Kids & healthy eating

seraphina

Recovering spendaholic - don't worry too much about your 15 year old.

When I lived with my parents, for years I lived on rice crispies with brown sugar and milk, lettuce sandwiches (lots of butter, lettuce and Mighty White bread), salt and vinegar crisps and lots of cakes and biscuits. This is despite my mum being a good cook with a solid understanding of nutrition, and home cooked meals being available all the time.

And you know what? I grew out of it. I went to uni, realised how expensive junk food was, took a bit more interest in what I was eating when I had to cook it myself. Nowdays, I eat a balanced and varied diet, full of fresh fruit and veg with the occasional chocolate something or other as a treat. When I look at my peers and the people I work with, it's very difficult to tell who had a healthy diet as a teenager and who lived mostly on junk like me!

Your efforts at feeding them well will sink in. She's a teenager and like she said, no one is going to tell her what to do!

taplady

bluenose1 wrote:

My kids despite me encouraging them to eat healthily (they would call it moaning) love rubbishy foods especially McDonalds. I limit it to once a month but everytime we drive past one they say can we go!!!!!!!
My 3 year old thinks he doesn't like coke as I rather cruelly pretended Guinness was coke to discourage him. He hated the taste and won't try it now.

The only thing I think you can do as a parent is provide healthy meals and snacks etc and all the rubbishy things in moderation. Difficult as junk food is everywhere.

I tell my kids that my attitude is "a gift to them" LOL which they won't appreciate until they are older. I also make them do tidying up, help cook and wash dishes. They always moan as none of their friends have to. I tell them this is also a "gift" as they will be self sufficient when older.

Unfortunately they do not appreciate my "gifts." There again I didn't appreciate them when I was there age.
The joys of being a parent

I love your idea of calling it a "gift" !:D must try that with my 2 teenage boys!:rolleyes:

taplady

recovering_spendaholic wrote:

What a good idea, but unfortunately, my DD would think that your mixture was just fab and would want to make it all the time - not to eat but because she is fascinated by gunge and the like (as are most of her peers!!). both my DD's (aged 8 and 15) eat any crap they can get their hands on and love it. I have tried and tried over the years to get them to eat even moderately healthy stuff but to no avail. They will shovel in chips, McD's, chocolate, white cheap bread (they refuse to eat the wonderful fresh baked stuff I get from the local deli), all manner of vile penny sweets and so on and so on. It is NOT because I have ever offered that food at home, because I haven't, they aren't rebelling because I have never ranted on about it either. They were breast fed until they were 18 months old, were given home prepared nutritious food from they were weaned but yet as soon as they got to school they became incredibly fussy and just ate crap any chance they could. Now that DD1 is 15 she tends to refuse to eat any of the meals I make and goes to the chip shop all the time, or gets pizza with her friends. She is an intelligent bright girl too - she knows it is bad for her but she just says that no food police are going to tell her what to do. My heart is broken over the way they (but particularly DD1) eat and I think my Mum would be so cross with me if she were still here, but I am totally at a loss. I still make and serve "proper" food at each meal but alot of it gets left. DD2 will eat most main meals I make but she too eats any crap she can when she is out of the house. I never keep junk in so its not a case of "if they're hungry enough they will eat it". What are other's kids like?

My two (13 and 15) boys are just like your daughter! they live on crap! I eat healthily and always offer what we are having to them but they wont have it and I cant force them to eat it! I do make my own bread and they will eat that so I try and use organic etc and also make my own cakes when I can and they like those.Its meals I have the big problem with. I just pray they grow out of it eventually! cant spend my life worrying about what they eat!:rolleyes:

£Ronnie

I am lucky, my children are only 3yrs and 10 months yet, so i am still in control of what is put in front of them, but...

Taplady and recovering spendaholic, with your teenagers have you tried the image tact...ie how good water is for your skin, how all the processed food gives you spots, dull eyes cellulite etc, being image concious is one of the nightmares of being a teenager, why not turn it to your, (and in the long term their) advantage?

As i say just a suggestion, I'm not there yet, and still struggling with teething baby, and toddler tantrums! Kids- dontcha jus' love 'em

BlondieE

I am very lucky also with my daughter. I breastfed her til she was one, I never bought jars of baby food as I made it all at home - much cheaper. We always fed her what we ate for dinner. Now we have a five year old whose only dislikes are mushrooms and fresh cream.... Not bad - wish her mum didn't like fresh cream 'cakes'.

taplady

£Ronnie wrote:

I am lucky, my children are only 3yrs and 10 months yet, so i am still in control of what is put in front of them, but...

Taplady and recovering spendaholic, with your teenagers have you tried the image tact...ie how good water is for your skin, how all the processed food gives you spots, dull eyes cellulite etc, being image concious is one of the nightmares of being a teenager, why not turn it to your, (and in the long term their) advantage?

As i say just a suggestion, I'm not there yet, and still struggling with teething baby, and toddler tantrums! Kids- dontcha jus' love 'em

Hi £Ronnie! am always on at DS1 about his skin and how much better it would be if he ate better and actually drank some water!:eek: I dont buy coke or fizzy drinks etc but as someone above said as soon as they were old enough to assert themselves and their likes and dislikes - they did!! I also tell them how much better their concentration at school would be if their diet was better but as usual it falls on deaf ears!:rolleyes:

Sarahsaver

Hester wrote:

what do people serve at kid's parties? If things are too healthy I guess the small guests would stalk off in disgust? Home made cakes are yummy and a treat but what else does one serve up that doesn't have ten tonnes of salt and weird additives that make a three year old chew the carpet in hyperactivity?

At ds's party we had carrot sticks, breadsticks, hoummous, seafood sticks, jam sandwiches, jaffa cakes, buns and a HM chocolate mud cake was his choice of birthday cake. Also had OJ and tesco value diet lemonade to drink, and squash. So the odd little bit of trash, but mostly healthy, and one of his friends actually squealed with delight because he had tried something new 'ooh i liked that and i aint ever 'ad it before!'