I don't get that either. I didn't always cook healthy when my kids were little, they probably ate more fast food than they should have, but they never got sick from too much of it. SD has come home from her mom's, throwing up & missing school because she ate so much junk in one day.

In my opinion, it's somewhat abusive to let a child gorge themselves with all that junk, but what is wrong with the child that they can't stop themselves so they end up sick? If a kid doesn't have impulse control & take responsibility for what they do, how are they ever going to make bigger decisions in life? SD gains 20+ lbs. every summer at her mom's & finally this year, when she cried & was upset over the clothes not fitting her... and as we are leaving the store, she asked for a Big Mac with Fries... and she got really upset when DH told her no, I told her that SHE makes a choice to eat junk food over healthy food so she can either get upset that she can't fit into the size she wants or she can get upset that daddy won't buy a Big Mac, but it makes no sense to get upset over both.

I think parents/grandparents over indulge kids because it's easier to buy fast food or convenience prepackaged food (and sometimes cheaper) than to cook a healthy meal. I pay $4 for a small bag of apples but a box of twinkies is $2. Another reason is that they feel guilty about telling kids no. Maybe if they don't see them much or they just don't like to see kids unhappy (at the moment) but not thinking of how unhappy kids are when they get sick or have weight problems (which may also include self esteem problems).

ugh, dont get me started on food issues. SS1, now 18, only eats meat. And only certain meat, like ham or steak, cut a certain way. He does drink milk. NO vegetables or fruit, although I have seen him drink orange juice. Doesnt like cheese, anything with sauce, salad. His response is always "it has an aftertaste".

And he will eat cookies, only a certain kind. So, he basically lives on oreos and slices of ham. that's it. Don't know how his body functions properly. I asked if he takes vitamins and he says no.

oh, and I certainly don't cater to this at all. I prepare a balanced meal and put it all on the table and if he eats it or not is his problem.

I didn't always cook healthy meals when DD was little because I simply had no time, but we seldom ate junk either. If I had no time to cook, we ate sandwiches. And it was never too much of it. No, certainly nobody ever got sick from junk food. Junk on occasion is OK, I like McDonalds fries once in a while or pizza.

Some people just don't understand what foods are healthy and what is bad for you. They just don't know or don't think. Even if you must have junk food, why overeat? As I got older I can't eat much junk because I immediately gain weight.

mpm2emall, luckily kids only see that side of the family on occasion and live with you the rest of the year.

Junk food is a major issue with us and SS.

His mom eats like crap--and I think, like parent-of-one (FFD) said, a lot of it is just ignorance. She is the mom who buys Sunny D or that crappy juice that's all sugared up and thinks she is being healthy, kwim? Or she will pack fruit snacks and think that counts as a fruit.

They eat lots of starches, buttery pastas with heavy sauces, etc. She will fix two starchy sides to a meal---they'll have mashed potatoes AND buttered noodles with the same meal.

Anyway--SS came home on Wed, after the first day of school, with his lunch that his mom had packed. He's not a big eater, so he always has leftovers. (Given the crap she sends, that is probably a good thing!)

He had (and this is typical):

Lunchable--one of those ones with the cheese and crackers, and a mini-candy bar. Sounds *okay* but I read somewhere that lunchables are one of THE worst lunches for your child, they are SO loaded with sodium and fat. (Not to mention the awful packaging which is terrible for the environment.) I refuse to buy them.

Anyway, in addition---he had a half-eaten pack of mini-donuts, a fruit roll-up that he had not eaten, and a plastic baggie of Cheese Nips, he had eaten most of those.

And a blue kool-aid for a drink.

I was like "are you kidding????"

So--it is no wonder he complains about the lunches I pack.

On Thursday, I packed him:

--a turkey sandwich on wheat bread
--a banana
--pretzels
--small handful of Mini Chips Ahoy cookies
--100% juice apple juice box

Nothing freaky or outlandish, just a normal, reasonably healthy but still yummy lunch, right? I'm not some freak/sugar Nazi (hence the cookies for dessert) but come on...I try to use common sense.

I HATE sending the fruit, though, because I know he doesn't eat it. :(

Dinners are a struggle, too. I generally serve some kind of meat--chicken, beef or fish--a veggie, and then a side item, like baked potatoes or rice, etc.

Last night, for exampe--we had grilled porkchops, broccoli, and mashed potatoes.

SS ate the potatoes and complained about the rest. Funny b/c the potatoes are the LAST thing DH and I care if he eats--he could skip those, as far as I'm concerned, and just eat the meat and veggies.

Oh well. We just do the best we can, offer healthy options, give him small portions and DH does make SS eat whatever veggies we serve.

Good thing your stepkids are not with their BM! Sounds like it would be way worse if they were---like poor Ima's DD.

I think if skids saw bm more they would blow up like blimps! The few times she has seen them its nothing but junky foods to eat. She rarely sees them so when she does she wants to play "good guy" and let them watch tv, play video games, and eat junk the whole time! Much easier than spending time with them and being a parent I guess.

I am not a junk food nazi either. When I pack their school lunches they get small dessert items. And we do have some junk food in the house. We just tend to eat it in moderation when we do eat it.

BM falls squarely into the "ignorant" category, I think. Her idea of cooking a special dinner is shoving one of those frozen entrees (high fat and high sodium) into the oven. Mainly she survives on fast-food takeout or junk food, so she certainly isn't going to go to the effort of fixing something especially for SS.

For dinner we have at least meat, starch (like potato or rice) and a vegetable, and SS has to eat at least two out of three. He'll switch back and forth as to which ones he wants so overall it ends up being reasonably balanced. Fortunately he does not like salt and doesn't have much of a sweet tooth at all, so avoiding junk food down here isn't too much of an issue (unless there are Reese's in the house, we all love peanut butter cups!)

LH said "Lunchable--one of those ones with the cheese and crackers, and a mini-candy bar. Sounds *okay* but I read somewhere that lunchables are one of THE worst lunches for your child, they are SO loaded with sodium and fat. (Not to mention the awful packaging which is terrible for the environment.) I refuse to buy them. "

SS would eat Lunchables three times a day if I'd let him!
So to meet in the middle, I make a homemade version. Whole grain crackers, actual real cheddar cheese (not processed), and I buy fresh sausage from a local butcher. He complained at first, but now he says he prefers it!
Score one for Ceph and decent nutrition!!

But I'm also reminded of the day that I picked SS up from BM's mom at around 2pm. He was wired, but then about 20 minutes later he totally crashed. I asked him if he'd eaten lunch...
"Yup."
"What did you have?"
"Poptarts."
"How many?"
"Three."
"What did you have for breakfast?"
"Poptarts."
"How many?"
"Three."
"Did you eat anything else today?"
"No."
"Ok, when we get home, I'll make you a snack - veggies and dip with cheese and crackers and a glass of milk."
Good gravy! No wonder he was wired and then crashed 0 he was 10 and all he'd eaten that day was six Poptarts! Might as well give him a pound of jujubes and call it a day.

This year, I talked DH into letting SD make her own lunch. He has been packing her lunch last school year. I did it the two years before but stopped when her mom wanted to fight me over the peanut butter sandwich I put in her lunch. (btw, the first week she made herself peanut butter sandwiches ~ she has a choice of that or lunch meat ~turkey or ham~ I just thought that was funny that peanut butter seems to be her favorite now!)

Anyway, we bought 5 packages of "junk" food & 5 Healthy snacks like fruit, carrot sticks, string cheese, whole grain crackers. We told her she needs to make her sandwich, and she gets three snack items plus her thermos of milk. She was told she can pick whatever she wants from the box and she asked if we were going to check it. Um yeah! (she looked disappointed) So, DH told her that we are going to check it to count items but she can take whatever she wants because she needs to learn how to make good choices... she knows an apple is healthier than chips. The first few days, she packed her peanut butter on wheat & 3 pieces of fruit. Today, she goes to her moms... she packed a peanut butter sandwich, Ding Dong, Chips, & a plum.

I don't know if it's a good plan or not but she's in 6th grade this year & she has to start learning to make some of these decisions herself.