Food rules for your kids?

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  • jackpotclown
    jackpotclown Posts: 3,291 Member
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    in_before_lock_1.gif \m/
  • ShreddedTweet
    ShreddedTweet Posts: 1,326 Member
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    I don't know why you posted. You seem fairly set in your ways, wrong or right *Ps the general consensus is 'wrong'* Do what you're going to do, you're clearly going to do it anyway. I'm out.
  • LuckyLeprechaun
    LuckyLeprechaun Posts: 6,296 Member
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    Fat is not a bad word!!!!!!!!!

    You know better. All of us know better. That's why it's stirring a reaction.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    Unconditional love does more for a child's self esteem than semantics.

    I was not overweight until I was in my late 20s, and then it was only for a short time. My parents loved me unconditionally and I knew that. My mother never said a word about my weight. I was allowed treats in moderation and had to eat my healthy dinner, all of that. She never hounded me about appearance or told me anything negative about food. She had that done to her by HER mother and guess what? She and her sister have both battled food issues their whole lives because of it.

    But in my 20s, when I started getting a little bigger than I had been (we're talking 130 pounds at 5'3"), she started making comments about it. Just the passing, "You've put on a little weight." And 10-15 years later, even though I was an adult already at the time, I still remember and it still hurts like hell that she said that to me.

    So think about what you say to your growing, impressionable little girl and consider what she's also hearing from society about her appearance. You were wrong. And you can't take it back.
  • CarleyLovesPets
    CarleyLovesPets Posts: 410 Member
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    I think it would have been a lot more beneficial to say ... Eating a jar of peanut butter isn't healthy. You want to be big, strong and healthy right? So you have to watch what you eat because if you eat too much of some things, it's not healthy for you.

    I understand where you are coming from. I don't know that my daughter would. I know she knows what fat and thin means - dr Seuss one fish red fish blue fish two fish book, but what does healthy mean to her? I try to explain germs and healthy, but she still wants to put things in her mouth that was on the floor. So I say yuck! She gets that something is yucky, she understands fat and thin. And saying healthy vs fat, isn't it truly the same thing? When you say healthy, you mean not overweight or not fat.

    You can be unhealthy and thin, so no that's not truly the same thing. That's like saying anorexia is healthy, sure they're not fat or overweight but... Are they healthy? I would just be worried about eating disorders talking like that.
  • Cliffslosinit
    Cliffslosinit Posts: 5,044 Member
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    As parents we all make mistakes with our children.
    You have made one and were wrong!
    You have put it out here for all to see....
  • Jules2Be
    Jules2Be Posts: 2,267 Member
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    As parents we all make mistakes with our children.
    You have made one and were wrong!
    You have put it out here for all to see....

    wait! unless we are all the wrong ones...she is ridiculous
  • dinosnopro
    dinosnopro Posts: 2,179 Member
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    This morning my 3yr old tried to take the peanut butter in her room. She likes to eat pb out of the jar but she isn't allowed. Today, I told her why:

    "You have to watch what you do - if you eat pb out the jar 2 times, you might do it 3 times and if you do it enough, it will become a habit, where you do it without thinking. If you eat pb out the jar by habit you'll get fat, and you don't want to get fat - you want to be strong and healthy, right?"

    Only one of three likes fruit and vegetables, but they are all a normal weight even though I'm fat. They drink milk, tea, water. If we have juice or soda, we only keep enough to last for one serving then its back to milk. My son had issues with hyperactivity, and after cutting juice from his diet, I noticed a big change in attention span. I'm not strict - I know some parents are strict about gluten, meat, sugar, and basically don't want their kids to enjoy eating anything. What about you? Do you have limits for your children? What are they and why?


    This is what I told my three year old about his smoking habit, and I think it works for your three year old and the pb habit.

    " If your going to do it anyway I would rather you do it in front of me"
  • NoAdditives
    NoAdditives Posts: 4,251 Member
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    I absolutely have limits on what my kids can and cannot eat. While my goal is to have them avoid weight issues later on, my primary goal is keeping them healthy. I also want to have them develop a healthy relationship with food. We have treats in the house just about all the time. We have snacks. But, our kids generally know that they are "sometimes" foods. Nothing is really off limits in our house. We want to teach our kids about moderation and proper portion sizes so that they know how to eat properly once they're making their own decisions.
  • rachelbethany
    rachelbethany Posts: 211 Member
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    I was a nanny for the past year. My charge was a little girl-- three when I started, but she turned four while I was her nanny. She was super tall for her age and always growing. So she was always hungry. Her mom used to try to explain eating the same way to her, and to explain the difference in "skinny," fat," and "chubby." Let me tell you, it did not go well. The little girl starting either calling herself fat when her stomach was full, calling me fat and asking if I were pregnant (and my stomach doesn't even stick out), calling her mom fat if she ate a lot, etc.
    I think when kids are that young, to introduce certain words and ideas to them is only asking for trouble. The little girl I watched would even point at people in public and say they were fat or pregnant, despite disciplining her to do otherwise. Words, especially labels are dangerous at that age.
    Instead, I suggest you keep the peanut butter where she can't reach it.
    BTW, I used to eat peanut-butter out of the jar as a little kid, too, and now I hate it. I grew out of it. And I was a VERY skinny kid with a fast metabolism my whole childhood. So maybe you should stress healthy snacks rather than fattening ones, but I wouldn't worry so much about "fat" and "skinny" yet.
  • maremare312
    maremare312 Posts: 1,143 Member
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    Yikes, rough thing to say to a kid. How about telling her it's not sanitary to eat out of the jar? Or put some pb in a little bowl if she likes to eat it plain.

    I take care of my nephews and they pretty much only drink water and they love it. Very rarely they get some juice, and on special occasions they get caffeine free and/or diet pop. They love veggies, when they were little I told them broccoli was little trees. My oldest nephew almost had a temper tantrum in Applebee's one time because he saw that another little boy had broccoli and we didn't order them any. They are constantly stealing my veggies, can never decide if I'm mad about it or happy they're eating them :)

    I make them eat a fruit or veggie with their lunch or dinner before they get anything like chips or dessert. Their treats are either sugar free popsicles that I buy or popsicles that I make that have 15 calories (so about 4 g sugar) each.
  • jran3
    jran3 Posts: 105 Member
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    This morning my 3yr old tried to take the peanut butter in her room. She likes to eat pb out of the jar but she isn't allowed. Today, I told her why:

    "You have to watch what you do - if you eat pb out the jar 2 times, you might do it 3 times and if you do it enough, it will become a habit, where you do it without thinking. If you eat pb out the jar by habit you'll get fat, and you don't want to get fat - you want to be strong and healthy, right?"

    Only one of three likes fruit and vegetables, but they are all a normal weight even though I'm fat. They drink milk, tea, water. If we have juice or soda, we only keep enough to last for one serving then its back to milk. My son had issues with hyperactivity, and after cutting juice from his diet, I noticed a big change in attention span. I'm not strict - I know some parents are strict about gluten, meat, sugar, and basically don't want their kids to enjoy eating anything. What about you? Do you have limits for your children? What are they and why?

    You're giving your kids food issues.
  • Kristy0728
    Kristy0728 Posts: 63
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    I think you geniunely meant well. Fat isn't a bad word, but it sounds as though that fat is bad to HER, and you. Which makes it unappealing and ugly. Which leads me to believe that your words were poorly chosen.

    Its never to early teach good/bad, healthy/unhealthy etc. But it needs to be taught in a healthy manner. We exercise because it makes your heart and muscles strong. You eat to feed your body. Your body needs the right amounts of food and exercise to work its best. Its like watering flowers, you water to much or not enough and they dont grow the way they were meant to.

    Food Rules? We eat at the dining room/ kitchen table, never in our rooms. We dont eat out of jars because other people don't want our double-dipped, spitty-spoon, eaten out of stuff. Sorry, but yuck. :noway: We eat what we want in moderation. We cant have as many candy bars as we can carrots. But we can still have the candy bar, sometimes.
  • odusgolp
    odusgolp Posts: 10,477 Member
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    You should have simply said "You don't want to be like mommy, darling."
  • WestCoastPhoenix
    WestCoastPhoenix Posts: 802 Member
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    3psw5w.jpg
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    My children are grown now but I can't imagine having raised them without rules They had rules for most everything, food included. Mine were pretty basic. You can't eat junk all the time. No dessert if you don't eat dinner. What I prepare for dinner is what you get for dinner.
  • AReasor
    AReasor Posts: 355 Member
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    It is about positive versus negative. You can teach them to have a positive relationship with food(for better health). Or you can teach them to have a negative relationship(that will make you fat).

    My youngest is in love with peanut butter. It is a good source of protein and she could be eating a lot worse. I just put some pb on a plate with an apple cut up for dipping.

    If I had that same situation #1) She would be in huge trouble for taking food without asking. #2) I would tell her NO she could not have more peanut butter. #3) If she asked why, I would tell her that she has had enough. End of story, she is 3.
  • TaraFTMVA
    TaraFTMVA Posts: 309 Member
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    I figure lead by example....thats my strategy. I am very particular about what my son eats. I do let him have some cookies now and then and I do give his watered down juice a day, but at meals I make sure he always has at least fruit and or a veggie. He generally eats what I do and since having him I have changed my diet to lose weight and be a good role model for him. I am lucky he is not picky (yet) and he eats all fruits/veggies/food that we give him. Thats my motivation. If he decided he wanted more pb I would let him have a little more bc its protein and he wont do it all the time. As long as he eats all the good stuff I am okay giving him a bad thing here and there bc its life. There are bad things he will have later in life when he goes to parties at friends and when he is in school so I teach him moderation :)
  • TaraFTMVA
    TaraFTMVA Posts: 309 Member
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    It is about positive versus negative. You can teach them to have a positive relationship with food(for better health). Or you can teach them to have a negative relationship(that will make you fat).

    My youngest is in love with peanut butter. It is a good source of protein and she could be eating a lot worse. I just put some pb on a plate with an apple cut up for dipping.

    If I had that same situation #1) She would be in huge trouble for taking food without asking. #2) I would tell her NO she could not have more peanut butter. #3) If she asked why, I would tell her that she has had enough. End of story, she is 3.
    ^^This^^
  • Jacwhite22
    Jacwhite22 Posts: 7,012 Member
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    If my son ate peanut butter out of the jar I think I would give him a high five.........If it was chunky I'd probably buy him a new ninjago/skylanders/pokemon toy as well.......I am missing the issue.

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