I'm kind of appalled...

I know it's no excuse for that kind of lunch to be in a 5 year old's bag but maybe she's a very picky eater and the parents decided that instead of subjecting the entire cafeteria to screaming and hissy fits over a real lunch they'd just give her what she wants at school and make her eat healthy at breakfast & dinner where they're the only ones that have to deal with it.

This is not to say I advocate the force-feeding of little ones, but the idea of allowing them to choose what they will and will not eat seems a little ridiculous to me. When I was five, my "choice" would have been a chocolate bar every single time! Thank goodness my Mom made me eat real food, whether I liked it or not.

Back in my day, picky eaters weren't rewarded with candy lunches and applause for trying their best, they sat at the table until they ate every last morsel of (now cold) food that was put in front of them. Or, they went to bed hungry -- entirely their choice. Give it a try sometime... If they get hungry enough, they'll eat those peas. Guaranteed.

We didn't throw hissy fits back in my day, either... Kids used to be afraid of pissing their parents off.

Yup - infact my husband and I just took an extracurricular activity one night away from our almost 6 year old. Why, becasue I said if you don't eat supper, you won't go. I try to serve my kids food they like - but she was trying to "be the boss". So, as she cried we told her she wouldn't be going. We also told her, when she was hungry, supper would be there waiting. And if she didn't eat it, guess what breakfast was and so on.... She ended up finishing supper right before bed and then last night (when her activity was) she gobbled up supper.

I know it's no excuse for that kind of lunch to be in a 5 year old's bag but maybe she's a very picky eater and the parents decided that instead of subjecting the entire cafeteria to screaming and hissy fits over a real lunch they'd just give her what she wants at school and make her eat healthy at breakfast & dinner where they're the only ones that have to deal with it.

This is not to say I advocate the force-feeding of little ones, but the idea of allowing them to choose what they will and will not eat seems a little ridiculous to me. When I was five, my "choice" would have been a chocolate bar every single time! Thank goodness my Mom made me eat real food, whether I liked it or not.

Back in my day, picky eaters weren't rewarded with candy lunches and applause for trying their best, they sat at the table until they ate every last morsel of (now cold) food that was put in front of them. Or, they went to bed hungry -- entirely their choice. Give it a try sometime... If they get hungry enough, they'll eat those peas. Guaranteed.

We didn't throw hissy fits back in my day, either... Kids used to be afraid of pissing their parents off.

I know it's no excuse for that kind of lunch to be in a 5 year old's bag but maybe she's a very picky eater and the parents decided that instead of subjecting the entire cafeteria to screaming and hissy fits over a real lunch they'd just give her what she wants at school and make her eat healthy at breakfast & dinner where they're the only ones that have to deal with it.

This is not to say I advocate the force-feeding of little ones, but the idea of allowing them to choose what they will and will not eat seems a little ridiculous to me. When I was five, my "choice" would have been a chocolate bar every single time! Thank goodness my Mom made me eat real food, whether I liked it or not.

Back in my day, picky eaters weren't rewarded with candy lunches and applause for trying their best, they sat at the table until they ate every last morsel of (now cold) food that was put in front of them. Or, they went to bed hungry -- entirely their choice. Give it a try sometime... If they get hungry enough, they'll eat those peas. Guaranteed.

We didn't throw hissy fits back in my day, either... Kids used to be afraid of pissing their parents off.

^^^^This. All of those reasons just stated above are the reasons that I do not want to reproduce. The world today is full of freaking whimps- (a better word begins with a P and rhymes with "wussies"....)

My mother packed me a lunch and if I chose not to eat it, I went hungry. I learned to eat what she packed or go hungry for the rest of the day.

The way that most of us were parented even 20 years ago would land most us in jail for child abuse these days. But it looks like most of us turned out fine......RIDICULOUS.

Actually, there's an argument that this "clean your plate" mentality is at least partly responsible for some of the obesity problems we are seeing today.

That said, I'm more in agreement with the above concepts than I am in disagreement.

I went fishing for crazy today.

^^^^This. All of those reasons just stated above are the reasons that I do not want to reproduce. The world today is full of freaking whimps- (a better word begins with a P and rhymes with "wussies"....)

My mother packed me a lunch and if I chose not to eat it, I went hungry. I learned to eat what she packed or go hungry for the rest of the day.

The way that most of us were parented even 20 years ago would land most us in jail for child abuse these days. But it looks like most of us turned out fine......RIDICULOUS.

See, this works well if you're a wussie child. I on the other hand for example took the "Oh? I will just go hungry? Good, i'll show you. And i'll make you feel horrible and worthless for not feeding me". It seemed to work pretty well.

Was this because my mother was just a *ussy? No, it's because i was strong willed and I'll be damned if someone controls me like that.

Poor kid, she can't be doing well in school with that kind of food. No nurishment for the body, no nurishment for the brain either...

The brain runs on glucose. Sounds like lots of nourishment for the brain. The body is what's suffering.

Oh, so is that why you have a high then a crash when you have nothing but sugar for a snack? You can't tell me that that kid can focus after she has crashed...

I don't. I do when I eat a high carb lunch, but that's a different story. The brain still runs on strictly glucose. There is nourishment. It's your endocrine system that is messing you up when you have this problem.

Okie dokie... You got me. Since that is the case, I will now be packing my kids stricktly twinkies and ding dongs so they can be really really smart... :flowerforyou: :drinker:

Poor kid, she can't be doing well in school with that kind of food. No nurishment for the body, no nurishment for the brain either...

The brain runs on glucose. Sounds like lots of nourishment for the brain. The body is what's suffering.

Oh, so is that why you have a high then a crash when you have nothing but sugar for a snack? You can't tell me that that kid can focus after she has crashed...

I don't. I do when I eat a high carb lunch, but that's a different story. The brain still runs on strictly glucose. There is nourishment. It's your endocrine system that is messing you up when you have this problem.

Okie dokie... You got me. Since that is the case, I will now be packing my kids stricktly twinkies and ding dongs so they can be really really smart... :flowerforyou: :drinker:

I never said to pack your kids twinkies and such. I just pointed out that the brain would not be starving based on what the kid had for her lunch. Way to go way beyond and read more into it. I have known plenty of kids who survive and do well academically on crappy sugary diets. They just fail to thrive.

SMDH

I know it's no excuse for that kind of lunch to be in a 5 year old's bag but maybe she's a very picky eater and the parents decided that instead of subjecting the entire cafeteria to screaming and hissy fits over a real lunch they'd just give her what she wants at school and make her eat healthy at breakfast & dinner where they're the only ones that have to deal with it.

This is not to say I advocate the force-feeding of little ones, but the idea of allowing them to choose what they will and will not eat seems a little ridiculous to me. When I was five, my "choice" would have been a chocolate bar every single time! Thank goodness my Mom made me eat real food, whether I liked it or not.

Back in my day, picky eaters weren't rewarded with candy lunches and applause for trying their best, they sat at the table until they ate every last morsel of (now cold) food that was put in front of them. Or, they went to bed hungry -- entirely their choice. Give it a try sometime... If they get hungry enough, they'll eat those peas. Guaranteed.

We didn't throw hissy fits back in my day, either... Kids used to be afraid of pissing their parents off.

Yup - infact my husband and I just took an extracurricular activity one night away from our almost 6 year old. Why, becasue I said if you don't eat supper, you won't go. I try to serve my kids food they like - but she was trying to "be the boss". So, as she cried we told her she wouldn't be going. We also told her, when she was hungry, supper would be there waiting. And if she didn't eat it, guess what breakfast was and so on.... She ended up finishing supper right before bed and then last night (when her activity was) she gobbled up supper.

People have serious rose-colored glasses when talking about their own childhoods.

Seriously, it's like some of them forgot that broccoli sometimes tasted like blood.