[saef]

Yes, but only after my behavior drove them to it.

When my parents decided when I was in the fourth grade that I was going to college -- which neither of them had the opportunity to do -- and my mother took a job to help them save up for my tuition, I became a latch-key child.

And I would go searching for food & go on binges in the empty house as soon as I got home from school every day.

This behavior peaked during middle school & high school.

In middle school, our small, picturesque Upstate farm town suddenly had a population explosion from all the new developments that went up on former farm land. So they built a second middle school. My eighth grade class was the first to be split in half between the two schools: North of the river, you went to the old school; south, you went to the new one. It so happened that all my close & trusted friends lived north of the river, while I lived south. So I remember feeling very alone all day at school, and coming home & getting on the phone to find out what everyone had done all day at their school, the other school, while I was out. Then I'd go eat. A lot.

In high school, though we'd all been reunited, I remember completely losing interest in lunch. No lunch meat or any type of sandwich appealed to me. (And that was all that people ate in those days.) My mother made a cheese sandwich with mustard every day; every day, I threw it out & bought a bag of chips instead. So of course I was insanely hungry once I got home from school.

They started hiding food because I'd eat it all if left alone with it.

[bellastarr]

Yes my mother did this i think to "help me" by not leaving them out to tempt me. She used to hide cookies, candy, anything that was bad so i wouldn't eat it because she knew i had no control. The sad thing is i always found them and believe me she came up with some great hiding places. It made me feel like I must be sooo fat and gross my mother is going to the trouble of hiding this food so i don't get any bigger. Sometimes it would take me a while to find the food but i always did.

I think she believed she was doing the right thing, my brother could eat anything and did, so we always had tons of food in the house. I'd go shopping with her alot and she'd say to me "i feel bad buying this stuff cause i know it bothers you" but she told me she had to buy it for my brother. and then she'd hide it but i knew it was there so it was like a challenge to find it to spite her

The sad thing is i am 30 and don't live at home anymore and she still will hide stuff when i come over. Just last week i walked in and she had made Rice Krispie Treats on the counter. I went into the living room and a half hour later the rice krispie treats had disappeared. It makes me mad because i feel like she thinks i have no control, which alot of times is true, but to know she doesn't trust me makes me feel awful.

[Timlin]

I had no food issues when I was young. My mother often had trouble having enough food in the house to feed my younger siblings so there was no hiding anything. We seldom had 'treats' but when there was money for them we all shared equally. I think my parents were the very best at not choosing favourites among us.

My eating problems began when I was a stay at home Mom......and while I loved being home with the kids I think I was bored too. I still only overeat when I'm bored.........so I try to keep the hands full of stuff to do.

[ubergirl]

Yes, my mom hid food. When I was little she took away my Halloween candy and then doled it out. She would buy treats for my brothers and put them somewhere that I supposedly wouldn't find it. Definitely A LOT of control issues around food in my house. I started sneaking food, hiding food, and binging as a young teen.

[RetroChick]

My mom hid snack stuff, big time! It wasn't so she could dole it out to me though, it was for herself and she's been obese all my life, too.

I didn't even realize she hid food until I was 13 or so, then one day my little sister (who was the pet, and 7 years younger than me) came into the living room with a Twinkie while I was babysitting her. When I asked her where she got it, she said out of Mom's dresser and that Mom hides them from me but lets her have one whenever she wanted. I followed her out to our mother's room and found a dresser drawer filled with Twinkies, Cupcakes, name brand cereal, etc. I was so mad... but that was par for the course with my mother. At that time I was normal average size because I was so active. She simply didn't want to share her goodies to me or my stepbrothers.

I remember being real young and we'd go to Sonic a lot in the small town near where we lived (well before my sister was born). She'd order me a corndog and a pop in addition to her own meal... but when it came, she'd bite off a big hunk of my corndog and take a big drink of my pop before handing it to me. I can always remember begging her not to but she'd say "I have to make sure it's okay for you." Yeah right. Most times I would eat what was left because I was hungry, but it ruined my meal. She also would pick the 'crispy' off of my KFC chicken before giving it to me. To this day, I can not stand to eat or drink after anyone else. It's funny, because my kids have no qualms about eating or drinking after me, but then again, I respected their right to have their own food, so they never had the hang-up to begin with.

I never hid food from my kids.

There is a lot of emotional baggage tied up in food for me, and I covet food and use it for soothing anxieties, stress, and boredom. But I always try to remember, my mom isn't still providing or not providing my food, and she doesn't have the opportunity to eat half my dinner before handing it to me anymore. What I place in my mouth is of my own free will. But I'm pretty sure my upbringing has something to do with my overeating. That, and I just hate feeling hungry at all. It reminds me of times when I found nothing to eat (apparently because it was hidden!)