introducing portion sizes to children?

Thats a great Idea really, to teach your children about portion sizes. I think they learn alot from their parents and thats where my parents went wrong!!!! I wish they would have taught and demonstrated portion sizes to me. It would be important not to teach in such a way that children would obsess over I though...

Theres gotta be a book about it!

Lead by example? If she sees you eating a proper portion, she's more likely to follow suit.

Try to find a fun way to introduce her to the "new pyramid"...then play a game of correct sizes of portions...start with fruits....a small banana is a portion or a half of a large one...see if she can pick out the right ones! It may mean for you to brush up too! I needed to as I thought things (especially fruits) were a bit larger! You can also use it to make a math lesson for measuring (weights & tablespoons, teaspons, cups, etc.) Get her a "right size" plate and see if she can help you create the meal some evenings with the right measurements. If you teach her the "deck of cards" for the meat concepts, then see if she can come up with a "cooler or hipper" (is that even a word...I feel so not cool!!! LOL) way to remember it. I have seen ones that they use like CD's and such for sizes! If you make it fun (and not a chore), then she will be more likely to want to participate! I have worked on the food pyramid with kids as young as 2 1/2 (on a very basic level) and they served themselves the right size with the correct serving spoons...so keep your eye out! Keep us posted as I will be curious what her thoughts are!!! You may want to see if they covered it in school already too!!! Just a teacher's thoughts....Good luck!!!

I don't think there is anything wrong with telling them the truth. When you eat too much, a) you gain weight, b) you feel bad about yourself c) it is harder to get back on track when you form bad habits. I wish my mom had told me that when I was little.

My son seems to gain a little weight every winter, but then in the spring when baseball starts, he loses it. I tell him the truth in the winter (lay off the snacks!) and then tell him how good he looks again in the summertime. I also let him choose his hairstyle and *most* of his clothes -- he feels good about himself and most of all HE'S in control of HIS BODY.

Perhaps encourage extra glasses of water when feeling hungry and you know they can't be. I remember learning portion control from my parents in simple ways like whenever we had biscuits, we would never have more than two. We would never have more than one bag of crisps a day and whatever was put on our plate was dinner.

Up until we were around 13/14 yrs, we never just helped ourselves to the cupboards we always asked if we could have a snack and they would suggest what we could have. We never had a strict upbringing but this was just what we knew. We also had packed lunches for school so we just knew that what we were given there was a normal lunch. I can't remember ever seeking out extra food, so I guess as long as you know they have enough to keep them going, they shouldn't feel hungry.

We also took part in a lot of arranged activities / sports so we were quite active, perhaps just encourage some more exercise?

I would be careful making them too aware though, I have friends who have said they have watched what they ate since about the age of 11, I don't think it's really something a child of that age should have to worry about.

Lead by example? If she sees you eating a proper portion, she's more likely to follow suit.

I have 3 girls, 12 twins and a 9 year old. I have never taught them anything about portion control. They see me actually weighing things, and now. lol lol they measure their cereal with a measure cup. I hear them talking between themselves...

Sarah, you have to measure that, so we don't eat too much!

Only 1 serving Ashley.

Mom, says 18 chips is enough.

LOL Kids pick up on our behavior more than we know!

I also agree with Sam, my girls never eat without asking first. They don't realize if dinner is in the oven while they are outside playing. and not to mention they will eat when bored like we do.

One of my twins is really a tooth pick, she can eat anything and is built like a twig, but don't tell her! LOL The other twin takes after me. She's not over weight but pudgy in places. She looks great in clothes but in her swim suit she could use some toning.

All my kids are very active, and they will choose water over pop any day. I have had parents tell me that it was weird that the girls would rather drink water over pop. Then again my girls never get pop and they didn't even know what pop was till like 3rd grade. lol My thoughts were water is free, pop rots your teeth, and it's pure sugar, for kids.