http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/21/ga...pagewanted=all
Do you use these? I am curious about them! They seem like a good idea... kinda. Meal time with families is very important to me.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/21/ga...pagewanted=all
Do you use these? I am curious about them! They seem like a good idea... kinda. Meal time with families is very important to me.
I'm ambivalent about them. Seems a way to skip the whole "let's sit down as family and have dinner" thing that more and more studies are proving to be crucial. Also , it seems like a way for corporations to make more money at the expense of children (packaged food having less nutrition than fresh). One woman is mentioned as having this for her 4-5 year old to have as a snack on the way home, as if throwing a banana or some baby carrots or some cheese and crackers into a bag is just SO MUCH WORK. If your life is really so busy that this is too much for you, maybe you need to rethink some priorities to not short change your kid.
On the other hand, its more nutritious than stopping for fast food or a bag of chips....
I think it's aweful. Family meal time is so important and while this is offering a healthy choice for moms on the go (older kids in sports etc..) I never really understood the need to so busy that most weekday meals took place in the mini-van.
By the time my son was old enough to sit up in a highchair and eat cheerios, he was at the table with us. By 14 months he got whatever we were eating, cut up small for him so he could finger feed. Before that I made my own baby food and controlled how chunky it was. I think it's also important for children to learn to see choices and balance on their plates. To see meat, veggies and grains. Healthy eating is something they learn at home and eating on the run out of a package, where they can't see what they are eating, IMO isn't teaching them anything about natural foods. Packaging is packaging to a child and they dont' care that it's all organic.
JMO
Thanks for posting the article RedFox - I enjoyed it.
My favorite quote...
"True, the pouches allow children to be mobile, but their real appeal may be that they allow us to be mobile, too.I went back to Mr. Grimmer and put the question to him: Is this about our children, or about us?"
These weren't out on the market when my kids were babyfood age, but I have used them in the following instances recently:
- long cartrips
- hiking
- weekend camping trips
- day at the beach
I buy them a few times a year a as novelty, special "we're going on a trip" thing.
I'm too dam cheap to buy them regularly, plus the packaging seems a little wasteful if your family was knocking a couple of these back a day.
I can put applesauce in a tupperware container and pack with a reused plastic spoon much cheaper! :)
I do have to admit though they are handy for squishy foods on the run.
And you can put the top back on to save the rest for later.
I would never consider these a meal substitute, more an on-the-run healthy snack.
Re: Structured mealtimes.... it is VERY easy for my family to let them slip. DH and I recommit ourselves to the family table dinners regularly. We really do enjoy them and it is so much better for the kids and us too.
My grandmother brought me up with structured mealtimes.
My divorced parents did not - it was catch as catch can and a lot of eating out.
I split my time between the 3 of them growing up.... as a child I was comforted by the family dinner table ---- and I think my kids are too.
:idea:
Business idea for one of us.....
Reusable Squish Pouch that you can put your own homemade purees in!
Now THAT I would be more open to.
I have grandchildren... the nearly one year old came equipped with both pouches and traditional jar food for his stay over this weekend. Of course, not knowing what was in the bag, I promptly dropped it on the tile floor and shattered one of the jars. So, +1 to pouches.
They are very portable - can be left in the car / diaper bag / purse in all types of conditions for days at a time. A home packed tupperware with applesauce can not withstand that without risking unhealthy microorganism growth.
They sure were handy for dh and myself - we are not equipped to feed babies. I could have pureed whatever we were eating, but honestly - we were camping!!! Another piece of equipment that needed power and then to be VERY clean before next use was quite honestly beyond us. But I can also see them as an adjunct to everyday feeding. The whole family going to a restaurant - sure - give junior a pouch instead of just french fries. (How many of us have marked a restaurant or two off the rotation due to them not having child-friendly offerings besides mac-n-cheese, hot dogs and chicken nuggets?)
At the price these items command, I doubt there are families whose whole kiddie diet is comprised of pouches. However, I definitely would buy these to have on hand for the occasional need.
A sad state of affairs...
Anyone else (besides myself) notice the pattern today Re: quick meal fixes, energy drinks, snack foods, packaged process goodies, and ballooning bodies? I don't go anywhere nowadays without seeing a child or adult sucking on something or eating something (on the go). Small wonder why such a large populace sports bodies resembling VW Beatles on legs.
This, "I don't have any time" nonsense, is a bunch of hooey! Actually, now that my brain is warming-up to all this, I feel my blood temperature a risin'! Moms need to go back to school to learn how to raise children and administer proper household planning. Too bad all the modernity comes by way of the expense of innocent little children... Only 100 calories a serving, give me a break!
Twenty/thirty years ago, the only thing kids sucked on was a quick drink of water when they were thirsty, and with proper balanced meals, snack-foods were non-existent.
This latest and greatest idea IMO ranks right up there with chocolate baby formula.
This article really overcomplicates baby feeding. Really? You do a little song and dance to get Junior to eat his peas? I pretty much just put them in front of him and if he eats it he eats it, if he doesn't he doesn't, but no snacks until the next meal. None of my kids have died of starvation yet.
I have not found it to take tremendous resolve. That's a bit dramatic. Climbing a mountain takes tremendous resolve.Quote:
“It takes tremendous resolve by parents to say, ‘Mealtime is mealtime,’ - from article
That said I have bought the applesauce in pouches for snacks when we are traveling and for the weeks directly after I had baby Charlotte as a breakfast choice.
We had these when P was about 8 months old and we were on vacation. But I squeezed the contents onto a spoon to feed her! It never occurred to me to squirt it directly into her mouth.
Whenever funky stuff like this is introduced to the market, I worry about those who will rely on them as a regular (daily) staple.
When we were kids, apple slices, orange wedges, bananas, and carrots, were our kid/baby pouches.
What happened to that?
These are not even that "new" to market -- they have had these in the UK for some time, and that is where I was introduced to them while visiting my in-laws.
But again, the pouches were intended to contain BABY FOOD. What is with these 2-4 year olds sucking their food out of pouches?
Exactly! What's more, I see moms tossing several into baby's bag for the day, and when junior devours all, toss junior a few more later on (same day). One-hundred calories quickly turns to several hundred calories in no time at all, especially the way people misuse stuff nowadays...Quote:
Originally posted by Maribeth.
What is with these 2-4 year olds sucking their food out of pouches?
I know a woman who likes them for herself for a snack as she just gets the pure, pureed fruit. Not really an opinion about using them for a family meal, but she likes them and she cares about what kind of food she puts in her body.
I think many women used to learn about child raising and home management from their mothers and grandmothers. I did not. I knew nothing about running a house when I had children, or about good parenting, childcare etc. I think there is an entire generation of such people now, who have no other example to go by and this seems as good as any. I think the same goes for living a simple or green lifestyle. If people haven't learned it, they need to seek it out to learn, but they don't always, because they feel what they are doing is fine.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mrs-M
I'm of the same exact mindset and perspective as artist.
This reminds me of a story I heard once, oh, 20 years ago maybe. A child was watching her mother change the (disposable) diaper of a baby sibling. She piped up, "Mom! Wouldn't it be a great idea if they made diapers you could just wash and use over again?!"
ROFLMA! Sadly... My eldest, now 28, calls throwaway diapers traditional! AAIIEEE!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by KayLRZ
Excellent point, Tiam.
Kid sized Soylent-Green!!!
Out of the mouths of babes, lol. Hillarius.Quote:
Originally Posted by KayLRZ
I have 2 small grandbabies and I have found those things to be horrendous! They suck out too much, get choked. They get mad and squirt them all over. And then there is the garbage issue. I put them in the same category as baby wipes. My DD's could keep Huggies in business all by themselves!
NO, NO, NO!! It's an awful idea in so many ways!! It encourages eating too much, too fast. There is no exploration of color, texture, smell. There is no learning how to maneuver food into one's mouth. More trash. More expensive. Yes, babies can be messy, it's part of being a baby--get a wet washcloth. Noooooooooooooooooooo!! Hope I'm not unclear in my opposition!!
For sure! The washcloth (in our house) served as the equalizer to all top (and bottom half) messes!Quote:
Originally posted by Florence.
get a wet washcloth
Part of my job is working in the lunchroom during Kindergarten lunch - the amazing amount of waste gets to me every day. If not the squeezable pouch, it's a yogurt tube or the pre-made pb&j packages, little bags of (fill in the blank).
Our school is (supposedly) encouraging composting and recycling. Every now and then someone from the "green team" comes down to reward kids with trash-free lunches. It never fails that there is a kid or 2 in tears - they say to me "I want to have a waste free lunch but this is what my mom packs".
I think they are terrible. And so many of them are organic, which makes the crunchy parents think it is a good idea, without looking at the environmental waste involved.
It is weird to me that this is touted as a way that kids can graze. There are lots and lots of foods that are grazeable.
And now speech therapists are saying they are bad becaus kids aren't chewing and building mouth muscles. Add to that, the expense and it seems like a big negative to me!
Mrs. M, why should only mothers be responsible for teaching children these skills? Fathers and other adults in their lives are perfectly capable of handing down skills as well.
Absolutely. I tend to be a little old-fashioned regarding child-rearing, so often concentrate on the mom side of things rather than the alternative.Quote:
Originally posted by Square Peg.
Mrs. M, why should only mothers be responsible for teaching children these skills? Fathers and other adults in their lives are perfectly capable of handing down skills as well.
We use these pouches with my 9 month old. He sucks them directly from the pouch using the spout like a straw. He doesn't have any problems getting too much in his mouth as long as you don't squeeze it and don't let him either. I don't see how they are any worse than spoon-fed purees for mouth development, since he's not chewing a whole lot yet anyway. He eats spoon fed purees and finger foods, too. I don't foresee using them once he gets more teeth, because then he'll just eat from the table all the time. He only eats them at mealtimes, since he is too young to graze--if he's hungry apart from meals, he nurses.
They are hugely convenient for traveling, since you can just toss them in a bag and go. And they taste pretty good, too.
The waste issue is something I am concerned with. But I have had to let somethings just be imperfect at this time in my life. There is a reusable squish pouch.
"Sangita Forth, 37, vice president of brand marketing, said she loves using the pouches as snacks for her 3-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son."
I thought this was just strange - these are kids who should have no issues eating real food.
And I really question whether this is more for the kid's independence and ease - or the parent's.
Doing a really quick scan these appear to have fruit in just about everything - and seem to have higher sugar levels to comparable Gerber products.
I see a place for these - but not so much at the dinner table.
Hmm...I am mixed on these. They did not exist when my son was a baby - or rather, they were just coming on to the market locally - there was a local couple marketing them, probably a different brand. At the time, I was working full time, so my son was sent to child care with a mixture of homemade baby food and jars. Mostly the jars were disgusting - there were only a few that were decent anyway. As he got older and ate less baby food, we bought more and made less (only going through about 4 oz a day).
I see a lot of my friends using them now and they love them. But I agree on the potential problems with family meal times. Meal times with our 6 year old can be a real chore. He can't sit still. He gets mad that it takes him SO MUCH LONGER to eat than we do. Well, we do eat too fast, for sure. I generally eat too fast because I'm starving. I'm nursing a 10-day old baby and I never know when he's going to want to eat again. When I get the chance, I EAT. But I think an hour is excessive for the average dinner, and it often takes my son that long to eat his dinner.
On the other hand, they are great for on the go. I buy little applesauce pouches at Trader Joe's. Sometimes, he'll eat one at home. But really, they are great for camping, car trips, concerts in the park, trips to the beach. I really resisted at first (started buying them when he was 3 or so) because of the waste. But I've lightened up a bit in my old age (I buy individual yogurts now too!)
Who knows where the wind will blow with #2. I'll let you know in 6-9 months. I do prefer to make my own.
Congratulations on the new baby mm1970!
I think the pouches are a great idea. I wish they would have been available for when I traveled overseas to get my son. Buying jarred baby food was a bit iffy and while I could feed him table food I couldn't always run out someplace. Same thing goes with baby wipes. I realize there are generations that all they could use was a wet wash cloth and while I was at home for certain messes that is what I used. But there is a time and place for wipes.
Some people might use these things for kids who are perhaps to old, but until we have walked in the parents shoes we have no idea what the reason really is. I'm sure some are just lazy, or rushed, or exhausted, or at their last limit and that one little thing is their sanity saver ;).
Thanks! He's a cutie. Born on his due date, and in an all-fired hurry. Arrived just over an hour after we got to the hospital. Let's just say I was NOT mentally prepared to give birth without an epidural, especially since my husband was missing for the first half of that hour (dropping our son off at a friend's).Quote:
Originally Posted by Stella
At least it was fast.
Yikes! That is fast. That sounds painful! Glad you made it through OK.
I am soooo glad to see so many sensible answers here. I guess there's hope after all. LOL
Too many parents are afraid to be parents anymore and one of the major ways is in this nonsense of revolving the whole family around catering to what their children want to eat.
Not long ago I came across this book on Amazon. It's about an American woman who marries a Frenchman and how their move to France changed her whole perception on the care and feeding of her children.
There's quite a long excerpt from the book if any one is interested.
http://www.amazon.com/French-Kids-Ea...the+French+way