No kids here, but if you do, I have a question for you.

LesleyGillan

I try to keep food healthy for my kids, they get the odd pre packaged thing and occasional junk food meals.
I just make sure they are getting plenty of fresh fruit and vegies and they don't drink soda except on special occasions like parties etc I have noticed at parties they actually eat the healthy stuff by choice before sampling the junk.

MindfulVegana

No. Never.

I was gonna say the same

shinkalork

no way.... No need for that.
They need to eat good for sure.... like it's suppose to be. Nothing else.
Kids move all the time. They burn a lot.

For some parents with a very obese kid (like on Dr.Phil etc kinda case)...Well that's different.
But any other ways....

Nope.... Not at all.

afgivens4

Ok, so I will be one of those people that disagree with everyone else.....

Yes, I have four children who are all healthy and not over or underweight. Ages: 9, 12, 14, & 16. I count calories, fats, sodium, and sugar, for all of them. We talk about each meal and what is in it. We talk about what is healthy and and what is not. We also talk about why it is or is not. I show them labels, and google ingredients that we don't know. I want my children to grow up knowing what they are putting in their bodies and why it is so important.

heidimaggott78

No way! They need a huge amount of calories just for the growing process, never mind all the running around they do. I try ensure that most of what goes in is healthy and I seem to be doing okay.

Donnarose82

NEVER.. He can eat whatever he wants, he is an active little boy and as long as he is eating enough and is content i'm not worried what so ever. It's a far cry from how I grew up, with my dad putting diet pills and a set amount of cereal in my bowl, while my younger brother was able to eat to his hearts content!

Shayztar

No cal counting at all. But, like everyone else, I make sure they have a balanced diet. That means fruits and vegs as well as healthy fats to help them grow. I only limit juices and never feed them soda. My daughter goes ape-poopy when she has too much sugar, so that stays on the down-low too. No kidding. She goes crazy after too many grapes! My kids actually don't like fast food. They beg for McDonalds, and then never eat it! Proof that the corporate brain washing machine works. We had A&W at the mall food court the other day, and it actually made her tummy hurt. I hope she never develops a stomach for that kind of food.

jenniferinfl

I don't count calories for my 2 year old. I do keep an eye on her weight and height. She likes to stand on the scale after I've been on the scale, so it's pretty easy for me to keep track of without her realizing I'm doing it. She just thinks it's cool that the scale lights up.

We don't regularly have junk in the house. No chips, no soda, no cookies, nothing like that. I don't think having that stuff around is a good idea. We don't have chicken nuggets or cheese noodles or hotdogs, none of that typical kid food.

She loves meat, whole wheat noodles, and some fruit and veggies. Some days she eats a LOT, other days she doesn't eat hardly anything. It would be hard to keep her on a regular diet for that reason. There are days that most of her food just goes untouched and she makes up for it the next day. We get her a small fry at Mcdonalds once a week, but that's the extent of the fast food she gets.

I'd like to think that just not having junk food in the house and taking her to the park everyday is enough to keep her weight under control without resorting to calorie counting.

My mom used to calorie count for me when I was a kid. It led to yoyo dieting and I got fatter than ever. If she just wouldn't have bought chips I doubt I would've been overweight at all.

I do think it's important to help a kid that's becoming overweight, but, that help should also come in the form of finding exercise they enjoy. With kids it's easier to restrict junk food than it is to calorie count.

JosephVitte

Awesome responses, very insightful, and I feel like I'm getting some good tips, if or when ever i have (a) child(ren)

buffykaz

No calorie counting for my kids. We provide them with meals that have a combo of meats & vegies, and then a yoghurt for dessert. If they get full, and don't want anymore that's fine, as long as they've given it a go. But if they can't finish their dinner, they can't have dessert.
We also teach them to have treats/junk food in moderation, but they can eat as much fruit and vegies as they like. We always have a bowl of fruit on the table if they get hungry between meals.
Both children are in the healthy weight range for their age.

That_Girl

We talk about nutrition in this house. And being healthy. I feed them balanced meals and some junk sometimes. We don't eat out often at all.

d_Mode

Not yet...he's only 20-months-old, but seeing as how I am a diabetic...you can be sure I will teach him how to eat properly.

KWKY

Definitely, my LO's are 4.5 years old and 18 months old and neither of them have set foot on any fast food outlets, or drink any form of soft drink. All fruit juices are seriously diluted.

No junk food except for what they get at other kids' parties. I make my own version of junk foods like chicken nuggets, crumbed fish, nutella, peanut butter, burgers and chips.

We don't eat any junk in front of them either just to reinforce the point.

I get told many times that when they grow up they will probably go crazy eating crap food but I would hope to have at least laid down a good nutritional foundation for them to work off. I remember as a kid I was allowed all sorts of crap and it has taken me a long while to battle that (chocolate remains a weakness but thankfully I am eating a lot less now than I used to in my careless youth LOL)

Thokiz

I'm in the process of raising awareness in the house. My kids eating habits are worse than mine & I think the only reason they get away with it is because they are kids. The only vegetable they will even consider eating is corn. They are both 12, girls and are extremely picky..they want fat, sugar & carbs..Period

One of them made 2 fried egg sandwiches w/ cheese the other day for lunch, two hours after eating a bowl of cereal. She knows I've been counting calories & watched me scan stuff into my phone so I asked her to come watch me scan the sandwich stuff. It was pushing 800 calories, she gave me such a wonderful look..lol When I asked her what that was for she said "I didn't want to know, I was fine not knowing" I didn't say another word, 10 mins later she gave the 2nd sandwich to her sister.

I'm not going to stick her on any diet but just raising awareness on that one thing I have noticed her looking at labels, pointing out high calorie items and both of them jumping on the treadmill a few times over the last week (It may be because thats what the laptop is attached to now) hahahaha

mycrazy8splus1

Thokiz, maybe they would watch Food Inc or Knives Over Forks. These are both documentaries on food in our society. My children watched them as part of our nutrition class. Even my 10 and 9 years olds got something out of watching them (although the 13 and 12 year old got more from them).

majordlite

Yes, I am very aware of almost exactly how many calories are in the foods my daughter eats. She is almost 31 months old, and is in the 4 percentile for weight (up from 2, yay), 7 percentile for height. She just doesn't care to eat very much or very often. So when I do offer her food, I do my best to make it as calorie-laden as possible, without being too loaded with sugar. Whole chocolate milk, high-calorie yogurt, 100% fruit juice, nothing "lite". I slather her pancakes with butter, and scramble her eggs with it and try to get in cheese when I can. She loves fresh fruits and vegetables and, if I don't time the parts of the meal right, she'll fill up on cantaloupe, tomatoes, broccoli, or raspberries and not want anything else, taking in only about 50 calories or less for the meal. She doesn't care for candy, cake, or cookies, so it's not that I'm feeding her that sort of thing. It's a struggle every single day.

Thokiz

Thokiz, maybe they would watch Food Inc or Knives Over Forks. These are both documentaries on food in our society. My children watched them as part of our nutrition class. Even my 10 and 9 years olds got something out of watching them (although the 13 and 12 year old got more from them).

Thanks, I will look for them.

pinkraynedropjacki

Never have never will. My son is now 19 & is about the same size as I am now. He has ADHD so he burns off heaps each day...no need ever for me to count anything with him. Even as a child he was able to eat everything & still be skin & bones.

corneredbycorn

I track, but only because my 11 month old daughter is 1-3% for weight and we absolutely need to make sure she's getting enough calories per day (even more so since her primary nutrition at this point is food).

pamelak5

Absolutely not. Children will self-regulate, unless we interfere. Research shows that being an overweight child has no correlation to becoming an overweight adult. However, children whose parents are concerned about the weight of the children are more likely to become overweight as adults - even if the kids are thin as children! If offered a good array of foods, kids will figure out what they need and will sort themselves out.

Someone else mentioned monitoring her daughter's weight after her daughter stepped on the scale - my 2 year old followed me onto the scale this week, and I resolved to never weigh myself in front of her again. I set a good example with healthy eating and exercising (she sees my husband doing P90x, I run with her in my stroller, we do lots of fun stuff together), there is zero benefit to her seeing me worry about my weight.

Edit: I wanted to also add that children encouraged to eat more will eventually begin to eat less over time. Children encouraged to eat less will overeat given the opportunity. I recommend Ellyn Satter's book, Child of MIne, for all parents.