Give them a food complex or teach them a value of a calorie?

inertiastrength

So on weekends my kids have a "budget" of 150 calories; they can pick whatever they want from our treat cupboard. I don't know how many calories they eat, but I thought it would be a good idea to show them that a) things have calories and b) depending on what you pick you could get more or less etc. Yay or nay? They're 7 & 8

Packerjohn

Looks like a good plan. Depending on their level of understanding you could do the actual calories as you suggest or you could have 3 or 4 "buckets" or categories. Each item in a bucket would be a certain number of points. They could have x number of points in total which would be about 150 calories. Similar to the WW model.

Learning budgeting is a life skill, be it food or money.

Lounmoun

I think it would not cause a complex if you treat it as science experiment or budgeting lesson with discussion on the different choices and how they feel about them rather than strict rules about eating only x number of calories.

Do they get to choose what goes in the treat cupboard in the first place or is it your decision what gets stocked there?
You might vary items like dried fruit, nuts, wasabi peas, crackers, vegetable chips, applesauce cups, pudding cups, graham crackers, granola bars to compare to the chips and candy calories. You could discuss what foods satisfy them more for that amount of calories.

I would probably get out the food scale and immediately work with them to divide things into 150 calorie packs to store in the cupboard so they can right off see the differences in what they would get for their allotted calories.

FreyasRebirth

If they eat normally the rest of the time, I doubt it would harm them to have a calorie budget for a weekend snack.

heiliskrimsli

Why would teaching them about a calorie budget (and not just for weekend treats, but for everything) be any more damaging than teaching them about money?

kikih64

I think it's a great idea to teach kids about food value and choices. I guess I'd just be careful to not think of it as a reward to go to the snack cupboard. Nutrition is something everyone should learn at an early age!

heiliskrimsli

JerSchmare wrote: »

heiliskrimsli wrote: »

Why would teaching them about a calorie budget (and not just for weekend treats, but for everything) be any more damaging than teaching them about money?

Two important topics that are taboo, for some stupid reason. No idea why.

And both are important things for an adult to know how to do.

Luna3386

I struggle with these because I didn't know what a calorie was when I went to college. No joke. I couldn't understand why I was getting so fat. I went to the gym everyday​!!!!

But I'm also glad I wasn't obsessed with calories. Both calories in and calories out.

How to find the middle ground? I personally don't mention calories to my kids yet, but I try to teach eating foods that make you healthy or strong. And let's have a treat- but just 1.

I do plan on doing more of a lesson on nutrition and lifting when they are older.

ugofatcat

I think it is a good idea.

What do you think about showing them what calories are? There are some good videos on youtube. I think teaching kids that calories are just a measure of energy, that your body uses energy to survive, that food has energy, and that too much energy causes weight gain, while too little energy causes weight loss is a good physics lesson.

princess0lexi

i think it is a good idea, it may help them learn about calories and other things that are in what they choose

U2R2

I think it's an excellent idea. Perhaps work the relationship of calories and nutrition into the conversation. For example, explain why even though they may need to eat xxxx calories to fuel their activities, it would not be a good idea to eat a big bowl of those M&Ms to do so.

AlabasterVerve

Whatever you do to successfully manage your weight is what you teach your kids, IMO. So if you maintain your weight by picking out a calorie controlled treat on the weekends absolutely teach them that. If that's not what you do but you think it would be a good idea for them? It's probably not.

inertiastrength

AlabasterVerve wrote: »

Whatever you do to successfully manage your weight is what you teach your kids, IMO. So if you maintain your weight by picking out a calorie controlled treat on the weekends absolutely teach them that. If that's not what you do but you think it would be a good idea for them? It's probably not.

I do it a little more often because I track my macros daily. Since I don't really KNOW if my kids can afford to do this daily, nor am I about to start logging their macros lol, I'm going to stick to weekends. I agree with you!

born_of_fire74

I wish I had learned CICO when I was a kid. I spent a lot of years eating good, healthy food while fit and plenty active but frustrated that I could not get my weight under control because I was simply eating too much. Based on my experience, I think you're doing your kids a humongous favour.

prattiger65

I am a big fan of letting people parent their kids how they want. I may not agree, but it ain't my business. For my kid, 12yo boy, we talk about a balanced diet, we talk about about what macro nutrients are, we talk about goals and how you eat to fuel to succeed. We don't talk about calories in that context. I don't have a problem with the OP's method, but I would never do it. We don't demonize food, we don't treat food as rewards nor punishment. It's food, fuel. It is my belief, and I may be totally alone in it, that if I teach my son that he needs proper protein and why, he needs proper fats, what they are and why, that carbs aren't evil, how they work and too many will crowd out others, he will be fine. He is also a smart kid, if I lay it out, he will pick it up.

amusedmonkey

I think you are doing them good. I learned about calories in school and it stuck with me. It was my favorite teacher and she made it very interesting. Yes, I got fat, but I knew exactly why I was fat and I didn't care. Even after years of not caring, that basic knowledge was what helped me avoid the frustration of yoyo dieting. When I finally decided to lose weight it was the first thing I sought. No crash diets, no arbitrary rules, just the memory of how simple and fun it was playing with calories at school with my favorite teacher, trying to fit pictures of food items from the pyramid (back then it was still a pyramid) sized according to calories into a cardboard box so that they don't overlap and seeing all the possibilities you could have if you just arrange them right. Had it been a "don't eat candy" kind of lesson, I may not have retained that memory so fondly.

And here I am, successful after the first try because the "food box" made more sense to me than all the fad diets around. And that was just a teacher. I'm pretty sure your kids will remember this practical lesson even better coming from a parent. Even if they rebel at some point, at least you know you have done your best to give them the best tool for the job if they ever need it.

Chef_Barbell

prattiger65 wrote: »

I am a big fan of letting people parent their kids how they want. I may not agree, but it ain't my business. For my kid, 12yo boy, we talk about a balanced diet, we talk about about what macro nutrients are, we talk about goals and how you eat to fuel to succeed. We don't talk about calories in that context. I don't have a problem with the OP's method, but I would never do it. We don't demonize food, we don't treat food as rewards nor punishment. It's food, fuel. It is my belief, and I may be totally alone in it, that if I teach my son that he needs proper protein and why, he needs proper fats, what they are and why, that carbs aren't evil, how they work and too many will crowd out others, he will be fine. He is also a smart kid, if I lay it out, he will pick it up.

All of this for me. This method would not work for my family.

Sp1tfire

I think the idea of

Packerjohn wrote: »

Looks like a good plan. Depending on their level of understanding you could do the actual calories as you suggest or you could have 3 or 4 "buckets" or categories. Each item in a bucket would be a certain number of points. They could have x number of points in total which would be about 150 calories. Similar to the WW model.

Learning budgeting is a life skill, be it food or money.

This sounds like a fun way to introduce them to it, without putting calories exactly out yet. Then they may get excited when they find out they can have like 2 of their favorite kind of apple rather than 1/4 of a chocolate bar. I'm in college and I still weigh my choices kinda like that. Do I want 1 small churro or 3 small granny smith apples? I'd rather have the apples because they're more filling and still sweet! Plus I get three, and I can space out when I eat them so I feel like i'm getting more.

Niki_Fitz

It seems ok to me. I understand why you asked the question though. For example being around low-fat-obsessed coaches as a middle schooler gave me that low fat complex at a young age. Calories are great, but kids shouldn't have to worry about them. Are they having fun with it? Do they seem "off" about any part of the process? It could be a fun game they will learn from.