5 Foods You Shouldn’t Feed Your Children

Being told what you shouldn't feed your children may make you angry. Let’s face it, most of us know we’re feeding our kids thing we shouldn’t. 

And yes, what if life were “perfect” and we could organically grow all of our family’s non-GMO food in our backyard garden . . . well, for 99.9% of us, ain’t gonna happen.

So, we do the best we can. 

Food manufacturers know that moms have become much more conscious about what they feed their children, so they’ve come up with some misleading little one-liners to highlight the front of the packages in an attempt to make us feel good about bad food.

Here we’re going to highlight the foods you’re probably being misled on, and offer up some better choices.

1. Fruit Snacks: But they’ve got the word “fruit” in them, they can’t be all bad, right?

Have you ever wondered why those packages of fruit snacks are so small? Because they’re basically just little bags of sugar. And even the manufacturer knows better than to give your kid a potato-chip-sized bag of those.

The front of the box usually says “made with real fruit” or “made with real fruit juice,” which doesn’t save them from being little bags of sugar. Nor do the “all natural” and “no artificial preservatives or flavors” tags that have become so popular.

Yes, fruit snacks are a quick and easy choice. But they aren’t much better than handing your kid a candy bar. And no kid eats a pack of fruit snacks and finds his need for a snack satisfied.

The better choice, real fruit. It’s really no harder or more expensive to eat an apple, orange, banana, or some grapes. 

2. Breakfast Cereal: Because who has time to make a “real” breakfast? And you really can’t go wrong with cereal, there’s a flavor for every different taste out there. Unlike fixing different dinners to please each child’s palate, it’s easy to offer different boxes of cereal to each child.

So the advantages are high here, but many cereals are again just like eating candy. Yes they may be “made with whole grains,” and “fortified with Vitamin C” and other vitamins and minerals that your kids aren’t lacking in anyway.

But, none of that can make up for the fact that 90% of them (which is not a scientific number but has to be a close guess!) have more sugar than your child should have in an entire day.

We’ve already established that we likely live outside that perfect world where we can wake up 30 minutes earlier to prepare a healthy breakfast and then clean up the kitchen every morning.

What you can do is make better choices. Look for cereals that have under five grams of sugar per serving. You can liven up some of the more “boring” cereals by adding fresh fruit.

And really, a quick bowl of oatmeal or a piece of peanut butter toast doesn’t take that much longer then a bowl of cereal, and is definitely worth the extra few minutes on those days that allow.

3. Flavored Yogurt: This is another one of those “I’m feeding my kids yogurt, that sounds healthy” kind of foods. But the things they’ve done to yogurt these days make many of the most popular brands anything but healthy.

Hopefully you can see why it’s wise to pass up those with Oreos or M&Ms on the bottom, but even the more seemingly healthy ones are usually a minefield of added sugar. 

Stick to the non-flavored and Greek-style yogurts and add in your own fruit or healthy granola to make them appeal to your children.

4. Granola Bars: Any kind of bar is SUCH an easy way to satisfy a child desperate for a snack. They fit so nicely in your purse and require no work on your part. And hey, granola is what crunchy, healthy, all-natural people eat, right?

Except for, as with many things, food manufacturers have taken this potentially healthy snack and added things to it to make it almost as appealing (and as unhealthy) as a candy bar.

Popular granola bars today include little fiber and protein and lots of added sugar. 

You don’t have to give up the granola bar, but you should likely give up the ones that are your kids’ favorites. Look for bars that have actual fruits, nuts, and granola in them. Avoid those with corn syrup and other added sugars in them.

You can also make your own. I know, this takes the ease out of them, but give it a try. Taking an hour on Sunday to do this will have you set for the week. And have you feeling much better about the snack you’re giving your kids.

You can customize the recipe to fit your kids' needs. Here’s a good starter recipe to get you going. Check the reviews for ways to make the recipe even healthier.

5. Soda and Juice: Again we’re back to our old friend sugar here. Like fruit snacks, fruit juices are giving you none of the benefits of eating a piece of fruit. 

A juice box is a little box of sugar, like the fruit snack is a little bag of sugar. And the number of calories found in a juice box, which are mostly from the sugar fructose, is unacceptably high.

So don’t let the “100% juice” label fool you. They’re still 100% sugar too!

As for soda, you probably already know this, but so many kids are drinking it, that it’s worth reminding you of just how bad it is. 

Soda has been linked to diabetes, obesity, and behavioral issues in children. Your average bottle of soda has around 60 grams of sugar in it, which is four times the amount your child should be having in an entire day.

There are several other toxic ingredients in soda that we could talk about all day, but let’s just say there’s all kinds of bad in there and zero nutrition, which makes this one an especially big no-no.

A lot of what your child drinks is habit. So make water a habit and she will love it. For something a little different, try unsweetened bubbly waters, which will give her the fizz and a little flavor without all the yucky stuff found in soda.

In the Real World

You may find that when you try to completely deprive your child of something, this increases their desire for it. Having some foods that aren’t ideal is going to come out of necessity and can be saved for special occasions.

Don’t sell these things to your children as a “treat” though. Let them know that we only have this food once in awhile because it’s not good for us. As they get older, they may decide it’s really not that tasty anyway, and certainly not worth the adverse effects of eating it.

At KidsPartyCharacters.com, we know all about special occasions and splurging a bit. We have over 200 handmade costumes to choose from, and packages that include face painting and balloon artists. Stop by our website to start planning your next party. 

Your guests will be so entertained by a KidsPartyCharacter.com show that you could serve them broccoli and warm water and they’d still go home raving about you throwing the best party ever! (Although seriously, we’re not opposed to a little less-than-healthy birthday cake!)

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