When my son starts Kindergarten, I will be packing his lunches. They will be healthy foods. (With a kid friendly twist of course.)
He is currently overweight, (by only like 5 lbs), but 5 lbs add up quickly. I have been so focused on my health, that I haven't been giving him his outside time.
But right now I'm learning to balance a healthy life for me and him.
It's hard with me being in school and whatnot. (I'm 16, however, it's not what everyone thinks... it was rape.. another story for another day.)
Anyways, back on topic. No, I would never tell my son that he has to diet or eat less because he is overweight and he needs to lessen his weight.
I would simply do more healthy activities with him, and eat healthy meals as a family, not just him. I will always allow my son and future kids unhealthy indulgent snacks occasionally, because well, that's a part of life. (Such as holidays and birthdays.)
When I go off to college, and of course take him with me, I will not stock my cabinets with junk and all of that like my older brother does (though he has no kids, he's still overweight himself.)
I grew up overweight from the age of 9 on up. My mom still is trying to lose weight, to this day. But she won't take that step to say no to unhealthy snacks and junk. She wants to buy a treadmill, but none go up to 350 that she can find. (Only one does that we've seen.) And she's procrastinating on buying that. She won't even walk around the living room let alone outside or a treadmill. She once had a free trial gym pass and didn't even go.. Her feet are swollen all the time and she can't lotion her own legs... It's kind of pitiful/sad, since she chose this lifestyle.
So I can't really control my child's weight until he's 4 or so when I move out. (My mom rarely buys healthy food.) But at least I can practice portion control with him, which I guess would help his weight.
Very nice post, and I like the grocery store idea.
Last edited by alyssarof2012; 05-20-2010 at 08:44 PM.
There are some things my parents did wong in regards to weight and eating, and some things they did right. I know what NOT to do (don't put a young child on a restrictive diet) and I know what to do. Helathful eating has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. My father has always been a wondeful, health conscious, cook. As a fat child, I took it personally. Now I'm completely grateful. I was taught consistency (no yo-yo dieting mothers in my house- it was just healthy all the time). I was sent to school with a healthy lunch that I thought was amazing, but looked a lot different than my classmates. I was encouraged to "get lost" (not literally or harshly, but I was allowed to disappear to the woods, river, on my bike, etc...). I appreciate healthy eating as an adult because of how my parents raised me. The problem was when I was put on a strict diet as a small child, which set me up for a lifetime of failure measuring portion contol.
In other words, while I will not restrict calores, I will provide a consistent healthy environment for eating. I like Southlake's friend's mom! Nothing wrong with "junk" as long as it's not processed (and limited).
When my son starts Kindergarten, I will be packing his lunches. They will be healthy foods. (With a kid friendly twist of course.)
He is currently overweight, (by only like 5 lbs), but 5 lbs add up quickly. I have been so focused on my health, that I haven't been giving him his outside time.
But right now I'm learning to balance a healthy life for me and him.
It's hard with me being in school and whatnot. (I'm 16, however, it's not what everyone thinks... it was rape.. another story for another day.)
Anyways, back on topic. No, I would never tell my son that he has to diet or eat less because he is overweight and he needs to lessen his weight.
I would simply do more healthy activities with him, and eat healthy meals as a family, not just him. I will always allow my son and future kids unhealthy indulgent snacks occasionally, because well, that's a part of life. (Such as holidays and birthdays.)
When I go off to college, and of course take him with me, I will not stock my cabinets with junk and all of that like my older brother does (though he has no kids, he's still overweight himself.)
I grew up overweight from the age of 9 on up. My mom still is trying to lose weight, to this day. But she won't take that step to say no to unhealthy snacks and junk. She wants to buy a treadmill, but none go up to 350 that she can find. (Only one does that we've seen.) And she's procrastinating on buying that. She won't even walk around the living room let alone outside or a treadmill. She once had a free trial gym pass and didn't even go.. Her feet are swollen all the time and she can't lotion her own legs... It's kind of pitiful/sad, since she chose this lifestyle.
So I can't really control my child's weight until he's 4 or so when I move out. (My mom rarely buys healthy food.) But at least I can practice portion control with him, which I guess would help his weight.
Very nice post, and I like the grocery store idea.
I gotta say, you really seem to have it all together. Don't worry about your son being "5 pounds" overweight at that age, unless, of course, your pediatrician is telling you to be concerned. Kids at that age tend to grow out and then up and repeat that cycle often.
I'm really impressed with the maturity of your post.
Being that my mom was an anorexic when I was a child then having her constantly tell me I needed to do this or that to stay looking pretty. Or later (after I was married) having her constantly remind me how pretty I looked before I gained all the weight and was never happy with any sort of weight loss I had made unless I was where I was before, which never truly happened. The last time she saw me was when I was 10 lbs from my goal and she was very please and actually said she would totally be happy if I decided to stay at that weight.....huge compliment from my mom.
When I changed my eating habits or when I started losing weight last year. Because of my history I was weighing myself everyday and my 5 y/o son caught on to it and he started following my lead. He would make comments like "I can't eat this because it has too many calories." This is stuff dh and I would say to each other never directed to the kids. My kids are thin they have no issues with weight. So I've learned that I can't talk about weight loss around my kids because they think everyone has a weight issue.
It took a while but I finally got him to realize that mom and dad need to slim down so we can be healthy like the kids are. I've started making more healthy meals and I praise the kids for trying new veggies and eating healthier meals.
Funny with this experience I've had to not weight myself as much which is great because weighing everyday was frustrating. LOL
Anyways, I grew up with weight always being on my mind to where I was obsessed be it when I was over weight and always felt down about it or when I started losing it and calories are always there. I do NOT want to pass this on to my kids.
It so hard to know waht to do. May parents where the same with both me and my sister - yet I am obese and she is slender.
As a parent, you can only do your best to do what you think is right. My son is 16 months old and I try to expose him to everything from Aspargus to Cheetos. I give him fruits and veggies everyday and only on occassion give him tastes of junk food. I don't want junk food to be "forbidden" and therefore become appealing, but I try to mainly focus on the fruits and veggies. He LOVES LOVES fruit and hasn't met any veggies he doesn't like.
We don't have cable. We can't afford video game systems. We live on 2 acres of land - so I know (like my mom used to say) I will be telling him to "go outside and play" a lot.
Daycare takes the kids outside everyday the weather permits them to.
I really think the best you can do is to encourage healthy eating, encourage activity and don't keep junk in the house!
As an obese woman with normal weight daughters I did a couple of things right. (thank goodness) I served a lot of fruits and veggies (although I probably overused processed main dishes) and I encouraged and supported EVERY activity they were interested in: soccer, dance, basketball, swimming.
Of course I'm also middle class and was able to work part-time while they were in school so I had the money to pay for the activities and the time to take them. I feel for those who don't have the same opportunities.
Just have to say, again, what a great thread. It is so great to have a place where we like-minded people can all get together and discuss this topic. This is a hard topic for some. There are those that want to sweep it under the rug. It is SO refreshing to be in a place that we're not afraid to speak openly and to know that we are all among friends.
You guys, and this thread, has really reassured me that I am doing the right thing with my son and not obssessing about his weight (like I've always obssessed about my own). Thanks again for all the support and opinions, they are all truly valuable! I feel very proud to be a part of this forum.
Don't worry about your son being "5 pounds" overweight at that age, unless, of course, your pediatrician is telling you to be concerned. Kids at that age tend to grow out and then up and repeat that cycle often.
