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French Kids Eat Everything
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mommy321




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Feb 17 2015, 9:02 am
I try not to label foods as 'healthy'. It's food. If it's unhealthy, it's not food, it's junk or a treat.
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imaima




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Feb 17 2015, 11:51 am
Scrabble123 wrote:
I know people who use this method and I definitely did when I was involved with my friend's children. There was the occasional exception, but other than that it worked perfectly well. I never experienced a kid waking up at 3 am because they are hungry, but at that point, I think it's pretty easy to explain that we don't eat or come out of rooms in the middle of night and that the child should return to sleep and that she will have breakfast in the morning. I'm sure that the kid is tired enough and will fall asleep. My friend's children definitely woke up a lot during the night. So real life children do work like that, just maybe not in the real life you have created. And that is fine.


I wonder why you keep insisting on it. I tried this and it didn't work. You cannot really assume you have the perfect answer, you haven't parented every kid in the world. There are many factors in parent-child relationship, and you never know when something can turn into a battle, even though you have never assumed it would.
I also don't believe in sending a hungry child to bed. My kids don't eat only 3 things, but they don't eat whatever is served. I think that if my dh and I don't always like what we have cooked and whatever we are served, why are my kids different? Why do they have to go hungry while I as an adult can go and fix myself something yummier to eat? Just because they are kids?
And if I skipped supper and am hungry in the night, I know perfectly well that I won't be asleep again until I eat. So why do I expect anything else from my child, especially if I know why they woke up and it's not just poor sleep habits?
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Fox




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Feb 17 2015, 12:11 pm
southernbubby wrote:
When I was growing up, convenience foods were the rage . . .


I think this is a very important part of the equation: purchase and preparation of the most healthful foods takes a lot of time -- time that mothers who work full- or even part-time simply don't have.

Years ago, a lovely SAHM from my children's elementary school attempted to start a campaign revolving around more healthful snacks.

The idea was well-intended and obviously correct. But this was a woman whose full-time job was shopping and preparing meals for her family. She was constantly sending broadcast emails about sales on various fruits and veggies at far-flung markets; she shared all her great ideas for cut-up veggie strips in delicious homemade dressing; she shared with everyone her "trick" of going to Sam's Club each week for the best produce.

Unfortunately, she added a lot of lighter fluid to the mommy wars. Since I'm a full-time WAHM, I usually have dogs (or at least puppies) in both sides of the fight. But mothers weren't giving their kids chips because they were ignorant about nutrition or just lazy; they were giving them chips because they could be bought in bulk once a month and stay fresh.

That, IMHO, is one of the biggest hurdles in helping kids develop good eating habits. I don't doubt that people in most European countries eat far better than Americans. They work fewer hours per week, shop more frequently, and have a higher percentage of mothers at home.
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southernbubby




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Feb 17 2015, 12:29 pm
But even working mothers can buy a bag of apples as easily as they could buy a bag of chips.
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zaq




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Feb 17 2015, 12:38 pm
southernbubby wrote:
But even working mothers can buy a bag of apples as easily as they could buy a bag of chips.


Not in all neighborhoods. There is a lot of concern about the dearth of quality produce in poorer urban neighborhoods. And not necessarily quite as easily. On my lunch break, I can hit Duane Reade or CVS and pick up a box of Entenmann's or chips; there is NO place to buy a bag of apples. Bekoshi I might be able to buy AN apple at the concession across the street. Just sayin'...
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Raisin




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Feb 17 2015, 12:43 pm
even apples go bad.

I don't think we are doing our children any favours to bring them up to dislike numerous common foods. Of course, there are always several foods a person may dislike intensely, but when the list is very long and includes many common foods (such as chicken, tuna, salmon, etc) it can really interfere with your social and personal life, as well as your spouse and family.
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southernbubby




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Feb 17 2015, 12:43 pm
zaq wrote:
Not in all neighborhoods. There is a lot of concern about the dearth of quality produce in poorer urban neighborhoods. And not necessarily quite as easily. On my lunch break, I can hit Duane Reade or CVS and pick up a box of Entenmann's or chips; there is NO place to buy a bag of apples. Bekoshi I might be able to buy AN apple at the concession across the street. Just sayin'...


Even Duane Reade and CVS has dried fruit and raw nuts. Also, dry cereal such as cheerios is healthier to snack on than chips. On 125th St in Manhattan at the subway stop there is usually a fresh fruit concession but those who have to shop in drug stores do have some healthier choices.
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southernbubby




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Feb 17 2015, 12:45 pm
Raisin wrote:
even apples go bad.

I don't think we are doing our children any favours to bring them up to dislike numerous common foods. Of course, there are always several foods a person may dislike intensely, but when the list is very long and includes many common foods (such as chicken, tuna, salmon, etc) it can really interfere with your social and personal life, as well as your spouse and family.


Chips eventually get stale as well. Most families go through a bag a week of fruit with wasting most of it but as I said before, try snacking on Cheerios or other cereals. It gives more protein and fiber with less fat than chips have.
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Fox




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Feb 17 2015, 1:01 pm
southernbubby wrote:
But even working mothers can buy a bag of apples as easily as they could buy a bag of chips.


Okay, I'm going to breathe very, very deeply before I explode. This is the kind of thinking that escalates the mommy wars to nuclear weapons.

Yes. Yes, we could all buy bags of apples just as easily as a bag of chips.

But unless you have some kind of super-preservative for apples, they get old and unappealing within a week. Which means you have to go out again to buy more. And, of course, you never know that your apples have gotten old until you discover a soft spot just as you're packing lunches.

So that means you have to go out late at night, assuming there's a grocery nearby with late hours, to replace them.

And you may simply not have the energy to be up at 6 a.m.; get your kids ready and feed them breakfast; take them to school; work at your paid employment all day; retrieve said kids from school or the babysitter; go home; make dinner; help with homework; get the kids ready and into bed; do laundry and clean up enough that the health department won't come calling; return personal phone calls to check on your parents or talk to teachers . . . and now go back out to buy apples because, after all, it's just as easy to buy a bag of apples than a bag of chips that will last until the next grocery store run.

Of course, if you were a *good* mommy, you wouldn't be waiting until 11 p.m. to pack lunches. You would have figured out what you needed to buy and done so at a reasonable time of day. But, oh, wait! You were working at your job while all those good mommies were hitting the fruit market and planning delicious, healthful lunches.

All this, only to be lectured by somebody who has *all day* to take care of apples . . . that you really *should* be giving more healthful snacks.

As an addendum, the last time the crusader at my children's school called all of us to deliver a similar message, I asked her what days she would be going to the fruit market and where I should email or fax my order. That was the last time she called me.

I haven't even touched on the problem of getting the apples to school in an appealing condition. Fruits and veggies, unlike processed foods, do not transport well, and they lose a lot of their appeal to kids if they're not in pristine condition.

Yes, yes, I realize there are all sorts of tricks, tips, and ideas for transporting delicate food and making sure it stays fresh. All of these ideas are great as long as you have time and money to implement them.

I don't disagree in the slightest about the value of healthful food over processed alternatives. But I also realize that the "buying" part of the cycle is the least relevant element.

The preparation of good food takes time and energy, and that's something a lot of mothers just don't have.
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Barbara




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Feb 17 2015, 1:03 pm
Raisin wrote:
even apples go bad.

I don't think we are doing our children any favours to bring them up to dislike numerous common foods. Of course, there are always several foods a person may dislike intensely, but when the list is very long and includes many common foods (such as chicken, tuna, salmon, etc) it can really interfere with your social and personal life, as well as your spouse and family.


Fortunately, our children's taste changes as they get older. The kid who loves green beans at 2 will reject them as disgusting at 7, and ask for them at 15. DS no longer runs away or cries if someone has a tuna sandwich (although to the best of my knowledge, he's never tried tuna). And he eats a wide variety of healthful foods that he wouldn't touch when he was 4, or 7.

Think of a food you hate. Now imagine that it was placed on your plate at dinner. You had no opportunity to reject it, and were told that you were required to eat part of it. If, for whatever reason, the smell or taste of it repulsed you, you were not permitted to push the plate aside. And if you don't want more than the 3 bites, then you are not permitted to eat for a total of 16 hours from your last snack. And no, I don't care if your last snack was 3 grapes; 16 hours from that (or if you prefer, 18 hours from lunch).

That's what people are advocating for kids.

I wouldn't want to be treated like that. Why is it OK to treat kids that way?
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southernbubby




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Feb 17 2015, 1:05 pm
http://www.cspnet.com/category.....tions

Here is an article about all the healthy options that are at the CVS pharmacy for snacking. Most of them have OU. I don't think that our apples go bad within a week but the CVS pharmacy has those little thingies of applesauce. Not as healthy as apples but better than chips. It does not matter how upset anyone gets over being told to buy a bag of apples rather than a bag of chips. Apples are better for you than chips, period.
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smss




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Feb 17 2015, 1:06 pm
Fox wrote:
The preparation of good food takes time and energy, and that's something a lot of mothers just don't have.


I haven't been following this thread all the way through, but I agree with you that that's the #1 challenge of heathy eating/cooking.
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southernbubby




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Feb 17 2015, 1:07 pm
Barbara wrote:
Fortunately, our children's taste changes as they get older. The kid who loves green beans at 2 will reject them as disgusting at 7, and ask for them at 15. DS no longer runs away or cries if someone has a tuna sandwich (although to the best of my knowledge, he's never tried tuna). And he eats a wide variety of healthful foods that he wouldn't touch when he was 4, or 7.

Think of a food you hate. Now imagine that it was placed on your plate at dinner. You had no opportunity to reject it, and were told that you were required to eat part of it. If, for whatever reason, the smell or taste of it repulsed you, you were not permitted to push the plate aside. And if you don't want more than the 3 bites, then you are not permitted to eat for a total of 16 hours from your last snack. And no, I don't care if your last snack was 3 grapes; 16 hours from that (or if you prefer, 18 hours from lunch).

That's what people are advocating for kids.

I wouldn't want to be treated like that. Why is it OK to treat kids that way?


I guess that if a whole society eats a certain way, children get used to it from the beginning.
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southernbubby




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Feb 17 2015, 1:08 pm
I see my kids buying lots of fruit for their kids and that is what they take for snack and it gets to school just fine.
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questioner




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Feb 17 2015, 1:24 pm
Fox, I just wanted to say that I love your posts and they were so validating. Sometimes (often) just getting out to the store is a herculean task to fit into the schedule. I am well-stocked at all time with pantry items, frozen vegetables, chicken etc etc and could live out of the freezer/ pantry for ages if we were beseiged, but fresh fruit is where things get complicated.

What if you have kids that only eat peeled and sliced apples? Is that being overly picky?
What about my son who loves bananas for snack, but I would have to stop at the store every 2 days to get bananas that are ripe but not brown?

(My personal eitza is to stock up on the individually packaged unsweetened applesauces whenever they are on sale to fill in for snack as needed (as in 3 out of 5 days a week sometimes!). My children are still young and B"H there hasn't been much peer pressure for junk yet so I just have to get my act together. I expect that all to change pretty soon Very Happy )
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southernbubby




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Feb 17 2015, 1:28 pm
questioner wrote:
Fox, I just wanted to say that I love your posts and they were so validating. Sometimes (often) just getting out to the store is a herculean task to fit into the schedule. I am well-stocked at all time with pantry items, frozen vegetables, chicken etc etc and could live out of the freezer/ pantry for ages if we were beseiged, but fresh fruit is where things get complicated.

What if you have kids that only eat peeled and sliced apples? Is that being overly picky?
What about my son who loves bananas for snack, but I would have to stop at the store every 2 days to get bananas that are ripe but not brown?

(My personal eitza is to stock up on the individually packaged unsweetened applesauces whenever they are on sale to fill in for snack as needed (as in 3 out of 5 days a week sometimes!). My children are still young and B"H there hasn't been much peer pressure for junk yet so I just have to get my act together. I expect that all to change pretty soon Very Happy )


do you live in an area with grocery delivery?
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amother


 

Post Tue, Feb 17 2015, 1:40 pm
southernbubby wrote:
do you live in an area with grocery delivery?

Grocery delivery doesn't solve this issue. I rely on it because I don't have a driver's license, and it is actually quite anxiety provoking because I'm in trouble if I forget something or don't order enough of something. I can't call then to deliver a bag of apples, there is a minimum and if I run out or forgot to order those apples, I am STUCK until my next order (or until I can get DH to pick them up). I place a high priority on healthy cooking, but my inability to drive makes things challenging in the grocery department. Fresh produce is particularly tricky- too much, and it rots and ends up a waste, too little and if I run out, I am without it for several days because simply running to the store is not an option. My kids are bh good eaters, but they still go through phases. They're in a clementine phase right now, but the minute I buy 3 boxes of clementines, they will lose interest and demand bananas Rolling Eyes
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southernbubby




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Feb 17 2015, 1:46 pm
amother wrote:
Grocery delivery doesn't solve this issue. I rely on it because I don't have a driver's license, and it is actually quite anxiety provoking because I'm in trouble if I forget something or don't order enough of something. I can't call then to deliver a bag of apples, there is a minimum and if I run out or forgot to order those apples, I am STUCK until my next order (or until I can get DH to pick them up). I place a high priority on healthy cooking, but my inability to drive makes things challenging in the grocery department. Fresh produce is particularly tricky- too much, and it rots and ends up a waste, too little and if I run out, I am without it for several days because simply running to the store is not an option. My kids are bh good eaters, but they still go through phases. They're in a clementine phase right now, but the minute I buy 3 boxes of clementines, they will lose interest and demand bananas Rolling Eyes


There is an inexpensive device that dehydrates fruit and you can make dried apple snacks and keep them in the freezer until you need them. We did that every year for Pesach for the last few years. It looks like this:
http://www.target.com/p/ronco-.....P8HAQ

It is a bit of work but when you do a big batch, you have it for awhile.
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amother


 

Post Tue, Feb 17 2015, 1:58 pm
southernbubby wrote:
There is an inexpensive device that dehydrates fruit and you can make dried apple snacks and keep them in the freezer until you need them. We did that every year for Pesach for the last few years. It looks like this:
http://www.target.com/p/ronco-.....P8HAQ

It is a bit of work but when you do a big batch, you have it for awhile.

Thank you. I will look into that.
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questioner




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Feb 17 2015, 2:02 pm
southernbubby wrote:
do you live in an area with grocery delivery?


Yes, and we do order fruits as needed, but I still haven't found anywhere willing to deliver me 2 apples and one banana daily!
I'm waiting for Amazon to fill the niche. I would gladly set a Subscribe and Save order for a loaf of whole wheat bread, bottle of milk and some fruit twice a week or so and offload it from my mind.
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