Food prices - Scaremongering? (Warning - Potential Political Content!)

Nobody is manipulating anybody in our house.

 

Because, 3yo's are masters at it and we become amateurs in the wake of "unconditional love"
That skill is available to us all; becoming a parent can dilute it

In times of dire straits, and times gone by, parents ignored it. But, we live in times of information overload; nature vs nuture arguments proliferate. I believe that there are so many "theories" to child rearing that is has confused many (basic!) issues; one of those being food. Common sense/necessity has gone by the by.

We live in an age where choice is not only available, but positively encouraged. I grew up in an environment where "choice" meant eat or starve. My youngest two have grown up in an environment where "freedom of choice" rules. And it does! Unless circumstances demand a stricter discipline. But, my youngest too have grown up in an environment of affluence and being *able* to choose is the norm, not the exception. I grew up in an environment where being *able* to choose was non-existant. Manipulation exists where choices are available

 

But your right, just put the food in front of them as if it is just "normal" and they will think nothing of it.
My, then 7 year old niece was visitings, said hey Auntie what for dinner, I just matter of factly said, cauliflower speg sauce. She said, ok, walked away. (her mom was not there). later ate big plate of it. Hey, I don't have kids by the way. LOL.

Just saw the cutest pic of a little girl eating a hunk of raw squash. Thank goodness her mom is open minded and just let her walk around chewing on it, instead of saying some "should it statement" .

 

I was not only eating what I was given but also requested to hold the elbow in position by holding books under my arms to learn the correct posture - but I was keen on the food most times anyway!

 

shiney - I'm not nit-picking but I think you will appreciate that the childrens parents are omnivores. My cat is an obligate carnivore.
e2a: I was just reminded of a little girl who I knew many years ago who was also a vegetarian. She had the peculiar disposition to write with her left hand - backwards. I've often wondered what became of her...

 

Also here, nothing goes to waste, the last of the stuff goes out to the cats.

 

A lot of the stuff that's wasted is probably in business and corporate situations, not just private homes.

For example, schools are sent trays of fruit each week for the infants to eat. If not eaten by Friday, it's offered round to any takers, then chucked. No room to refrigerate it and no-one's willing to risk any of the little dears catching anything off a slightly over-ripe pear. We got sent pre-scraped carrots last week (couldn't risk them eating a bit of carrot skin, anything could happen) which go slimy within a day so they mostly got binned. There seems no alternative.

This kind of situation is probably duplicated in cafes, shops and restaurants of all kinds across the country every day - workers following H&S directives to the letter (or else), lack of commonsense knowledge about food, employers' fear of possible food poisoning, strict logistics for food storage, draconian use/sell by dates. There seems no alternative.

 

I remember about 30 years ago I worked in a hospital. They had some left over food items that a Pig Farmer would come by and get to feed his pigs. All was well for years with that set up. Then one day the state says they cannot even give it to the Pig Farmer, so down the drain it all went.

 

A job I once had, there used to be these left-over 'premium' sandwiches from the Director's meetings, and I asked if the sandwiches could be given to me for the homeless people instead of the bin. All was well until just one particular Director decided this was not to be the case and bizarrely enough my career options there became limited almost overnight.

 

We'd a lovely moment last Friday when our 3 year old grandaughter was perched on the draining board with a jar of raisins sharing them with the semi-tame blackbirds that feed at the kitchen window. She looked at the potted basil plant on the window sill and asked, "Are those leaves nice to eat?" On being told to try one, she did and then ate a couple and said they were nice. She also tried a bit of raw brussel sprout but didn't like that!

(And; off thread - she's learning a lot about birds and can now differentiate "mummy" and "daddy" blackbirds, identify sparrows and "big fat pigeons")

 

Dave, quite often these days parents can't or won't find the time to spend with their children, teaching them about the things around them.

Like you, as a grandparent, I find myself in that role. I've also had some very in depth discussions with my six year old grandson, trying to explain 'not so nice' subjects in ways that he will understand and not find too scary, but always the truth. They take on board a lot more than we think.

 

Yes Sheal, being a grandparent is great. I think we've done a better job as grandparents than we did as parents, but we have of course had the advantage of serving our apprenticeships!
We've also got more time now as when we we working we had to spend so much time involved with other parents kids that we didn't spend as much time as we would have liked to on our own two.

 

Out to my cats today with a bowl of leftover chicken pieces. Checked on it later, it was so cold the meat frozen, took back inside stuck in the microwave, back out again. These are feral cats who prefer staying outside. Two cat houses have heated pads in them for this long stretch of cold.