Parents of Young Kids - Do You Tell Them About MFP?

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  • megomerrett
    megomerrett Posts: 442 Member
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    Francl27 my 8 yo isn't dieting. Or was that someone else? Of_Monsters_And_Meat it is hard when they're under 5 but our dog makes sure my 3 year old joins us on lots of walks and scooter riding! It's also about seeing his dad play rugby and his siblings have active hobbies - makes it all part of normal life.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    My daughter is 7. She sees me log in MFP. I've never really made a big deal out of it. She did ask why I write down what I eat and I told her that I have had trouble not eating healthy in the past so I do it to be sure I don't do that again. She actually didn't realize that I was losing weight until I had lost a lot. One day we were looking at pictures and I showed her one from an activity we had done right before I started losing weight. Her eyes got really big because it had *just* hit her that I look a lot different now.
  • laura3977
    laura3977 Posts: 191 Member
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    I have a 2.5 year old daughter and I used to worry so much about her eating. Is she eating enough? Why did she only take a few bites? Does she not like it? and would stress about it. My husband, who had zero issues with food, kept saying "if she's hungry, she'll eat".

    Before starting MFP I realized that I was the one with the issue and decided that I needed to make a change on myself to make sure I didn't transfer any onto her. I have tried extremely hard to not talk about losing weight or my disapproval of my body around her. I get our plates ready before bringing them to the table so I can weigh and measure while she's not around, I prepare all my meals for the next day once she has gone to bed, etc. I know she is still quite young but like many have said, it's AMAZING a the stuff they pick up on.

    Also, when she starts playing with her food I ask her if she is done and she says "done!" and even if there is food still left on the plate, I take it away. Before that used to drive me insane BUT I don't want to interrupt the messages her little body is sending her by forcing her to "take one more bite"
  • HaleysHeartfeltJourney
    HaleysHeartfeltJourney Posts: 27 Member
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    I have a 5, 3, and 9 month old. They don't notice the calorie counting because I keep it to myself and on MFP and I portion control which they haven't picked up on, but they love watching me on the treadmill and have asked why I exercise and I just tell them to be healthy, I don't mention that I need to lose 50lbs lol. But my older two are into exercising because the tv channel they watch has them get up every thirty minutes to do fun "exercises" for about a minute and they try to do push ups and sit ups for fun lol. Its not bad for kids to know about fitness but I would never let them diet and I don't talk about losing weight or dieting with, or near them. I just say Mommy's exercising to be healthy and that I like to exercise so I do it. Its sufficient enough for them.
  • LeneBrandt2014
    LeneBrandt2014 Posts: 1 Member
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    My kids are 5 and 7 and they see me use MFP and sometimes weigh my foods. I tell them I do it to make sure I get all the things my body needs.

    I've explained to them that food is like Lego bricks (Huge Lego fans at our house) and foods contains different kinds of bricks and you need a little of each kind. So I use MFP to make sure I get all my "Lego bricks" so to speak. We also talk about this in relation to fruits and veg (which is not their favorites) how they contain some pretty darn cool Lego bricks to make our body strong.

    I grew up with a mum constantly dieting and disliking her appearence. It was always "Bad food" and "good food" and this or that fad diet. I want my children to have a healthy relationship with great foods to make their bodies strong with the occasional snack to have the right balance.

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