Do we really need special products for kids

So I guess first of all, the good news-DH and I actually found a restaurant that bans children under 18 and is part of an establishment does so with a sign that includes a sign that has a stroller with the big red circle with the diagonal slash meaning "no" through it (and they mean nobody under 18, not no strollers). Anyway, I am pleased to say the place was packed even at 9 when we had our reservation. So yay for CF - ness actually paying off.
Anyway, my rant for the early morning is why, aside from making money, is there a need for brat products. Things I get being brat friendly are medication doses, toys, TV shows, movies and any product designed only for kyds like strollers. Things I don't really grasp needing to be kyd - friendly? Toothpaste, mouthwash, yogurt, any fast food product or any food product for that matter. Whatever happened to just eating what was served?
I don't think kyds can't have food preferences or things they don't want to eat but that doesn't mean kyds need a special menu or products from the rest of the family. For example, I hate peas and green beans. On days either of these were served I learned to say "no thank-you" and either do without or discreetly make myself a salad at home. I hear and read moos and duhs who have kyds who won't eat foods of certain temperatures, colors, food groups and other categories. Instead of telling them they can prepare their own meal or better yet, put them in charge of meal prep, breeders bend of over backward to accommodate all the dietary preferences. I just can't imagine doing this in a house where four to six different preferences were being humored. Geez. I'd probably buy a jar of peanut butter, some lunch meat and bread and tell everybody to make their own.

My guess would be is that it is mostly about money. Aside from baby formula and baby food, I don't know that there is a true need for the other stuff, but, kids are big money generators it why why corporate world loves them.

Techie's right: it's about money. Parents will spend money for kid stuff if they can be convinced it's better and/or necessary. Thus I've seen ridiculous items "specialized" for kids...padlocks, tupperware containers, kleenex, toilet paper, silverware, frozen dinners, produce (Disney red delicious apples, I shit you not), and numerous other things. If I wanted to make millions, I'd sit around coming up with specialized "kid" designs on already-existing products.

Oh, and this is the perfect example of why marketers don't really bother pitching specifically to CF people...they can't create extra "CF needs" the way they can create extra "kid needs".

In the household I grew up in, my parents' rule was: if you don't like what was served for dinner tonight, you get to make the next one. And it worked. Not only did we grow up eating what was served to us (with a few notable exceptions, like okra), but both Kid Brother and I grew up to be exceptionally good cooks. We took Mom up on the "you get to make the next meal" challenge as soon as we were old enough to operate the stove safely.

Also, the "kid-friendly foods" thing has only been around for about fifteen, twenty years. Prior to that, kids pretty much ate what their parents ate...which is the case in most of the world. Picky eaters are made, not born.

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randomcfchick
Oh, and this is the perfect example of why marketers don't really bother pitching specifically to CF people...they can't create extra "CF needs" the way they can create extra "kid needs".

Exactly! The CF don't need all the escapism and convenience that moos and duhs do. We can cook at home if we choose so dining out tends to be a treat, unless we hate to cook. Especially since we are virtually guaranteed a certain amount of peace by eating in where we may have to deal with screaming children if out in public. We aren't the main market for vacations because we aren't a famblee with loafs and most of our recharging is probably happening in our days off. Many vacation spots cater to famblees. We're much less likely to be serious consumers as we don't have growing loaf demands and hobbies to deal with. Doubt many of us trade in our cars for minivans either! I'd guess few moos/duhs go without cable tv.

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freya

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randomcfchick
Oh, and this is the perfect example of why marketers don't really bother pitching specifically to CF people...they can't create extra "CF needs" the way they can create extra "kid needs".

Exactly! The CF don't need all the escapism and convenience that moos and duhs do. We can cook at home if we choose so dining out tends to be a treat, unless we hate to cook. Especially since we are virtually guaranteed a certain amount of peace by eating in where we may have to deal with screaming children if out in public. We aren't the main market for vacations because we aren't a famblee with loafs and most of our recharging is probably happening in our days off. Many vacation spots cater to famblees. We're much less likely to be serious consumers as we don't have growing loaf demands and hobbies to deal with. Doubt many of us trade in our cars for minivans either! I'd guess few moos/duhs go without cable tv.

That's literally my life in a nutshell ^^^

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catharsist
That's literally my life in a nutshell ^^^

It is a good life, I wouldn't trade it.

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skyeyes
In the household I grew up in, my parents' rule was: if you don't like what was served for dinner tonight, you get to make the next one. And it worked.

Jealous! Saved my allowance for a month to buy my first cookbook in the 4th grade. Wasn't allowed to make dinner which would have been one "chore" I would have enjoyed.

According to the bellowing lacto-herd, we totally need special products for kids. As well as special foods, special places, special privileges, special realities... and if you don't like it, you're selfish! Moooo!!

I'd say money is the only reason. Sure, it can be said that kyd products are meant to cater to shrieking sensory-problem tards, but even that relates back to the core reason. In short, companies know that breeders are spineless suckers who will gladly throw money away to shut their brats up, either to end an earth-shattering tantrum halfway through grocery shopping or to make the child's birthday/Christmas/etc. "magical". You take a popular cartoon character and turn it into a fruit snack or immortalize it in cheap plastic and idiot breeders will empty their wallets in half a heartbeat.

Plus, businesses know that the average breeder won't even try to make their kids eat normal food because parents tend to assume that all kids are picky eaters and won't be interested in real food. They'll just automatically buy special kid slop like kiddy TV dinners, Lunchables, character-based snacks, chicken nuggets in the shape of dinosaurs or fast food meals with toys.

So no, we don't need special kid products, but since breeders and their money (or taxpayer money) are easily parted for the sake of the almighty brat, countless child-friendly items are churned out on a regular basis and companies make fortunes off such products.

Some of these special products for kids, especially foods, backfire anyway. Remember Heinz ketchup in different colors for the kiddies? From the dreaded Wikipedia:

"In 2000, Heinz introduced colored ketchup products called EZ Squirt, which were targeted towards young children.[6] The product was available in a squeezable container and was eventually discontinued in 2006. Green, purple, pink, orange, teal, and blue colored ketchups were also available for a limited time."

Saw some of these colored ketchups in Big Lots a few years back. They gathered dust on the shelves.

Unless a real allergy is apparent, I'm of the old school that says that kids eat what's put in front of them, period, if it's regular food that everyone else in the family is eating. We cater to the rugrats too goddamned much today.

Something that people apparently don't get is that if a child is hungry enough, it will eat anything. A usual creature will not starve itself for comfort. The only exception is anorexia, the people who starve themselves to get away from discomfort, a mental ailment that requires therapy and care. Children are not developed in the mind enough to understand the intricacies of the body politic, so in that sense, anything that young that starves itself is STOOPID.

That's why I don't understand why women take the rag off when BFing because they "won't eat with the towel on". I assure you, if your lil' squealin' is hungry enough, it will eat anything to escape the gnawing hunger, in any condition, even under a dreaded towel (or in a box with a fox). People apparently believe that survival instincts are kaput. Eating is NOT going out of style!

This whole conversation reminds me of that stupid door handle cover so kids can bash their heads in *safely*. Most kid friendly things are for tards. If our ancestors could work at 5 years old in fucking textile mills, your child can fucking SUCK IT UP.

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Cambion

Plus, businesses know that the average breeder won't even try to make their kids eat normal food because parents tend to assume that all kids are picky eaters and won't be interested in real food. They'll just automatically buy special kid slop like kiddy TV dinners, Lunchables, character-based snacks, chicken nuggets in the shape of dinosaurs or fast food meals with toys.

Buyers of TV dinners Lunchables, character-based snacks, chicken nuggets in the shape of dinosaurs or fast food meals with toys are people who are lazy alright. Either lazy or ignorant. Ignorant Moos are mystified as of how to put a basic meal together in the kitchen day in and day out. Lazy Moos just want to toss it in the microwave, ding, and into brat's mouth.

Sad.

+++++++++++++

Passive Aggressive
Master Of Anti-brat
Excuses!

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evilchildlessbitch
I hear and read moos and duhs who have kyds who won't eat foods of certain temperatures, colors, food groups and other categories.

Well, obviously, these chuyldwen are awwwtistic! Yesterday's picky eater is today's awwwtism victim/survivor/hero, and special accommodations/products/options must be made available, of course. eyes2