What mainstream things do you NOT allow your children to do?

jellyhead

jacqhale wrote: »

Why not class pepsi, mcd's etc as treats?? Most things are only very bad for you if taken without moderation and with no balance in the rest of your life surely?
I don't want to battle everything out with my kids, and I try and instill in them some sense and understanding. That way when they finally grow older and get their freedom they won't make themselves sick on all the mcd's, chocolate and fizzy drinks they weren't allowed at home. I like a glass of coke and a mcd's every so often as well :eek:
No I don't agree they should get or do things just because 'everyone else does' but shouldn't they also get some things just because they want them? Small give on the odd glass of pepsi and I don't have to feel mean about not budging on the big things.

It depends on whether the 'no pepsi' is just a rule, or whether there's a reason for the child to avoid it. I don't buy pepsi, and I prefer for my children to avoid caffeine because it's unhealthy and you hear horror stories of teenagers hooked on energy drinks having heart attacks BUT in a party situation then I wouldn't make a big deal about my own preferences, and would allow my children to have what everyone else was having.

Where there's a reason not to have it, rather than a 'rule' then that's understandable. E-numbers were a nightmare when my eldest was little - things are much better now! Coloured drinks and sweets usually contained dyes that were banned in pretty much every country except ours. They didn't just make him a 'little bit hyper', they made him climb the walls for HOURS, scream and have tantrums until the small hours then sob for hours because the 'come-down' upset him so much, then finally wet the bed once he managed to sleep, and left him so dopey that he could barely speak or remember his own name the next day.

Nobody who loves their child would want that for them, it's the equivalent to giving them a class A drug in my humble opinion. Most children aren't so badly affected by E-numbers, but both of my children are, and so is my husband. Because it's not common, some party guests would think I was being 'precious' if I asked to check the ingredients list for a drink so I generally took along something I knew he could drink (and enough to share, of course). He also drank water. Sometimes he had the E-numbers if he really wanted to, but not if the next day was a school day. My husband and his sister limit their intake of tartrazine (in chip shop mushy peas) to Friday nights only.

Sadly, the cadburys creme eggs were coloured with paprika this year instead of sunset yellow, so my children ate them instead of giving them to me ... sob!

Spendless

citricsquid wrote: »

The video game that I have involvement in (Minecraft) has changed so many children's lives, I get to see daily pre-teens that now have a blossoming interest in computer programming (that will provide huge value to them in the future) because of a video game.

Minecraft is a fab game (I have no interest in playing myself but have a teenage son who's a fan). In a recent PHSE lesson, son's class were asked to give a good role model and a bad one. I suggested Notch as his good one, as an example, for making an interesting, fun game, not restricted to a certain age group. He wouldn't chose it though, as he reckoned he'd get the pee taken out of him

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Both my kids react badly to caffeine, so I restrict cola drinks. An outright ban just made it all the more attractive and for this reason I never introduced tea/coffee. That worked until eldest went away on a school residential trip and they introduced it.

fluffymuffy

Another Min(d)craft fan here.

jellyhead

shoppaholic_returns wrote: »

Absolutely stunned at the amount of parents not
Letting kids socialise with dogs! There are a few cases hammed up by the media and everyone has a man eating dog,amazing!

I have a large breed dog who is about as calm as it comes, and loves kids, they hang off her,pull her tail and she's not bothered. Yes,there are problems in the minority of cases,but I am always shocked at the amount of people who actually teach their kids to have a fear of dogs,instead of giving a positive experience and sensibly aiding their socialisation skills. It's just OTT.

My son loves dogs and I let him go to houses where there are dogs, but I suppose I know the parents well enough to know that the dogs are well trained and wouldn't be unsupervised. Not all dog owners are the same.

eyelinerprincess

Mine isn't allowed kiwi fruit as it sends him loop the loop! We gave him a piece once when he was about 8 months old, and he ended up in his door bouncer for half an hour to get the bloomin energy out of him!

julie2710

I've read through this thread with interest. I try not to let my two boys have too many sweets or biscuits but they do have them.

I went for ages with a fizzy drink ban and I found every time they went to a party if I wasn't present they went for the lemonade option. So I bit the bullet and bought a cheap (17p) bottle and sat it on the side in the kitchen. There was such excitement when they spotted it and obviously had a glass of lemonade with their tea.

That was a month ago and I now have about 3/4 a bottle of flat lemonade sat on the side in the kitchen as they quickly reverted back to their diluted juice, milk or water :eek: A lesson learned for me I think

jellyhead

Bluemeanie wrote: »

Hmmmmmm, I'm not a Scientist or anything so I suppose it's proven that tea prevents iron absorption but my body must be not affected. I'm the biggest tea belly going, talking 10 cups a day and when I had my pregnancy bloods done, the Midwife said I had the highest iron levels she'd seen.

My husband's just been diagnosed with a condition where he absorbs too much iron and it causes problems. He's been told to drink tea with meals because it prevents iron absorption.

I thought caffeine inhibited calcium absorption too, but can't remember where I read it. I remember the phrase 'coke leeches calcium from their bones'. My husband drinks milk too - that also inhibits iron, but at least it contains calcium

BAGGY

I try not to let the boys have fruit shoots unless they put a straw through the cap. I was told by a dental hiegenist the the cap is really bad for tooth decay as they slurp the juice through their front teeth.
I limit fizzy drinks for the same tooth issues reason (I had terrible dentistry horrors when small).
I dont let them have lolly pops as I have seen so many examples of the top coming off or the stick scraping mouths = choking hazard.
I DO let them play in the mud, visit people with dogs, or smokers, climb trees and be boisterous kids.
I will try to hold out for as long as poss re the TV in the bedroom. There is one in our room if they want to watch something that we are not later on. Wish me luck.

valk_scot

stuliet wrote: »

This is also a bugbear of mine. Call me old-fashioned but I worked hard on parenting my kids so that they behaved appropriately in supermarkets (or anywhere else.) They weren't perfect and we certainly had our moments - it can make a shopping trip stressful and tiring too, but now at 9, 11 & 12, I am glad I put the effort in.

I personally think putting kids in the back of trolleys is lazy parenting (using reins too!) - meaning you don't have to go to the trouble of monitoring your kids and expecting them to follow instructions and using sanctions when they don't. I know it's hard work and stressful, but it is ultimately what parenting is about!

Am running off and hiding now, in preparation for being flamed!:D

I never allowed my kids to go in the main part of the trolly either, by the time they were too big to go in it I expected them to walk by me and behave themselves, or woe betide them. And that was back in the days most trollies were single seaters, I remember my joy when I first came across a two seater trolly!

Using reins isn't lazy parenting though, not in my opinion. It's a seftey thing, it means you're not having to pursue your sweaty handed two year old across the road while the baby is sitting abandoned in the pram on the pavement. I did this exactly once before investing in a set of reins.

Back to trollies and kids in them. It's dangerous, there are many cases of kids standing up in them and making the trolly unstable. (Even in the seats with lapbelts they can do this, reins come in handy here too!) And they fall out reaching for packets of things and hurt themselves, often quite badly. And who wants their kid(s) in the trolly squashing their shopping anyway? I really don't see the benefits for the mother tbh, especially when the child is five or six! And there's always a sign about this on the trolley btw, though that's more for the supermarkets covering their backs if a child does have an accident and the parent decides it's the company's fault the child had the accident and sues.

From my own point of view I don't want dirty feet in the main section of the trolly near my food, wrapped or not. I don't want pavement muck and germs on the tins and bags, that would mean having to wash every tin before I opened it, or the top of every bottle before I allowed my kids to drink from them and what about bottles of stuff like ketchup which is used at the table? I do wipe down tops and tins, I'd rather not have to disinfect them as well. That's a whole level of extra and unnecessary dirt I don't want inflicted on me for the sake of something that's forbidden by the supermarkets anyway.

Bufger

We dont have a list as such, its mainly common sense stuff.

Encourage them to eat healthy things. We cook most meals from scratch so even if they want pizza it'll be homemade on pitta's or similar. Home cook our own chips too.

Encourage them to be active rather than play computer games and watch TV all the time. They like a balance of both and thats fine by me. They love playing outside and I love the calming effect bedtime hour of Cbeebies has on them, makes getting ready for bedtime much easier (especially as its so light now).

I encourage them to try and not wreck the house, beat each other or me up etc. I have 2 boys so its like trying to reason with playful lion cubs at the moment - they're not really listening but they still say 'ok dad!'

They're respectful to people and thats all that matters. There isnt any need to micromanage your kids as they will copy exactly what you do. If you show aggression too much they will show aggression. If you display bad habits they will pick them up etc. As long as they are well mannered, clean and fed then its all going ok