A Jug of Water

debeli

It turns out (in the wake of some research) that an effective foil to childhood obesity is a jug of water on the meal table.

At one level, this is very helpful. At another it is just common sense.

We've been lucky with our kids (now 20, 18 and 15). They all like fruit and drink water with meals. There have been flirtations with smoking and class-c drugs and some unfortunate post-piss-up vomiting and headaches, but youth is youth and I wouldn't want to have raised angels. All are essentially fit and healthy and sporty.

This must in part be due to their having been offered only water with meals and having been encouraged to eat fruit as a snack.

I'm told sometimes that we're lucky to have active children who are fit and eat well. It may be luck.

I see slightly tubby parents draging slightly puffed-up offspring round supermarkets filling their trollies with fizzy drinks, processed food, pizza and biscuits. If we've been lucky to have slim, fit children, maybe these other parents have just been unlucky to have kids as fat and ponderous as they are.

Gosh, I can be really acid and catty sometimes. But really... how can it be necessary to carry out research to show that jugs of water at mealtimes help to fight obesity?

I think I've been too scathing here for a smiley to soften the message, so I'll just stop there.

slowbike

I think the worse thing I've seen is a few years ago whilst down at a local harbour just after Christmas ... a family were out enjoying the fresh air - Mum & Dad walking along behind their son driving an electric toy car ...

Why is it the worst? Because the lad was fat and clearly could've done with a scooter or bike - instead he has a method of transport to "enjoy" that doesn't require him to raise his heart rate at all. It's not the lads fault - he was too young to realise, I'm sure he really wanted an electric toy car too ... but he could've done without it ..

veronese68

I've never given the kids anything other than water with meals at home. If we go out for a meal they can have a soft drink, but that is a rare treat, and we always have water as well. They both eat and enjoy fruit, we've never had to force them to eat it. When they were little my wife would give them fruit and as they've grown they've continued to eat it. My son when offered a chocolate pudding once replied with "can I have an apple instead. :shock: How many kids of 6 or 7 would say that. We've always let them have things that may be bad for them occasionally believing in moderation. Banning stuff makes it an issue and doesn't help. My kids will still have sweets from Christmas left at Easter, my sisters kids that are not normally allowed sweets pig out and stuff the lot in a couple of days.
At 12 and 15 years of age I think the smoking, drinking and drugs are just around the corner. Although we do let the 15 year old have a drink sometimes, the little one can't stand the stuff. Actually they may not smoke, the elder was saying he and his peers view smoking as being really sad. Seeing little huddles of smokers stood outside offices in the cold looks pitiful in their eyes.

arran77

Like others have said it's all about how you bring your children up and the examples that you set them.

If you're a fat knacker who smokes, drinks to excess, eats unhealthily and doesn't exercise that's likely to be the way your children will turn out but if you lead a healthy lifestyle that's likely to be the path they'll follow.

It's hardly rocket science really, children are like sponges and are very easily influenced / molded

southdownswolf

I have two kids, one of each flavour.

My son who is 12 loves his fruit, tries any food that gets put in front of him and lives a generally healthy life. He even cycles the 3 miles to school every day. But he is a couple of pounds over weight. He gets his genes from his mothers side of the family.

My daughter hardly eats any fruit or vegetables unless we insist and is skinny as a rake. As for trying new food, forget it unless it is meat with the blood still oozing out. She has my side of the family genes though. So she is active though and despite being 3 years younger than her brother, she can run, cycle, jump, throw etc. much better than her brother...

team47b

I realise that this forum is predominantly middle class so the notion of a jug, with water, on a table, all sitting round as a family is so normal, but to others who don't own a jug, don't sit around a table as a family it is a strange idea which has far wider implications.

Are 'they' going to educate people about the importance of family mealtimes around a table first before moving on to the more complex issue of jug buying?

arran77

team47b wrote:

Are 'they' going to educate people about the importance of family mealtimes around a table first before moving on to the more complex issue of jug buying?

Perhaps you could offer some advice on what to look for when it comes to jugs

homers_double

Thats a good point, we all eat around the table together. There are the odd occasions when the boy will have his dinner earlier than us because he has an activity or one of us is working late but I'd say that happens one every few weeks, maybe even less.

It isn't hard to sit round a table and have dinner and a conversation, whats hard is getting some people to turn the TV off. As we've never started that then it isn't a problem for us.

An occasional lapse would be a saturday night fim fest with a finged tea, chicken wings and the like but thats just part of being a family.

As for water, I don't see cordial/squash being a poor substitute but very rarely do we have fizzy stuff (barr tonic for my Gin) in the house.

debeli

I realise my OP might read as slightly puritanical. My family and I all have a love of sweet and sticky puds and choccy, but as someone above said, it's a matter of moderation.

Nothing is banned, either. As said above, that just seems silly and may end up being a bit of a rod.

Neither my wife nor I smoke, but we both did in our 20s. None of the kids does (bar the 20-year-old lighting the occasional spliff).

I am interested by the comment above about how comparatively rare it is for families to dine together round a table. It just seems such a good way to eat and be together. I'm sure we get on better as a family because we've had to sit and eat socially, rather than concentrating on a screen with a tray on our laps. Across the childhoods of our various offspring there have been tantrums and sulks and mealtime spats, but they all still love to sit down to eat. It just seems natural.

The 'owning a jug' issue may or may not be a question of income or perceived class. A glass jug is about a fiver.Cheaper than a packet of fags or a couple of bottles of Coke. The water that goes in a jug is practically free at source.

On the table thing: I have a niece and nephew slightly younger than our kids. When they visit they tend to hold knife and fork in one hand while holding their glass during a meal. It just seemed weird until I worked out that they eat at home (both mum's and dad's) in front of the TV with their food on their laps. With nowhere to put their cutlery, they hold it in one hand when drinking or reaching for sauce. That behaviour is brought to table, although it isn't necessary. Weird.

I am certainly middle class, but not wealthy. Our children are/were state educated and ride second-hand bicycles. The 'sofa-fed' niece and nephew go to an expensive public school and are very 'branded' and tell Chav jokes. There is an element of class and income in this whole thing, but there's more to it than just that.

Sorry, I think I'm just having a catty day. Saucer of milk for Table Two, please.

arran77

Debeli wrote:

Saucer of milk for Table Two, please.

At least you want it at the table and not in front of the TV :P

sloppyschleckonds

Debeli wrote:

I see slightly tubby parents draging slightly puffed-up offspring round supermarkets filling their trollies with fizzy drinks, processed food, pizza and biscuits. If we've been lucky to have slim, fit children, maybe these other parents have just been unlucky to have kids as fat and ponderous as they are.

Another thinly veiled dig at a poster who cannot be named.

Best excuse I heard was 'its 21st Century living''

RideOnTime

OP woman definitely woman
ugg...

southdownswolf

arran77 wrote:

Debeli wrote:

Saucer of milk for Table Two, please.

At least you want it at the table and not in front of the TV :P

But does it need to come from a jug?

sniper68

Is it a class thing?
I've no idea what class we should fall into but as far as I'm concerned I'm working class.We always eat around the table(even when camping) to us it's what families do.Luckily for us neither of our children(13&6) drink fizzy stuff.They both drink both water and very weakly diluted cordial.The boy(6) prefers Pasta to chips and the girl(13) is a Pescatarian.Neither are particularly keen on McDs etc either.
I think with me in particular I've tried steer them away from the way I was brought up as we ate crap,both parents smoked heavily and subsequently my three siblings and I smoked (I quit 13 years ago when I was 33 and my eldest was born) and I just wanted it to be different for my two.
I don't believe we should tell others how to bring up their children but I do strongly believe that the problems lie with poor parenting.

DeVlaeminck

We never eat round the table - partly because I have two road bikes leaning on it and I don't really want the other half or kids moving them several times a day as it'd end in disaster. The kids seem to do OK though - two of the three even drink water - the other one rarely seems to drink though when I tell him he has to have a drink milk, coffee or recently fruit tea seems to be his preference.

arran77

southdownswolf wrote:

arran77 wrote:

Debeli wrote:

Saucer of milk for Table Two, please.

At least you want it at the table and not in front of the TV :P

But does it need to come from a jug?

How about a nice pair

MattC59

Natural selection.

bdu98252

As a direct comparison I eat dinner with the kids round a table. My sister often does not eat as a family. The difference is not class it is the fact that we both work 9-5 jobs and she and her partner work shifts. More evidence perhaps that life is not always as simple as it seems.

sniper68

bdu98252 wrote:

As a direct comparison I eat dinner with the kids round a table. My sister often does not eat as a family. The difference is not class it is the fact that we both work 9-5 jobs and she and her partner work shifts. More evidence perhaps that life is not always as simple as it seems.

We both work shifts(Me 21-shift continentals and my wife works as a Nurse).We always eat around the table whether we're all together or just one of us is home.In general all four of us will eat together 4 times a week and the other 3 days it's either me and the kids or the wife and the kids.On the days I eat alone I still eat at the table,as does my wife.Working shifts isn't an excuse to sit and eat on the sofa in front of the TV IMO.