Mothers raising the next generation of fat kids

Wow, I must be a terrible mother - I have a pic of my son on my Facebook with Nutella smeared all over his face...

And it's adorable. :flowerforyou:

I had a terrible mother - she NEVER gave me Nutella! I guess that's why I ended up fat and on MFP...

That's how this works, right?

Ohh.. I get it now.. Yep.. It's all my mother's fault that I drank too much and ate too much junk during college..

I think we are all taking what she said out of context. She was talking about little babies, not small kids.

We all have those photos. There is a huge difference from doing It every now and then to every day.

^Thank you. Yes I am talking about little babies (Mostly under the age of one, where there digestive system can not process certain foods as good as older kids) also you can't teach a baby about moderation. You control entirely what goes into there mouths. When they can communicate back and understand than give them the chocolate bar, and teach them that it is ok to have a treat every now and than, but too much could lead to diabetes and obesity.

Oh so you see a lot of 3 moth old babies eating hamburgers, fries, and chicken fingers...right go on tell me more. Me thinks somebody was just trying to make up a rant so they could start a post on here. Backfired a bit though.

Wow. Such judgment. And to deny your children one of the pleasures of life (the occasional bite of delicious food)...wow.

I have an almost 5 year old and a 2.5 year old. Both my kids are absolutely, 100%, allowed a "treat" after dinner every single day, assuming they've put a good effort into eating their meal. And we probably eat restaurant/fast food or pizza 6 times a month or so, give or take a couple. And they often get fruit snacks as a snack. And my absolute favorite picture of my daughter on Facebook is one of her covered in frosting and green sprinkles with a GIANT smile on her face while we were decorating Christmas cookies last year. BAD MOTHER ALERT.

Or....not? Both my kids are squarely in the healthy weight ranges for their height and age. My son is a beanpole, but he's solid muscle, so while he looks underweight, he isn't, he just has very low body fat. Also, nearly every night, my son will ask for an extra snack after his after-dinner treat (he's more of an all-day grazer while my daughter will eat more at meals but snacks far less). Do you know what he requests? A whole, raw carrot, plus usually some fruit alongside. That's 100% his choice. When I make meals for them, it (with only extremely rare exceptions) always includes a vegetable and often a fruit as well, and they both like vegetables very much, as well as a million other kinds of food, ranging from chicken nuggets to white bean and kale soup. Sure, my 2.5 year old is still in a slightly picky stage on veggies, but my son went through the same thing at that age and came out ok (see above re: raw carrots). Both my kids are also extremely active. They participate in age-appropriate organized sports and play outside and we go to the park every single evening weather permits in the spring/summer/fall (helps me, too, since it's 1.5 miles roundtrip and it's a good walk for me pushing almost 70 pounds of children in a double stroller).

It's called BALANCE. Isn't that what the vast vast majority of us strive for here? I've seen 80% "healthy" food and 20% "junk" food tossed around frequently (I know, I know, the terms themselves can be highly debated, but I'm positive everyone knows what I'm getting at). If you're hitting your calories and your macros and your micros then rock on however you get there if it makes you happy, right? Why on earth wouldn't we teach our kids the same thing? My kids know that treats are fine, treats are great. But ONLY if you've eaten the food that makes your body strong first. I'd much rather my kids eat a couple of Starbursts every night and grow up having learned what a balanced diet really means than grow up not knowing how to work those things into their days (OR grow up only knowing crap food, to be fair).

She was simply saying there's really no reason for a BABY (whom is in the most crucial growing stages in life, and has not yet had to be exposed to sugar and chemical food additives) to be eating or drinking foods that aren't naturally occurring and healthy for them.

Wow. Such judgment. And to deny your children one of the pleasures of life (the occasional bite of delicious food)...wow.

I have an almost 5 year old and a 2.5 year old. Both my kids are absolutely, 100%, allowed a "treat" after dinner every single day, assuming they've put a good effort into eating their meal. And we probably eat restaurant/fast food or pizza 6 times a month or so, give or take a couple. And they often get fruit snacks as a snack. And my absolute favorite picture of my daughter on Facebook is one of her covered in frosting and green sprinkles with a GIANT smile on her face while we were decorating Christmas cookies last year. BAD MOTHER ALERT.

Or....not? Both my kids are squarely in the healthy weight ranges for their height and age. My son is a beanpole, but he's solid muscle, so while he looks underweight, he isn't, he just has very low body fat. Also, nearly every night, my son will ask for an extra snack after his after-dinner treat (he's more of an all-day grazer while my daughter will eat more at meals but snacks far less). Do you know what he requests? A whole, raw carrot, plus usually some fruit alongside. That's 100% his choice. When I make meals for them, it (with only extremely rare exceptions) always includes a vegetable and often a fruit as well, and they both like vegetables very much, as well as a million other kinds of food, ranging from chicken nuggets to white bean and kale soup. Sure, my 2.5 year old is still in a slightly picky stage on veggies, but my son went through the same thing at that age and came out ok (see above re: raw carrots). Both my kids are also extremely active. They participate in age-appropriate organized sports and play outside and we go to the park every single evening weather permits in the spring/summer/fall (helps me, too, since it's 1.5 miles roundtrip and it's a good walk for me pushing almost 70 pounds of children in a double stroller).

It's called BALANCE. Isn't that what the vast vast majority of us strive for here? I've seen 80% "healthy" food and 20% "junk" food tossed around frequently (I know, I know, the terms themselves can be highly debated, but I'm positive everyone knows what I'm getting at). If you're hitting your calories and your macros and your micros then rock on however you get there if it makes you happy, right? Why on earth wouldn't we teach our kids the same thing? My kids know that treats are fine, treats are great. But ONLY if you've eaten the food that makes your body strong first. I'd much rather my kids eat a couple of Starbursts every night and grow up having learned what a balanced diet really means than grow up not knowing how to work those things into their days (OR grow up only knowing crap food, to be fair).

I'm not trying to cause an argument, but the OP never said there was ANYTHING wrong with a treat. She was simply saying there's really no reason for a BABY (whom is in the most crucial growing stages in life, and has not yet had to be exposed to sugar and chemical food additives) to be eating or drinking foods that aren't naturally occurring and healthy for them.


Treats are fine, but a lot of parents don't understand themselves what a "treat" is and don't/can't teach their children that that kind of food is not food you should be eating daily for a healthful life. I know mine certainly had no idea and made no effort, and I really wish my parents had taken the initiative to understand what they were giving me to put in my own body before bad habits could form and get me into deep trouble.