Guest guest Posted November 18, 2003 Report Share Posted November 18, 2003 Thank you for saying what I was afraid to! When I baby-sit my nieces and nephews and they ask for breakfast, I tell them it's eggs or nothing, and that I don't care what their parents allow them to eat. Once my niece wanted to have microwavable frozen pancakes for dinner, and for me to make her peach cobbler for desert! Have you seen the giant sized bags of breakfast cereals they sell in the grocery stores? They remind you of bags of dog food. How many families put a scoop in such bags and put them in the pantry? When the kids get up, they know where their bowl and spoon is and how to get the milk out of the refrigerator. The parents don't even have to get out of bed. Disgusting! > Stell, I grew up in a family of 6 kids so meals were prepared for eight. > There was no way my father would put up with picky eating, gripping, > complaining about food, cooking to accommodate or any of us just " not > eating " and food going to waste. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 18, 2003 Report Share Posted November 18, 2003 In a message dated 11/17/03 10:18:04 PM Eastern Standard Time, zumicat@... writes: > I'm having a hardd time with my two younger ones eating green leafy > veggies. > The youngest one (3 1/2) doesn't eat kale or collards and I feel bad that > they > don't eat it. I typically braise it in broth. > > The youngest eats lots of broccoli though (daily) and both eat lots of > fermented veggies. Kids seem to love fermented veggies for some reason. If they're eating those, who cares if they eat kale? Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 18, 2003 Report Share Posted November 18, 2003 --- In , " " <mhysmith@e...> wrote: > Stell, I grew up in a family of 6 kids so meals were prepared for eight. > There was no way my father would put up with picky eating, gripping, > complaining about food, cooking to accommodate or any of us just " not > eating " and food going to waste. If you said you didn't like something, he'd > tell you to eat it anyway and develop a taste for it. So we all did. Ditto for me - but the thing is, we very rarely complained! That's why I don't get their attitude! but you also hit on something else - the hypoglycemia. I'm definitely hypoglycemic, and I let it get pretty bad sometimes (I am soooo rotten about regular meals - time management is NOT my strong suit!) And sugar addiction is definitely a culprit, though I'm sure it's not the only one. We've done sugar fasts before, where I have to pull myself away from ALL sugar, and man, it's like drug withdrawl - it's horrible! Only, with drugs, there's a limited quantity not easily acquired....but sugar is EVERYWHERE, especially at my mom's and MIL's (That right there is the sugar-laden house- next-door that the kids run to - what do you do about THAT? Especially when MIL thinks you're crazy for " denying " your kids such " harmless " things like the yoplait yogurt - that's where she gets it, not from me! - and fruit snacks and microwave popcorn!) and so family gatherings are the pits, because all it takes is ONE cookie or piece of pie or candy, and I'm off the wagon & craving sugar (and succumbing to te cravings) again. I don't offer them a choice - I can't, because there are too many people, and I hate cooking anyway. I do insist that they at least try the food I prepared....but often they are prejudiced against it because of the name, or how it looks, or one of the ingredients (and of course, it's always a different offending ingredient for each kid, so the holding some back before adding the rest of the ingredients thing doesn't help). Maybe I'm just too wrapped up in their acceptance of my cooking? I do feel it terribly personally when they turn up their nose. My 11 year old is always sighing " I don't care for it, mom, but I'll eat it anyway. " I appreciate his honesty, and his willingness to please, but dammit! Can't they like at least ONE thing that I like? Even something as unoffending as chicken & dumplings - one kid doesnt want the chicken, all of them hate the onions, one hates the celery, one won't touch the dumplings.....I just can't comprehend it! My brothers & sisters & I FOUGHT over who got to finish off the food at our house! I can count on one hand the instances when there were leftovers from a meal when I was growing up! (zucchini boats stuffed with this nasty breadcrumb & mayonnaise filling come to mind....Ewwwww!) Is it a genetic thing? Are they programmed to be picky like my DH & his sister, and their cousins? Y'know, I LOVE being a mom, but this is the ONE area that drives me absoloutely bonkers. If I could have a live-in chef, I'd be in heaven, I think! -Stell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 18, 2003 Report Share Posted November 18, 2003 --- In , " wtsdv " <liberty@p...> wrote: The parents > don't even have to get out of bed. Disgusting! > What's so disgusting about that? My kids know how to fix eggs & oatmeal themselves (on the stove, not the crap stuff), & I am often still in bed when they have breakfast. I work late, and they are in bed earlier than me. So watch the generalizations, please. The cereal may be disgusting, but I hardly think kids getting their own breakfast (i.e. self-reliance) should be called so. -Stell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 18, 2003 Report Share Posted November 18, 2003 > > > > The parents don't even have to get out of bed. Disgusting! > > > What's so disgusting about that? My kids know how to fix > eggs & oatmeal themselves (on the stove, not the crap stuff), > & I am often still in bed when they have breakfast. What I find disgusting is clearly the dog-food-sized bags of cereal and their being used by lazy parents in the same way an automatic hamster or hummingbird feeder is used. > I work late, and they are in bed earlier than me. So watch > the generalizations, please. I made no such generalizations. Your quote of me above is not complete. I was clearly expressing disgust at neglectful parents feeding their children garbage, not at children who are old enough to use the stove making their own breakfast, or at people whose schedules require them to sleep later than their children. > The cereal may be disgusting, but I hardly think kids getting > their own breakfast (i.e. self-reliance) should be called so. I never called kids making their own _healthy_ breakfasts disgusting. Most of the children I'm referring to, while able to scoop their own cereal and pour milk on it, are too small to use the stove. Are you truly unaware of the sort of situation I'm describing? It really has nothing to do with your own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 18, 2003 Report Share Posted November 18, 2003 yes those are my thoughts. My older two grew up eating kale (they were vegan for the first 3 1/2 years) I guess when your diet is so limited , kids will eat anything LOL! Elainie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 18, 2003 Report Share Posted November 18, 2003 you are a sick and demented creature for even making such an observation! ;-))))))))) LOL They remind you > of bags of dog food. How many families put > a scoop in such bags and put them in the > pantry? When the kids get up, they know > where their bowl and spoon is and how to get > the milk out of the refrigerator. The parents > don't even have to get out of bed. Disgusting! > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 18, 2003 Report Share Posted November 18, 2003 Stell I think he meant the dog food like bags with the scoop > The parents > > don't even have to get out of bed. Disgusting! > > > What's so disgusting about that? My kids know how to fix eggs & > oatmeal themselves (on the stove, not the crap stuff), & I am often > still in bed when they have breakfast. I work late, and they are in > bed earlier than me. So watch the generalizations, please. > The cereal may be disgusting, but I hardly think kids getting their > own breakfast (i.e. self-reliance) should be called so. > > -Stell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 18, 2003 Report Share Posted November 18, 2003 They not only have octopus dumplings and octopus dumpling-flavored snack puffs, they have octopus-flavored ice cream! ---------------------------------- And wasabi-flavoured ice cream and chocolate. Mm Mmmmmmm!~ Filippa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 18, 2003 Report Share Posted November 18, 2003 As I read the posts on this topic, I keep thinking of the 2 years I spent in east Africa. There was a huge difference in the behavior of African vs American kids -- and even vs the European kids (however, my experience w/European kids was limited to 2 families). I never, ever, ever heard a single African child complain about food. I guess if you grow up knowing food isn't always available, you're grateful for whatever you get. I wasn't in areas that had famine, but even seasonally there were times when food was more plentiful and times when it was scarce. I was close friends with a British couple and ate dinner with them and their 2 boys (ages 5 & 7) about once a week for 2 years. They ate fairly plain fair; lots of beans and rice. Dessert was always one piece of fruit. While at their home, I often noticed how the boys readily ate up their meals and how I thought most American kids I knew would have complained a lot about the food served in their home. I also lived with a Dutch family (3 young boys) for over a month and the same thing -- not a single complaint over the food. It was embarassing to see the American children complaining/whining about food in front of Africans. We, who had the most, complained the most. It would have been laughable if it wasn't so sad. I don't have children, so I don't have personal experience. I was a very picky eater when I was a child (though I still had to eat what was on my plate). I changed at about age 20 when I decided I felt embarrassed when eating with friends to always be the one who didn't like so many foods. I decided to start eating everything even if I didn't like it. Eventually I grew to like a lot of it! But I wonder what it is about our culture, our parenting, our food that makes for such across-the-board picky eating in children? I wonder if it's the amount of sugar/refined grain products because once you get the taste of sweet, it's easy to want everything to be sweet? I haven't followed the posts closely enough to know if the children here are eating sugar or not. I don't know what it is, but from my experience it's a cultural phenomenon. Has anyone else experienced this? What about the Brits on this board? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 18, 2003 Report Share Posted November 18, 2003 > Interesting? Best l can understand from metabolic typing and WD is protein > types (more likely of northern ancestry) are most likely sympathetic > dominant, fast metabolizers. So undereating during the day, overeating at > dinner would work. Interesting! I'm almost ALL British by ancestry, and by nature I tend to avoid eating much early in the day, and then stuff myself at night (not on purpose - I just forget to eat, until I'm so hungry that I have to). That's something worth looking into.... -Stell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 19, 2003 Report Share Posted November 19, 2003 Haha! That reminds me of the Calvin & Hobbes strip that went something like this: Mom, what's for dinner? Tortellini. Ewwwww, grosss! Tortellini!?! I *HATE* Toretellini! [in the next frame, Calvin is at the dictionary:] Tortellini. T-O-R... Tom -- In , " mehndimama " <mehndimama@y...> wrote: > > I do think there is something to the " being resistant just because > it's new " speculation - my kids will decide they don't like > something just because the NAME sounds funny! I tell them we're > having enchiladas for dinner, the immediate reaction is " I hate > enchiladas " , even though they have never once in their life tasted > an enchilada. Maybe they just hate my cooking? Or maybe I should > invent new names for everything? I got the kids to eat ravioli > (yeah, I know, bad stuff - but that's what we were having that day) > once after they proclaimed a hatred for ravioli by calling > it " pillow spaghetti " . They hate ravioli, but adore pillow > spaghetti! > > I WISH I could remember being so unreasonable - it would be so much > easier! > > -Stell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.