I am the mother of 4 grown children. When they were growing up I thought that I could not "deprive" my children just because I should not have snack cakes, cookies, chips, and fried foods. Now as adults, 2 of my 4 children have obesity problems.
Read what Robin said again and again and again. Kids just don't need the junk.
We are really trying to teach our kids the same lesson and I am trying to learn myself in my 40's! Hopefully, they will not be struggling with it when they are my age. The lesson is that sweets and such are an occasional treat, not for regular consumption, and that fresh fruits and veggies are sweet and wonderful. About once a week, we buy a very simple dessert in a small quantity. Last night, for example, it was 2 small cookies and a small scoop of frozen yogurt that they made into sandwiches and rolled in coconut. They eat this occasional treat while I am out exercising (DH serves them). Every week I hear the same thing: "That was delicious. It was kind of too sweet, though." In fact, I think next week I will get or make something fruit sweetened and see how they like it instead.
See, when there are sugary foods in the house, I AM A MANIAC! Sugar is my addictive substance. If I were an alcoholic, I am guessing my kids would be perfectly fine with never ever drinking around me or keeping alcohol in the house. So it is with sugar.
There are also plenty of ways to make "treats" beyond fruit without sugar. I now make cookies WITH NO SWEETENERS except for chopped dates and applesauce. All sweet breads start with a base of bananas and include raisins or chopped apricots. They LOVE them. They frequently spit out or choke down a bite of a regular muffin (out and about) before declaring it too sweet and throwing it away.
I am hoping keeping the junk away except for the occasional treat will help them learn that sugar is just that -- an occasional treat.
One more thing to end this much-longer-than-I-expected-tome: I am so frustrated by all the people who say that it is not fair to deprive kids of junk. Seriously? I hear it so often. One person even likened it to child abuse. The other day, I saw the fattest little boy I had ever seen. He was 21 months old (his mother told us) and could barely hobble along (because he was so fat). This was clearly not baby fat/breast milk fat either. He waddled over to his mother and reached up to get her to pick him up. Not able to carry him, I am guessing, she (a very thin woman), patted him on the head and handed him a Sprite. Hmmm. And someone said keeping junk out of my house is like child abuse?????
Knitsforfive: That is so sad about that little boy. I realize I am way overweight, but it's because of my decisions that I made as an adult. Little kids can't make those choices, so the parents need to be more responsible for their children's welfare.
I am concerned about my kids' nutrition and really want them to grow up not being addicted to junk food. But having said that, I do have a few things in the house for my son that I won't eat myself, because he does like them and it's easy. One is the Kashi snack-bar, pumpkin pie flavored. They're pretty gross, in my opinion, but he'll eat about 2 or 3 a week. The other is yogurt. Yogurt itself is okay, but he likes the kinds marketed towards kids that are probably not fat-free or low-fat.
I like fruit and so does my son. So I spare no expense when shopping the produce section and get a huge variety of fruits each week. As soon as I get home from the grocery store, I wash the fruits that need to be washed and put everything in it's own clear bowl and put it at eye-level in the fridge. Everytime you open the fridge, you see a tempting array of fruits in all colors. Same with veggies, though my son likes the fruit better.
Why do you want your children to face obesity by letting them eat junk. If you don't buy snack cakes, they can't eat them. May let them have 1 once or twice a month for a real treat. The time for children to eat healthy is from the time they are born. If they grow up eating well, they won't have the problems we are facing.
Applauding all the responses here...I wouldn't go so far as to say it's child abuse to give your kids snack foods, but at the same time, it's for their best welfare to keep the junk out of the house. My older stepdaughter was obese since she was about six years old. My husband was in despair over her and spoke to his ex-wife, who was the custodial parent, about getting all the junk out of the house...her response was that it wasn't fair to the other daughter not to be able to eat ice cream sandwiches and peanut butter cups after school. The obese stepdaughter ended up with lap band surgery in her early 20s, and now the other daughter is gaining a lot of weight. In my opinion, what wasn't fair was to place temptation in the path of the obese girl, and to provide the other child with the junk foods that have now caused her to become overweight where previously she was pretty fit.
As a mother of 6 ages 13-1, you can not realistically eliminate snacks instantly. Maybe next time try more granola/oatmeal cakes/low fat cheese crackers. and each time buy less and less, they will whine and complain but you want your children to be healthy too. They will still get plenty of junk at parties,friends houses and some school events so they should not feel completely deprived. It is all about moteration and you as the parent have to make the decisions. It has been about a 6 month process for my family but it has worked. WE still have treats but they are making healthier options.
I don't buy much junk for my kids. They may eat it at grandparents or at a birthday party, but that's it. What they eat now is how their tastes will be forever. My stepmoms grandkids live with them and she has a whole drawer filled with the snack cakes and other junk. They live on koolaid and hot dogs. Everytime I talk to them, one of the kids is sick. One girls hair was falling out in clumps. I try to talk to them about diet, but that's just the way they eat in small town America.
It's so SAD.
I bake cookies with whole grain flour occasionally. We eat granola bars, yogurt, cheese sticks, baked corn curls, blue corn chips, fruit & veggies. I make frozen pops out of fresh fruit and juice. If trhey eat a non fruit or veggie snack and want something else, I tell them that they can only have a fruit or veggie.
If you start from babies & toddlers, it's so much better.
I was just discussing this last night with my hubby.
We didn't have ice cream in the freezer all the time when I was growing up.
Now it's like a staple in our freezer. If we run out, we've gotta get more right away. Same with chips and chocolate. This insanity has got to stop!
This stuff is not good for them or us--yucko!!!
I need to tell myself that it's poison-not for consumption-lol!!
I try to talk to them about diet, but that's just the way they eat in small town America.
Not ALL small town people feed their kids that way...I know plenty who feed their kids healthy foods, fruits and veggies....it's an epidemic everywhere, not just in small places...
It's easy to say just don't buy it, but I also know what it's like to be on the run with kids and you want to bring along snacks which is hard to do with yogurt, fresh fruit, cheese...BUT there are many other options. We have our staple snacks that the kids like and I don't crave so much. Pirate's Booty, rice cakes, crackers, fruit snacks...I have also switched to frozen yogurt instead of ice cream. I let the kids put chocolate syrup on theirs for their treat. I guess the bottom line is that I am the one ultimately making the food choices and it is my responsibilty to teach my children good food choices. That is not to say that my kids don't ever eat junk, but at least they know it's junk food, not healthy and shouldn't be eaten all of the time.
The time for children to eat healthy is from the time they are born. If they grow up eating well, they won't have the problems we are facing.
Sadly this was not the case in my family. I have 2 siblings, the three of us grew up in a household that rarely had junk food, desserts and pies were reserved for Holidays and Birthdays. We ate from a huge annual garden, never had pop. We ate peaches, apples, melon and strawberries for treats. (From the orchard/garden). Occasionally Mom would make a pitcher of sweet tea, and we could only have one glass. Ice cream was a once a month treat (at Dairy Queen, not in the freezer) and the big splurge of the week was a piece of toast with a little peanut butter and home made strawberry jam. We all became morbidly obese as adults.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ddc
I was just discussing this last night with my hubby. We didn't have ice cream in the freezer all the time when I was growing up.
Now it's like a staple in our freezer. If we run out, we've gotta get more right away. Same with chips and chocolate. This insanity has got to stop!
This stuff is not good for them or us--yucko!!!
I need to tell myself that it's poison-not for consumption-lol!!
I totally agree. We didn't keep that stuff in the house when I was growing up either. Incidentally, the recipes Mom and Grandma used for holiday fare were very different than today's recipes. In most pie recipes the sugar is 1/2 of what today's recipes call for.
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Originally Posted by MindiV
Not ALL small town people feed their kids that way...I know plenty who feed their kids healthy foods, fruits and veggies....it's an epidemic everywhere, not just in small places...
I agree that not all small town people eat crap, but 90% of the adults and kids in my area are overweight. Sad, but true. My own kids are a few pounds each from being normal weights. According to the BMI charts my oldest is about 5 pounds overweight and my youngest is about 8 pounds overweight. UGH...We are trying, but still have a little work to do.
Sometimes it's hard, even if you just stop giving your kids the stuff freely. I was a VERY stubborn child, and I really liked junk food. I would throw tantrums when I was little until my mom would buy it, throw it in the shopping cart when she took me to the grocery store and wouldn't stop pestering her until she finally let me have it. I have memories of sneaking junk food into my room to eat it so she wouldn't know about it and wouldn't yell at me. I don't really blame my mom, though. Yes, she *should* have been firm with me, but I was SOOOOOO obnoxious that I made it almost impossible to be firm with. Sometimes if the kids REALLY like the stuff, and they happen to be VERY strong-willed, it's hard. It took me until I was an adult to realize that that stuff is just crap food. As a child, I just really really liked junk food.
Ceb and Beck both have good ideas. Either just don't buy them or make a special cabinet or shelf just yours--stocked up on the things you love and are on plan FOR YOU.
I do all the shopping here so I can easily decide what it coming in. I do let my kids have treats from time to time but as a general rule we do not keep whole packages or cookies or cakes in the house whatsoever--none of us need it--although I am the only one in the house that has to watch weight on a daily basis.
Yeah I agree with most of the posters here, I have kids and at first I provided lots of the junk food and now I don't.
The standard snacks in our house are string cheese, fresh fruits, veggies w/ dip (ranch/hummus/peanut butter) or sometimes crackers and hummus. Yes sometimes they whine, I look them straight in the eye and let them know those are the healthy choices and if they are TRULY hungry they can choice one. If they are not TRULY hungry then they don't need to eat, I have a lot of bad eating habits from eating junk food growing up that I don't want to pass down!
I also would like to say that the occasional instance of exposure so that they can learn restraint is best too, for instance I had lots of crappy food growing up but pop was not one of them (couldn't afford it). When I got married my husband and I became pop junkies, having 6 or 7 cans of it a day!!
So what we do is give 'junk' on special occasions, camping or road trips and make sure they acknowledge its not a healthy food, its a special occasion and to consume in moderation. Unfortunately no on seems to have found the perfect formula for everyone in the world yet or we would all be thin and healthy so I think we are all just trying our best!!
I was just thinking about what snacks we have for my 4 year old stepson, and while they aren't the healthiest available they are better than what I remember growing up. Pretzels, fruit, granola bars, string cheese, yogurt, we do give in to the little packs of 'fruit' treats but that is the worst we have at our house. He does get the occasional piece of candy, but we have cut that way back.
Now, his mom's house is different - last time we had him for the weekend she passed on the 'funny' story that he had two cups of mini oreos instead of just one because he opened the bag and got more when he told her he was putting them away. She was in the living room and didn't see. We don't have anything like that in the house where he has access, for just that reason. He is tall and slim at this point, size 4 pants are actually too big for him, and we want to keep him slim.
Last edited by Shannon in ATL; 07-16-2009 at 12:16 PM.
