Are you making your kids fat?

NoAdditives

No, I am not making my kids fat. They get to choose from two healthy options at breakfast and lunch and then eat what I give them at snack time and at dinner. Or, they don't eat. They love vegetables and generally aren't picky. Sometimes they just pick what they want out of a meal (like eating the vegetables out of a pasta dish and leaving the pasta), and that's fine with me. It does seem like they don't eat enough, but I don't make them finish their food if they say they aren't hungry. Since they're toddlers, I doubt I could actually force them to eat anyway. They love drinking water and don't like juice unless it's diluted with water.

NoAdditives

All my kids are normal weight and that destroys the modelling theory. My parents were not overweight - ditto.

One anecdote does not "destroy the theory". In general, kids will develop the habits that are displayed for them. Kids learn by example. Read any parenting book, talk to any psychologist. They'll tell you the same thing. Of course, there will always be cases of kids doing their own thing. But for the most part, at young ages, they will do what they see their parents doing.

dvnjustina

My parents really didn't care about what I ate. They never brought healthy things into the house. When I had the option to cook better foods, I was belittled and insulted since it wasn't what the general population wanted. So I got fat because I didn't care anymore. It's so hard to teach my body what foods are acceptable and which are not.

As for my 11 month old daughter, she loves her vegetables and fruit. My husband and I did baby led weaning when she was about 7 months. My daughter loves to feed herself, and she knows when she's full. We have every dinner at the table. I scratch cook about 75% of the time.

rukelly

I have a facebook page dedicated to feeding kids. It makes me crazy to see adults struggling with their own weight, yet feeding their kids tons of crap and setting them up for adulthood misery. Makes no sense!

http://www.facebook.com/whataremykidseating

Neconilis

Love it and it makes perfect sense, thank you for sharing.

CatseyeHardcast

Regardless of your own weight struggle your children are your responsibility. I find it sad that adults are surprised their kids are eating well when the parent decides to do something about their own diet. What were you feeding your children in the first place? Even as an overweight adult my children had a healthy diet. It was my duty of care as a parent that this was the case, regardless of my own eating habits. Sure good habits rub off but a childs diet should never be that poor that a change in the parents diet produces a change in the childs.

ninabeia929

My son is 4 and my husband and I always strive to have him eat what is best for him. Limit his sugar/snack in take. We teach him how important it is to stay active. He enjoys running with me and doing exercises. This to us is VERY important.

imchicbad

"You ate what you were served or waited until the next meal."

EXACTLY!! Now a-days parents are lazy themselves dont want to cook, dont have time, and there for- the fast food trend. So it goes. YES parents are responsable for thier kids being fat. absolutly! If all your kids do is game, and internet- and you dont make them go outside, then your failing as a parent healthwise. eating fast food everyday, this is why america has such an obesity problem, unlike the rest of the world. thats why we are here people! To change that.:bigsmile:

FYI my kids are not overweight- i was the lazy one, me and my husband. Thank God, but that didnt last too long. Im commited to being healthy.

autumnk921

I will offer my 3yr old McD's chicken nuggets or another place maybe once every couple of weeks for a treat and I will ask him while we are out 'Do you want McD's (or whichever place) or do you want to eat at home?' and 9 times out of 10 he will respond 'I want to eat at home'....I love hearing that and it makes me feel good as a mom in a way b/c he would rather eat at home instead. Other family members will hear him say that and look astonished...lol He also loves his veggies, yogurt, water, milk, etc and does not drink any juices or soda at all...I also make sure he gets outside or at least be up and active most of the day.

I know I am not perfect at all but just small things that we can do or change in our children's lives will help tremendously. I really hate seeing obese children b/c it's not their fault and some parents are proud of it in a way...Sad.

caraiselite

i hate seeing fat kids
i want to slap some sense into their parents.

aimforhealthy

My 14yo son is skinny-fat. He's a healthy body weight on the slender side (he's 5'9", medium-framed and weighs about 135) but he has no physical stamina or muscle tone at all. I've never been able to get him interested in playing any sports. I don't play any myself, and it's always been just the 2 of us, so part of that has been my fault that he never had anyone to teach him what he enjoyed. So we are learning together now what we like (turns out we both like hiking and indoor rock climbing, so we're doing that more!)

As for food, he's the typical teenage boy bottomless pit, but he also has high-functioning autism and has strong sensory aversions to many foods deemed healthy, like whole grains, oatmeal, most legumes, any "mixed" food like casseroles or stews and the list goes on. As he's gotten older, his palate has gotten much broader, but he went through a very autistic period where he would not eat anything but pizza. It's still his favorite food, so we're trying to make it at home and I always pair it with a big salad. But there's a lot still he won't eat.

I agree that making anything off-limits for kids makes it more desirable. I have never forbidden my son from eating anything, although I'll admit I have nagged about eating his vegetables on many occasions. If he wants candy or cookies, I'll get them - always have. Let him pig out at Halloween, let him have dessert whenever he was in the mood. As a result now, he doesn't pig out. We've had a package of Double Stuff Oreos in the house for a week and he still hasn't eaten them all. I think the important thing is to educate, set a good example and encourage your kids to eat as wide a variety of things as possible. Make any food off-limits and you turn it into something special and prized.

allie7383

I think I developed a bad relationship with food mostly from my father. Growing up, my mom cooked most nights and I'd have milk at dinner. We'd have take-out here and there, and pretty much every Friday was either pizza or Chinese food night. I was in dance and marching band throughout high school, and now looking back on it, I wasn't terribly as overweight as I may have thought I was. Things really started to get out of control when I got to college (hello freshman 20 and beyond). My mom was never overweight, but my father was always heavy. He also had a permanently broken leg which limited his mobility, as he needed to walk with a cane. We would always have Coke in the house, and he would have at least 3-4/day. He was able to retire at 50 and then really didn't do much besides lay in bed and eat while watching tv. He had several doctors, and had had procedures for his back and all different things, but still, he never took care of himself. I think a big piece of this was due to underlying depression but that's a whole other story.

I think the biggest thing that will always stick in my mind was how selfish he was with food. We were not poor, and I never had to worry that we wouldn't have a decent meal. I'll never forget this one time we ordered Chinese, and he and I both ordered the fried wontons. They ended up only giving us one order, and when I went to take some, assuming we would split the 12 of them, he got mad and grabbed the bag from me and allowed me 2 of them while he took the rest. I def carried that mentality of not sharing with me for a long time. If I had something sharable like grapes or cookies, they were all mine. I would always notice if someone ate something that I bought. It was almost a need to hoard what I had. He ended up passing away 10 years ago after having several complications after a GI bleed. His sister and her husband came up for the funeral and I saw how big they both where and it was a big dose of reality for me of how my future could look, having the genes I have. Of course it didn't have an effect until a couple years ago when I began on MFP, but fortunatelty I've taken control of my life and hopefully will not end up in the same boat as my father.