What is wrong with a huge percentage of British parents?
Why on earth would they give their children something so fatty and unhealthy to eat on a regular basis. I overheard a mother in the park the other day saying to her child: "Come on Jack, be a good boy and eat your crisps" Not only was the child offered crisps, he was also encouraged to eat this crap which I cannot bring myself to call food.
Why would anyone expose their children to something that holds virtually no nutritional value on a regular basis? Crisps are packed with artery-clogging saturated fat and the salt content of a 35 gram pack counts for half the RDA (recommended daily allowance)of a six year old.
One in five children are now overweight in Britain.
The obesity epidemic means many children are contracting medical conditions associated more typically with middle age, such as diabetes. Now crisps alone is not responsible for this as many parents feed their children too much fatty, salty and sugary food, but stop eating crisps regulary and getting out of the sofa would be one step closer to a healthier life.
I am not impressed with Gary Lineker, someone associated with sports and therefore a healthy lifestyle campaigning for eating more crisps. Shame on you Mr. Lineker!
Be a good parent do not feed your children Crappy Crisps!
KarenF
Ooooh, I totally agree on this one, and I would expand it to include people who feed their children 'ready-meals'. It's no good telling me that it takes too long to cook because I can have pasta with home-made sauce ready in 20 minutes. Or if that's too long, there is always salad. Ready meals are full of sugar, salt and chemicals and are VILE. They are designed to turn people into ready-meal addicts and are lacking in nutrients. I like to know what is in my food.
I also hate people telling their children to eat up. If they were hungry, they would eat. If they're not, let them stop. Otherwise you are setting them up for all sorts of food hang-ups such associating food with love, never being able to leave something on their plate etc - and this is how you end up with eating disorders - I've been there.
Poor Little 'Un gets given his tea and he eats it or he doesn't (I only give him stuff he likes, it's not that I make him eat things he hates). If he doesn't and then wants something else, I tell him if he was hungry he'd eat his tea. So then it's up to him to decide if he is hungry. He always has a pudding at lunchtime, so he's not deprived.
His school doesn't allow sweets for break, and so the kids are given dried or fresh fruit. Except for one mum who smuggles chocolate in because 'he needs the energy'. What message does that give?
And finally, all those people who say their children 'won't eat' vegetables. Well, I wonder why? Possibly because they were fed on jarred rubbish when they were babies? If you feed babies veg purees from the word go (rather than fruit ones even, initially) then they get used to veg tastes and carry on liking them (or not minding them)when they are older. Or you can hide veg in pureed soups or sauces if they are older.
I am a food facist!