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? 

Original Post by enchantingimage:

btw: I've been agreeing with you from the get-go, Santonacci. :)

"As a side note, branding works.  My experience:  My 8 year old now loves carrots because he saw a bag at the store with a picture of SpongeBob on them."

For me it was Bugs Bunny, but the carrots absolutely had to have the tops on them.

Original Post by bagga:

"As a side note, branding works.  My experience:  My 8 year old now loves carrots because he saw a bag at the store with a picture of SpongeBob on them."

For me it was Bugs Bunny, but the carrots absolutely had to have the tops on them.

It's about time they started marketing to kids. Unfortunately the health food companies are way behind the junk food companies. They've got over 60 years of marketing behind them and they know how to make a kid want their products. Most kids given the choice between a box of raisins and a box of junk (candy, cereal, ect) will pick the junk and for obvious reasons. The cover on junk food is more colorful, they're plastered with cartoon characters, they advertise free toys and advertise their product frequently, there's games or pictures on the back, not to mention it's chock full of sugar and colorful dyes.
 If healthy foods start taking the same measures I think kids may start thinking about eating raisins and such more often but it's still going to be an uphill battle.

Oh, one food my kids love that are not marketed to kids, baby bell cheese. They love those things and play with the cover while they eat.

Original Post by santonacci:

Original Post by enchantingimage:

That baffled me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What?  That's just.... wow....

As a side note, branding works.  My experience:  My 8 year old now loves carrots because he saw a bag at the store with a picture of SpongeBob on them.

Isn't that amazing?! My daughter loves corn because my mother bought her a can with Dora on it, Lol.  She also did follow up telling her that chickens love to eat corn,Hahaa.

Last Saturday morning: My daughter said:" Daddy you be Mermaid Man and Mommy you be Barnacle Boy. I'll be SpongeBob!" ( She's three.)

Original Post by bagga:

For me it was Bugs Bunny, but the carrots absolutely had to have the tops on them.

:) That's too cute. My parents said I used to beg for sweet peas. My father told me they would make my eyes green and sparkly. <3 I was determined to have sparkly eyes.

I've tried showing the green giant to my daughter in hopes to gain her interest in green beans, Lol! Nothing yet. I'll continue to try though until I make a break through.

Enchanting: Your baby is just so gosh darn adorable!!!!

That aside, it is terrible how well branding works for the wrong companies!  If only healthy, whole, unprocessed foods had as much advertisement as "food products."  The SpongeBob carrots are a start, for sure.  But how often do we see commercials touting sugary, junky cereals as healthy because they are "whole grain"??? I don't care how whole-grain your product is... the rising trend in diabetes can't be totally unrelated to the massive amounts of sugar added to these so-called "healthy" foods!

I agree with Jules' original post.  While it is impossible to make a sound judgement based on one train ride, I see a LOT of commericals touting cereals like Fruity Pebbles as "healthy."  It's not totally absurd to reach the conclusion that this mom is a vicitm of product marketing.  It's not unreasonable to assume that she thinks that Fruity Pebbles are actually healthy.   

Original Post by brtaylor:

Enchanting: Your baby is just so gosh darn adorable!!!!

That aside, it is terrible how well branding works for the wrong companies!  If only healthy, whole, unprocessed foods had as much advertisement as "food products."  The SpongeBob carrots are a start, for sure.  But how often do we see commercials touting sugary, junky cereals as healthy because they are "whole grain"??? I don't care how whole-grain your product is... the rising trend in diabetes can't be totally unrelated to the massive amounts of sugar added to these so-called "healthy" foods.

Thank you! They honesty do market unhealthy things straight to children. My daughter hadn't ever had candy until Halloween last year. She was only two years old so we're holding off on candy. We didn't think she needed it so had kept her away from it. Period. ( We still do. ) However:We figured we should allow it for the holiday. Since everyone would be giving out candy and she was trick or treating. Even though we don't throughout the year it was special/acceptable to us for Halloween.

She spazzed out! " CANDY! I LOVE CANDY... TRICK or TREAT! Give me CANDY, PLEASE " It was insane how quickly she became an addict that night. We figured it was fine for one evening though. ( The reaction was cute as day too in the moment. )Tomorrow: We'll toss out the candy and be done. Simple enough,right?... No... She refused to eat anything for going on three days... BEGGING for more chocolate candy...more sweet candy " Please, more chocolate candy...Halloween candy... PLEASE... I WANT CANDY!!!! " We would say no and go through tantrums like you wouldn't believe. It was utter madness.

A toddler on a sugar high is something I never want to experience again,Lol. :) When someone random says: " Can I give her a sucker and/or candy? "

I say: " Nuuuu! - holds up hand - Candy is reserved for special occasions only,Lol. Thank you. It was sweet of you to ask.... " Unless it's special circumstances/or holiday. :)

Sometimes I joke: "She only takes balloons/stickers/compliments/etc."

Oops. Double post.

bottom line: childhood is a time where habits are developed, and condoning and enabling your child to have a sugary breakfast with little nutrition is only making it okay for them to make the same choices later in life. Children are smaller, not to mention GROWING, therefore it is wrong, even neglectful to deprive them of healthy foods. If the mother thinks that is what makes a proper breakfast, i would hate to see what the rest of the day has in store.

bottom line: childhood is a time where habits are developed, and condoning and enabling your child to have a sugary breakfast with little nutrition is only making it okay for them to make the same choices later in life. Children are smaller, not to mention GROWING, therefore it is wrong, even neglectful to deprive them of healthy foods. If the mother thinks that is what makes a proper breakfast, i would hate to see what the rest of the day has in store.

I'm not saying that either of those things were good to have at breakfast...but it's one instance. I can quickly say, "Pfft, sucky parents," but I don't really know anything about them. Lol. Saying that society is going into hell in a hand basic because of a baggy of fruity pebbles is a bit extreme.

That one woman could of been running out the door and gave her toddler the small baggy and the lollipop could of come from a stranger who simply thought the kid was cute. The bag of funyuns could because the kid was complaining about being hungry and, having nothing else to give him, gave him the bag to shut him up.

Kids in general have a lot more exposure to high fat/sweet laden foods. It is up to the parents to protect them, but a hectic day could cause a lack of decisions for both of their diets.

Now, if you see this kid everyday with the same food...then you might want to say something. Lol.

Only time me and my brothers ever got candy growing up was after Halloween, Easter or Xmas. Oh man did we love holidays! ;D

In order to give her child the bag of fruity pebbles, the mother had to buy a whole box of fruity pebbles.  Odds are pretty good that fruity pebbles are either a regular breakfast food or a regular snack.  Whether or not that's the case for this family, it's the case for a lot of families.  If it weren't, they wouldn't make the darn things because they wouldn't be profitable.  And it's a bad thing that there are kids growing up eating fruity pebbles for breakfast every morning - whether or not that particular toddler is one of them.

Wow.  I've never written "fruity pebbles" so many times in my life. 

What I don't understand is the food that most daycare centers and schools offer kids...fruit pebbles are regular!!! Now we can't excuse them for being ignorant or uneducated....The lady is probably taking her kid there first...she figured if its OK for the people who are specialized in child care feed them that its OK for her too!!

two weeks ago I was with a young mother.  Her 9mth old baby started crying.  She opened her diaper bag and promptly filled a baby bottle with Mountain Dew. I said wow, you let your baby drink that? she said it isn't to bad for her because she doesn't have that many teeth yet, I assume that she thought I was just concerned about the baby's teeth!  

One day when I was a family party, I saw that one of my nieces was drinking beer after beer, she is old enough but the problem was she was also a nursing mother.  I didn't say anything until I saw her start nursing her baby.  I reminded her that alcohol is passed through breast milk.  If you think I am being judgmental by saying something, or overbearing, what am I supposed to do? let her get her new born drunk! She told me that it helps the baby sleep better.  She had many beers, I told her it wasn't a good idea, she could cause a lot of health problems for the child.  she said that breast milk is always better than formula.  The argument went no where.

Original Post by pteresa19:

two weeks ago I was with a young mother.  Her 9mth old baby started crying.  She opened her diaper bag and promptly filled a baby bottle with Mountain Dew. I said wow, you let your baby drink that? she said it isn't to bad for her because she doesn't have that many teeth yet, I assume that she thought I was just concerned about the baby's teeth!  

One day when I was a family party, I saw that one of my nieces was drinking beer after beer, she is old enough but the problem was she was also a nursing mother.  I didn't say anything until I saw her start nursing her baby.  I reminded her that alcohol is passed through breast milk.  If you think I am being judgmental by saying something, or overbearing, what am I supposed to do? let her get her new born drunk! She told me that it helps the baby sleep better.  She had many beers, I told her it wasn't a good idea, she could cause a lot of health problems for the child.  she said that breast milk is always better than formula.  The argument went no where.

 Wow..I'm... i'm Speechless ...

Eating fruity pebbles is better than not eating breakfast at all which is what the majority of kids do.

Original Post by cptbunny:

Eating fruity pebbles is better than not eating breakfast at all which is what the majority of kids do.

True. All of this talk about Fruity Pebbles really makes me want some. :) Mmm.

Did you know that a serving of fruity pebbles has fewer calories and less sugar than a serving of raisan bran? Just saying that even a parent concerned about healthy eating may still choose fruity pebbles based on the label. Also, when it comes to getting kids vitamins, fortified kid-friendly cereals aren't a bad option. Maybe not the best option, but 110 calories worth of cereal isn't making anyone obese either.

As for me, I take care of 9 year old brother about half the time, and I have since he was 4. We've gotten comments about his diet on occasion. For grocery shopping, we buy cheerios, corn flakes, and the 'sugar' option, the rule is that no more is bought until all of it is gone, so he has it about 1/3 of the time.
And he eats candy almost every day. Two small pieces (kid sized - halloween leftover style), or 1/4 of a bag of skittles, or a lolly. The rest of the day his snack options are string cheese, yogurt, granola, fruit, etc. He eats lean proteins and veggies for meals like I do. Allowing him to have 100-200 calories of junk a day on top of 1400 calories of nutrient rich fresh foods just isn't a crime to me. In fact, I personally use the 80/20 calorie split in my diet, something I've seen others use on this forum (80% of calories from good healthy stuff, 20% from less nutritious foods.) And I think my diet is healthy, therefore his mimicks it.

Overall, it's much more important to me that he understands moderation more than deprivation, which he does, quite well. He never complains about not being allowed a whole bag of m&ms or having to put away holiday candy to be doled out at 2 pieces per day. Or when he asks for a snack, and I specify it has to be a 'healthy' snack.

Maybe I'm a bad parent, but I'm sure there have been times when he's been armed for traveling with a piece of candy after a fruit loops breakfast.

Well I have never heard of fruity pebbles, but I'm assuming they're not the best of breakfasts!

I looked after my boyfriend's colleague's 4-year old daughter Lucy for 6 weeks at the beginning of the year, while her nanny was on a trip home to Indonesia. This (expatriate) kid was used to having everything her heart desired. Food? Clothes? New toys? Everything. She would throw a fit if her parents did not return home from work every day with a new toy for her. Needless to say, she hardly appreciated the gesture and would be bored of the toy in 20 minutes. I had trouble finding places to put all the toys - they took up most of the house. She was allowed to make huge messes - often on purpose - and the nanny was expected to clean them up. She would say, "look at all this mess I made, now you have to clean it up!" The cleaners came to vacuum the floor and she told them to stop making such a racket because she couldn't hear the tv! She was also allowed to stay up til 3am - I mean, she was only four years old! I've never seen such an over-indulged kid before - a real pity, because she had her nicer moments too; if only these traits were encouraged instead of her self-importance.

Getting back to my point, this strange (and infuriating) 'freedom' extended to her food. She ate chocolates, nutella on crackers, packets of chips, pot noodles, fast food, cake, buttered popcorn, dairy desserts and apple juice. This was her entire diet. Her mother told me it was healthy because she got her fruit intake by drinking the apple juice! She also told me that Lucy wouldn't eat fruit or vegetables, so there was no point trying. I asked Lucy why she didn't like apples, and she said she didn't like the core. So I gave her apple slices instead, and she liked them. I asked if she'd ever tried a fruit yoghurt instead of her dairy dessert; she hadn't. Turns out she liked those too. I still fed her pot noodles but I mixed chopped veges into them and, after a couple of weeks of whinging she was eating all of it.

That kid was such a work in progress; young enough to be moulded into any individual. And yet she was learning bad eating and behavioural habits because of careless parenting. It was a real shame. Some parents are probably ignorant of good nutrition, but there are always ways to educate yourself. And some parents should really know better!