Sounds like you're cheap and didn't have the money to buy your kid anything so you're take it out on the other parents.

Anonymous wrote:I see a few issues here.

One is that popcorn isn't a safe snack for 3 year olds.

But beyond that, OP is teaching her kid some horrible habits. Bacon, eggs, yogurt, toast and juice is a really unbalanced breakfast. Maybe once in a while for a treat, but kids should be getting fruit or veggies with every meal, and then lunch didn't sound much better. Plus kids should be eating every few hours. A single, sit down snack between meals, especially with fruit and whole grains, is a great way to help kids learn portion control, get some nutrition in, and arrive at meals hungry but not starving which is ideal.

Her friend made much better choices, other than the popcorn. Her kid drank water instead of juice. He had three servings of fruit and veggies (apples, apples and the tomato sauce) plus any at breakfast, instead of zero. He's learning that it's OK to have a treat like pizza in a special circumstances, and because his mother isn't controlling he listened to his own body and stopped when he was full rather than overeating it, even though it was a treat food. He isn't in the situation of watching other people have a snack while not getting one, which is likely to cause disordered eating in the future. Other than the popcorn, it sounds like that mom is doing all the right things.

I don't disagree with what you've said here really except:

It doesn't matter! Both kids clearly have attentive parents who feed them a variety of foods and care that they are well fed. Good enough. If the kids are happy and in good health, the rest of it doesn't matter that much.

This is the main thing I learned from having a super picky eater (like borderline ARFID picky) -- people put a TON of judgment and requirements around kids eating and in the end, you do your best and it largely works out. My child would not touch a vegetable for FIVE YEARS. She went through a period where she had five foods she would eat. But those five foods were bread, yogurt, berries, nuts/nut butter, and cheese. So it was fine because that's a good enough diet and she is thankfully not lactose intolerant.

I remember going out with my picky eater and watching parents watch us feed here and initially just feeling so much embarrassment and feeling like such a bad mom. But thankfully, with time and lots of conversations with the pediatrician and a nutritionist and reading everything I could on children's nutrition, I arrived at a place where I could silently remind myself that these people were getting a tiny glimpse of my kid's diet and making all kinds of assumption based not only on what they know about good nutrition (which is often not that much) but also a host of deeply engrained social and cultural attitudes that don't have much to do with health or a good diet. Let them judge.

These kids are FINE. More than fine -- they are eating what their parents are serving them, consuming a variety of tastes and textures, and getting fairly balanced diets. Good enough. People need to stop with the judgment. Just stop.

How incredibly weird to pack and bring a lunch to an event like this.

Anonymous wrote:The worst food on here is:

bacon - too fatty
juice - too sugary
possibly the slice of pizza, but it depends what's on it and how the dough is made - usually too fatty from oil, but at least it's vegetable oil

So you lose, OP

And we don’t know if OP’s yogurt is flavored and sandwich is on white bread with processed meat

I just had pizza for dinner and left the crust. Is that a problem?

OP better be careful because you won't have any parent friends soon because you're so judgmental and rude.

Also, I don't know why people don't understand this, but even if it was appropriate to weigh in on your friends' parenting here (it's not), you can't evaluate how someone is feeding their kid based on what they feed them on an outing with other people. It's very normal to bring extra snacks and give your kid more indulgent food during an outing when they are 3. At that age, kids can really struggle with changes to routine and one way to get the best possible outcome is to ensure that their blood sugar doesn't dip. My kid gets a lot more snacks and I'm more lenient about what they eat when we are out with friends for the day. Recently we went to a wedding and she ate yogurt, tortilla chips, strawberries, and two pieces of cake. Is that what I normally feed my kid? Not even close. Did I care that day? Not at all -- she was happy and the day went great.

Anonymous wrote:We didn’t discuss food-our husbands arranged this. I assumed she would pack lunch.

I guess you shouldn't assume.

Anonymous wrote:I see a few issues here.

One is that popcorn isn't a safe snack for 3 year olds.

But beyond that, OP is teaching her kid some horrible habits. Bacon, eggs, yogurt, toast and juice is a really unbalanced breakfast. Maybe once in a while for a treat, but kids should be getting fruit or veggies with every meal, and then lunch didn't sound much better. Plus kids should be eating every few hours. A single, sit down snack between meals, especially with fruit and whole grains, is a great way to help kids learn portion control, get some nutrition in, and arrive at meals hungry but not starving which is ideal.

Her friend made much better choices, other than the popcorn. Her kid drank water instead of juice. He had three servings of fruit and veggies (apples, apples and the tomato sauce) plus any at breakfast, instead of zero. He's learning that it's OK to have a treat like pizza in a special circumstances, and because his mother isn't controlling he listened to his own body and stopped when he was full rather than overeating it, even though it was a treat food. He isn't in the situation of watching other people have a snack while not getting one, which is likely to cause disordered eating in the future. Other than the popcorn, it sounds like that mom is doing all the right things.

Correct.

^, also, you lose in the manners department, if you actually responded to someone offering your kid a snack that you gave your kid "a proper breakfast". Extremely rude, because you're implying she did not.

It's all relative.

How active/busy they're morning was, how long have they been awake for, etc

I see a few issues here.

One is that popcorn isn't a safe snack for 3 year olds.

But beyond that, OP is teaching her kid some horrible habits. Bacon, eggs, yogurt, toast and juice is a really unbalanced breakfast. Maybe once in a while for a treat, but kids should be getting fruit or veggies with every meal, and then lunch didn't sound much better. Plus kids should be eating every few hours. A single, sit down snack between meals, especially with fruit and whole grains, is a great way to help kids learn portion control, get some nutrition in, and arrive at meals hungry but not starving which is ideal.

Her friend made much better choices, other than the popcorn. Her kid drank water instead of juice. He had three servings of fruit and veggies (apples, apples and the tomato sauce) plus any at breakfast, instead of zero. He's learning that it's OK to have a treat like pizza in a special circumstances, and because his mother isn't controlling he listened to his own body and stopped when he was full rather than overeating it, even though it was a treat food. He isn't in the situation of watching other people have a snack while not getting one, which is likely to cause disordered eating in the future. Other than the popcorn, it sounds like that mom is doing all the right things.

The worst food on here is:

bacon - too fatty
juice - too sugary
possibly the slice of pizza, but it depends what's on it and how the dough is made - usually too fatty from oil, but at least it's vegetable oil

So you lose, OP

OP your kid will have clogged arteries by 18 eating your proper breakfast.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Apple slices and popcorn at 9:30??? How is that okay?

How are apple slices and popcorn a problem at any hour of the day?

Maybe the kid has been awaje since 6am in which case 3 hrs later (930am) he might want a light snack especially if breakfast was light.

Anonymous wrote:Did you really, actually, say out loud that you gave your son a “proper” breakfast?

Yeah you are judgemental and mean.

+1 This is exactly what I was going to say!