Preventing emotional eating in children

withchaco

Is it possible to educate/ raise your kids so they won't become emotional eaters later on? How do people end up becoming emotional eaters anyway? I have no children of my own, and I don't do emotional eating myself, but I would like to understand this better and hopefully help a few people in my life who do this.

Those "few people in my life" include a six year old, with whom I have lived for some time. I suspect she turns to food out of boredom or stress. She's very young and I don't think she needs to worry about weight loss right now, but what she's doing right now could very well turn into a dangerous lifelong habit. I'm not her mom and it's ultimately her mom who makes decisions for her daughter, but I still feel I could help, even just a little bit, if I understood this better.

Oh, and something interesting I saw that may be relevant:

A while ago on postsecret, there was a postcard that read like this: when the sender was little (around 7-8 years old if I recall correctly), a neighborhood bully (just a little older than her, so we're not talking about a pedophile) threatened her that if she doesn't let him touch her butt, he would beat up her younger sister. Scared for her sister, she gave in. The next day at school, while she was drinking out of a water fountain, he walked by and told his friends what happened. She was so embarrassed that she just kept drinking and drinking. Even as an adult, when she feels embarrassed, she feels thirsty.

However, that's probably a special case and isn't a typical reason for people becoming emotional eaters (or water drinkers...).

JellyPrz619

I'm very interested in this topic.. I have a 3 yr old .. i try to push it into her that we eat to feed our bodies what we need not what we want... junk food is a once in a while thing.. I hadn't given emotional eating much thought.. when I see she's upset I tell her she needs to TALK TO me until she feels better... hmmm

picklepoo

I developed a very unhealthy relationship with food at a young age. I was a very lonely and understimulated child and I used food to comfort myself. As I got older, I started to feel ashamed of my eating habits, which lead to me binging and purging in secret. I can't speak for the child you have mentioned, but I wish that there had been an adult in my life that picked up on my emotional eating in time to correct it. I think trying to engage the child in some sort of activity when you suspect emotional eating, could be a subtle, non shameful approach.

sandyfeet10

When I have children, I certainly don't want to pass on my bad habits. I see my best friend soothing her 2 year old with food and her 2 year old always has a bag of food in her hand. It certainly makes me wonder the same thing....how do you prevent it??

VeganGal84

I have no kids, but it seems as if my mom did kind of feed into that bad habit (pun intended) by offering me cookies after a hard day or taking me out for pizza to celebrate success.

So maybe parents should come up with non-food ways to comfort and celebrate?