Teaching children about weight and nutrition

WeepingAngel81

First off OP, bravo for being concerned enough to ask these questions. We don't know your household circumstances, only what you have offered here. I didn't have these similr concerns until recently. My daughter is 8 and I have split custody with her dad. 50/50 every other week. Our food choices are very different and she is starting to recognize this. There are some parents out there who seem to have all the answer and know the perfect way to parent. I am not one of them. I struggle. I use "bad" terms around my kids. Not on purpose, but if my daughter asks me a question at random, I answer and don't always choose my words wisely. At that point I find myself clarifying for her. It doesn't help when the schools are constantly talking about the childhood obesity weight here in Lincoln and pushing to reduce it. This is good and bad because then it brings my concerns to the front of my mind wondering if everything I say or do is somehow sabotaging my daughter's health.

In the end I just need to remember that all I can do is answer her questions as honestly as possible and to lead my life in a way that will show her that exercise is fun. I was so worried when I started to work out and eat better that she would end up becoming obsessed with it. I think this was me projecting my own fears of failure on to her. I was obsessed therefore I was afraid she would be as well.

As many other people have mentioned, lead by example, but remember that not one thing you do or say will ruin her weight and nutrition forever. Encourage her to be active by playing with her. Teach her good eating habits in how you eat. Most of all just enjoy her! Don't over think it and enjoy these moments while she is still little. They don't last long!

ldrosophila

All due respect but...It's our responsibility as parents to teach our children about right food choices, bodily exercise, and over all health. Leading by example should be #1 and never letting your child use the "fat" word but this world is waaay too full of obese people, and I feel it's my responsibility to teach my child about this. I was allowed to eat an entire bag of chips and soda for a snack and was told it was acceptable. It's not...because though I was a thin teenager by the time I was 20...I was almost 200lbs., and had high blood pressure, cholesterol, and was near being diabetic. No one taught me, and over the past 10 years I realize how much easier thing would have been on me had someone showed me "the way". I'm proud of my 100lb. weight loss, and the fact I have a passion for fitness but as long as my kids live in my house they'll live our way. Still plenty of time for other fun activities but so as long as I buy the food...they'll eat what they're given. Why wouldn't anyone want that for their child?

my Mom was the opposite she was obsessed with "healthy food" no white sugar, no white wheat, no cookies, no chocolate, no cake...EVER! When I had more independence and money I went straight to the forbidden food, and quickly fell into the binge cycle. I'm sure there is a balance between teaching moderation and healthful eating habits.

DawnieB1977

But I think my friends on the whole must be pretty extreme with their kids because they do not give them pudding cups, frozen chicken nuggets, etc...and they would never allow full-size chocolate bars unless it was a special occasion - and definitely not for a 3 yr old, ever. Are my friends that unusual in this?

Yep, I'm Weird too then! I've never, ever made chicken nuggets. In fact, they had them at my son's after school club, and he refused to eat them. Actually, he refuses to eat any snacks there. My kids have never been to McDonald's or KFC, Burger King etc.

No idea what a pudding cup is. They've never had a full size choc bar.

abickford82

All due respect but...It's our responsibility as parents to teach our children about right food choices, bodily exercise, and over all health. Leading by example should be #1 and never letting your child use the "fat" word but this world is waaay too full of obese people, and I feel it's my responsibility to teach my child about this. I was allowed to eat an entire bag of chips and soda for a snack and was told it was acceptable. It's not...because though I was a thin teenager by the time I was 20...I was almost 200lbs., and had high blood pressure, cholesterol, and was near being diabetic. No one taught me, and over the past 10 years I realize how much easier thing would have been on me had someone showed me "the way". I'm proud of my 100lb. weight loss, and the fact I have a passion for fitness but as long as my kids live in my house they'll live our way. Still plenty of time for other fun activities but so as long as I buy the food...they'll eat what they're given. Why wouldn't anyone want that for their child?

my Mom was the opposite she was obsessed with "healthy food" no white sugar, no white wheat, no cookies, no chocolate, no cake...EVER! When I had more independence and money I went straight to the forbidden food, and quickly fell into the binge cycle. I'm sure there is a balance between teaching moderation and healthful eating habits.

Exactly! I still eat donuts, go to taco bell...last night we even had a pizza, and my breakfast was left over breadsticks. There has to be a balance. You can't be so out of control either. Just have to eat healthy most of the time.

twixlepennie

But I think my friends on the whole must be pretty extreme with their kids because they do not give them pudding cups, frozen chicken nuggets, etc...and they would never allow full-size chocolate bars unless it was a special occasion - and definitely not for a 3 yr old, ever. Are my friends that unusual in this?

Yep, I'm Weird too then! I've never, ever made chicken nuggets. In fact, they had them at my son's after school club, and he refused to eat them. Actually, he refuses to eat any snacks there. My kids have never been to McDonald's or KFC, Burger King etc.

No idea what a pudding cup is. They've never had a full size choc bar.

It's pudding in a disposable container that's easy to transport-my kids had them today in their lunches

LVCeltGirl

First off OP, bravo for being concerned enough to ask these questions. We don't know your household circumstances, only what you have offered here. I didn't have these similr concerns until recently. My daughter is 8 and I have split custody with her dad. 50/50 every other week. Our food choices are very different and she is starting to recognize this. There are some parents out there who seem to have all the answer and know the perfect way to parent. I am not one of them. I struggle. I use "bad" terms around my kids. Not on purpose, but if my daughter asks me a question at random, I answer and don't always choose my words wisely. At that point I find myself clarifying for her. It doesn't help when the schools are constantly talking about the childhood obesity weight here in Lincoln and pushing to reduce it. This is good and bad because then it brings my concerns to the front of my mind wondering if everything I say or do is somehow sabotaging my daughter's health.

In the end I just need to remember that all I can do is answer her questions as honestly as possible and to lead my life in a way that will show her that exercise is fun. I was so worried when I started to work out and eat better that she would end up becoming obsessed with it. I think this was me projecting my own fears of failure on to her. I was obsessed therefore I was afraid she would be as well.

As many other people have mentioned, lead by example, but remember that not one thing you do or say will ruin her weight and nutrition forever. Encourage her to be active by playing with her. Teach her good eating habits in how you eat. Most of all just enjoy her! Don't over think it and enjoy these moments while she is still little. They don't last long!

Agree!!!! I'm learning this too with the different parenting styles between my ex-husband and myself when it comes to my 8 year old boy. I'm the one more likely to allow fast food and moderation or exercise for the fast food "treat" but his dad and dad's new g/f are more encouraging for dessert (usually sugar) nightly when he's there. I just have to teach by example and be honest with him. Otherwise, I'm just trying to enjoy my time with him.

seltzermint555

But I think my friends on the whole must be pretty extreme with their kids because they do not give them pudding cups, frozen chicken nuggets, etc...and they would never allow full-size chocolate bars unless it was a special occasion - and definitely not for a 3 yr old, ever. Are my friends that unusual in this?

If so, then, I'm unusual, also. My daughter (2.5 years old) only gets frozen chicken nuggets at school (go sucky daycares in Texas--I can't find a single one that doesn't serve frozen garbage, and they all think corn is a veggie. *facepalm*). We don't serve that type of stuff at home (although, we're not perfect, either--we DO try to cook most nights) and she certainly doesn't eat entire pudding cups or full-size chocolate bars ever. She's allowed sweets, in small portions. At birthday parties, she's totally allowed to have cake and pizza, that sort of thing, but she still has water with her meal. So, yeah, if that's weird; count me in.

Just to clarify I don't consider my friends "weird" nor would I call you weird :-)

But I have a pretty wide circle of friends, and they all seem to be on the same page about certain things. For example none of them would let their preschooler drink soda. Same with the full size chocolate bars and stuff. I think of my friends as pretty moderate people but then to come into this thread and read a lot of the stuff people are feeding their kids, and another recent thread about packing school lunches...I was floored and it made me think my friends are much more "extreme" but in my opinion, that's a good thing.

The other thread...I can't seem to find it so I won't be totally accurate in my description but I think someone there described a school lunch with graham crackers, yogurt, PB&J, and fruit snacks...or something along those lines which sounded like a bunch of desserts to me LOL

cmeiron

i make it all about health, and what the body needs each nutrient for (protein for growing and healing, fat for their brains and energy, vitamin D for their bones, etc) I'm totally downplaying the connection between diet and weight, because I have two girls and eating disorders are appearing in younger and younger girls these days, so it's just not worth the risk. A healthy diet is about far, far more than just whether you are fat or thin. Additionally, I don't want my girls to grow up thinking that aesthetics is more important than health. Hence the focus when I teach them about healthy eating, is on health. It also includes dental health, because a good reason for kids not to snack on sugary things all day is it leads to tooth decay. And this combined with encouraging them to do physical activity, obesity shouldn't happen so there's no reason to scare them with things like "don't eat x you'll get fat" which a) doesn't promote a healthy relationship with food and b) isn't true anyway, because getting fat is the result if eating more than you burn off, not eating specific foods.

Also, I'm not puritanical about healthy eating. I know a lot of cases where the parents were very strict about so-called "unhealthy" foods and once the kids got old enough to make their own food choices, they went OTT on all the foods they were not allowed when they were younger, and quickly got into unhealthy eating habits. IMO learning to enjoy everything in moderation (i,e, without going OTT) is a vital life skill, and so I let my kids have all the so-called unhealthy foods, but as part of a balanced diet where the main focus is on getting food from all the food groups. In terms of education, I focus on them understanding why their body needs each of the nutrients, and the concept that too much of anything can be bad for you and the concept of a balanced diet, rather than demonising specific foods and banning them.

Also I very much agree with modelling good nutrition not just teaching it. "Do what I say, not what I do" absolutely does *not* work with children. They want what you're eating and if you're telling them to eat more vegetables while you're eating a diet of dessert foods and no vegetables, then the message they get is "we're supposed to eat vegetables, but they suck and people prefer to eat dessert foods instead".

QFT, the bolded stuff. My parents labeled and demonized foods, restricted foods, modeled cruddy obsessive imbalanced approaches to eating and weight loss. It messed up my relationship with food big time and my weight, body image and mental health suffered for it. It's taken me decades to figure out how to do this on my own, the healthy way.

This is all really, really solid advice.

NaomiJFoster

I teach preschool. My school has recently become affiliated with the "Discover/CATCH" program. It's a part of the JCC of America system. CATCH stands for Coordinated Approach To Children's Health. You can Google it.

We are required to teach nutrition and exercise as part of our daily/weekly curriculum. We must have 60 minutes of planned physical activity each day, in addition to our normal playground time. And we talk a lot (I mean *a lot*) about food. In CATCH there are no 'bad' foods. We call them Go Foods and Whoa Foods. Whoa foods are those things with lower nutritional value, that you can still always have but should pause when making that choice. Pause, say 'whoa', and remember that this is something to have in small doses. It's a sometimes food, not an always food. We don't forbid anything, we just help the children know that some foods have better health value than others. And those healthier foods are the things w want to choose more often, and eat in higher quantity. It's amazing. My class of three year olds, after just 3 months of this type of learning, can sort their own lunches into sections of Go and Whoa foods, they independently choose to eat their Go Foods first and take only small tastes of the Whoa Foods, they are instructing their parents during grocery shopping trips, they ask questions about which of their foods have protein or calcium or vitamins, etc. It's wonderful.

Oh, goody. Another low fat diet. :huh: I hope the program is optional -- no wonder so many parents are choosing to home school.

What? I didn't say anything about fats. This is really more about fruits and vegetables.

The school provides snacks every day. We used to have graham crackers, saltines, Ritz crackers, etc, alternating with apples, oranges, or bananas. Now we no longer serve the crackers at all. For the snacks that we provide, it's all fruits and vegetables. Only.

The children bring their own lunches from home. That's entirely up to the parents. Most of them bring things like tuna, eggs, yogurt, beans, veggies, hummus, rice, pasta, potatoes, fruits, etc. We've seen a significant decrease in things like Twinkies and canned Macaroni/Cheese.

It's not at all about 'low fat' and I never said that it was.

NaomiJFoster

She said to google it and I did.

http://catchusa.org/documents/misc/GSW_with Intro_reduced format_English.pdf

It doesn't look so bad to me. As she said, nothing is off-limits. Just some things should be eaten with more moderation. And higher fat means higher calories.

I think whole milk, butter, and meat are dietary staples regardless of their calorie content -- not "whoa" foods to be avoided. Perhaps if people ate more of them they wouldn't be prone to overeating in the first place. I think it's terrible to be teaching that nonsense to kids.

Well we don't do meat at our school because it's a Jewish facility and we are a Kosher-dairy place. And yeah, we all agree that the meat/milk being on the Whoa side is sort of iffy. But it's a new program and all the kinks aren't fully worked out. Also, it's a guideline, not a rulebook. People can learn and sort through things and figure things out themselves.

AlabasterVerve

I teach preschool. My school has recently become affiliated with the "Discover/CATCH" program. It's a part of the JCC of America system. CATCH stands for Coordinated Approach To Children's Health. You can Google it.

We are required to teach nutrition and exercise as part of our daily/weekly curriculum. We must have 60 minutes of planned physical activity each day, in addition to our normal playground time. And we talk a lot (I mean *a lot*) about food. In CATCH there are no 'bad' foods. We call them Go Foods and Whoa Foods. Whoa foods are those things with lower nutritional value, that you can still always have but should pause when making that choice. Pause, say 'whoa', and remember that this is something to have in small doses. It's a sometimes food, not an always food. We don't forbid anything, we just help the children know that some foods have better health value than others. And those healthier foods are the things w want to choose more often, and eat in higher quantity. It's amazing. My class of three year olds, after just 3 months of this type of learning, can sort their own lunches into sections of Go and Whoa foods, they independently choose to eat their Go Foods first and take only small tastes of the Whoa Foods, they are instructing their parents during grocery shopping trips, they ask questions about which of their foods have protein or calcium or vitamins, etc. It's wonderful.

Oh, goody. Another low fat diet. :huh: I hope the program is optional -- no wonder so many parents are choosing to home school.

What? I didn't say anything about fats. This is really more about fruits and vegetables.

The school provides snacks every day. We used to have graham crackers, saltines, Ritz crackers, etc, alternating with apples, oranges, or bananas. Now we no longer serve the crackers at all. For the snacks that we provide, it's all fruits and vegetables. Only.

The children bring their own lunches from home. That's entirely up to the parents. Most of them bring things like tuna, eggs, yogurt, beans, veggies, hummus, rice, pasta, potatoes, fruits, etc. We've seen a significant decrease in things like Twinkies and canned Macaroni/Cheese.

It's not at all about 'low fat' and I never said that it was.

You told us to Google it. I did? Cooking spray is a go, butter is whoa and a whole bunch of crap like that is included in the program. Even the example meals were almost all carbs with a little protein and fat. These are little kids who need fat so their brains can develop... it's a ridiculous plan.

"The most healthful type of meal includes mostly GO foods. Here are two examples of healthful meals."

GO Breakfast
Oatmeal without added sugar (GO)
Brown sugar (WHOA)
Fresh blueberries (GO)
1% milk (GO)

GO Lunch
Turkey sandwich
Whole-wheat bread (GO)
Low-fat turkey (GO)
Mustard (GO)
American cheese (WHOA)
Tomato (GO)
Lettuce (GO)
Baked potato chips (SLOW)
Canned peaches without added sugar (GO)
Skim milk (GO)

Well we don't do meat at our school because it's a Jewish facility and we are a Kosher-dairy place. And yeah, we all agree that the meat/milk being on the Whoa side is sort of iffy. But it's a new program and all the kinks aren't fully worked out. Also, it's a guideline, not a rulebook. People can learn and sort through things and figure things out themselves.

Didn't you say this is what you're teaching preschoolers? I don't mean to be confrontational but I simply don't agree with the program.

NaomiJFoster

I teach preschool. My school has recently become affiliated with the "Discover/CATCH" program. It's a part of the JCC of America system. CATCH stands for Coordinated Approach To Children's Health. You can Google it.

We are required to teach nutrition and exercise as part of our daily/weekly curriculum. We must have 60 minutes of planned physical activity each day, in addition to our normal playground time. And we talk a lot (I mean *a lot*) about food. In CATCH there are no 'bad' foods. We call them Go Foods and Whoa Foods. Whoa foods are those things with lower nutritional value, that you can still always have but should pause when making that choice. Pause, say 'whoa', and remember that this is something to have in small doses. It's a sometimes food, not an always food. We don't forbid anything, we just help the children know that some foods have better health value than others. And those healthier foods are the things w want to choose more often, and eat in higher quantity. It's amazing. My class of three year olds, after just 3 months of this type of learning, can sort their own lunches into sections of Go and Whoa foods, they independently choose to eat their Go Foods first and take only small tastes of the Whoa Foods, they are instructing their parents during grocery shopping trips, they ask questions about which of their foods have protein or calcium or vitamins, etc. It's wonderful.

Oh, goody. Another low fat diet. :huh: I hope the program is optional -- no wonder so many parents are choosing to home school.

What? I didn't say anything about fats. This is really more about fruits and vegetables.

The school provides snacks every day. We used to have graham crackers, saltines, Ritz crackers, etc, alternating with apples, oranges, or bananas. Now we no longer serve the crackers at all. For the snacks that we provide, it's all fruits and vegetables. Only.

The children bring their own lunches from home. That's entirely up to the parents. Most of them bring things like tuna, eggs, yogurt, beans, veggies, hummus, rice, pasta, potatoes, fruits, etc. We've seen a significant decrease in things like Twinkies and canned Macaroni/Cheese.

It's not at all about 'low fat' and I never said that it was.

You told us to Google it. I did? Cooking spray is a go, butter is whoa and a whole bunch of crap like that is included in the program. Even the example meals were almost all carbs with a little protein and fat. These are little kids who need fat so their brains can develop... it's a ridiculous plan.

"The most healthful type of meal includes mostly GO foods. Here are two examples of healthful meals."

GO Breakfast
Oatmeal without added sugar (GO)
Brown sugar (WHOA)
Fresh blueberries (GO)
1% milk (GO)

GO Lunch
Turkey sandwich
Whole-wheat bread (GO)
Low-fat turkey (GO)
Mustard (GO)
American cheese (WHOA)
Tomato (GO)
Lettuce (GO)
Baked potato chips (SLOW)
Canned peaches without added sugar (GO)
Skim milk (GO)

Hmmmm. That's actually weird. That's not at all what it looked like in our training sessions. We serve 2% milk and use hummus or cream cheese with our veggies almost every day. Skim milk for little kids? No way! Now I have to go talk to my bosses and make them contact the program heads. What we do in practice does not match what the website says, which I think is perfectly fine. But the website should be reflecting something a bit more accurate and realistic. Like I said, this is not at all the way our training went or the way we are actually serving food to children.

AlabasterVerve

Hmmmm. That's actually weird. That's not at all what it looked like in our training sessions. We serve 2% milk and use hummus or cream cheese with our veggies almost every day. Skim milk for little kids? No way! Now I have to go talk to my bosses and make them contact the program heads. What we do in practice does not match what the website says, which I think is perfectly fine. But the website should be reflecting something a bit more accurate and realistic. Like I said, this is not at all the way our training went or the way we are actually serving food to children.

Well I'm certainly happy to hear you're not following the plan on the website.

NaomiJFoster

Hmmmm. That's actually weird. That's not at all what it looked like in our training sessions. We serve 2% milk and use hummus or cream cheese with our veggies almost every day. Skim milk for little kids? No way! Now I have to go talk to my bosses and make them contact the program heads. What we do in practice does not match what the website says, which I think is perfectly fine. But the website should be reflecting something a bit more accurate and realistic. Like I said, this is not at all the way our training went or the way we are actually serving food to children.

Well I'm certainly happy to hear you're not following the plan on the website.

Yeah, no. I don't believe that anyone needs to follow along exactly with what a curriculum plan states. That's just my general philosophy about teaching anyway. You take the basics and expand or extend or alter it to fit your needs and goals. That's what teachers do. But I also think that something that is being presented to our families as a representation of what we do, should more accurately reflect the reality. I think this 'menu' plan was meant in good intentions, meant to give parents some ideas of things that could start to incorporate into their families routines. I hope it wasnt' actually meant to be followed with precision. Blah. Now I'm grumpy. The website did not look like that the last time I looked at it in detail.

It was intended really to be a push toward more fresh foods and fewer packaged/processed foods. We're giving families playful 'homework' assignments of trying out one new fruit or vegetable every month. We send home a list of suggestions of in-season items, ask the families to pick one to taste, ask the families to write down the recipe of how they used that food, and the family's response to it. We'll be compiling a cookbook at the end of the year. The planned categories are: fruits, veggies, proteins, carbs/grains, fats.

ldrosophila

I teach preschool. My school has recently become affiliated with the "Discover/CATCH" program. It's a part of the JCC of America system. CATCH stands for Coordinated Approach To Children's Health. You can Google it.

We are required to teach nutrition and exercise as part of our daily/weekly curriculum. We must have 60 minutes of planned physical activity each day, in addition to our normal playground time. And we talk a lot (I mean *a lot*) about food. In CATCH there are no 'bad' foods. We call them Go Foods and Whoa Foods. Whoa foods are those things with lower nutritional value, that you can still always have but should pause when making that choice. Pause, say 'whoa', and remember that this is something to have in small doses. It's a sometimes food, not an always food. We don't forbid anything, we just help the children know that some foods have better health value than others. And those healthier foods are the things w want to choose more often, and eat in higher quantity. It's amazing. My class of three year olds, after just 3 months of this type of learning, can sort their own lunches into sections of Go and Whoa foods, they independently choose to eat their Go Foods first and take only small tastes of the Whoa Foods, they are instructing their parents during grocery shopping trips, they ask questions about which of their foods have protein or calcium or vitamins, etc. It's wonderful.

Oh, goody. Another low fat diet. :huh: I hope the program is optional -- no wonder so many parents are choosing to home school.

What? I didn't say anything about fats. This is really more about fruits and vegetables.

The school provides snacks every day. We used to have graham crackers, saltines, Ritz crackers, etc, alternating with apples, oranges, or bananas. Now we no longer serve the crackers at all. For the snacks that we provide, it's all fruits and vegetables. Only.

The children bring their own lunches from home. That's entirely up to the parents. Most of them bring things like tuna, eggs, yogurt, beans, veggies, hummus, rice, pasta, potatoes, fruits, etc. We've seen a significant decrease in things like Twinkies and canned Macaroni/Cheese.

It's not at all about 'low fat' and I never said that it was.

why do you no longer serve crackers?

i will say i love JCC they do some great things for the community when it comes to physical fitness

NaomiJFoster

I teach preschool. My school has recently become affiliated with the "Discover/CATCH" program. It's a part of the JCC of America system. CATCH stands for Coordinated Approach To Children's Health. You can Google it.

We are required to teach nutrition and exercise as part of our daily/weekly curriculum. We must have 60 minutes of planned physical activity each day, in addition to our normal playground time. And we talk a lot (I mean *a lot*) about food. In CATCH there are no 'bad' foods. We call them Go Foods and Whoa Foods. Whoa foods are those things with lower nutritional value, that you can still always have but should pause when making that choice. Pause, say 'whoa', and remember that this is something to have in small doses. It's a sometimes food, not an always food. We don't forbid anything, we just help the children know that some foods have better health value than others. And those healthier foods are the things w want to choose more often, and eat in higher quantity. It's amazing. My class of three year olds, after just 3 months of this type of learning, can sort their own lunches into sections of Go and Whoa foods, they independently choose to eat their Go Foods first and take only small tastes of the Whoa Foods, they are instructing their parents during grocery shopping trips, they ask questions about which of their foods have protein or calcium or vitamins, etc. It's wonderful.

Oh, goody. Another low fat diet. :huh: I hope the program is optional -- no wonder so many parents are choosing to home school.

What? I didn't say anything about fats. This is really more about fruits and vegetables.

The school provides snacks every day. We used to have graham crackers, saltines, Ritz crackers, etc, alternating with apples, oranges, or bananas. Now we no longer serve the crackers at all. For the snacks that we provide, it's all fruits and vegetables. Only.

The children bring their own lunches from home. That's entirely up to the parents. Most of them bring things like tuna, eggs, yogurt, beans, veggies, hummus, rice, pasta, potatoes, fruits, etc. We've seen a significant decrease in things like Twinkies and canned Macaroni/Cheese.

It's not at all about 'low fat' and I never said that it was.

why do you no longer serve crackers?

We're not serving processed carbs anymore. They can bring it in their lunches and they get a lot of that at home. But we are now only serving fruits and vegetables. The philosophy is that the foods that we provide will be predominantly things that grow. Fruits and vegetables. And the kids also couldn't really be part of the food prep aspect of snack time when it was just pulling crackers out of a box. Now with the fruits and vegetables, they're doing it all. They help cut and prep the fruit or vegetable of that day's snack, they help make the hummus or dip or whatever else we're cooking. They are experiencing the whole process. My class has learned that cinnamon and honey tastes great on apples, but not so good on broccoli. LOL. We experiment a lot. You can't really do much of that with a package of graham crackers that were made in a factory.

DawnieB1977

But I think my friends on the whole must be pretty extreme with their kids because they do not give them pudding cups, frozen chicken nuggets, etc...and they would never allow full-size chocolate bars unless it was a special occasion - and definitely not for a 3 yr old, ever. Are my friends that unusual in this?

If so, then, I'm unusual, also. My daughter (2.5 years old) only gets frozen chicken nuggets at school (go sucky daycares in Texas--I can't find a single one that doesn't serve frozen garbage, and they all think corn is a veggie. *facepalm*). We don't serve that type of stuff at home (although, we're not perfect, either--we DO try to cook most nights) and she certainly doesn't eat entire pudding cups or full-size chocolate bars ever. She's allowed sweets, in small portions. At birthday parties, she's totally allowed to have cake and pizza, that sort of thing, but she still has water with her meal. So, yeah, if that's weird; count me in.

Just to clarify I don't consider my friends "weird" nor would I call you weird :-)

But I have a pretty wide circle of friends, and they all seem to be on the same page about certain things. For example none of them would let their preschooler drink soda. Same with the full size chocolate bars and stuff. I think of my friends as pretty moderate people but then to come into this thread and read a lot of the stuff people are feeding their kids, and another recent thread about packing school lunches...I was floored and it made me think my friends are much more "extreme" but in my opinion, that's a good thing.

The other thread...I can't seem to find it so I won't be totally accurate in my description but I think someone there described a school lunch with graham crackers, yogurt, PB&J, and fruit snacks...or something along those lines which sounded like a bunch of desserts to me LOL

I'm English, and I doubt any of my mum friends would give their young kids soda either. Mine have tried lemonade a couple of times when we've been out, but it's certainly not a regular thing. I don't even buy soda or drink it myself. The kids have water or milk, or a babyccino or smoothie as a treat when we're out.

My son takes a ham or tuna sandwich on wholemeal bread, and a yogurt for lunch at school. He doesn't need anything else. He gets a piece of fruit - apple, pear, banana etc - at break time, which the school provides as he's in reception class. He's 4.5.

Most English schools have a 'healthy schools' policy anyway and you're not allowed to send your child in with junk.

I work in a secondary school (like high school) and we don't have vending machines or anything like that. The school canteen serves mainly healthy food, although I always take my own lunch in, so I've never actually sampled the canteen!

WendyTerry420

But I think my friends on the whole must be pretty extreme with their kids because they do not give them pudding cups, frozen chicken nuggets, etc...and they would never allow full-size chocolate bars unless it was a special occasion - and definitely not for a 3 yr old, ever. Are my friends that unusual in this?

If so, then, I'm unusual, also. My daughter (2.5 years old) only gets frozen chicken nuggets at school (go sucky daycares in Texas--I can't find a single one that doesn't serve frozen garbage, and they all think corn is a veggie. *facepalm*). We don't serve that type of stuff at home (although, we're not perfect, either--we DO try to cook most nights) and she certainly doesn't eat entire pudding cups or full-size chocolate bars ever. She's allowed sweets, in small portions. At birthday parties, she's totally allowed to have cake and pizza, that sort of thing, but she still has water with her meal. So, yeah, if that's weird; count me in.

Frozen garbage?

WendyTerry420

The idea was giving her the tools to manage her own weight when she gets to the stage where she is more in control of her food and habits.

This is not something you want to do with an adolescent. Modeling healthy behavior and making healthy foods the staple in your household are important, but don't even mention "managing" her weight. Please do not do this to your child.

If at some point she does seem to be getting out of control, talk to her doctor about it. But don't create a problem.

Everyone at some point needs to learn to manage their weight. It is a basic life skill. It is not something to be feared, not something to shelter kids from. Anyone who ever plays weight class sports gets a basic intro to this.

Managing weight does not mean get as thin as possible and then some. That is a body image issue and really has nothing to do with weight management.

The nuts and bolts of how to increase and decrease one's body weight (and by proxy fat and muscle mass), and the impact that water has on it, are basic life skills that everyone should know. As important as how to cook, how to drive a car, and how to manage one's money.

I'm sorry, but no. I'm all for people having differing opinions, but this is wrong. Period. End of story. Wrong.

I think there is a difference here between boys and girls. When my son began wrestling, he got a crash course in nutrition. (And I had to "fix" a few things he was told) However, he was overweight when he started, and he lost about 35 pounds. It's been about 20 months later, and he is easily maintaining. My daughter has struggled. She has been overweight for the last few years and can't seem to lose anything. I try to be careful, and I let her know that we love her no matter her size.

I will say though that there is no doubt that my poor habits were what they learned, and the reason they became overweight as teens. I am trying to model better behavior now. With a little education, they both know more about calories and nutrition than I ever did. Part of the reason I gained so much weight as an adult is that I knew nothing about calories and I continued to eat like an athlete for years after I quit playing sports.

WendyTerry420

All due respect but...It's our responsibility as parents to teach our children about right food choices, bodily exercise, and over all health. Leading by example should be #1 and never letting your child use the "fat" word but this world is waaay too full of obese people, and I feel it's my responsibility to teach my child about this. I was allowed to eat an entire bag of chips and soda for a snack and was told it was acceptable. It's not...because though I was a thin teenager by the time I was 20...I was almost 200lbs., and had high blood pressure, cholesterol, and was near being diabetic. No one taught me, and over the past 10 years I realize how much easier thing would have been on me had someone showed me "the way". I'm proud of my 100lb. weight loss, and the fact I have a passion for fitness but as long as my kids live in my house they'll live our way. Still plenty of time for other fun activities but so as long as I buy the food...they'll eat what they're given. Why wouldn't anyone want that for their child?

^^ This is similar to the reason that I took up smoking cigarettes at 18.

my Mom was the opposite she was obsessed with "healthy food" no white sugar, no white wheat, no cookies, no chocolate, no cake...EVER! When I had more independence and money I went straight to the forbidden food, and quickly fell into the binge cycle. I'm sure there is a balance between teaching moderation and healthful eating habits.