Why would you do that?!
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I agree about the junk. However, I have a child who is actually underweight and my other one hovers precariously close to being underweight so high fat (not junk) foods are a part of our life. Whole fat yogurt with cream, lots of butter, 2% milk, avocados, nuts, peanut butter, cheese, bacon...all things I can't eat much of but exist in my home for a reason so it is tempting sometimes. I've learned to control my portions.
Same thing with me but my daughter is the normal weight. But I have whole milk just for her, I have juice, I have chips but I don't eat it, I have sodas but I never touch them. My husband drinks them but not all the time soo it isn't that bad. But I learn how to control my self instead of me getting chips I go for the carrots its a better option for me.0 -
Kids need more calories? I'm pretty sure most children don't run around dieting and eating 1200 calories a day... NOPE. Maybe that is why the parents find it hard to diet? It's hard to diet when people around you, even if they are children, are eating more calories than you are. I'm not a parent, but maybe the unhealthy food they are jealous of isn't even that unhealthy.... Perhaps it is just the fact that they get to eat more calories than the parents.
I find this post extremely rude. I was brought up in a family where my mom was constantly dieting (she is 5'6" and weighs 118 pounds to this day), and she was VERY health concious with her children and herself. I rememeber she used to ask if she could just "smell my food" because it was SO different than hers. I was borderline underweight growing up, and I ate ALOT. Mac and cheese. PB & J shandwhichs, ice cream cone, ceral... those are all healthy foods, but they are just high in calories...
You should really watch what you are saying because it's really rude... Children deserve to not be stuck eating only dieters food... If I had my mom's diet when I was a child, I probably would have been severly underweight... but for her, it was a healthy diet to maintain her small weight at an older age..
I don't really find this needed...
I'm having a hard time seeing what was so offensive in the OP post. I read her post as..."if you are having a hard time watching your kids snack on cheetos and twinkies while you are eating carrots and apples, then just feed your kids carrots and apples as well. they will thank you in the long run anyways." I could be missing something though0 -
but fried chicken nuggets and fries in red boxes makes kids happy... there is even a smiley face on the box to prove it... infact... it says on tv... and tv doesnt lie... period... my heart just goes out to those parents.. it is hard to have self discipline.. even if you have no parenting discipline...0
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Here is a counterpoint. (And I don't gripe about having snacks in the house.) I do not plan to eat 100% healthy 100% of the time. It's no way to live, in my opinion. Kids cannot be taught to make healthy choices if they don't have a chance to MAKE CHOICES. In other words, placing them inside a bubble that they will definitely not be living in for life denies them the chance to learn what a choice is. We keep cookies and such in the house for our kids and ourselves. We've been told repeatedly that my 4-yo has the healthiest lunches of any kid in his pre-school/kindergarten. Here are some of the rules he has to live with.
(1) If you don't eat all of your dinner, no desert/treat. No exceptions.
(2) If you don't eat your fruit at lunch, THAT is you desert after dinner.
(3) Every trip to the grocery store, you may pick out one snack food as long as you also pick out one fruit or vegetable.
Does my 4-yo love pizza, chicken nuggets, chips, and cookies? Yes! And he gets them in moderation. If he's asked what he wants for dinner, what will he say? Seriously? Broccoli, chicken, and rice. What's his favorite eat-out restaurant? Subway. Does he like McDonalds and ChuckECheese? Yes, but mostly it's about the playground and/or games. His favorite weekly activity? Our trips to the farmer's market.
If you're letting your kids have the run of junk food, you're teaching them bad habits. HOWEVER, if you deny yourself foods that you will not be denying yourself for life and/or not giving them choices, you are also teaching them bad habits. If you want to learn to make healthy choices for yourself most of the time and teach your kids to do the same, you have to model healthy choices AND allow them to make choices.0 -
I agree that kids shouldn't be eating junk food. But they also don't need to be eating "diet food". However I don't think most of us should be eating diet food either. I do feel guilty sometimes though serving my underweight 3 year old grilled chicken and brown rice for dinner. I add cheese to her rice or something.0
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Kids need more calories? I'm pretty sure most children don't run around dieting and eating 1200 calories a day... NOPE. Maybe that is why the parents find it hard to diet? It's hard to diet when people around you, even if they are children, are eating more calories than you are. I'm not a parent, but maybe the unhealthy food they are jealous of isn't even that unhealthy.... Perhaps it is just the fact that they get to eat more calories than the parents.
I find this post extremely rude. I was brought up in a family where my mom was constantly dieting (she is 5'6" and weighs 118 pounds to this day), and she was VERY health concious with her children and herself. I rememeber she used to ask if she could just "smell my food" because it was SO different than hers. I was borderline underweight growing up, and I ate ALOT. Mac and cheese. PB & J shandwhichs, ice cream cone, ceral... those are all healthy foods, but they are just high in calories...
You should really watch what you are saying because it's really rude... Children deserve to not be stuck eating only dieters food... If I had my mom's diet when I was a child, I probably would have been severly underweight... but for her, it was a healthy diet to maintain her small weight at an older age..
I don't really find this needed...
I am a parent. I don't eat "diet food". I eat whole foods. I feed my family those foods.
I would argue whether mac and cheese and ice cream are healthy... I wouldn't say you should NEVER eat them, but their health value is highly debatable.
This! I am also a parent and I sure as heII don't eat "diet" food. Blech! My daughter eats what we eat. If she wants a snack, she gets one... apple slices, oranges, strawberries, graham crackers, PB sandwich (on whole grain bread), etc.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/baisleac/view/-dinner-ideas-needed-that-my-family-will-eat-too-967700 -
I think kids need to learn balance in their diet and that it is ok to have junk sometimes. I don't see a problem as long as their meals aren't tastykakes and lollipops.0
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Thank-you!!! I'm divorced and have 2 boys ages 9 & 12. Their father eats nothing but garbage and sees no problem with taking them for fast food nearly every day! He has no idea what proper nutrition is, he was once a competitive power lifter but he never did eat well. Seriously, the man weighs in at no less than 400 lbs now. I have serious concerns with my kids seeing this as being healthy. I have been trying to make sure I feed them as healthy as possible when they are with me and I always encourage them to exercise with me. We have discussions about how to eat properly and what can happen if they don't. They're both overweight now...I don't want for them to have the same issues I deal with when they grow up. Kids need to understand that treats are just that, TREATS, not an everyday thing. Scary!0
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I think we are inherently lazy. Or at least predisposed to make the choice that requires the least amount of effort. And kids can WEAR. US. DOWN. Knowing this, I try to be patient with other parents. My wife and I both had the advantage of working many years in direct childcare, including an emergency shelter that was 24 hour care in a home environment - so lots of meals with kids. We had practice in firmly stating to the kids: this is dinner. You don't have to clean your plate, but you must *try* everything before getting seconds of anything else (or dessert). We gave them a variety of stuff. Sometimes they would be stubborn and refuse to eat anything. We weren't hard *kitten*. But were politely firm. "I understand you don't like anything on the plate. That is your choice to not eat anything. No, you cannot have dessert. I'm sorry." It will not kill a child to skip a meal.
Now that we have two girls of our own (7 and 9), we use the same principles. We are lucky in that we participate in a neighborhood food share - cook one night a week for four families (us + three other families), and deliver food to the other three families. Three nights a week, food is delivered to us. One of the families is vegan, so the whole dinnershare is. Our meals are generally pretty healthy, always tasty, and the kids are pretty good about trying new things.
I think my wife and I were lucky in that we learned THE SECRET before we had our own children: that short-term battle you just caved on can create a long-term war that is 100 times more difficult to fight. That's not to say we don't pick our battles. But let's face it: clear, consistent discipline requires more effort than the other extremes: totally lenient or a complete hard-*kitten*/say no to everything. The short-term hassle of patiently setting limits has a long-term benefit. And that hassle can be annoying as hell, especially after a long day, out at a restaurant when you just want to eat dinner. But it's worth it. It is an investment. There are no quick fixes.
Hmmm.. kinda sounds like changing my eating habits and lifestyle around healthier choices...0 -
Okay so here is my rant for the day- All of us on here know that eating right and exercising are the healthy way of doing things. We all know that bad habits are hard to break. Nothing irritates me more than when I see someone on here with a similar post as this, "It's so hard for me to eat healthy when the kids are eating junk food all day. I just need to stay strong and not look at their treats!" Why, why, why are you teaching your kids the same bad habits that you are trying to break?! Even if they have started out with your old bad habits, help them break it now so they don't have to try to figure it out later in life when they start having healthy/weight problems!!! Okay, I'm done.
Agreed!0 -
but fried chicken nuggets and fries in red boxes makes kids happy... there is even a smiley face on the box to prove it... infact... it says on tv... and tv doesnt lie... period... my heart just goes out to those parents.. it is hard to have self discipline.. even if you have no parenting discipline...
Very well put
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I am not going to apologize for my kids getting treats. Because as much as they love ice cream and chips, they also love string cheese, tuna, fruit, hummus, pickles, olives . . . I think if you make anything off limits it just becomes that much more appealing. But to each their own.0
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I am in no way suggesting that children diet. I am suggesting that they learn about healthy foods instead of eating the junk that most of us are trying to stop eating. Whether a parent is dieting or not, children don't need things such as soda. What I am talking about is instilling in them an understanding of what it means to be healthy. Treats now and then are fine and good, you want them to able to do "normal kid things" such as having a pizza party, or a piece of cake at a birthday party. My post is more related to people that make 2 meals, one for themselves and one for their children. If you are on a severely calorie restricted diet then it makes sense to give your children more calories, but the calories that they get can come from some healthier foods! How about celery and peanut butter, or yogurt, or string cheese? All things that a lot of kids like, but that also provide added nutrients for growing bodies. I totally think that kids should snack and that they should not be worrying about calories, but I think that if they learn good habits now they won't struggle as much when they are older.0
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If I can make a bunch of kids fat, I will look slimmer in comparison. I'm that stranger who gives your kids candy.0
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I am not going to apologize for my kids getting treats. Because as much as they love ice cream and chips, they also love string cheese, tuna, fruit, hummus, pickles, olives . . . I think if you make anything off limits it just becomes that much more appealing. But to each their own.
We're not saying "No treats, ever!", for anyone. Kids can have treats, adults can have treats, everyone can have treats... but they should be just treats, not every day food.0 -
I believe it's all about balance. Do my kids have "junk" food sometimes? Yes. But they also love lean meats, fruits, and veggies.0
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Oh gosh! I totally agree. I see women in the grocery store buy all their healthy stuff, just tiny bits of veggies and fruit and lean meats then fill up the rest of their cart with cupcakes and lunchables and sacks of bread and just plain ol crap! My family changed eating habits when I changed. I never did let my kids run wild with anything though. Now, I'm proud to say that recently a registered nurse/nutritionist stopped me in the grocery store to tell me how proud she was that my kids literally jumped up & down and squealed when I told them I'd make asparagus with dinner. My children love vegetables. They love exercise. They love me for trying so hard every single day to be a better, healthier mother.0
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There is a reason why we are facing a child obesity epidemic in our country. It is because parents are too lazy to get in the kitchen and cook their kids a healthy meal. NOT A DIET MEAL, a HEALTHY meal. Instead, you see the shelves empty when Chef Boyardee and Easy Mac are on sale. How satisfying would it be to have at least one microwaved meal everyday? How do you FEEL after eating junk food? Not too good huh? The poor food choices combined with the lack of physical activity (due to feeling like crap from the food choices) are a recipe for disaster, and we are all watching it happen to our children.
THAT being said, there is nothing wrong with a treat everyday, as long as the kid's only source of nutrition does not come from over salted, preservative filled crap in a can.
Hopefully MFP will still be around in 10-15 years when the kids get older.0 -
I think we are inherently lazy. Or at least predisposed to make the choice that requires the least amount of effort. And kids can WEAR. US. DOWN. Knowing this, I try to be patient with other parents. My wife and I both had the advantage of working many years in direct childcare, including an emergency shelter that was 24 hour care in a home environment - so lots of meals with kids. We had practice in firmly stating to the kids: this is dinner. You don't have to clean your plate, but you must *try* everything before getting seconds of anything else (or dessert). We gave them a variety of stuff. Sometimes they would be stubborn and refuse to eat anything. We weren't hard *kitten*. But were politely firm. "I understand you don't like anything on the plate. That is your choice to not eat anything. No, you cannot have dessert. I'm sorry." It will not kill a child to skip a meal.
Now that we have two girls of our own (7 and 9), we use the same principles. We are lucky in that we participate in a neighborhood food share - cook one night a week for four families (us + three other families), and deliver food to the other three families. Three nights a week, food is delivered to us. One of the families is vegan, so the whole dinnershare is. Our meals are generally pretty healthy, always tasty, and the kids are pretty good about trying new things.
I think my wife and I were lucky in that we learned THE SECRET before we had our own children: that short-term battle you just caved on can create a long-term war that is 100 times more difficult to fight. That's not to say we don't pick our battles. But let's face it: clear, consistent discipline requires more effort than the other extremes: totally lenient or a complete hard-*kitten*/say no to everything. The short-term hassle of patiently setting limits has a long-term benefit. And that hassle can be annoying as hell, especially after a long day, out at a restaurant when you just want to eat dinner. But it's worth it. It is an investment. There are no quick fixes.
Hmmm.. kinda sounds like changing my eating habits and lifestyle around healthier choices...
Love it! I have 2 kids and they know the rules, even at ages 2 and 4. I put a SMALL amount each of the foods in our meal on their plate. They can choose to eat it or not, but that's what's for dinner. If they want dessert, they have to eat it all, otherwise, they are free to be done, with the understanding that they won't eat again "until the sun comes up." No dinner time arguments, no wasted meals, no cooking additional meals. Easy peasy, as the kids say!0 -
If I can make a bunch of kids fat, I will look slimmer in comparison. I'm that stranger who gives your kids candy.
I love this.0
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