Pregnancy & Parenting

So, a couple days ago my 4 year old and I were discussing alien life forms and she started telling me about a commercial she had seen featuring two aliens trying to eat something.  I asked her what they were trying to eat and she said:  "It was flat, and a rectangle, and it had sugar sprinkles on it". 

It was a pop tart.  My child has never eaten a pop tart.

It got me thinking about what other food icons she has never been exposed to.  I know she's never had Spaghettios (or any other canned pasta product).  I've never given her any type of Hostess snack cake.  She didn't know that WALL-E's cockroach was eating a "twinkee".  She's never seen a twinkee.

We do our best to avoid "fruit chews" since her dentist explained that those and fruit roll ups are major cavity culprits.

Now, I'm not trying to pat myself on the back.  We eat our fair share of chips and chocolate and other such foods light on the nutritional value.  I'm just wondering about other folks.  What foods from your childhood would your kids not recognize?

I don't have kids of my own (yet) but this story was so cute!!! I love your daughter! Haha!

I think mine will probably have to be exposed to pop tarts because of who their dad will (hopefully) be, but they might not know there are commericals about them!  (I'm pretty against television in general.)

I think twinkies are definitely going by the wayside. I never ate them, and no one of my age do I know that does. =/

Based on the fact that the following foods were not in my house growing up, I plan not to have them in my kitchen.  Some of them aren't even that bad!  Just a psychological thing I guess:

1-  Pork and Beans in a can

2-  Bologna (I've never had it before!!  I know most eat it)

3-  Spam-  (that canned meat)

4-  Anchovies (although now that I think of it; maybe I've eaten it in cesar dressing?)

5-  Cereal-  Exlcuding anything high fiber, cheerios, chex, oatbran, golden grahms, life, frosted mini-wheats.  All other cereals were banned.

6-  We only ate potatoes in the form of baked, mashed, or fried-  never au gratin. 

7-  Any kind of chef-boy-r-dee product

Strange now that I think about it!  My mom was careful on the sugar as well;  as I plan to be.

I think I probably wouldn't feed my kids meat, and if I did it'd definitely have to be free range.

Can I just ask, what is a twinky?! I'm English and we don't have them here, but they're mentioned a lot in American TV shows and films.

Original Post by hayleyjayde:

I think I probably wouldn't feed my kids meat, and if I did it'd definitely have to be free range.

Can I just ask, what is a twinky?! I'm English and we don't have them here, but they're mentioned a lot in American TV shows and films.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twinkie

Not much of a Twinkie person myself...now Ding Dongs however...MMMM

http://www.hostesscakes.com/dingdongs.asp

I thought of another one at the store today.  Lunchables. 

And, I'm with Vanessa on most of those items.  And little wieners in a can... Vienna sausages.  Ew. 

Now I know what they are, I want one!

I doubt it'll be long before they're sold here though, Reese's Nutrageous bars and peanut butter cups have recently appeared in most shops, I love them, every time I eat one I realize why obesity is more prevalent in America, your chocolate bars are nicer!

Wow I've actually thought about this topic before!

I don't want my kids to eat anything processed or junky.

Only organic, fresh, and clean!

Yes.. I'm going to be "one of those" mothers

I WOULD NEVER FEED MY DAUGHTER SPAM...grossest thing ever!!! It still grosses me out that I ate it when I was like 8 or so

Not a food, but a drink.  Kool-aid or anything like it, sugar and food dye and kids do not mix.

Awh, that's an adorable story! haha.

Although, I do think kids need to be at least exposed to everything. I had a friend that had never head of/eaten a twinkie. Once my class found out, it was like this huge terrible thing & they harped on it & kept bothering/teasing her. It really embarrassed her, but she legitimately had no idea what a twinkie was.
Obviously I'm not saying kids should be eating Twinkies all day, but with a food like that, they should at least know what it is so they don't end up in an embarrassing situation with other kids.

Ironic how timely this post is - I just learned last night that my 9-year-old has no idea what a twinkie is. Not that we've ever fed them to her, but I guess I just assumed they are one of those iconic american foods that everyone knows about. 

I agree with Starcross about at least exposing them to all the different things out there...I was as a kid and really don't desire that junk now. My husband, on the contrary, came from a poor household where they just couldn't afford the junk food, and thus it was a BIG DEAL when they got it...he still has problem with associating snack foods with happiness.

As far as my kids, we avoid as much processed food as possible.  Canned stuff must be organic (Annie's) and NO food dye is allowed - my son is very sensitive to red #40.  We don't have pop tarts, chips, candy, chocolate milk, or gogurts around.  They know what these all are, have had them on several occasions, like them, but don't crave them. They know there are better choices. 

Soda!  My sister was very careful about never giving soda to my nephew and I feel that same way.  There is absolutely no reason a child needs that or should even want it.

My step sister just had her daughter a little over a year ago and the child drinks SODA!  A whole can of a soda.  Makes me want to cry.

My daughter has an egg allergy so there is a lot of processed stuff that she isnt exposed to to begin with.  However, when I was a kid, all I ate was processed stuff and junk food.  Maybe contributing to the reason I am heavy now, who knows.  In either case, our house was always stocked with Doritos, chips, mac & cheese, soda, etc.

My daughter does like mac & cheese and its one of very few 'boxed' items she can have but I may make it once a month if that.  She eats very little as is so she maybe consumed a cup of it at a sitting.

In either case, she eats mostly fresh veggies and fruits.  The kid is a blueberry NUT!  She just can't get enough of those.  And broccoli - never had to fight her to get her to eat it. 

If / when she outgrows this allergy, I am not against her trying some new things that she has never had because of this allergy (example: pancakes, bread, cookie, crackers, fish, nuts) but if it's unhealthy, I would like to keep it to a minimum...which shouldn't be a problem since I don't have much of that stuff in the house.

*Edited to add:  I have also never consumed a twinkie or spam.  I asked my fiance last night if he's ever had spam and he said yes and it wasn't horrible.  I just can't imagine.  Twinkies...never really appealed to me....Devils dogs on the other hand....(haven't had one in YEARS though).

DarnDogs - I'm like you're husband and wasn't allowed a lot of those things. So it was a treat to get things and once I could afford them myself, I started treating myself too much!

And I agree about soda. No kid should be drinking that much of it! I can understand if you get it at a restaurant once a week, but I see no reason to keep it in the house.

Although, I'll tell you one thing, I think it's better not to make the kid too concious of these things. If they're at a party and the host is serving Kool Aid, I would want my kid to drink it and not make a fuss. And eat the cake! (Then run around to burn off all that sugar energy, hehe!) Be a kid!! I never really got that opportunity and I want my kids to have it. But I think by giving them the proper foundation, they'll understand when to stop. 

PS - Spam isn't actually that bad tasting. It seems disgusting, but I remember eating it will glee as a kid. I think even if I tried it now it wouldn't be that bad, especially fried. But I don't really have the desire to put something that processed into my body... Haha!

Neither of my boys has had a twinkie or other Hostess type snack cake.  And I don't think they would willingly eat Spam or Vienna sausages even if they access to them. 

Let's see, they've never had the pork n' beans in a can, or Velveeta.  My hubby bought the Kraft cheese singles once because they were on sale, and the kids turned their noses up at it (I loved those things as a kid).  They've never had Hawaiian Punch or any kind of HFCS laced fruit type drink, at least in our house (they've been to birthday parties where these were served).

And although my hubby likes the Ramen noodles (also another staple of my high school years), I will never serve it to either of my kids.

I woke up this morning thinking of potato flakes.  Freeze dried mashed potatoes.  They were the only kind of mashed potatoes we had when I was a kid.  They are not allowed in my house.

I think it's fine to be "one of those" mothers, mimi.  I'm more of an "everything in moderation" mother.  I'm not strictly opposed to Amelia tasting a Pop Tart.  It would just never occur to me to buy a box of Pop Tarts or Twinkies at the grocery store.  We do buy Oreo's though!    Other things (like Velveeta, potato flakes, and canned meat products) are just unacceptable to me on the grossness scale.

I was one of "those mothers" when my daughter was little.  I made her babyfood (except for certain produce that shouldnt be used locally for babies).  I breast fed.  I cleaned with bleach once a week.  Boiled all the things that could be boiled.  No chocolate, no soda, no fast food.

The child would choose broccoli over french fries any day (still does).  If we ate at a restaurant, she wanted grilled chicken, pasta, and broccoli.

But somewhere over the past... 2 years or so... she has developed a massive taste for processed foods.  I dont make mac and cheese (400 cals a cup when made with skim milk?  yeah no); we dont ever eat vienna sausages or spam or anything like that (ugh I had to explain to her what spam was the other day.  she thought it sounded gross.  I do too); there is no kool aid in this house (I wasnt allowed to have it-- my mom said if it stains your clothes like that, what do you think it does to your insides?).

But she LOVES ramen noodle soup.  And asks for diet sprite at restaurants.  And would probably live on chicken nuggets if I let her.  But she hates McDonalds (except for breakfast she says).  And willingly chooses salad to have before we eat the "main" course for dinner.  Doesnt drown it in ranch either.  Doesnt like ranch.

All I am saying is, what you think you will be like as a mom, especially about food and discipline, arent always what actually happens.  And who you are as a mom when they are tiny is one thing, its a progression too.  Saying you will "never" do something is likely not to hold true over the long run.

Hi,

i try and feed my child very healthy. i do let him have meat but i try not to let him eat hotdogs. Although sometimes when he is at Grandmas or i am short on time he gets the 100% all beef or tofu ones.

he is allowed to have fruit snacks but i never thought about the cavity aspect....thats a good point.

The one thing he is never allowed to eat is pop! i refuse to buy it, pork and beans is another one, as well as, anything from Macdonalds or chinese food, unless i make it at home.

I broke down yesterday and shared some DQ french fries with him as i am pregnant and was craving it.

No one is perfect and i don't judge anyone!

My son doesn't get soda or Kool-aid, either.  Lucky for us, he really only likes milk and water, and he won't drink anything else.  The down side is when he gets sick, he refuses any kind of pedilite or GatorAid, which his doctor suggested he drink to stay hydrated.

Before he was born, I said I'd only let my son have healthy foods.  I stuck to my guns after he was born and didn't allow junk in the house.  But be prepared for what Grandma and Grandpa allow at their house when you're not around.  :/  We do not buy Twinkies or other cake-type things, but my dad lives off Hostess cupcakes (yeah, I know...), and now my son seems to have developed a taste for them.  *grumbles*  He doesn't get them as long as I'm over there with him, but they always find a way to feed him junk when I'm not around.  My mom actually wanted to buy him Funions (sp?) at the store one day because my grandma always had them on hand for me.  I refused, and she told me I was mean for not letting him have "the good stuff" that I got to have when I was little.  Um, okay!   

My baby is still on baby food and breast milk, but I guarentee that he will not have sugary cerals, candy, or soda until he is at least 7 years old. And Fast food, pizza, etc will be a TREAT! not an everyday thing. My husband is on board with almost everything, except for the age thing. He thinks 3 is old enough, but we'll probably compromise or something

Original Post by m0m6:

My baby is still on baby food and breast milk, but I guarentee that he will not have sugary cerals, candy, or soda until he is at least 7 years old.

 Well, like someone suggested earlier, be careful about saying "never" (or in this case "guarantee.")  I mean, I don't "ever" want to serve my kids ramen noodles, but that's not to say they won't have it someplace else, or they won't make for themselves somewhere down the line.

As for sugary cereals, candy, and soda - it's a great stance to take in your home, and a great goal, but it'll be hard to implement 100% unless you're going to monitor everything that's served at a friend's house or birthday party.  Heck, even with the "healthy initiatives" that my school district has in place, my sons still manage to come home with candy from classroom valentines and halloween parties.  Some "bad stuff" is bound to sneak in from somewhere.