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Parenting Megathread

 
 
 
All I can say with the fussy eating is "textures" are as important as "flavors"...sometimes. Best of luck on that. My daughter eats too much mac and cheese and grilled cheeses... in a house where her parents can cook well. She likes mangoes, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and canned fruit too. Hates tomato sauce. OI! Drives me up the wall. "Can we go out to eat?" 'You are just going to have mac and cheese, we do that at home.' "GRUMP!"
 
Jimmy Higgins said:
All I can say with the fussy eating is "textures" are as important as "flavors"...sometimes. Best of luck on that. My daughter eats too much mac and cheese and grilled cheeses... in a house where her parents can cook well. She likes mangoes, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and canned fruit too. Hates tomato sauce. OI! Drives me up the wall. "Can we go out to eat?" 'You are just going to have mac and cheese, we do that at home.' "GRUMP!"
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There was a time when the only things my youngest would eat were strawberries, cottage cheese and chicken nuggets.
 
When I was a kid, it was normal for certain kitchen staples to be missing. My siblings and I would get creative with whatever was on hand, like making mayonnaise and jelly sandwiches or using hot water and coffee creamer for cereal. We made do with what we had.
 
Gospel said:
When I was a kid, it was normal for certain kitchen staples to be missing. My siblings and I would get creative with whatever was on hand, like making mayonnaise and jelly sandwiches or using hot water and coffee creamer for cereal. We made do with what we had.
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Did you ever make hot water soup?

 
I definitely relied very heavily on pasta when feeding my kids. For one thing, they’d all eat it. For another, it was no big deal to leave off the sauce when one or another would declare they hated it.

I used to also heavily rely on the frozen vegetable medley—even if the kid had sworn off of peas or carrots or whatever, there was always something else in the mix that they’d eat. And we always had carrots and celery and apples and oranges. And some kind of cheese. Did not always have meat—in fact we were vegetarian for a good long while. Still do a lot of meatless meals.
 
thebeave said:
Gospel said:
When I was a kid, it was normal for certain kitchen staples to be missing. My siblings and I would get creative with whatever was on hand, like making mayonnaise and jelly sandwiches or using hot water and coffee creamer for cereal. We made do with what we had.
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Did you ever make hot water soup?

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images
 
thebeave said:
Gospel said:
When I was a kid, it was normal for certain kitchen staples to be missing. My siblings and I would get creative with whatever was on hand, like making mayonnaise and jelly sandwiches or using hot water and coffee creamer for cereal. We made do with what we had.
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Did you ever make hot water soup?

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lol No, but we did resort to things like eating newspaper with pictures of food on it because we couldn’t wait until our mother’s next paycheck. Our neighbors, while kind, were just as badly off as we were, so there wasn’t much we could ask of them. I’ll tell you what, though, the school was a lifesaver. Not only did they provide free breakfast and lunch, but they also let us take home food that other students didn’t want from their packed lunches. At first, the school treated it like a theft issue, but when they realized the students were willingly giving us their servings, they backed off. They still grumbled about it, but in the end, they chose to just look the other way. The issue started when a student brought their own lunch but still collected their free school meal and gave it to me. Eventually, my bookbag gave me away, the smell of pancake syrup filled the classroom, and the jig was up. :ROFLMAO:

Edit:: To clarify the newspaper thing, we didn’t actually go through with eating it. We put it in our mouths but quickly spat it out, then pointed fingers and laughed at each other for how ridiculous we were being. Everyone making fun of the other one for being an idiot. that sibling stuff.
 
I have been in a couple of schools that help students.

One was Doomadgee, a semi-dry (reduced alcohol consumption) First Nations (I think that’s the current PC term). Parents would have $3 a day garnished from their benefits and given to the school. The school would provide cereal or breakfast, fruit or sandwich for mid morning snack, hot meal (spaghetti, stir fry, stew, salad - easy to make in bulk), then snack again for afternoon lunch. This made sure that kids ate at least 5 days a week. Most adults would drink their benefits in the first few days.

The other is where I am now. We provide milk, fruit, yoghurt pouch or toast for breakfast 3 days a week. We also get cheese sandwiches, fruit yoghurt pouches for lunch if the kid shows an empty lunch box. Some staff supplement this with little packs of biscuits, chips, popcorn or with muesli bars.

I buy apples and mandarins for brain break (mid first session snack) so that everyone has something.

Kids have difficulty focusing if they are hungry.
 
gmbteach said:
Kids have difficulty focusing if they are hungry.
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Absolutely this! I remember being completely focused on lunchtime and figuring out what spoils I could bring home to trade with my two sisters when we all got back. My little brother wasn’t in school yet, so he’d just sit there with those goofy puppy dog eyes. My sisters always pushed him off on me with that 'man of the house' nonsense they picked up somewhere. Damn sure wasn't from me. :rolleyes: I didn’t mind sharing with him—I actually loved it. He appreciated the flavors as much as I did and always listened intently to my stories. I’d go on and on about how I got it, what it was called, and every little detail, and he’d sit there smacking his lips, licking his fingers, and practically anything else that came into contact with the food. Besides, they, my sisters, always had a solid argument: 'He’s been at the neighbor’s house eating all day, so he doesn’t need anything.' That’s why I declared war on their Barbies! (Note: gifted to them from neighbors).

Anyway, my kids have no idea what it’s like to go without food, and honestly, they’re all spoiled. Their biggest complaint is usually about whose turn it is to load the dishwasher. They’re total homebodies, go to work/school, come home, and spend hours on their computers playing video games. My wife and I are pushing them to aim for higher education, but it’s frustrating, to say the least. They’re approaching the two-year deadline we set to figure out what they want to do with their lives. Our rule is simple: if you’re on a viable path and working to improve your future, you can stay beyond those two years. But if you’re not showing any progress, I’ll be handing out eviction notices. It’s not something I want to do because I’d much rather they leave with stability and avoid falling into the debt trap, but they need to take responsibility for their lives. They can always come back if they at least gave it an effort. I'm hoping that if they don't listen to me, they'll listen to the world, then be open to listening to me.

I have to admit, I think a lot of their issues are my fault. I haven’t exactly been the best father. Being flawed myself—growing up without a dad, hanging around the wrong crowd, and only getting my life together in my 30s, it would be of no surprise I’ve fallen short in some ways.
 
I think that all schools should provide free meals to every child. However, I confess that I hated school lunches. My mother was flummoxed that I preferred a peanut butter sandwich and an apple to whatever they were serving at school. To her, being able to afford a hot lunch was a sign of modernity and prosperity--not that my parents were exactly prosperous. In fact, my kids think we were poor and most of my friends from our school days talk about how poor we all were. But I never actually felt poor and asking my siblings, they did not either. My parents did not do everything right---no parent does--but they never let us know that money was tight. I mean: it was understood but I never knew of actual fear or anxiety about having food or a place to live. Sure, we only went to the doctor for required vaccinations or illness requiring antibiotics. I only saw a dentist when my tooth hurt because of a cavity. As far as I know, all bills were paid on time and we never lost power or had our phone disconnected and there was always food on the table. Mostly not food I actually liked ---I forget now that I choose my own food that I am actually a picky eater. Even when we go out, I almost always choose something I know in advance I will like. .
 
Toni said:
I think that all schools should provide free meals to every child. However, I confess that I hated school lunches. My mother was flummoxed that I preferred a peanut butter sandwich and an apple to whatever they were serving at school. To her, being able to afford a hot lunch was a sign of modernity and prosperity--not that my parents were exactly prosperous. In fact, my kids think we were poor and most of my friends from our school days talk about how poor we all were. But I never actually felt poor and asking my siblings, they did not either. My parents did not do everything right---no parent does--but they never let us know that money was tight. I mean: it was understood but I never knew of actual fear or anxiety about having food or a place to live. Sure, we only went to the doctor for required vaccinations or illness requiring antibiotics. I only saw a dentist when my tooth hurt because of a cavity. As far as I know, all bills were paid on time and we never lost power or had our phone disconnected and there was always food on the table. Mostly not food I actually liked ---I forget now that I choose my own food that I am actually a picky eater. Even when we go out, I almost always choose something I know in advance I will like. .
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The Labor government of Queensland was going to implement free lunches for primary school kids.. not sure how that would go in our little tuckshop and 900 kids.
 
gmbteach said:
Toni said:
I think that all schools should provide free meals to every child. However, I confess that I hated school lunches. My mother was flummoxed that I preferred a peanut butter sandwich and an apple to whatever they were serving at school. To her, being able to afford a hot lunch was a sign of modernity and prosperity--not that my parents were exactly prosperous. In fact, my kids think we were poor and most of my friends from our school days talk about how poor we all were. But I never actually felt poor and asking my siblings, they did not either. My parents did not do everything right---no parent does--but they never let us know that money was tight. I mean: it was understood but I never knew of actual fear or anxiety about having food or a place to live. Sure, we only went to the doctor for required vaccinations or illness requiring antibiotics. I only saw a dentist when my tooth hurt because of a cavity. As far as I know, all bills were paid on time and we never lost power or had our phone disconnected and there was always food on the table. Mostly not food I actually liked ---I forget now that I choose my own food that I am actually a picky eater. Even when we go out, I almost always choose something I know in advance I will like. .
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The Labor government of Queensland was going to implement free lunches for primary school kids.. not sure how that would go in our little tuckshop and 900 kids.
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Some states provide universal free lunches to all school kids, regardless of their family income. Some provide free breakfast as well.

I know that when my kids were in elementary school, one of the biggest problems was getting parents whose kids needed the food to sign their kids up for free/reduced price lunches. I don’t know about the rest of the world but here in the US or at least in the Midwest, there are many working poor who do not consider themselves to be poor—that’s a label for people who are worse off than they are. Pride? Self delusion? Possibly a mixture. But one of the issues, aside from potentially hungry kids, was that the schools got increased funding based on the percentage of kids qualifying for —and enrolling in the program for free and reduced lunches. It wasn’t officially known that a family qualified unless they did the paperwork. And without the paperwork, then the school didn’t get the extra funding.

My town is very working class and while things are better wage wise, there is a housing shortage, particularly of lower income housing. Which means rents are high. And factor in it being a college town: yes, there is a housing crisis. And the high rents erase a lot of the progress that theoretically would be made with better wages since the pandemic.

There are several thrift stores in town and a good shelf plus informal offerings. One of the things I am proud of is just how much people in this town pull together to help each other. One woman in town just has a little good library, modeled in the little free libraries where people can simply take what they want. She’s not wealthy but periodically will simply put out a notice on FB saying what she has stocked. Another woman sewed thousands of masks during the early days of the pandemic when the disposable ones were hard to come by. She would just put out the word to swing by her place: she’d have masks hanging on her fence, for whoever needed them. There are food drives and toy drives and clothing drives. There is a lot I don’t like about this town but the capacity of people in this town to help each other: that is phenomenal.
 
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