May I have a rant?

[PurpleDragon]

No 'sorry' Anna! I am of the same belief. I don't allow (yes - allow on this occastion) mykids to have coke or irn bru, simply because they go mental on the e-numbers and I am the one who has to peel them off the ceilings. They get sweeties sometimes, as well as crisps sometimes. I really believe that a little bit of what you fancy can sometimes do you good. Giving it to them every day is just wrong, and plain silly.

For me, if I fancy a Kitkat I will have one. My kids are thinking people, they are just small. If you give them all the information, they are capable of understanding that a Kitkat is junk and the consequences of having said junk.

Their favorite snack foods? Bananas and yoghurt.

[the.fee.fairy]

Why do we start weaning our babies on 'babyrice' or flavourless gloop as I prefer to call it (where does that stuff appear in the national diet of any country btw?) instead of good vegetables? Surely that's starting on a bad footing? Anna x

My muim weaned me and my sister on pureed real food.

Apparently my favourite was bacon, and my sister's ws chicken...and spaghetti bolognese.

She used to tell me everything was bacon, and do the same to my sister, telling her it was chicken. We;ve never had any problems from being weaned on real food. Mum used to freeze things like pureed swede and turnip. She couldn't do peas though...it was more of what they looked like

I don't have children, nor do i expect to have any, but if i did, they'd be eating real food from an early age too. One of my friends, who has 2 children has always given hers babyfood from a jar bought at the supermarket becuase 'its for babies, its what they should be eating'. I don't agree...babies should be eating what is nutritionally better for them, not what's full of sugar and meaningless additives.

[2steps]

funkypixie, I'm with you. grrrr at the lunchbox thing. I get that too and it makes me mad. My children do get sweets and crisps etc but I do the shopping and buy what I chose and they eat it. we very rarely have fizzy drinks or large amounts of these foods in the house and never have so they just see it as normal I guess. My son is unable to eat many additives, mainly colours and so I don't keep food containing them in the house to be fair to him, so that cuts out loads of junk possibilities. If we're eating out it's for a special occassion so I do allow them fizzy drink as a treat.

I weaned both of mine on pureed real food. I used to make big batches to freeze. My son loved cheese and tomato pasta with little tiny baby pasta shapes. they both loved bananas too. I did use jars here and there - none perfect, right? but I found my son especially would make faces about eating it. My sisters baby is about 6 mths old and she will tell you, quite proudly that she loves chocolate spread sandwiches and has even eaten mcdonalds chips!

[Merry]

Grrrr!
When my kids were babies I was seriously skint and couldn`t afford the special jars of baby food in the shops. They had milky porridge for breakfast and mashed up veg with gravy for dinner. Couldn`t afford baby rusks so used to slow-toast chunks of bread in the oven to make crispy crusts. Grew up all right

[Stonehead]

What really gets my back up is when other people (ie the school) decide that they can tell me what to put in their lunchboxes. Since the beginning of term we have had three letters about things they don't like to see at lunchtime and I've had enough of it. Surely it is my decision? Both of my boys have a balanced, nutritious breakfast and dinner at home and if I decide to include a biscuit or crisps as part of their balanced packed lunch it is MY decision. Unless they're planning on providing lunch and paying for it too of course. GRRRRRR Can you tell I've been irritated?

Yes, been there, got the T-shirt. Most of the time the Big Lad takes in a sandwich, a piece of fruit and a bottle of water. The sandwiches are usually salad and something; egg and something; meat and something. His favourite is roast pork and chutney, followed by grated cheese and carrot, then boiled egg and salad. He also gets salads - some roast meat and veg from the garden.

But as a treat, from time to time he also gets buttered soda bread, a scone with jam, a fairy cake, buttered fruit loaf, or oat cookies (all home-made). And today, as a special treat for the last day of term, cold home-made pizza. Things like this invariably prompt notes about the need for healthy eating.

Now, I could just about tolerate that but for one thing. I know someone who is a lunchtime supervisor at the school and she tells me about the other children eating chocolate spread or jam sandwiches, bags of low-fat crisps, endless tubs of Muller Light, those strange tubs of dipping muck, drinking those weird bacteria drinks, packets of Ryvita and snack bars.

I wonder if their parents get the same notes home whenever they eat that stuff? If they do, it would have to be every day and I can't see that happening.

[baldowrie]

I wonder if their parents get the same notes home whenever they eat that stuff? If they do, it would have to be every day and I can't see that happening.

Of course not they are 'normal' parents Who go to PTA meetings and the like

It's us 'weird' parents who ask why we need to write a comment about the latest crap reading book the kids are forced to bring home that get the notes

[funkypixie]

There are quite a few of us 'weird' types on our PTA...

We only do fairtrade tea and coffee and the food at the summer fayre was heavenly - home made goat curry, dhal, morrocan cous cous and jerk chicken cooked on the bbq. Some of the non-PTA parents look at us a bit strangely though. Eventually we might change a few of them.

Anna x

[2steps]

Ah so I'm not the only onee who finds those reading record things irritating? I just can't see the point in writing 'good reading' or 'well done emily' over and over again as for my son who has a reading age of about 12 (he's 9) what's the point? we all know he can read it's like unless you write something they won't believe you actually listened to them reading and the books are so boringly pants

[baldowrie]

My kids find it insulting for mum to have to listen to them read and they both read really well

I did make a comment once in their little book..this book is far too easy, please give J a more challenging read....I never go the booklet home again after that, funny that Mind you that might have been more do with the marching in the class after school and plonking the book down on the desk in disgust and telling them not to bother with their simplistic book we would get our own from the library until a full reading assessment had been done and books given to him appropriate to his reading ability.

Well he had been reading for 18 months but the rest of the class couldn't so she gave J a wordless book as 'he can't and won't read'

[the.fee.fairy]

my reading record was never filled in every week. I gave up reading the school books by the time i hit juniors.

My dad used to fill it in every now and then saying 'has finished previous book and has been given x to read now'

X would generally be a proper book, he got me started on Enid blyton very young, so it would be one of those, or it would be something with a higher reading age than i'd had before.

The teachers hated it, but he explained to them that the school books were so borgin that i wouldn''t read them. Yes, they were aimed at my age, but not my reading age. He gave me The hobbit at 10...that shut them up a bit!

This also reminds me of the time when, at the age of 7, we had a 'sandwich check' so that the teachers could see whether we were eating healthily enough. It just so happened that we'd had a family party the weekend before, and one of my dad's relatives had brought along some smoked salmon that he''d caught and smoked himself. There was loads of the stuff, so you can guess what i had in my sandwiches that day
The teachers branded me a liar until i opened the sandwich to show them :

[baldowrie]

this will make you laugh..I go a note home asking me not to give me kids smoked salmon sandwiches as some parents couldn't afford it

I had given the kids smoked salmon, that was on a special offer, and cream cheese sandwiches and the other kids all went home and asked their fag smoking, beer swilling parents for some..they got a little upset apparently

Needless to say I took no notice and made a point of bringing up the letter and ridiculing it at every opportunity

[2steps]

fee.fairy, I started letting my daughter read books she has from the library and writting them in the diary. If they moan I'm going to say my daughter gets bored reading the same thing over and over and I think it's better her reading something she wants to and enjoys. I'm expecting to hear something
back about it

as for the smoked salmon thing - you could say something like 'but I can't afford the beer and fags they have' hmmm wonder why that is? if they didn't waste their money they could eat smoked salmon everyday

[multiveg]

this will make you laugh..I go a note home asking me not to give me kids smoked salmon sandwiches as some parents couldn't afford it

I had given the kids smoked salmon, that was on a special offer, and cream cheese sandwiches and the other kids all went home and asked their fag smoking, beer swilling parents for some..they got a little upset apparently

Needless to say I took no notice and made a point of bringing up the letter and ridiculing it at every opportunity

I saw the person that sparked my rant off today- her lighter dropped out of her bag. She is pregnant with bump showing - I knew she smoked but thought she might have stopped.
The children in my son's class had hearing tests yesterday. I think I heard her child say that the noises hurt her (can't be absolutely sure as it was in Welsh). I was reading up on the potential damage cigarette smoke can children prone to ear problems - wonder if the child is suffering from this.

[baldowrie]

may be, may be not..noises hurt my sons ears too, and mine. But we have another reason for that, one that made my daughter deaf for 18 months and had the need for her to wear a hearing aid. She no longer does, she now has slightly below perfect hearing.

[multiveg]

I saw the person that sparked my rant off today- her lighter dropped out of her bag. She is pregnant with bump showing - I knew she smoked but thought she might have stopped.
The children in my son's class had hearing tests yesterday. I think I heard her child say that the noises hurt her (can't be absolutely sure as it was in Welsh). I was reading up on the potential damage cigarette smoke can children prone to ear problems - wonder if the child is suffering from this.

The tests were done yesterday, and it was today I heard her comment about hurting ears. Probably clutching at straws for a reason, but maybe cigarette smoke makes people more susceptible to bad things.