Buy some fruits and veggies to supplement the meal and let it go. Pizza for dinner. Great - add some apple slices and a spring mix/spinach salad on the side. Roast beef and mashed potatoes? Yum. Roast some asparagus, and some strawberries, and keep it moving.

You might even help with some bad habits - but you need not say anything.

My mother and MIL know that my kids eat a side of fruit and a veggie with every meal (even pizza and Mac and cheese) so they pan accordingly. If yours does not, bring your own food.

At my parents' it's eggs or pancakes and bacon for breakfast, lunch (if there is lunch at all, which is another thread) is cold cut sandwiches or canned soup, and dinner is something like lasagna or chili, no sides, nary a fruit or vegetable to be found. 15 different kinds of chips and sodas. I let my kids enjoy these treats with the grandparents but I also I bring fruit and cut veggies and insist they have some with every meal. We always do one pizza night which I cover and make sure to order salads with it.

We are in a similar boat. I bring raw fruit and veggies for snacks or easy additions to meals. I also sometimes offer to cook a veggie side - ‘Kids are excited for pizza night! I am going to run to the store for XYZ, should I get some broccoli I can roast on the side?

Anonymous wrote:I would tell them that their food is great but you and the kids won’t poop unless you get some more fiber. Just add in some apples, carrots, side salad, oatmeal or Raisin Bran and let the rest go. Most people aren’t offended if you add in something that’s not a hassle for them and everyone appreciates the need to poop. I feel like that’s one thing where you get universal empathy and not a lot of follow up questions.

This is perfect to shut down you adding vegetables and whatnot. No one is going to press on that or tell you to give a small child a laxative. Let them have some junk for the week but start talking to your kids now to get them primed to know they will eat their vegetables before the get the granny snacks.

Anonymous wrote:I would tell them that their food is great but you and the kids won’t poop unless you get some more fiber. Just add in some apples, carrots, side salad, oatmeal or Raisin Bran and let the rest go. Most people aren’t offended if you add in something that’s not a hassle for them and everyone appreciates the need to poop. I feel like that’s one thing where you get universal empathy and not a lot of follow up questions.

Yep.

How many days are you talking about? 4-5? 2 weeks? I wouldn't sweat 4-5 days.

Both my parents and my inlaws are like this and it's a battle. They act like we're insane for insisting on a vegetable at every meal. My kids are such fantastic eaters and love vegetables. My daughter even asked if she could have green beans. We bring snack foods: apples, oranges, bananas, carrots and baby peppers.

Frankly, I really don't understand how people survive without vegetables! Are they all nutritionally deficient? Constipated AF? After 2 days of eating like that my stomach cramps and I'm very constipated.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One thing I don't understand about these threads. My parents and my MIL ask me whether there are foods they should add to their grocery list for my kids. Is that unusual? (We are a multi-ethnic couple, so I don't think this is cultural.)

I think it’s unusual but very nice that they do that. Most people are kind of crappy hosts I’ve noticed. Not just for people who stay for a few days at their home but even for things like birthday and dinner parties.

My MIL does that (we're all white Americans), though she's slowly stopping as the kids are middle elementary age now. Now it's more like "Does Gemma still love clementines and hate lettuce?" But we generally just eat whatever she's got. Though to be fair we have similar health standards.

My MIL eats like this.

I find it easiest to do our own breakfasts and lunches without making a big fuss (compared to dinner) - we bring yogurt with fruit or unsweetened oatmeal, or I make a big frittata with lots of veg for everyone and even MIL eats it. I bring bag salads and snacking veggies like carrots, cucumber slices, cherry tomato, peppers for a side at lunch. Then at dinners I offer to make a side and do vegetable dishes. When I'm serving myself food I do 1/2 plate of the veg side and a smaller scoop of the unhealthy meal.

Don't 'make' your kids eat anything, just silently put a handful of baby carrots or scoop of salad on their plate next to the pizza and don't draw attention to it. Put out a bowl of apple slices while everyone is hanging out and most of the time they'll pick at it.

It also really helps to get myself and the kids out for a long walk during the day and make sure everyone is drinking lots of water.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One thing I don't understand about these threads. My parents and my MIL ask me whether there are foods they should add to their grocery list for my kids. Is that unusual? (We are a multi-ethnic couple, so I don't think this is cultural.)

I think it’s unusual but very nice that they do that. Most people are kind of crappy hosts I’ve noticed. Not just for people who stay for a few days at their home but even for things like birthday and dinner parties.

That's so interesting. I never thought it was weird, because my relatives did this too when I was growing up. And since my ILs do it, I've never known differently

Anonymous wrote:One thing I don't understand about these threads. My parents and my MIL ask me whether there are foods they should add to their grocery list for my kids. Is that unusual? (We are a multi-ethnic couple, so I don't think this is cultural.)

I think it’s unusual but very nice that they do that. Most people are kind of crappy hosts I’ve noticed. Not just for people who stay for a few days at their home but even for things like birthday and dinner parties.

bring a gift basket with apples, pears, grapes, clementines, etc.

One thing I don't understand about these threads. My parents and my MIL ask me whether there are foods they should add to their grocery list for my kids. Is that unusual? (We are a multi-ethnic couple, so I don't think this is cultural.)

Supply your own. If you get questioned, tell them the produce keeps you regular. Eat your veggie and fruits, but indulge in some junk. I fondly remember my grandparents giving me wonderbread, skippy and fluff sandwiches and ruffled potato chips and loving it. My mother never allowed that in our house, so it was a real treat.

I would not stay at the house of people like this.