Kids and Junk Food?
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Kids and Junk Food?
| Wed, 03-07-2007 - 4:25pm |
Okay, since I've had my DD, I've been pretty set in the ideas of what I think is okay for her to have and what is not.
| Wed, 03-07-2007 - 4:25pm |
Okay, since I've had my DD, I've been pretty set in the ideas of what I think is okay for her to have and what is not.
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Okay here is my 2 cents on this.....I am one of those mom's you would probably not like to see letting her kids eat.....LMAO but here is my take on it.
My kids have to eat dinner first and foremost, and it may not always be the healthiest dinner they could have been offered as we do eat out
Angela
Oh Staci. I know how hard it is to know what you are doing right with your child in terms of food. I think it's that we want them to eat healthy first and foremost, but I also think that alot of it is fear driven that they will end up with weight issues. Every child is different, but I'll share with you what I do with my son who is now going to be 4 in March.
I reserve the middle shelf for him. I don't make it a big deal for him to not be allowed junk. In fact, I allow it. But I have MAINLY healthy stuff available and don't have junk in the house for him all the time. Just once in a while. I NEVER reward him with food. He gets rewarded with toys for the most part. But on the middle shelf of the fridge I set it up like this: in the middle of it I keep a bowl with prewashed fruits. Apples, peaches, baggies of grapes, whatever. I usually have 2 - 3 fruit choices for him. To the left of that I have a row of small kids size water sports bottles with calcium added. Next I have a row of about 4 yogurts(fat free). next to that I have individual cups of apple sauce. On the other side of the fruit bowl I have a little stack of ziplock snack bags of carrot stix and celery stix and cheese sticks. next to that I have a row of apple juice boxes. Next to that I have a few fat free pudding cups. I usually end up throwing away the pudding when they expire cuz he almost ALWAYS goes for the fruit and yogurt. And it's HIS choice, he feels he's made a choice and he likes it, plus he picks the good stuff. In the cabinet I have baggies of gold fish, boxes of raisins and every now and then tiny bags of chips or pretzels. He almost always picks. I let him have chocolate milk, but I buy chocolate almond or soy milk and I don't let him have it all the time. I buy it once a month and when it's out, it's out.
His meals are typically healthy, he gets pizza once a week. I get fat free turkey hot dogs cuz I'm on a budget. At McDonalds he gets a cheeseburger with apple slices and he won't even touch french fries. And I don't even give him the choice for chicken nuggets cuz they're so bad.
Anyway, that's a little of what I do with him. It sounds like you do a great job with her at her age. Don't fear the, "if she tastes it she'll always want it". And as she gets older, don't restrict her to the point she wants to sneak eat. That happened to me as a child. Let her have her treats but keep the bulk of her eating healthy. OH! And I buy most of my snack things for him at Whole Foods and Trader Joes and I get as much wheat free as possible.
I don't have any kids, but I will tell you what my dh has said about his childhood....
At various points in time his mom wouldn't allow the kids to have any candy of any kind, and going on other weird diets...
He has told me that is Aunt took him and her kids out to eat and gave them the option of ice cream, but he was told he couldn't have any because his mom didn't allow it. I think you can figure how he felt about that, it's very depressing to watch other eat stuff you can't have and want.
He and his sibling have told me that they would walk down to the grocery store and steal/buy candy and other things they weren't allowed and then hurry and eat it before they got home.
And most of them won't eat oatmeal anymore, because that is all they got for breakfast (because it was cheap), while there dad had ham steak and eggs....but I will stop at that...It really irks me when people do that. The younger kids will not eat bananas anymore either becuase their step mom made them eat one every morning because "there good for you"
Anyway....I personally think that if you give them mostly heathly food and don't make anything forbiden they will learn to eat well. (my neices and nephews have their own water bottles and if they are thirsty they want soda unlike other children I know.) I better stop rambling now.....
Thank you all for your
I have 2 kids.. (they are my inspiration for losing weight)
Samantha just turned 3 on Feb 1st and Zachary will be 2 on June 16th. Both of them are pretty good eaters.. we are a meat & tater family but they also love fruit & they will eat "most" veggies. (they even eat onions, cooked, not raw yuck) and they eat usually 1 yogurt a day.
They do get treats/snacks probably twice a day., i usually have some dum dum suckers,smarties (sweet tarts) & popcicles in the house. chocolate & donuts have been banned from the house. I don't do much baking (cause i suck at it) so we very rarely have cookies or cake hanging around the house. We do go to McDonalds 2-3 times a month.. They each get a happy meal w/ the apples and 2% milk. we do usually get 1 order of fries and share it between the 4 of us. We do keep more chips in the house than we should.. Zac is a "cheeto freak", DH eats fritos & lays , I ususally keep tostitos scoops in the house, i love the baked ones & the low fat ones, with ChiChi brand salsa.. yum Sam doesn't really have a preference, so will pretty much eat whatever is offered. we usually have 3-4 bags of chips in the house at any given time.. *bad me*
they were both given only breastmilk by bottle til about 6 months old then i started them on homemade baby food but they started refusing to eat mushy baby food around 8 months old and wanted to feed themselves, very independant little "turds" LOL..
Sam is at the 50% for height & 50-75% for weight depending on her growth spurts, and poor Zac is lucky if he hits the 25% for both weight/height.. even though he eats like he has a bottomless pit, but he is so much like DH in that regards, very petite,
Sara
342/268/200
Sara
342-300-200
Staci, my parents are the same way as your inlaws.. and get to think of it, my inlaws are the same way too (but we only see them once a week). The problem is I leave Mark with my parents everyday when I leave for work. So I really understand where you're coming from.
When Mark was younger (less than 1 year), I did not allow any sort of sugar.. period. After he turned 1, he started eating what we're eating and slowly he was allowed some junk.
Right now (he's 3), he is offered healthy food only on the 3 main meals. For him, a supper with vegetables, salad (no dressing), some rice, and lean protein is the most normal thing in the world. My rule with my parents (and at home) is not to offer junk, but give it when he asks for it. We have candy and cake available at my parents house and when he wants some, he asks for it. He has his own drawer of junk snacks at home and when he wants something, he just grabs it. I think we still have some candy in there from Christmas. Actually I think I dig into his drawer more often than he does.
Like Dani's son,
I just have one more comment to add about the chocolate milk. DS started refusing milk when he was switched to regular milk for some ungodly reason but around the same time he also developed an allergy to EVERY JUICE there is out there. Massive diarhea at even a couple swallows. This despite the fact that he drank juice til his 1st bday. Go figure. I always watered down his juice to get more water into him but of course Dh didn't. Anyways as for the whole chocolate milk, The drs told me to give him chocolate milk cuz it was better than no milk. THAT IS ALL the kid will drink anymore. NO to tea, no to coke (yes we offer him coke cuz of the fact that he is allergic to juice), no to everything but milk and it has to be chocolate. Get this though, at school, he will drink the white milk. They think it is because he sees the other kids drinking it but most of the time the girls drink milk with dinner and no they don't get chocolate all the time.
Angela
good point about the chocolate milk...
if we do splurge and buy choc. milk.. i usually mix it w/ skim milk.. cause it is almost too chocolatey/thick for me and the kids don't really care for it, they'd rather drink juice, white milk or water
at 1 point they were drinking so much juice i started diluting it 1/2 & 1/2 with water..
now they get 8oz (sippy cup)of milk in the morning w/ breakfast, i send them to daycare w/ their sippy cup full of juice, then they drink water or milk w/ lunch.. then when they get home they can drink water til dinner, then at dinner i usually give them milk again..
They do have soda every now & then but i try to make it non caffine, like 7up, sunkist orange or root beer.
Sara
Sara
342-300-200
I thought I would put my 2 cents in here. I grew up in a house where junk was everywhere and there were no restrictions. Both my parents worked full time and we were on our own from a very young age and we ate what we wanted when we wanted. I was always a big child, part genetics, part eating habits. So now I have three children. I am very concious of what they eat, and so are they. WE discuss it. I want them to understand what their bodies need to be healthy, and what happens when they don't get it. They are still allowed things like corn dogs, chicken nuggets, macaroni and cheese, and pizza for dinner, but they get them in small amounts and with fruits and vegetables as a side. If they are still hungry after a meal they can have more fruit or vegetables. For drinks, they get one cup of milk and one cup of juice a day and the rest is water, although sometimes I make an exception for crystal light or sugar free tang. My mother is still of the same mind set she was when I was growing up and kids should be allowed to have it all. I have so much trouble taking them to her house because she has soooo much junk and she gets mad if I tell them no. SHe doesn't see that I am the way that I am because she made me this way and I am having to learn a whole new way of thinking and living, I don't want my children to go through life the way I did, and be unhappy for most of it.
Now I also have the issue of having a underweight child, a child that is on the skinny side and a normal to slightly chubby child. The underweight child needs more fat, not junk, but fat than the other two do which makes it difficult. I think my kids are of the age now that they understand that they were all made differently ect... But it is still hard for us when we have to allow our son more of somthing than our daughters. But it is a good lesson in how life isnt always fair I guess.
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