Pouches of food for your 4-, 5-, and 6-year-olds, are the newest craze in “baby” food. Funny, I thought it was called baby food because it was meant for babies. But some food manufacturers think that kids shouldn't actually have to actually chew their fruits and veggies anymore, but rather should just sit back and suck veggie or fruit mush out of a pouch. They attribute the popularity of "food pouches" to free-range parenting.
Psst ... free-range parenting isn't about throwing pouches of astronaut food at kids so they can suck at will.
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If anything, free-range parenting is old school parenting, the way our parents parented us. They put food on the table and if we ate it we weren't hungry, if we didn't we were free to eat the remainder of it at the next meal. It was anti-helicopter parenting. It was turning us loose to make choices that had consequences. It taught us independence not that the world would bend at our will. These pouches are not teaching independence, it’s teaching kids that the world revolves around them.
Do these people think 4-year-olds can’t chew these days? Are we trying to brain wash all the kids into thinking they are astronauts? Or perhaps we are afraid they will chip a tooth or put some wear and tear on those teeth? What’s next, putting kids in bubbles so that they don’t risk scrapes and bruises? I don’t know about you but my daughter could chew up a steak and bite through her sibling at the age of four.
I think the ideal of food in a pouch is ridiculous. Have we become so lazy that we no longer have time to parent our children or even spend the time supervising them when they eat so that they don’t choke? Take a minute and teach them how to chew up their food and swallow. Have we decided to pass on lazy as an ethic and entitlement as a virtue by giving our kids food that will not require any chewing on their behalf? Or are we simply trying to convey the message that we don’t think our children are capable of doing the most menial of tasks? Can’t we all just spend a little more time with our children and sit still for a moment while they chew their fruit with their actual teeth?
I promise, your child’s teeth will not break on impact from the apple against their teeth.
What do you think of giving your six-year-old pouches of mashed food on the go? Would you give it to your child?
Image via nutrilover/Flickr
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Comments 96
What a silly article. Really. I like the applesauce pouches because my kids like the occasional applesauce, and have you ever tried to pull a lid off a container of applesauce without spilling it? This way they can have the applesauce and then recap it. No mess, no food spilled at the lunch table, easy-peasy. Does this replace veggies and fruits? No, and I daresay it doesn't for most moms either.
I can't tell if you're that rigid, or if you're blowing up arguments for the sake of arguing. Either way, I got suckered into answering, only so that "new moms" who might feel belittled by your comments will know that IT'S OKAY TO FEED YOUR KIDS A FRUIT POUCH. Sheesh.
You need to lighten up. Seriously.
I have a feeling that those who think picky eaters are the product of lazy parents have really easy children. Picky eaters aren't the result of anything. My sister has always been picky, with the same rules as the rest of us. She is the ONLY picky eater in the family, and would have glady subsisted on chicken fingers, french fries, and ketchup if our parents had let her. And even though they DIDN'T let her, it was a struggle every day. Even as an adult, she has a limited diet. Don't judge until you've been in someone else's shoes.