Is it right for kids to not be allowed choose what they eat?

CantStandMeNow

Should children be allowed to choose they're own meals? I think it's ridiculous that children are not allowed to eat what they find appealing and tasty. I was forced to eat "healthily" as a child and I now get sick on sight of most vegetables.
For all it's detractors, McDonalds has some tasty food that is relatively healthy at a reasonable price. I don't understand the hate campaign against it.
I think children should be given a greater say in what they eat.

jester77

CantStandMeNow wrote: »

Should children be allowed to choose they're own meals? I think it's ridiculous that children are not allowed to eat what they find appealing and tasty. I was forced to eat "healthily" as a child and I now get sick on sight of most vegetables.
For all it's detractors, McDonalds has some tasty food that is relatively healthy at a reasonable price. I don't understand the hate campaign against it.
I think children should be given a greater say in what they eat.

biko

No way. Kids are far too stupid impressionable and if they got their way it'd be McD and sweets morning, noon and dinner.

whiskeyman

I would have eaten coco pops morning, noon and night if I had the choice (not that my Mum bought them!).
I probably still would sometimes, but thankfully sense kicks in.
Back then, I needed my parents to force sense upon me!

wexie

CantStandMeNow wrote: »

Should children be allowed to choose they're own meals? I think it's ridiculous that children are not allowed to eat what they find appealing and tasty. I was forced to eat "healthily" as a child and I now get sick on sight of most vegetables.
For all it's detractors, McDonalds has some tasty food that is relatively healthy at a reasonable price. I don't understand the hate campaign against it.
I think children should be given a greater say in what they eat.

Please, for the love of all that is good and holy tell me you don't have children and don't plan on having any?

OldNotWIse

CantStandMeNow wrote: »

Should children be allowed to choose they're own meals? I think it's ridiculous that children are not allowed to eat what they find appealing and tasty. I was forced to eat "healthily" as a child and I now get sick on sight of most vegetables.
For all it's detractors, McDonalds has some tasty food that is relatively healthy at a reasonable price. I don't understand the hate campaign against it.
I think children should be given a greater say in what they eat.

Sure...they should be able to decide exactly what they eat





























...when they can afford to pay for it themselves.

The Backwards Man

I was a bit of a rare kid, I loved green vegetables, broccoli, sprouts, cabbage, peas, lettuce, couldn't get enough of them. My mother used to always threaten to take me to the psychiatrist because I was weird.:pac:

But look how I turned out.:)

CantStandMeNow

wexie wrote: »

Please, for the love of all that is good and holy tell me you don't have children and don't plan on having any?

No need to be mean

Vito Corleone

If I had been allowed choose my own meals as a kid I'd be 20 stone + today.

Karl Stein

We should allow them to carry guns too I reckon.

runawaybishop

CantStandMeNow wrote: »

Should children be allowed to choose they're own meals? I think it's ridiculous that children are not allowed to eat what they find appealing and tasty. I was forced to eat "healthily" as a child and I now get sick on sight of most vegetables.
For all it's detractors, McDonalds has some tasty food that is relatively healthy at a reasonable price. I don't understand the hate campaign against it.
I think children should be given a greater say in what they eat.

Children are choosing what they eat, haven't you spotted all the fat 10 year olds plodding about the place?

Kids don't self regulate, they will just eat ****e until no more fits in.

FatherLen

Kids are fat enough as it is.

chopper6

McDonalds has some tasty food that is relatively healthy

Relative to what? Actual poison?

Peregrine

CantStandMeNow wrote: »

No need to be mean

You started the thread, now face the consequences

Honey-ec

Hell no. My brother pandered to his kids exactly as you described, with the end result that they eat absolutely nothing and everyone hates having them over because they turn their noses up at anything that isn't a potato waffle or a chicken nugget.

Nobody is doing a child ANY favours by allowing them to make all their own choices like this. A lot of parents these days are more concerned with being their kids' friend than anything else. Children need boundaries.

The Backwards Man

Cathal Cloch wrote: »

We should allow them to carry guns too I reckon.

Too right. Then they can shoot and eat their own vegetables

kneemos

A lot of them already do by the looks of it.

CantStandMeNow

Nimrod 7 wrote: »

You started the thread, now face the consequences

Yes, but no need to question my ability as a parent. You don't even know me that well.

Howard Juneau

OP works for Mickey D's perhaps?
Supersize your own azz & leave the children out of it

donegal.

my kids would only eat nutella.

KKkitty

If I gave my 7 year old that leeway he'd only want junk plain and simple. You can't give kids that power.

Ugo Monye spacecraft experience

CantStandMeNow wrote: »

Should children be allowed to choose they're own meals? I think it's ridiculous that children are not allowed to eat what they find appealing and tasty. I was forced to eat "healthily" as a child and I now get sick on sight of most vegetables.
For all it's detractors, McDonalds has some tasty food that is relatively healthy at a reasonable price. I don't understand the hate campaign against it.
I think children should be given a greater say in what they eat.

Bar the grilled chicken salad, basically everything you can buy in McDonalds has huge amounts of fat and calories and it should be eaten in moderation

Honey-ec

CantStandMeNow wrote: »

Yes, but no need to question my ability as a parent. You don't even know me that well.

I'd question the ability of any parent who thinks McDonald's is relatively healthy.

MadsL

OP, shut up and eat your broccoli, and be nice to your mammy.

Oh, and stop kicking your sister.

Muise...

what about the joys of an acquired taste OP?

Did anyone really enjoy their first bite of blue cheese or smoked ham, or the first sip of coffee, beer, whiskey?

Kids should eat what they're given. So should dinner guests who haven't flagged their preferences in advance. There's middle class people shopping at Dunnes you know!

CantStandMeNow

Honey-ec wrote: »

I'd question the ability of any parent who thinks McDonald's is relatively healthy.

It is compared to bad fast food chains like burger king and kfc to be fair..

jimgoose

Children, left to their own devices, will eat Mars bars garnished with wallpaper paste with a side-dish of Smarties 24/7. This is obviously somewhat suboptimal, and is one of the many reasons they are referred to as "children" and not as "small adults". So in short, yes it is right.

jester77

CantStandMeNow wrote: »

Should children be allowed to choose they're own meals? I think it's ridiculous that children are not allowed to eat what they find appealing and tasty. I was forced to eat "healthily" as a child and I now get sick on sight of most vegetables.
For all it's detractors, McDonalds has some tasty food that is relatively healthy at a reasonable price. I don't understand the hate campaign against it.
I think children should be given a greater say in what they eat.

Have a read of this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twOj0XNCyaY

NTMK

Honey-ec wrote: »

I'd question the ability of any parent who thinks McDonald's is relatively healthy.

it is if you compare it to glue and maybe damp carpet tbh

meoklmrk91

I really hated fruit and veg when I was a child, most of my dinners consisted of spuds and meat and that was it. My parents were pretty good about it, I'm sure there were some battles when I was very small but eventually they just gave up, there was also no you have to finish all your dinner which my uncle used to do to the point where my cousin got sick one day because he had had enough.

Now I love my veg, well certain veg, I have been known to get up in the middle or the night and make a bowl of peas and greenbeans as a snack. I know healthy eating is important but I didn't die from not eating fruit and veg as a child, I don't think it did me any harm.

So yes in a way I do think kids should be allowed to choose what they eat, but not have full reign over it. As in if they really don't like someting don't force them to eat it. Chips and chicken nuggets every day is not a healthy. If I had my own I would try to introduce as many fruits and veg to them as possible when they are as young as possible, I see so many people who go around the place with toddlers giving them a packet of snax why not give them some berries or carrots and celery sticks instead.

Honey-ec

CantStandMeNow wrote: »

It is compared to bad fast food chains like burger king and kfc to be fair..

That's like saying strychnine is healthier than cyanide, to be fair...

DoozerT6

If I had been allowed to choose my own food as a youngster I'd have lived on Findus crispy pancakes, baked beans, and cereal. With large portions of sweets and chocolate added in for extra vitamins and...wait, what??

While I firmly believe that children shouldn't be forced to eat 'healthy' things which they genuinely dislike, neither do I believe that a parent who allows their child to subsist on processed breakfast cereals, pre-packaged sandwiches and Coke is doing them any favours either. Because someone has to give them the taste for these foods in the first place. Who might that be??

chopper6

Ugo Monye spacecraft experience wrote: »

Bar the grilled chicken salad, basically everything you can buy in McDonalds has huge amounts of fat and calories and it should be eaten in moderation

Nevermind fats...everything in mcdonalds is full of sugar...it's sugar that causes obesity and diabetes and all the rest of it...NOT fat!

CantStandMeNow

As an aside, those dairlea lunchables are fantastic little things! My little boy wants them everyday for lunch and i'm happy to give them to him. What better way to get some dairy than with the cheese and one of your five a day with a capri sun

Honey-ec

meoklmrk91 wrote: »

there was also no you have to finish all your dinner which my uncle used to do to the point where my cousin got sick one day because he had had enough. .

The rule in my house was, you were absolutely 100% free not to eat your dinner if you didn't like it, but you didn't get anything else instead. As in, literally not one other thing before we went to bed.

Amazing how our fussiness declined in inverse proportion to how hungry we were.

shedweller

There was a docu done a few years ago where they had a bunch of kids live on their own in a house - big brother style. There were adults next door and the kids could opt out at any time. They could do whatever they wanted and eat whatever they wanted. Within a few days an awful lot of them got out and looked traumatised somewhat. They were saying things like "never again" and "i missed mums way of doing things" etc.
They all got sick of eating rubbish and started wanting healthy food too. It was a brilliant documentary and is well worth looking for.

jimgoose

Honey-ec wrote: »

That's like saying strychnine is healthier than cyanide, to be fair...

This now gets my goat a small bit occasionally. McDonalds stuff is what it is, i.e. beef-burgers with cheese, pickle and bacon in crappy white bread-rolls. It is not asbesdos dust.

DoozerT6

CantStandMeNow wrote: »

As an aside, those dairlea lunchables are fantastic little things! My little boy wants them everyday for lunch and i'm happy to give them to him. What better way to get some dairy than with the cheese and one of your five a day with a capri sun

Bahahaha! Fair balls to ya!

Honey-ec

Vito Corleone wrote: »

lol, no it really isn't. I don't agree with the OP but that is just a ridiculous comparison.

As was the OP's. That was the whole point.

jimgoose wrote: »

This now gets my goat a small bit occasionally. McDonalds stuff is what it is, i.e. beef-burgers with cheese, pickle and bacon in crappy white bread-rolls. It is not asbesdos dust.

Sigh. Again, see point above. I wasn't comparing McDonald's to asbestos (or cyanide, or strychnine). I was pointing out that saying McDonald's is healthier than Burger King is as absurd as comparing cyanide and strychnine.

NTMK

jimgoose wrote: »

This now gets my goat a small bit occasionally. McDonalds stuff is what it is, i.e. beef-burgers with cheese, pickle and bacon in crappy white bread-rolls. It is not asbesdos dust.

debatable tbh

jimgoose

NTMK wrote: »

debatable tbh

Oh all right, horse-meat with Cheese-Like-Substance! Just like in the supermarket!

The Backwards Man

jimgoose wrote: »

This now gets my goat a small bit occasionally. McDonalds stuff is what it is, i.e. beef-burgers with cheese, pickle and bacon in crappy white bread-rolls. It is not asbesdos dust.

Asbestos dust is more nutritious.

Son Of A Vidic

CantStandMeNow wrote: »

Is it right for kids to not be allowed choose what they eat?

What would a child know about what's healthy and good for them and what's not? So yes, of course it's right that a child should not be allowed to choose what they eat.

bbam

Children need guidance to make correct choices.
This starts with parents who eat well, don't drink excessively and don't smoke.

If the parents are acting like adolescents and eating crap then the children will follow their lead.

If your having to force kids to eat something in particular then your doing something wrong.

Another mistake parents make is not raising the profile of fresh fruit. If kids are eating plenty of fresh fruit every day then the need to eat veg at dinner time is diminished.


However OP childhood nutrition and eating habits will form a pattern for life, it's too important to get wrong and it takes work to ensure its done right. Sadly too many parents seem too bothered at the idea of taking responsibility for this and so we see an ever increasing number of Lard Ass kids around who will mostly turn into lard ass adults and cost the state a fortune in health bills.

Cienciano

Jellies and chocolate for breakfast.

wexie

CantStandMeNow wrote: »

Yes, but no need to question my ability as a parent. You don't even know me that well.

No offence but if you genuinely don't see the problem with what you wrote in your OP then I think there is every need to question your ability as a parent.

Children need to be taught to eat healthily and responsibly. Their taste buds actually work different at young age hence the predilection for sweet things. They need to be encouraged to try new things such as green vegetables etc. etc.

Nothing wrong with McDonalds as a treat every so often but it certainly shouldn't become a main staple of anyone's diet.

Nobody wants to see any more 18 stone 12 year olds.

If you're trying to say that kids should be allowed some input into what they're eating well then I absolutely agree with you. But you sure phrased it pretty awkwardly. (as I'm sure you've noticed from the responses)

The rule in our house is that if we eat something new they have to try it, they don't have to like it but they need to try it. There's no point in forcing children to eat something they don't like either. It'll just cause grief later on. Don't like vegetables but like spagbol? Fine, we'll stick all the veggies in the sauce and run it through the blender, nobody's the wiser and they still get their vitamins.

AlanG

I would never agree that kids should be able to choose their own food – a parents role is to take responsibility for the things and decisions their kids are not yet developed enough to make.

I do find it funny how anyone who mentions McDonalds being relatively healthy gets jumped on. Perhaps by relatively the OP means relative to any other burgers, Nuggets and fries produced by most butchers and restaurants.
As a parent at least I know when I go to a McDonalds the food has been handled more professionally and hygienically than almost any other restaurant. The ingredients in the food are more scrutinised and tested than any butcher or other restaurant and the establishment has more to lose than any other establishment if they have a scandal.
I accept that the 100% beef in McDonalds burgers may not be prime cut but personally I think people are too snobbish about the parts of cattle they eat – the point of burgers is to make lower grade cuts palatable. I don’t actually like McDonalds but they are clean and extremely well run and you know what you are eating.

Not to mention that when McD introduced Apples to their menu they became the biggest seller of apples in the US within 2 years – perhaps that is healthy.

Beruthiel

CantStandMeNow wrote: »

I now get sick on sight of most vegetables.

Isn't that down to a lack of imagination?
Eating healthily is the only way to have a functioning body that will last you X amount of years.
McD's do not supply anything that could even be considered as being in the realm of nutritious food.
Learn to cook OP, your body will thank you for it!

fergiesfolly

We had rasher sandwiches when we came home from town today. My daughter(13yrs) took one look at it and decided to have a green salad.
Don't know where we went wrong.

CantStandMeNow

Beruthiel wrote: »

Isn't that down to a lack of imagination?
Eating healthily is the only way to have a functioning body that will last you X amount of years.
McD's do not supply anything that could even be considered as being in the realm of nutritious food.
Learn to cook OP, your body will thank you for it!

I have plenty of imagination
I can think of vegetables without even seeing them?

therealme

Parents - it IS ok to say NO to children sometimes and be a parent :eek:

We didn't get much rubbish as kids, lots of home cooked meals. I do like the odd takeaway (HATE McDs!!) and love veg, fruit etc. I dont understand parents saying their children wont eat this or that, need to try things at least 8 times before that can be decided.

I see it in my nieces and nephews, by 9 months they ate what their parents did - fast forward a few years, they have a great diet with an occasional "treat". I'm sure they would eat a lot more treats if they got them.

Saw the Jamie Oliver v McD's report....omg what McD's put in heir food is absolutely disgusting and so bad for people.