Am I going to get nailed for child abuse?

[bif]

For making my daughters eat fruit? The way they whine when my wife and I tell them they have to eat fruit, you'd think we were torturing them. And we usually don't have any junk food in the house--and not much in the way of desserts either. Anyone else have this problem with their kids? What can one do about this?

[THUNDER HANDS]

1. get some junk food

or new kids, either or.

:)

[Cuban_Liberal]

2. You sound like my folks!

We complained about it, on occasion, but.... I rarely eat 'junk food' now, and have never had a weight problem. Keep 'abusing' the little dears...;)

[no_hypocrisy]

3. Watch out. In New Jersey, kids have been known to call DYFS (state

agency to protect against child abuse) for their parents yelling at them, punishing them, etc. Not that anything much comes out of it, save an embarassing investigation and a waste of time.

[ncrainbowgrrl]

5. Glad to see that DYFS is taking time investigating these incidents...

rather than paying attention to the fact that they're losing track of kids already in their system/ not following up on criminal abuse cases.

:sigh:

[SerpentX]

4. For eating fruit no ...

Teaching them to defend themselves if attacked by a person wielding fresh fruit, that could be a problem.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

6. What about a man with a pointed stick?

[latebloomer]

7. fruit wars

My daughter didn't finish her string beans, so we told her she should eat a piece of fruit instead. She grudgingly took a beautiful organic apple, took 3 bites out of it, and threw it in the trash. Needless to say, i was displeased.

[MissMillie]

8. Allow them a treat now and then

otherwise, when you have less control over their choices (and yes that day does come) they will have no experience with moderation.

[southerngirlwriter]

18. MissMillie is veeeeeery correct here

If your kids are not permitted to make some choices about their eating -- even choices you don't like -- then when they ARE permitted (by coming of age or just circumstances you can't control), they will go NUTS.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

9. Make eating fruit fun for them...

And sneak the fruit in different ways. Jello is fat free...get some and cut the fruit up and put it in Jello...Get them to liking Yogurt. They even had kiddie yogurt so they can start liking it earlier. And they also have some really great fruit juice bars from Welch's that are really good. With kids, you have to get creative. They will thank you for it.
On edit: Find some frozen strawberries, some banana juice, orange juice, etc, and let them make ice cubes. Remember how fun that was when you were a kid?
Duckie

[bif]

11. Well, they're 12 and almost 16

So they may be a tad old for that. As you can tell, this is a battle that's been going on for a while. And we do have treatws and junk food, we're not that strict. We're just trying to steer them towards making smart choices.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

12. Oh, the way you talked they were under 10...

You may be fighting a losing battle.
Duckie

[bif]

16. Na. Although sometimes they act like they're under 10

As I like to say, I've got a 15 year old going on 30 and a 12 year old going on 6.

[Kadie]

10. When I asked my son what he wanted for breakfast

this morning his first choice was candy. I told him I would make him a smoothie or he could have an apple or orange. His response to this, "I want sugar for breakfast." Yikes!

Have you tried making smoothies? We have found it an easy way to get fruit into our son. We just blend a mixture of some banana, strawberry, blueberries, yogurt, orange juice, whatever.

[Donkeyboy75]

31. "Sugar for breakfast?"

How old is this little man? Yowza!

[trotsky]

13. We're lucky - our kids love fruit.

Especially apples and bananas. Only problem is, they insist the apple be peeled and sliced for their refined sensibilities, apparently.

Oh and they LOOOOVE pears too.

[amandae]

23. LOL ... we have fruit lovers too

And strangely enough, my 1 year old son will eat any vegetable we put in front of him! Usually he clears his plate of veggies first!

I've found that just suggesting it as a snack when they want something to eat will work. A lot of times when the girls want something to eat and know that they won't get anything but fruit, they take it. They'll ask for fruit too.

I don't know how old your kids are, but if their young (like 4-8), placing fruit or veggies where they can easily reach them in the fridge or on the table will sometimes encourage the kiddos to eat them. Kids like to get stuff for themselves, and I know mine get excited when I tell them they can grab an apple or pear and they know they can do it themselves (my girls are 4 and 6). We also did this with a water container in the fridge. It has an easy to pour spout so they can help themselves to water when they're thirsty. Juice or milk and any soda are things mom and dad have to get for them.

I completely agree that you have to teach them moderation. We also offer a variety for desserts and snacks. Sometimes dessert will be fresh fruit, other times some ice cream or a couple cookies. The kids are also beginning to recognize the foods that are okay to eat, but only in moderation.

I probably think too much about this subject!! Good luck with your kiddos :)

[Wickerman]

14. Back in my day, we didn't have fresh fruit

we only had dried up old apples that had been stomped on by the diseased hogs in the Dept of Ag condemned lot. And we liked it!

nah, they won't send you to jail for that. When kids are young they exert control over their diet because they have no control over anything else in their little days. I had a kid who at 4 wouldn't eat angel hair pasta because it was "thinnerer" than regular noodles. Its maddening as hell and you may want to beat them with that fresh fruit, but cheer up, they grow into surly teenagers who only talk to you to remind you that they need money, a ride, or more fruit - after eating everything else in the house!

Cheers!

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

15. Have no pity

If there's one thing in children that riles me up royally, it's wimpiness towards food. It's like a union x greedy bosses negotiation every day here. Argh. :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

[av8rdave]

17. I'd be ecstatic if my 17 year old son would refuse to eat something

once in a while. I swear the kid has a hole in his neck!

av8rdave

[Bertha Venation]

19. get those chocolate and caramel fruit dips

Then they'll eat fruit!

[bif]

20. My younger one eats enough candy as it is

believe me.

[Bertha Venation]

21. no doubt...

it was just a little joke. I wish I could help.

I have a cat who eats bananas. Shall I ask him what he likes about them? Knowing that might help.... ;)

[bif]

24. I thought you were kidding

But you just never know. Hey, Reagan declared ketchup a vegetable, didn't he? I'm sure there are folks out there that think orange Jello is a fruit.

[Bertha Venation]

25. Orange Jello IS a fruit!

I saw him in a drag show on HBO the other day! ;)

[proud patriot]

22. Fruit no .... certain vegatables yes ....

My son loves fruit ...

But if it's any consolation making your child eat
fruit is not abuse .

[TXlib]

26. Duct tape them to the wall until they eat their fruit, then we'll talk.

[BiggJawn]

27. You want me to send 'em a naked picture of myself?

Complete with medical report?
And you could say "SEE! See what happens when you don't eat healthy? you wanna wind up looking like THIS guy? you wanna be a diabetic? You wanna have high blood pressure? You wanna have trouble getting dates?"

Prolly scare 'em Vegan....

[tishaLA]

28. Tell them it's either fruit

or you'll make them listen to Abby Lincoln. :dunce:

[chefgirl]

29. What worked for my son

When my son began to eat his first solid foods, I made sure to add fruit right away. As he grew into a toddler, I was religious about giving him some kind of fruit with every meal. He never really complained about it until he got to be around 12 or so, and I backed off on it a little. He's 14 now, 6 feet tall, 170lbs and eats fruit with (at least) breakfast every day. I can live with that if I have to.
I found it helpful, though, to spend a little extra and buy him the really 'special' fresh fruits that he actually loves,(strawberries, blueberries, any kind of melon, pineapple and kiwi) and from time to time, I'll see him choosing fruit as a snack instead of cookies or whatever. I just keep a bowl of something in the fridge, chopped and ready to eat. All teenagers are inherently lazy.

At some point, however, kids are just going to do what they're going to do....they're like people that way. :evilgrin:

-chef-

[bif]

30. Yeah, I hear ya.

We're just trying to push them in the right direction. Ya can't follow them around all day. Hopefuly they'll make the smarter choices.

[geniph]

32. Yes, my stepsons react the same way to us making them eat veggies

and they're 17 and 20! They still refuse to eat anything green except salad, and that's only lettuce covered with grated cheddar and slathered in ranch dressing. The only way John can get them to eat broccoli is if it's covered with cheese. These kids are so weird, they don't even eat corn, or potatoes that aren't french-fried! I find that bizarre. I always liked vegetables.

Now, I never much liked fruit - I have this weird thing about getting anything sticky on my hands, and many fruits are very messy to eat. So I'll eat canned fruits - with a spoon - because they're less sticky. See if you can get them to eat canned pears in light syrup - most kids will eat canned peaches or pears if they won't eat anything else. It's not as good as fresh, but it beats none.

They won't even eat oranges or tangerines? Even I would eat tangerines, or strawberries. I never much liked apples or bananas. Still don't.