Moms: Restricting Children's eating/ eating habits

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  • shartran
    shartran Posts: 304 Member
    I think I'm tired of people who are not parents telling everyone else how they should parent based on one-moment-in-time snapshots of people's lives.

    ·1: Do you think that someone just because they produced off spring are all of a sudden so smart and wise that they can put people down just because they have no children and according to you therefore have no right to be concerned about what is happening to our kids ?

    #2 The OP did not with one single word tell you/anyone how to parent. She spoke of her own experience as a child ( which I hope is valuable even though she has no children ). She asked for opinions of moms and dads and did not tell anyone what to do in regard to personal parenting.

    I wish people in general would read posts for understanding and not just for often misguided criticism.

    THANK YOU!! I've also had this same feeling after I have posted a few items re: my concern with the diets of children. Thank you.
  • delazouche
    delazouche Posts: 55 Member
    I was overweight as a kid too. I do have kids now. I don't disagree with you. It was very hard for me to change the eating habits that I had learned.

    The best thing you can do for your kids is lead by example. Even if you tell your kids to "eat their veggies," but you don't do it...they are going to follow your example no matter what you say.

    It's not a great idea to restrict your kids' calories per say, BUT you can provide healthy snacks and make eating whole foods a normal part of life.

    I like your approach! I don't have kids, but I've acquired a goddaughter, a niece, and a baby half-brother in the past year, and that's made me consider how I'd approach the healthy eating situation with my own kids someday, or if I were caring for the kids I mentioned. I was never an overweight kid and don't remember my parents ever really being particularly concerned about healthy eating, but looking back that's mostly what they provided. I do remember my former stepdad being a prick about it during my high school years and forcing my mom to give us things like boiled chicken with no sauces...berating me for seconds on strawberry shortcake when I was 5'5" and weighed 100-108 lbs. I developed an eating disorder around that time which still crops up to haunt me during my current weight loss efforts, and figure there might have been a correlation. So, there's that possibility to consider if you are critical of your children's choices.

    If I ever have my own kids, I think I'll try to provide healthy choices for them and just be sure to let them know what consequences can result from eating things with no health benefit, but I won't deny them their dessert.
  • joansjourney
    joansjourney Posts: 110
    I can definitely see where you are coming from and as a mom of three I agree with you. My kids eat "crap" food all the time because I love to bake and it's something that we all do together BUT there should be a limit on the amount and it's in the parents control in choosing what and how much their kids eat (generally). My kids eat junk food but they are also obsessed with fruits and veggies and I make sure to cook balanced meals with age appropriate portions.

    We have some really good friends who we readily admit to judging because their kids are overweight and never eat fruits and vegetables. I've had plenty of discussions with the mother and she knows that her kids eat horribly but does absolutely nothing to change their eating habits. I feel so bad for those them because out of the seven kids (ages ranging from 17 to 2) only the 2 of them are not overweight with 2 falling into the obese category. This is just beyond sad to me.
  • Broderick50
    Broderick50 Posts: 842 Member
    I restrict my daughters eating habits to a degree. I told her I'm not putting you on a diet but you're not going to lay around eating junk food all summer either. I replaced a lot of the snacks with fruit and we bought the baked chips. I cut down some of her portion sizes to what a normal portion is and I try and bake or grill as much as I can. I also make her get outside for at least 2 hours a day and play.

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