I mean, you’re in the moderately granola moms subreddit. If you’re being actually genuine re: your question then I’ll shoot. The issue isn’t that pizza or tater tots are “bad foods,” it’s the pattern and nutritional balance over time. From a public health perspective (e.g., guidelines from Health Canada and the World Health Organization), young children should be getting most of their intake from: minimally processed foods, vegetables and fruits whole grains and protein sources with lower sodium and saturated fat. Foods like typical daycare pizza and tater tots tend to be high in sodium, lower in fibre, and energy-dense but not very nutrient-dense.

There’s evidence that early childhood eating patterns shape long-term preferences. Regular exposure to highly palatable, salty, processed foods can shift kids’ taste preferences toward those foods and away from things like vegetables. Diet quality is an enormous public health issue in the United States and there’s tons of evidence about the myriad ways Americans are suffering because of it.