Question about kids health?

2»

Replies

  • Courtscan2
    Courtscan2 Posts: 499 Member
    My daughters (8 and 11) are both similarly motivated by food. They love to eat, want food rewards for everything, and are quite capable of telling me they are hungry while still chewing on a meal. As a result, my husband and I are probably slightly too controlling of food, but it does feel like a constant battle against obesity at our house. Luckily my youngest is a soccer machine who doesn't stop moving, so she is getting away with it for the moment - she is pure muscle and has an itty bitty 8 year old six pack.

    My 11 year old, however, would rather sit and read than move, and is getting too old to force to go "play outside". If I do, she'll just sit on the front porch and quietly hate me. She's never been overweight, but has been starting to develop a bit of a belly, so while I'm tending to think it's normal pre pubescent chub that tends to go once she starts to develop, I've also started talking to her about taking responsibility for her choices, and the impact that her choices will have on her well-being and her body. Of course I've shied away from saying "fat" or alluding to being overweight, but she's a smart girl and has noticed some of her friends are starting to get a bit tubby. Since we've been talking about this I have noticed she is being much more mindful in her food choices, goes out of her way to eat veggies, and will tell me that she is paying more attention to when she is full and stops eating at that point. She still has some problems with self control around junk food - but she IS still a kid, so I step in when I need to, but am otherwise pretty happy with how she is learning about mindfulness and thoughtful food choices to ensure she remains fit and healthy.

    And as for activity, she is pretty sedentary but has recently expressed interest in weight lifting and telling me she wants to be "strong" so there is hope there as well.
  • kenyonhaff
    kenyonhaff Posts: 1,377 Member
    seltzermint555 wrote: »
    kenyonhaff wrote: »
    seltzermint555 wrote: »
    NovusDies wrote: »
    If the weight is not a concern then set up a table and chair in the barn and tell her if she wants a treat she can eat it out there. Make that the only place she can get the really good treats unless it is a special occasion, bad weather, or night. She sees walking as a negative so make walking and being outside have a reward attached to it. It will either dampen her food obsession or it will encourage her to be outside more. It might even do a little of both.

    Please don't do this. It's creepy and strange!

    I think it depends on the barn. There's the nasty run down dirty barns and there are really nice barns. The high school I work at had prom in a renovated barn last year...

    It's not the barn thing. It's the idea of having to meet specific obstacles (like walking to a designated snack area in a barn) to be "rewarded" with food. The whole idea, to me, just seems like something that will come out in a tell-all autobiography thirty years later. Nope.

    I see what you're saying. And you're not wrong, either.

    I think the main idea is to make treats not a simple matter of getting from the cupboard or fridge and eating it. Putting some "speed bumps" into the process of obtaining a treat DOES help reduce consumption. For example, yes, we can have brownies but we're going to make them from a mix rather than just picking up brownies from the store. Or instead of having ice cream in the house, we get ice cream from the store. (Or even better walk or bike to it) The idea is to make healthy snacks easy to get, but it takes some work to get once-in-a-while treats. I'm not sure eating in the barn is the best way to implement this idea, but I think that was the idea.

Categories