy worms (and soda and wonder bread and lunch meat... etc.) are not only not kid food, they aren't food at all! But they are filled with highly addicting substances. I'm sure if I gave my kids some heroine after a few times they would run for that stuff at parties also, I don't know why parents just don't get this? When I had my oldest in a preschool co-op other parents always complimented me when it was my turn to bring in snacks and were so excited to see something other than those packaged snack foods or 'treat' type foods and I could never understand why if they so valued that and saw that all the kids were eating it why they would still continue to bring in the junk when it was their turn? Especially since it was much more challenging given all the allergies and restrictions various kids had to find anything processed that didn't have something on that list, ugh!

As my older children have gone through various ages and stages I keep hearing people tell me, 'oh sure they eat the good stuff now, but wait until they get to'.... and proceed to reassure me they will go hog wild on garbage (so called food) and they won't have the skills to balance their diet because I didn't make it always available for them (you know the 'everything in moderation' scam), even now with two in college I'm still hearing, oh, well, just wait until they move out on their own. People don't seem to get the fact that even if this imagined worst case scenario of theirs were to actually happen my kids have fully developed bodies that have never been tainted by all those carcinogenic and addictive substances that I refuse to call food and call me crazy (and people do!) but it just doesn't make any sense at all to risk their still maturing cells and bodies for something their already developed and matured bodies may or may not ever have to deal with but certainly will be less likely to be harmed by than a still growing child.

Sorry for the rant, it's a major pet peeve of mine (obviously)! You wouldn't believe the number of people that actually feel sorry for my kids because they sincerely believe my kids are missing out on stuff like this, when to them they may as well just be seeing it exactly as it appears in the original post... who wants to eat "Image" and why on earth would anyone feel deprived about not eating it?

I am teaching my son "good" vs "bad" as it relates to food. At 6 years old he doesn't grasp the reason why I don't want a bite of his ice cream or why I don't want to feed him chicken nuggets. Thankfully as the chef in the house, he is open and willing to try many of the healthy meals I make.

I can already foresee problems when he starts learning about nutrition in school and how my thinking is going to conflict with what students are taught "is right" (which he know is NOT right). Still with that said I try to explain to him and I am trying to stay healthy by eating foods like potatoes and rice and green veggies as well as fruit. It will take some more time to move the rest of the "bad" food out of the freezer, but I think we are making a headway in how my 6 year old eats.

"This is really something that frustrates me when talking with other parents. They seem obsessed with this 'forbidden fruit' concept and not wanting their kids to think of terms of 'good' food versus 'bad' food. It frustrates me because I agree 100%, BUT only when it comes to food... oreos and gummy worms (and soda and wonder bread and lunch meat... etc.) are not only not kid food, they aren't food at all!"

I guess you are trying to say the good food is the REAL food (whole foods) and the bad is the JUNK food (or processed food)? I agree.

How can a parent be against teaching their children good and bad?

Soliver -Yes, exactly! that is what is was, only not so nicely presented.

Kiki and Debbie - thanks for the tech assistance



Precisely! I would love to not have been raised on Chef-Boyardee, Kraft Mac 'n' Cheese, Doritos, Mountain Dew, etc, etc, - and in a house full of smokers, no less! - and would never want to inflict that on my children, knowing what I know now.



YES! "Image" is NOT FOOD!

I bit my tongue yesterday, but not entirely. And I got the "she's crazy ice-out as a result.

Stoumi - glad you are educating your son.

Right, BenFTW? Separating good from bad seems to be a crucial part of the parental role. In my opinion, parents are against it because they themselves are addicted to the "bad" food and ignorant, through laziness or exposure to the wrong information, of the real consequences of eating that bad food, and of not eating enough of the good food.

But they sure don't want to hear about it from ME!

I have one friend who wants to lose weight like I have. But she wants to "do what I am doing" by making kale smoothies that also use coconut milk and dates...she gets the "fruit and veggie" part, but not the low calorie density part. And she wants to still eat cheese.

Good luck with that I tell her.

This country, or perhaps more accurately, the consumer-profit-driven advertising industry and media, has fed our population a line of *@%&, which basically says we deserve this, we can have our cake and eat it too, we can have our health and trim weight while still eating exactly how we "like" (read: are addicted to) eating, without having to sacrifice, make major changes or basically do much of anything at all.

And it isn't like eating this was is hard at all, once you get used to it. Just a few weeks or less, for a lifetime of better health.

OK, I am ranting now. Sorry

At the very least, we can not trap our kids in the same addictive web of poor food choices...can't...stop...ranting...help...me

They are opposed to it because they feel it's a major conflict to serve your children something you are telling them is 'bad' for them. So they don't ever say 'this is bad', 'this is good', feeling that it will give them a troubled relationship with food if all the 'good stuff' is bad and the good food isn't as pleasurable by comparison and I agree with that, myself, however I'd rather not serve my kids junk food at all, I just tell my kids the truth that it isn't food. You can eat it and fill your belly on it, but it's not really food so why risk the harm when it's not providing real sustenance? I just feel it makes more sense to stop serving the 'bad' so-called foods than to stop calling them bad foods.... although I do both.