Coke in a sippy cup !!

[MantaRay]

I have to say that if Jack had been at that BBQ, he would only have asked for milk or water. Because that's all he's ever drunk he doesn't want anything else and he doesn't feel left out (we don't drink soft drink much either, and when others do he is happy with his water or milk). So if giving that child coke gave the mum some peace and quiet, it is likely that the child is used to having coke. I could have had that peace by giving Jack water. And I think 4 sippy cups of coke is more than 'a moment of peace and quiet'. But I agree, without knowing the circumstances I shouldn't judge.

[Trillian]

My kids don't eat healthy all the time but for me it is about what is appropriate and when kwim? Like I have a rule that there is no junky food before lunch etc, and they do have 100% fruit juice and cordial, but I do try to instill in them the healthy way of eating, not just let them decide what they are going to eat - cause otherwise Paige would live on hot chips, Lindsay on plain thins chips and Erin on Chocolate LOL.

I think it also bugs some people (me included) that some parents give in so easy to their child when they are tantruming for junk food etc, and also age appropriate food - like giving the coke to a under 2.

[kmh]

when we are out, Madison will ask for Milk, unless i think she has had enough milk i wont give her a choise and if she wants a drink she has water, In the morning she will have a water down cup of juice, if she asks. She does have a little bit of choc every now and again, but she never had any thing sweet before her first birthday, i was told i was mean for not giving it to her, Charlotte will be the same, hopefully i can hold out longer unless Madison decides to try and give it to her.

[kelly2202]

I don't give my kids cans of coke but they are allowed to have otehr soft drink. Emma and Jack are obviously older and are regulated even now ... ie they muct have water or milk and I usually only let them have one or two glasses of soft drink a day. They mostly drink Deep Spring Lemon, Lime & Orange (their fav!!) and then when we are out they will have lemonade or creaming soda or fanta but neither of them like coke!

Asha will steal drinks so we have to watch her ... red juice is her fav at the moment (apple & blackcurrant) ... but she has been known to steal my can of coke and gulp at it before we catch her! For the most part she has milk or water! I will add that she has only had some soft drink since her 2nd birthday and NEVER in a bottle!

Cheers

[Deejoy17]

This reminds me of a mother filling up a baby bottle with coke, I was totally shocked even worse I was the one who had to look after the baby once she went off to do her parenting course :mad:

I have only just started giving Matthew lemonade, sometimes I`ll weaken it down with water, he hardly has it, sometimes he`ll ask for it and when I don`t want him to have it I pretend I`m pouring it into his cup when I`m actually putting water into it (otherwise I`ll have a tantrum toddler on my hands), I seem to be able to trick him, except for the occasional lemonade he just has water or milk, he used to have OJ sometimes but it affects his ezcema so that`s a no no now. I will not be giving Matthew coke for many, many years.

[{sarah}]

KMH, I was the same with the first birthday rule, he didn't have cake or anything like that until his first birthday.

And Cai I agree totally with you. Moderation is the key & Zander is the same, he'd generally prefer a sandwich or fruit for lunch to a plate of chips.

[lehma06]

OMG I can't stand people who give their children soft drinks, especially coke. Of course it's personal preference but I would never give my child soft drinks. I saw a friends mother give her granddaughter soft drink when she was only 8 months old & she coughed & choked on it so she washed it down with some more soft drink. Grrr that makes me mad.

[Astrid]

Maggie does love to have what we are having (drinks and food), so often we do the same trick as other have mentioned, we put a dribble of whatever we are having in her sippy cup, or we hand her the empty bottle (not can) with just 2 drops left. Seems to keep her amused, but she is beginning to work out that what she is having is not quite the same as us. Probably setting myself up for trouble later. Might be good for us though, as it might cut our consumption as it is easier just not to have bad stuff in front of her.

[MUMMY4LIFE]

I recently saw a story about soft drinks and was quite shocked by the results. Most soft drinks contain preservatives (nothing unusual there, what doesn't these days), but cola based drinks such as coke do not. These preservatives can be quite harmful....(carsnogen, sp???) is in petrol. I have always thought that coke was really bad and sometimes would opt to buy lemonade thinking it was better, but that isn't the case.

Also on 'Sunrise' this morning 1 in 5 children under the age of 5 has tooth decay, caused from of course eating the wrong foods and drinking things such as soft drink. But they also said the increase of tooth decay is from children drinking bottled water and not tap water. Fluoride is added to tap water except in Queensland.

As most of you know sending baby to bed with a bottle is no good for their little teeth, but putting things like soft drink and other sweet drinks would just double the chances of tooth decay.

I find that if we are out and DS drinks too much of the wrong stuff, that during the night he wakes...VERY THIRSTY, the bad drinks just make them more and more thirsty.

[Debbie Lee]

That frustrates me. Honestly.... if they're gonna give a treat, why not some watered down fruit juice? Even weak cordial would be better.
Gabby doesn't have soft drink... never has. Except for boxing day when I caught her sipping from a glass from the day before. She got a good few sips of coke zero into her. I was mortified! She was quite proud of herself... cheeky monkey! I'd never knowingly give it to her tho. She never asks for it either. I guess she just knows that it's not for her (kind of like Daddy's beer). I know she'll get to an age where she'll ask for it so we'll just have to stop drinking it. Just not worth the health issues.

My step sister used to put strawberry quick in my neice's bottles to get her to drink milk (OMG!). She then moved on to iced tea!! Like that was any better! Sure it was de-caf but FULL of sugar. My neice had several teeth removed because they had rotted so badly. My step sister blames in on anaemia (which she DID have but I'm sure the lack of a balanced diet and SO much sugar didn't help!).

Fluoride is added to tap water except in Queensland

Mummy4life - no flouride in Geelong water either. There's no flouride out here in the Hamilton area either.

I just know that if kids are too deprived of yummy things, it can have the opposite affect. We didn't have many treats as kids (not because Mum was a health freak but because we had very little money) so when we did get a chance to eat nordy things, we'd go nuts! We were very different from other kids who weren't stressed if a yogo was sitting in the fridge for a few days (it'd be devoured in 2 seconds in our house!). I want Gabby to have a healthy relationship with food and know that just because something is in the cupboard it doesn't have to be eaten straight away. It'll still be there tomorrow.

[lilprecious75]

I just thought I would post again and clarify a couple of my comments...

I made a comment about parents being lazy when they give their kids junk food and sugary drinks and it probably sounded really harsh in my initial context. I wasn't meaning parents who give it to their kids on occassion - as I believe that all foods should and can be enjoyed in moderation. I was talking about the parents who REGULARLY feed their kids junk food and sugary drinks. I used to work in a daycare and knew a family who lived on takeaway food. The father worked out of town for a month or so at a time and while he was gone the mother wouldn't cook at all. She took the kids out for dinner EVERY single night while he was away!

So that was more what I was talking about - and that family wasn't the only one in the place I worked who did that. Then after I left the daycare I worked as a casual in the public school system and got a first hand look at what the kids were eating. I was shocked! The upper primary kids were eating only junk - but I almost expected that from them - what shocked me even more were the kindy lunches - some were great but the others were just absolute rubbish!

My kids have their whole adult lives to choose their own meals and eat rubbish if they choose, so I am just going to try to feed them as much healthy stuff as I can when they are young and impressionable and hopefully some of it will rub off!

As has been mentioned - you can't really fairly judge other people unless you know the whole situation. Though I don't like seeing kids eating junk when I'm out shopping and such, I try not to come to a snap judgement about it unless it is someone I know and I know that they eat that way on a very regular basis.

[Debbie Lee]

Totally get you there, Heidi. I had a little girl in my class once that was always bringing money to school for the canteen because "Mum is too busy to make lunch" (yeah cos a sandwitch takes half an hour!). The thing that baffled me was that they were a family known to the school as having a low income! Yet she always had a dollar or two to spend on lollies etc. at the canteen. Hmm... it had me baffled. We grew up on a low income so we barely ever got money for the canteen. The odd occasion we did get a lunch order it was a proper lunch order... no change to spend on lollies!

[bon]

OMG I can't stand people who give their children soft drinks

That's going a bit far isn't it? I have given my kids soft drinks, I would hate to think that you would judge me so strongly based on that.

I think this whole thing needs to be put into perspective - there is nothing wrong with giving our children the occasional drink of soft drink, or the occasional lolly or chip, so long as it is exactly that - occasional. If your childs overall diet is balanced and they are active, then junk food will not harm them or make them fat or ruin their teeth, as long as it is purely a 'sometimes' food and not an 'everyday' food.

[lilprecious75]

Debbie-Lee: I used to catch heaps from the other teachers last year when I was pregnant and packing super healthy, natural foods for my lunches (as that is what I craved). They were sure I spent hours slaving in the kitchen packing a lunch - I assured them I probably spent a sum total of 15 minutes putting everything together. Healthy doesn't have to be time consuming - a lot of people just think it does!

Bon - that is exactly why I tried to clarify some of my earlier comments - I don't want to come across as judgement even though I have strong feelings and opinions about kids and nutrition!

[{sarah}]

I just know that if kids are too deprived of yummy things, it can have the opposite affect. We didn't have many treats as kids (not because Mum was a health freak but because we had very little money) so when we did get a chance to eat nordy things, we'd go nuts! We were very different from other kids who weren't stressed if a yogo was sitting in the fridge for a few days (it'd be devoured in 2 seconds in our house!). I want Gabby to have a healthy relationship with food and know that just because something is in the cupboard it doesn't have to be eaten straight away. It'll still be there tomorrow.

Spot on there Deb, I agree 100% with you As for the Quik in milk, my mum actually had quite a clever trick she used all the time. My older sister had a taste of flavoured milk one day & just didn't want plain after that, so mum put in a drop of food colouring!! My sister just liked the colouring not so much the flavour so it worked really well LOL.

[Debbie Lee]

That's very tricky of your Mum, Sarah! Sneaky, sneaky!

[Rouge]

Deb you'd love Paris' school... they don't have a canteen The P&F committee runs a food day once a month where they kids can purchase the food that the committee makes, and its usually somewhat healthy

*hugs*
Cailin

[Debbie Lee]

That's a great idea, Cailin. Honestly, I think Primary Schools can do without canteens. In saying that, some schools have awesome canteens. One of the schools I taught at this year had cups of soup available for recess! I thought that was quite a nice, healthy option. The kids loved it (a real novelty!) and it's certainly more nutritional than chips or a chocolate bar.
Unfortunately I've also seen the flip-side. As many families are double-income by the time kids get to school, there's not as many volunteers to run canteens. As a result, schools have to get outside contractors to come in. These people are all about making money so they throw all kinds of crap at the kids to get them to spend more money there. They even open before school in some cases (wrong! wrong! wrong!). Very sad.
The canteen at my old school was pretty good. They had a pretty healthy menu with lighter options even with the pies and pasties. It was still a treat for the kids but not nearly as bad as when I was a kid.