Junkfood free house

How often does your child or children get junk food?

 

DH loves S&V chips but he doesn't usually share his chips with DD so that's fine but since MIL moved downstairs at Anzac weekend there has always chippies and lollies in the house and I often come home to find a bowl of chips or a half eaten choc fish on DDs table (no wonder she doesn't eat a proper dinner).  It drives me nuts since I strongly believe that kids, esp toddlers, don't need to be given junk food as 'treats' and the more often they're given junk food the less likely they are to consider them as 'treats' and the more likely they are to think of it as everyday food.

 

I pinned down DH over the weekend and asked him how often he thinkgs our DD gets chippies and/or lollies - he said probably every 2nd day  WTF, I think it's shocking that a 2 yo gets chippies and lollies a few times a week but I also think he was being generous in his assessment, I'd say it's more likely she gets them daily (not a huge supply, just a small handful of chips and a few lollies but still since they have no positive nutrional value there's no need for them in her diet at all IMO).

 

So I have banned lollies and chippies from my house for the next 2 weeks to show DH he doesn't need them and neither does our DD.  I cleared out our pantry last night and all contraband has been removed.  I've told MIL she's not to give DD lollies or chippies either and if she does I'm totally prepped to go loco.

Zaara gets those munchies (tomato salsa) once a week. If she wants snaks she also gets a small pack of rice crakers. She gets chocolate once a week from us but just like you my MIL and my Parents are really bad and spoil her with chocolate. However my parenst give her a few of those small natural jelly chewy thingies but MIL gives her Chocolate. I fight with them but they dont listen.

She gets Nuggets on the weekend but only if we are out and about. Not every weekend.

I'm not a big fan of junk food myslef so we never have any in the house.(except for the odd bar of Chocolate which I keep hidden in the pantry) She never used to ever have any lollies or chippies and it never botherd her as it wasnt even thought of as something she wanted. Now she older and able to walk to her grandparents by her self its almost impossible keeping her away from junk food as they usually have a packet of chippies sitting open on the coffee table. I have been trying to get my sister to stop giving her stuff but she doesnt listen and doesnt think so she always comes home full of Junk food and wont eat her dinner... grrr. I share your fustration.
We do occasionally let her have sweets but only very special occasions like birthdays. Just latley we have been using sugar free lollies as rewards which she knows she cant eat all the time.
I do have to admit we are quite bad when it comes to McD's. If we are out it is usually easier to just get her a happy meal (its shocking when you see how many McD toys she has) Although I have still never let her have any fizzy drinks.

I'm glad this topic has been brought up.

I am fighting a losing battle with my parents over what my child eats!

It's hard enough getting Lucas to eat as it is, he is extremely fussy and often takes one look at something and throws it on the floor. Then enters one of my parents and hands over a handful of chippies or a little square of choc ...or choc bikkie etc etc.

It wasn't until recently that I picked up how often they are actually giving him this stuff when my back is turned, when I've been going out and running errands for Mum etc and she looks after lucas for 10 or so minutes, in that time he's filled up on junk food.

I HATE IT! I've put my foot down and said NO MORE! They just don't listen, but I'm trying my hardest to stick to it this time.

I don't eat th bad stuff infront of him nowadays because he puts his hand out and tries to ask for it & then throws a wobbly if I don't hand any over.

It's bad enough he's probably getting excess amounts of junk & fatty food through my breast milk ...A habit I myself, find hard to break. Damn chocolate addiction!

But in saying all that, I have veges nearly every day & so does Lucas, as well as a reasonably balanced diet with breads ...cheese, cereal. I wish he'd eat meat and fruit though! He won't touch the stuff

Ok I've raved on enough now.

Hmmm everything in moderation in our house..sometimes go through Comfort food times other times all healthy.......pretty lax about it all these days and dont let it stress me out like it did when Paige was young.....


altho one thing we NEVER EVER have as I just call it dead food and we all feel yuck after eating it..it even looks like it is DEAD...is Fish and Chips. LOL

Oh man, I hadn't even thought about takeaways!  I never eat them so it didn't cross my mind but MIL does buy McDonalds and other fast food a couple of times a week and usually brings home chips and stuff for DH & Michaela.  Will have to add fast food takeaways to the banned substances list.

 

It's interesting that heaps of people have mentioned crackers as being junk food.  I actually never thought of them as such - we only have the rice crackers, corn thins and rice wafers in my house though so I guess compared to many cracker types they are actually healthy.

 

Steph, when I told MIL that she wasn't allowed to give Michaela any treats anymore she started going on about "...when my kids were growing up blah blah blah..." and I just said "did you let your kids have chippies and lollies?" "no"  "well then you can understand why I don't want mine to have them".

 

It's hard when they live in the same house as you.  When MIL only visited a couple of times a week it wasn't so bad, there's only so much junk she could supply in such a short space of time but now she visits a few times a day and looks after Michaela in the afternoons I have to be really staunch. 

 

I'm fairly healthy so when I told DH that we were giving up junk food for 2 weeks he said "but what are you giving up?" lol, I did put my dark chocolate buttons, which I normally hide in the pantry with the baking ingredients, into the contraband box.

 

I've allowed DH bikkies, but mostly because I know Michaela won't eat biscuits (she'll have a bite then discard them) though she loves to eat the dough when we bake them .  If I think they're a problem though they'll be gotten rid of too.

I consider crackers as bad food if it takes the place of a healthy lunch. Not bad for a snack as one to 5 of them with a veggie dip but not a whole pack with an unhealthy dip for lunch instead of the childs actual meal.

Crap. I give Kylah crackers daily. She wont touch fruit? How do i get her to eat it?

She doesnt like juice, and she wont be getting fizzy.

My mum is quite like yours steph, keeps saying im being mean by not letting her eat mcdonalds chips and chocolate biscuits, and not giving her juice.. Then i hear the comment 'wait till im looking after you bubba, we will have treats and mummy wont know' GRRR

Oh, kylah gets around 3 rice crackers..

I don't think crackers are bad.  In fact they're often used as an alternative to bread at lunchtime.

 

Michaela has always been a pretty good eater and I don't mind her having a few treats every now and then I'm just trying to curb the habit of giving her treats everyday in place of real food because recently she's stopped eating a decent lunch and dinner.

 

Funny tho, MIL now looks after her in the afternoons.  I got home this afternoon and asked how it was with the new healthy food plan, MIL's response "good, not a problem at all, she just had an iceblock instead"  At least they're home made iceblocks (made with OJ and water) so not too bad in the scheme of things but next batch I make I'll water them down a bit more.

 

She had a really good dinner tonight and ate heaps so I'm pleased.