Difficult teenagers

[JuzaMum]

My older two sons have put up with having the only mother in the world who won't buy Nestle products or take them to McDonalds (everyone else does don't they?) for years. Since having my third son (2) I have become 'greener' or at least try to live a better way. I have horrified my eldest son (17) by breastfeeding and continue to offend him with other lifestyle choices. My homemade jam he has declared 'stupid' and refused to eat, middle son (14) has given in and tried it after a month of no shop bought jam appearing! Seasonal vegetables are in fact a form of child abuse. Do other parents face such resistance and how do they deal with it.

JuzaMum

[battybird]

Oh dear, they have to rebel about something dont they?? I am amazed at how mine changed when they became consumers themselves!! Suddenly cost conscious and concerned about where their food came from! My middle son who considered vegetables poison now cooks and eats most veg and actually complains if he does not have enough veg on his plate when he eats with us!! I tried (did not always succeed) to stay calm and not be confrontational when they critisised my choices. Basically while you are paying they fall in with the choices or buy their own...its not like they are suffering hardship!!
Hang on in there...its a short phase (seems ages while its happening though!).

[Green Aura]

No Nestle in this house either - but my daughter was totally up for it after I explained why. She's 25 on Sunday and hasn't had any since she was 6 or 7 (at that age she didn't really notice). Except of course when we slip up because they buy companies and add their logo in teeny tiny writing - like Buxton water.

I have to admit to the occasional MacDs but rarely.

I don't know how to advise really - in time they'll realise you've given them a really good grounding but adolescence can be so hard in these consumer-mad times.

Just carry on, he's not going to come to any harm doing without a bit of jam. Be firm and resolute but don't provoke any confrontations - generally good ideas with any teenagers.

[Milims]

I have teenogers too - they aren't easy and it's not just over food -try telling a 14 year old girl that the carp that she is slathering all over her face is poisoning her and destroying the habitats of orangutangs! So we have a simple rule - if I pay for it you put up with it - if you don' like it buy it yourself.
You can always make them watch things like "5 Disgusting Foods" that was just on BBC3 - truly vomit inducing.
After that it's a case of smile sweetly and hope that the drip feed rubs off.
Good luck

[NaturalBlue]

So we have a simple rule - if I pay for it you put up with it - if you don' like it buy it yourself.

That's how it works in my house too! My boys are 10 and 8 - I did the explanations, I did the "looks there's lots of things here you DO like", I've tried the lot and ended up with 'you can spend your money how you choose, but when it's my money I will use it as responsibly as I reasonably can!
My 2 year old daughter currently is going mad for jelly tots, but she's still easy to distract with chocolate....
I doo miss KitKats sometimes though and I do wonder what the next few years will bring...
X

[boboff]

Umm, teenagers, scrary stuff.
Ours are 10 & 8 as well as Blue's.
I don't buy jam, but I buy chocolate spread and Peanut butter, I like peanut butter and jam on toast on occassion.
I am too shallow to boycott anyone, but believe we have to make a choice each time we spend money, unfortunately my moto is if its cheapest its best!
You will have got some of your beliefs through to your kids, and any 17 year old with a 2 year old brother is going to be feeling a bit "rebelious" If its only tutting over Jam and Gold Blend, I reckon you have got it pretty much fantastically right, Respect!

[snapdragon]

Ditto what battybird said

of a sudden my lads, now both married and living a long way from home (I wonder why?? ??) ask advice on 'all that hippy stuff'

[Rosendula]

I ditto Battybird too, and would like to add that my eldest daughter was so wasteful when she lived here. In a morning she would get a huge bowl (which I sometimes use as a small mixing bowl), fill it with cereals, drown them in milk, then eat the cereals and pour the milk down the drain. Since she moved out, the amount of milk I buy has reduced from 30 pints a week to 16 pints a week. If I bought a multi-pack of crisps, no-one else got a look in, then she couldn't finish her meals because she was 'stuffed' and so threw the good food away. Now she's left home, she hardly touches crisps, eats toast instead of cereals (note to self: nag at her more to make sure she's keeping her calcium levels topped up), and no longer gets through a huge bar of chocolate and/or packet of chocolate biscuits every day like she did here (though she bought those herself).

It's not just food. When she lived here, her bedroom was a tip, she never did anything to help around the house, and she left rubbish and dirty pots all over the place. Yet, despite moving into the dirtiest house I have ever seen, she now has it spotless, and it's pretty much all her own doing!

We stopped buying Nestle at my eldest daughter's request when she was about 13. Her older brother never complained, but still bought Nestle himself. We don't go to McD's and they've never complained, although they do go there themselves occasionally. I took my 4.5YO to McD's a couple of weeks ago to satisfy her curiosity and to show her what an awful place it is - and it was awful. Really busy, no tables. We had to queue with the food on the tray until a table became free. So I thought, "ha, she won't want to come back here", but no! Just as we left, LO announced, "I want to LIVE here!"

But yes, as boboff said:

You will have got some of your beliefs through to your kids, and any 17 year old with a 2 year old brother is going to be feeling a bit "rebelious" If its only tutting over Jam and Gold Blend, I reckon you have got it pretty much fantastically right, Respect!

I totally agree.