Please stop feeding my child junk!!

I would interpret your situation as a breach of trust. I don't understand people either: Why do people want to intentionally introduce and promote junk food in kids' diets? I have a baby at home and everyone keeps talking about how much they want to introduce him to ice-cream. I have NOTHING against an occasional scoop of ice-cream for older children, but there are so many other, more nutritious foods my son could eat instead right now to develop his palette. So frustrating.

mell4now wrote: »

Diabetes, heart attack, hypertension obesity and other diet related illnesses run in mine and my husbands family, so ever since my daughter started solid foods, I've been feeding her predominantly balanced and healthy food choices. Her diet includes lots of fresh fruits, veggies, cheeses, eggs, nuts, seeds, beans, yogurts whole grain bread/pasta/cereals I give her a mix of both lean and fatty cuts of meats because children NEED a certain percentage of animal fats in their diets. For beverages either whole milk, or home/made vegetable smoothies. She gets the occasional cookie or cracker every now and then, and we let her eat whatever she wants at birthday parties, holidays and special events. We might even go out for ice cream once every few weeks or so, but it is not an every day occurence The problem we are having is that whenever she is someone else's care or around other people despite having her own food people offer her JUNK! They know she loves to eat a banana dipped in peanut butter or a cup of yogurt with some raspberries and would intentionally give her a bag of cheese curls or a plate of cookies instead! She has a nice whole grain honey-oat cereal but has been given a commercial sugar-loaded bowl of junk. Of course after eating junk food for a day she has a bit of resistance when returning home and is offered a healthy dinner. I just don't understand why it gives people so much pleasure to feed my child junk food when she is accustomed to and LIKES her healthy eats?!? I recently interviewed a potential child care provider for when I return to work full-time and even after I just got done explaining to her that I like my daughter to eat healthy, she waved a cookie in my daughters face and asked if ok to give my daughter an Oreo along with the other kids...I thought it was a joke!! But absolutely nothing I said sunk in. I kindly said (as I pulled it out of the diaper bag) "I'd rather her have this whole grain snack bar instead"

Any tips on how to politely and effectively suggest that certain people stop doping up my kid on the junk food, or at least limit it?!

When it comes to childcare, you need to figure out your priorities and of course your budget, and do your research. Not all preschools and daycares have the same rules and meal plans. And if what your child eats is important to you, then what is on the menu is something you need to consider. You cannot expect for example 5 kids eating oreos and yours being served granola, it would create lots of problems for the caregiver. If you decide to hire a sitter, nanny etc, it should be 100% expected that as employer and in your own home you decide what your child eats.

Now, when it comes to situations like grandma offering a cookie, the neighbour offering some chocolate or the cashier at the local bakery offering a biscuit, unless your child is allergic to something or the food is completely unsuitable for a child, teach your child to politely accept it and enjoy it, or you are crossing the line to paranoid. If you have such problems daily with people you currently use as babysitters (even family or friends), this is a case where you need to decide what is more important, leaving your kid with grandma, her aunt, your friend etc or controlling completely her diet. If it is the second, hire a sitter and make the rules clear. When you use family or friends as caregivers, you have some benefits but you also have to make some compromises. When it comes to professional babysitters, you get what you pay for when it comes to fine tuning the details.

OP, I completely get where you are coming from. I have been frustrated by this in the past. Considering the number of headlines, news stories, etc. that bemoan the obesity epidemic in the U.S., I was initially surprised and pretty shocked by how often people continued to give/offer candy/cookies/cupcakes/other treats to kids at school, church, bank, etc. It's absolutely everywhere--candy from the dance teacher, sucker from the bank teller, cupcake and a Hug drink at church choir immediately after church coffee/cookie time, etc.

For me, the irritation stemmed from the idea that sweets like this should be treats. As in, have them once a twice a week and that's it. Plus, I wanted the chance to give her a treat sometimes but when a kid is offered cookies/candy/treats multiple times a day, they lose their treat status and are really nothing special. So my idea of a cookie from the bakery as a special treat or dessert at Sunday dinner as a treat went completely out the window.

What I have learned, though, is that these things being "no big deal" has been a really good way for my daughter to learn to regulate her intake of them. She is offered this stuff so much that most of it isn't something that attracts her at this point. She can take it or leave it, is what I mean. For example, she goes trick or treating, eats a couple of the little candy bars for 2, maybe 3 days max, and then the bucket of candy is completely forgotten/ignored. We end up throwing away a lot of Halloween candy every year for that reason. In another example, she likes Lindt chocolate truffles and recently had a Lindt milk chocolate truffle candy bar that took her, no exaggeration, three weeks to finish. She was like Charlie Bucket, nibbling a little, tucking it away, nibbling more a few days later, tucking it away again, etc. It has really been interesting to watch her end up like this because, in the past, I had such poor impulse control around candy and baked goods and would absolutely gorge myself on it. I now love it that she has such good self-regulation and her being offered treats doesn't bug me for the most part.