Do you let your children eat what they want when they want (1 Viewer)

[Evo1883]

Just saw something online that called parents ridiculous for controlling when your children can eat... Saying that he wouldn't dream of telling the kids they can't go into the refrigerator to grab a snack whenever they like...

Our kids always have to ask if they want food, would never let them just go in the fridge and give them free reign of snacks... They already eat us out of house and home as it is... Am I old-fashioned here?

 

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[Alan Dugdales Moustache]

Letting them eat what they want , when they want is a recipe for disaster !

 

[Evo1883]

Letting them eat what they want , when they want is a recipe for disaster !

I agree

 

[ajsccfc]

Anyone who suggests letting kids eat what they want must secretly be a dentist looking for a bumper payday

 

[Alan Dugdales Moustache]

Anyone who suggests letting kids eat what they want must secretly be a dentist looking for a bumper payday

Bad diet, bad discipline, overweight, poor sleep, bad teeth, spoilt. Need I say more ?
Kids need routine and this includes when to eat and when to sleep ( I'm talking the younger ones of course)
Sweets and cakes/ chocolate etc are fine as a reward or for a special occasion . If they have them all the time then nothing is going to be special or worth waiting for.
...and you'll be forking out loads !

 

[hill83]

"You get what you are given" as my mum used to say.

My lad eats what we eat. He doesn't say he doesn't like something until he's tried it. Not having a fussy eater like the wife's family, it's embarrassing the whole lot of them going off menu in a shit chain pub.

When he comes back from his grandmothers after a couple of nights he tries it, it's almost applauded that they don't like food over there.

As for sweets etc, we never buy him any but if he gets some from a party or something he can have them. He'd rather have fruit as that's mainly what he's known.

 

[fernandopartridge]

No. My lad is only 2 but from when he first started weaning we always made sure he ate the same things as us at the same time (taking salt out of stuff etc). He eats really well now, likes proper food like stew and spag bol. No way would I have him dictate what he wanted or make special allowances.

 

[hill83]

Mine's 5, he will whack a decently spicy ruby down no questions asked.

 

[ajsccfc]

Just over a year in with ours now and she can be fussy but so far has shown no interest in anything sweet but instead absolutely devours her greens. Makes me increasingly convinced the wife had an affair

 

[Nick]

Nothing worse than fussy eaters or kids who ask for stuff, have one bite and then leave it.

 

[Otis]

Mine was not allowed to take anything from the drawers or fridge until she was about 12

 

[Houchens Head]

Nothing worse than fussy eaters or kids who ask for stuff, have one bite and then leave it.

100% agree! One of my annoying pet hates, Nick!

 

[Houchens Head]

I was brought up in care - a strict regime in the 1950s until the end of the 1960's. I couldn't stand fish when I was a nipper (around the age of 4 or 5) but as it was a nasty Roman Catholic upbringing, we had to have fish on a Friday. What I couldn't eat on a Friday tea time was served up for my breakfast on the Saturday morning. Because of this, I never asked my kids to eat what they didn't like. However, they ate at the proper mealtimes and if they left something without at least trying it, then I got angry. They were also never allowed to help themselves to stuff from the fridge etc., either.

 

[xcraigx]

Mine's only 9 months old but there is no way she will be able to eat whenever she feels when she is older. he is fed at the same times so she's getting into a routine and at the moment half of what she has is what we have (less the salt and sugar), and half is healthy organic baby food. My wife is very fussy with food and the amount of stuff she doesn't like without even having tried is daft. Luckily she recognises this so she is very happy to feed the baby the most obscure flavours possible so she will hopefully like pretty much everything going forwards. She had a bit of por curry the other night, the smallest of nibbles and didn't end well nappy wise.

My eating habits as a child were the same but since moving out of home 20 years ago I've had a terrible patten. I do like normal things but I am also very happy munching whatever I fancy whenever I fancy. If that's a dozen bags of crisps at 4 in the morning so be it.

 

[Alan Dugdales Moustache]

"You get what you are given" as my mum used to say.

My lad eats what we eat. He doesn't say he doesn't like something until he's tried it. Not having a fussy eater like the wife's family, it's embarrassing the whole lot of them going off menu in a shit chain pub.

When he comes back from his grandmothers after a couple of nights he tries it, it's almost applauded that they don't like food over there.

As for sweets etc, we never buy him any but if he gets some from a party or something he can have them. He'd rather have fruit as that's mainly what he's known.

Great post , Hill. Agree with all of this. My kids are all adults now. Not one of them has a filling and all of them appear to lead a reasonably healthy lifestyle. We were strict until they were teenagers and then gradually let the reigns go . Even now, when we all get together we'll have a dominoes or fish and chips and that's something we all look forward to .
I think we taught them a few good habits and to their credit they haven't lapsed, but it's up to them now.

 

[Mr Panda]

I don't have any kids so can't really comment too much but I've witnessed my girlfriend's sisters house where their three kids can literally help themselves to stuff whenever they want. Their 11 year old eats about the same as me, if not more, it's incredible. They've gotten away with it for some time because they're so young and always on the move but the oldest lad is starting secondary school next year and you can see him piling it on gradually especially with lock down enforcement as well.

When and if I have kids I'll be going down the route of putting all the good stuff in the highest cupboard possible!

 

[wingy]

Think our mum gave up when we all hit adolescence/teenagehood.
We'd literally do a loaf of bread in at night .
Like a posse in the kitchen toasting bread and making tea.
Her mental health was on the way down by then though.
7 of us, pretty hard to manage that,but none of us obese,teeth not so great though.

 

[Marty]

My parents always told me that if I didn't want what they served, then I'd go hungry. They do the same with the grandkids.

An ex was such a fussy eater, wouldn't try anything new, would piss me off so much when we used to go out for a meal as she would sit there having a sulk as she wouldn't eat anything on the menu. I just used to laugh at her while tucking in.

 

[Alan Dugdales Moustache]

My parents always told me that if I didn't want what they served, then I'd go hungry. They do the same with the grandkids.

An ex was such a fussy eater, wouldn't try anything new, would piss me off so much when we used to go out for a meal as she would sit there having a sulk as she wouldn't eat anything on the menu. I just used to laugh at her while tucking in.

If we didn't eat all our tea my mum always said " Eat it. There are people starving in Africa "

 

[hill83]

If we didn't eat all our tea my mum always said " Eat it. There are people starving in Africa "

And my mum used to say that.