Shocked and amazed

JMarigold

My son is in the high 90%. Please be nice, hes a big boy, he is not a "Porker baby". He is just a big boy, hes also in the 90% for height. My youngest daughter is in the high 80%. We don't have candy, chips, fast food, pop, juice, etc in the house. My son has never had a peice of white bread. He also cannot have dairy or soy. Our doc told us its rare to see a child that cannot have dairy thrive and gain like our little guy did, usualy they lose weight and have a harder time gaining weight. I completely agree that kids shouldn't ever be force fed, but sometimes kids are just bigger then others. My oldest daughter is under 20% for both weight/height, and she eats the same as her siblings.

I think she was just talking about the moms and doctors who aim for their child to be in 90% no matter what the height etc. That they don't set the goal to be feeding their child proper nutrition and accepting whatever weight class they are in but instead they overfeed their babies in some misguided attempt for them to be in the 90th percentile AND THEN they BRAG about it.

b1791

OP, how old are your children? When mine were small, they always ate well....I run a daycare....we are required to serve fruit, veg, bread, milk, meat each main meal. I'm well versed in good nutrition. I kept the crap out of the house. Both my boys were fit. Enter junior high....can't watch their every move anymore. The oldest watches it....doesn't overeat and eats healthy when out. The youngest...not as careful...hence, oldest is fit, youngest is overweight.

Not all is black and white, love.

I have found it to be more difficult when they are older because you can't watch them 24/7 as this is when they are starting to become independent and they have a lot of influences outside of the home. And as much as you hope they are following what you've taught them there is no guarantees.

OliveJuice1984

Aside from making myself more healthy and fit, my future children are a great influence on me. I want to start eating healthy and be more active because I don't want my kids to grow up thinking the same foods that I grew up eating are fine. I figure if I can get myself to eat right then when I have kids they will eat what I eat (to their proper portions sizes of course).

MountainMia

Wow! I'm not saying "don't hold the parent's responsible", but ease up a bit folks. You are being awefully critical about something that people HERE are genuinely trying to change. I am one of those fat moms working my butt off to make changes for myself and to empower my kids with the right tools and informaiton now so they can make healthy choices on their own. Moreso now that I'm learning how badly my parents f***ed it up.

Not all of us grow up with the same habits, genetics and experiences. Kudos to all the moms out there who got it right straight out of the shute, and kudos to all you future moms making plans to do it right when something does come out the shute. To all the moms fighting the good fight for healthy change long after the shuteing has happened, YOU ARE MY HEROES!

I'm just now learning this stuff. I know, a bit late in the game. But for those of us with real life kids, going through real life change is tough. I'm not sorry. I'm not making excuses. I'm just being real about it. The change IS happening, and that's what matters. As for moms looking for the best way to talk to kids and implement the change, there is nothing wrong with seeking support for how to manage that change with kids no matter how old your kids are.

We're all just doin' our best not to f*** it up.

Jezebel_Barbie

Wow! I'm not saying "don't hold the parent's responsible", but ease up a bit folks. You are being awefully critical about something that people HERE are genuinely trying to change. I am one of those fat moms working my butt off to make changes for myself and to empower my kids with the right tools and informaiton now so they can make healthy choices on their own. Moreso now that I'm learning how badly my parents f***ed it up.

Not all of us grow up with the same habits, genetics and experiences. Kudos to all the moms out there who got it right straight out of the shute, and kudos to all you future moms making plans to do it right when something does come out the shute. To all the moms fighting the good fight for healthy change long after the shuteing has happened, YOU ARE MY HEROES!

I'm just now learning this stuff. I know, a bit late in the game. But for those of us with real life kids, going through real life change is tough. I'm not sorry. I'm not making excuses. I'm just being real about it. The change IS happening, and that's what matters. As for moms looking for the best way to talk to kids and implement the change, there is nothing wrong with seeking support for how to manage that change with kids no matter how old your kids are.

We're all just doin' our best not to f*** it up.

This. All of this.

Good job to all the parents making better choices for their kids, whichever point they happen to be at on that journey.

bebreli

hdlb123 - I definitely meant parents who are just feeding their kids to quiet them, or to fatten them up and exactly as JGCooper said they brag about it. Percentiles were created to track growth, so a doctor could see if there is a spike high or low. If you have a 90% kid and at next dr appt they drop to 40% it can indicate a health problem. I did say in my post there are hungry babies and there are big babies. Just like adults we all come in different shapes and sizes but parents shouldn't be pressured (as many of us have stated we are) to "fatten" up our babies.

abyt42

Hrm..I guess I have a different perspective. I totally agree with feeding your kids a balanced diet and good nutrition. HOWEVER.. I have 18 mo twins and all the porker babies out there have set the standard!! Want to talk about frustration. . hearing about the damn percentiles every time we go to the doctor. Than all my friends with their fat babies (that they shove food or bottles in their face whenever they cry all day long) talking about how junior is in the 98th %ile for weight. WHoo HOoo!! It's not a test that your kid is winning..lol! I have SMALL, very SMALL boys. I could offer food all day long and they eat what they eat. They are at or below the 1 percentile and I have to work on increasing fats. That means they get real butter, avocado's, olive oil. For a while I was stressed about the next appointment worried I was going to hear about it again.. about their weight. They are VERY ACTIVE. I think it starts with birth and I see so many people saying oh my kid is going to be the next football star he is so big. I think doctors are shoving it down your throat early on. I know there are some hungry babies out there too but I think America has some big babies! I gave up and decided I will feed my boys healthy and if they are low on the scales they are low. I had to vent because it starts somewhere.

My twins were tiny, too...and have grown healthy and strong on good foods. But it is definitely harder to deal with the one-upmanship when they're tiny. Fight the good fight!

After my kids were born, my mom gave me a hard time about feeding them organic vegetables (local when possible). When she was diagnosed with cancer, she started doing research about nutrition and immune systems, and started eating organic vegetables off of the same aquifer...and telling me why I should be doing the same for my kids....

It's an ever moving target, being a "good" parent.

(I could give you "bad parent" examples, but I bet I'm bound by confidentiality rules. Or at least by pesky professional ethics. But there are far worse crimes than sporadic twinkie ingestion.)

TheBauhausCure

In my house growing up there was nothing but fried food. All "snacks" however were taboo, and when I was old enough to have my own money, I'd sneak-buy unhealthy snacks just to try them.

If I ever have kids I'm going to raise them with the healthy, whole foods eating habits that I've come to teach myself to follow.

cHaRlIe0411

I totally agree with this. I don't even think a gaming system will be in our house because I'm not going to have a child sit inside and waste away to nothing while the world passes them by. There are too many positive activities that a child can get involved in to both help with self confidence and motivation. On top of that, anything to help give a child a small edge up on being a healthy adult is something that I would want to follow. Great post!!

Gaming systems aren't evil and they aren't to blame. Lazy parents who let their children spend too much time on them are to blame.

We always had a gaming system growing up. Started out with atari (lol) and then nintendo and so on and so forth.

We were still very active children, constantly outside with our friends playing, biking, rollerblading, etc.

Sure we played video games sometimes but we didn't spend all day playing just because we had a gaming system.

Agreed. My parents always buy the newest nintendo console, but ever since I've had one, my sisters and I were limited to 30 minutes on school nights, and 2-3 sets of 30 minutes per day on weekends. The only time we were alllowed more was if it was stormy outside. This way, we were allowed to play the games we loved, but we still had plenty of time to spare to do something more productive (play outside, paint, draw, read, etc).