Kids set up for failure?

i was on my commute to work this morning at around 8am, and i looked up to see a woman push her small child onto the train. the little girl was probably about 2 years old.

in one hand, she was clutching a ziploc bag full of fruity pebbles. in the other hand, a tootsie pop. at 8am.

really lady? that's what you give your kid for breakfast? REALLY?

i was waiting for her to pull out a can of mountain dew with a nipple on it and hand it to her to wash it all down. i stared in horror for a few seconds and then went back to my book. just couldn't help thinking how that poor little kid doesn't stand a chance of developing healthy eating habits.

yesterday, a woman sat next to me with a small toddler on her lap and handed him a large bag of funyuns, which he proceeded to chow down on for a good 20 minutes.

don't get me wrong, i'm not the type to say a kid should never ever have fruity pebbles, lolly pops or junky snacks...but that just blew my mind. are people really still that clueless when it comes to nutrition? why, when there are so many healthy options to feed your kid, would you choose such nutritionally worthless snacks? i mean the lady this morning had obviously brought the cereal from home so it wasn't a case of being on the run and having no options.

has anybody else experienced things like this? i'm not a parent but i certainly hope that when i am, i am able to better watch out for my kids health. i know kids can be picky and fussy, but is there ever any reason to give a two year old a bag of sugar and a lolly pop for breakfast? 

Just looked to see what fruity pebbles are, basically Rice Crispies with colour and flavour added.

Rice crispies are viewed as one of the better ones over here because of the vit and minerals they give to kids but not sure that would stand if the flavouring and colouring was added....ours are just plain.

Ok - so maybe i missed it in my hurried skim over the topic of this - but THIS COULD HAVE BEEN A ONE TIME OCCURRENCE!!!

My little 3 year old is HUNGRY in the AM - always has been.  I give him a fruit snack (not so healthy) and a skim milk mozzarella stick (pretty healthy) on the way out the door.  He then eats breakfast at school which consists of oatmeal (which he loves) or Honey Nut Cherrios (which he also loves). 

I say all of that to say you might have been getting a glimpse into the diet of this child.  As for the lolli - whose to say that said toddler didn't grab that from some hiding place (my son learned to move his step stool he uses to brush his teeth to get into ALL KINDS OF GOODIES) and after a morning of fighting over which shirt, pants, shoes to wear she just didn't want the fight about the lolli?

I just think that you can't get a glimpse into how someone does or doesn't raise their child by a glance into their (1) mornings worth of nutrition.

Original Post by divaangelic2:

Ok - so maybe i missed it in my hurried skim over the topic of this - but THIS COULD HAVE BEEN A ONE TIME OCCURRENCE!!!

My little 3 year old is HUNGRY in the AM - always has been.  I give him a fruit snack (not so healthy) and a skim milk mozzarella stick (pretty healthy) on the way out the door.  He then eats breakfast at school which consists of oatmeal (which he loves) or Honey Nut Cherrios (which he also loves). 

I say all of that to say you might have been getting a glimpse into the diet of this child.  As for the lolli - whose to say that said toddler didn't grab that from some hiding place (my son learned to move his step stool he uses to brush his teeth to get into ALL KINDS OF GOODIES) and after a morning of fighting over which shirt, pants, shoes to wear she just didn't want the fight about the lolli?

I just think that you can't get a glimpse into how someone does or doesn't raise their child by a glance into their (1) mornings worth of nutrition.

 Im guessing you used a skimmer with pretty big holes because thats basically what half the thread says while the other half says thats not the point.  haha.

Kids are getting fat because parents are using a video game as a baby sitter. Life is too rushed and they are too busy to go outside and watch their kids play. We had always had a junk food cabinet and we ate it. We were always out playing. I remember my favorite thing to do was ride my bike and stop at mailboxes to pay bills. Too bad it isn't that fun in "real life".

Yeah, my mom kept me and my brother pretty close to the house, but we played outside most of the day, whenever we could, as little kids.  We were lucky - we had a large backyard, wide, not-so-busy streets, and a fairly safe neighborhood on the outskirts of town, so there was always plenty to explore.  Not everyone is so lucky, and nowdays parents worry over sun exposure, as well as a lot of other things.

Not to mention the fact that the VCR hadn't been invented yet, and neither had the Nintendo.

I truly feel that it is not so much what kids EAT, though, yes, nutrition is critical, but what they DO that makes the difference.

It's definitely a combination of nutrition and exercise, but as many of us know, you can't out-train a poor diet... goes the same for kids, they can't out-play a bad diet. They're eating too much of the wrong stuff, while sitting on their butts all day.