Not allowed to go to birthday parties because….

I remember taking ds to a birthday party. He was at a SN school so any birthday parties parents were expected to stay. One parent did the drop and run and reeled off a list of things her kid couldn't have. The host mother just basically left him to it. The only thing she did stop him eating was the trifle she made for the adults - which she must have tipped a whole bottle of sherry into!!

I so get it BigBerthal, our DS's GR is a handful, and we couldn't manage him for more than a day. He has little recall, barges everywhere and pulls like a train - and weighs 40-odd kg (we do love him though)! We have a GR of our own, who we trained and is a very sweet and biddable girl but looking after both of them would be a real challenge to us now through health etc.

Years ago, I used to ferry my son to and from his drum lesson and shop in a nearby As a whole I waited. He would meet me in there and we'd have breakfast before heading home. There would be quite a few dads in the cafe with quite young children. Invariably there was a jumbo sized fizzy drink for these little ones, some as young as two or three. It was pandemonium in there, with children running about and yelling, on a sugar high. I longed to stand up and shout, "See what that stuff does!" but it wouldn't have been appreciated. ..

Asda

Asda while I....

Dreaded my son returning from birthday parties, he was usually hyper. Finally managed to drill it into him not to drink/eat anything bright orange.

I saw an interesting experiment put on by supernanny, a doctor, and a big group of children.
What seemed to be children being high on sugar was just normal child like excitement and being high on life.

FarNorth

Maybe the children concerned have diabetes.

My granddaughter has diabetes - but no way has she been banned from attending parties! Diabetic children very quickly understand how to manage their condition.

My parents looked after my sons while I returned to work. I used to feel frustrated when they used to fill them with sugary snacks, sweets and drinks, but I never said anything. I'm so glad I didn't, my dad died shortly before their 3rd birthday and i'm so happy he had the pleasure and loved and enjoyed his grandsons even though it was a short time. My "rules" changed then, what happens at grandma's stays at grandma's and I learned to relax and enjoy their childhood as ling as it lasted.

a healthy start.

Which, to my mind, means avoiding artificial sweeteners.
Parents have been brainwashed into believing they are the healthier option.

I'd avoid fizzy drinks, especially Colas, because they will rot teeth.

If children were diabetic, I can’t imagine the parent allowing the child to go to a party without supervision or a word in the ear of the host parents.

It’s not something you can take a chance on,

BigBertha1

I have a different but sort of similar issue. i am scheduled to dog sit DD2's beautiful Golden Retriever while she has a much needed holiday in September. we used to have one ourselves but care for him and trained him very differently. ours was not given food from the table or ad hoc treats and was not allowed on the furniture or upstairs - although I would say a he got older this last one di relax a bit. we also trained ours to walk to heel and to come back when called. DH was very strict about this. I'm beginning to dread it not because of the dog but because of DHs continual complaints about how this dog ha been 'ruined' in his view.

Seems your other half is a control freak?

When my son was about 7 he went to a birtday party, my husband picked him & his friend up. They had been given party bags, the friend ate his in the car really quickly saying to my husband he would'nt be allowed it if he took it home.

Mollygo

DD’s birthday party (many years ago in multicultural Liverpool) was exciting when one child, having eaten his way through everything on offer, was then sick. He said he liked parties because he wasn’t allowed that food at home!

A little boy came to DD's 6th birthday party and ate and ate.

When we went to do something else I couldn't get him to stop eating and leave the table because he said it was all lovely.

He was sick when he got home. I knew his Mum well and know she fed him good food - the kind of food we ate when it wasn't a party ?????

Well that would be sad, as it would mean they couldn't go to any parties!

I never liked such rigid parenting. I at first thought it was because they were Jehovah's Witnesses since they don't celebrate birthdays.
My son and d.i.l. don't take their daughters to McDonald's. Recently, I was bringing the girls home with me and asked if they wanted to get happy meals. They said their parents wouldn't like that. That was okay with me and I admired their honesty. They did eat the little candy bars I had, but it was just a few.

The problem seems to be that the older generation equate feeding children junk food and drink with treats. In our house treats were trips to the beach, staying up late to see the meteor shower, that kind of thing.

Food is food and needs to be nutritious. Our birthday parties had loads of fun foods. The children would make fruit kebabs and decorate grapefruit porcupine style. I would make mini burgers from scratch served in a tiny dinner roll, delicious tiny sandwiches, mini home made meatballs on cocktail sticks with different dips, mini pizzas and after the meal was over even cake (served in small pieces.)

Drinks would be water with a splash of fruit juice or smoothies to order with an adult operating the blender. Sometimes the children mixed their own fruit punch then served themselves “Harpooners delight” with a punch ladle.

Adults were catered for but surprisingly the children would consume the adults olives, prawns, pickled onions, guacamole, cheeseboard and crackers etc.

The joy of birthday parties was the fun games, the delicious party food, the decorations, crafts and face painting.
Not ready bought cheap food full of additives.

Chocolate and sweets and fizzy drinks are not treats. A small amount occasionally no problem but certainly not what should be served to little guests. You wouldn’t do it for an adult party.

Froot shoots anyone?

Parties when my DC were small involved cakes and sandwiches made by the Mother of the birthday child; I don't think anyone could afford loads of shop bought items!. I tried hard to keep my children's diet healthy, and they had apple juice instead of fizzy drinks. Imagine my horror upon reading that it contained a systemic pesticide, Alar, which could cause cancer in later life. Some frantic research established that it was not in the apple juice I bought from M and S. I'm relieved to see tht my GC have mostly water.

When Gdcs were a little younger, Rosina, I would make stacks of little sandwiches for their parties - triangles with the crusts cut off - but TBH the parents would scoff 90% of them!

I still make lots of fairy cakes - chocolate ones with a Smartie on top. They still go down very well.

Nowadays the savoury party eats are usually pizzas, collected fresh from the shop at the time.

My DD had a party for my GD last weekend. She just got pizzas and crisps but also made cupcakes and a lovely birthday cake. I cooked sausages to add a bit of protein!
IMO a bit of naughty food at a party is not that bad. None of the children appeared to be stuffing themselves, they were rushing around playing games.
If she'd done super healthy food I suspect that none of them would have eaten much.
It does seem odd to keep children from a party just in case they eat anything vaguely unhealthy.