Family foods
If you are taking too much control (in an obvious manner) of your children’s eating habits and choice of foods, be careful! It may just backfire on you. Don’t know about your kids but mine would frequently do the exact opposite of what I wanted them to do. If I said “only one cookie,” they would do almost anything to get two, say “only two,” and they want three, etc. In some tracking done at Pennsylvania State University, those kids who had the most self-control over what they ate, maintained the best weight and body mass index. Those who felt that they could get to eat whatever they wanted when their parents weren’t looking, gamied the most weight.
Do you manage your kids’ diet covertly?
By making available primarily healthy options like cut up carrots, peanut btter and celery, and varieties of nuts, you won’t have to explicitly forbid any foods. The kids will learn to eat (and really like) those things they are used to eating. When putting new foods in front of young children, encourage them to just taste the new food even if they don’t like it the first time. After a few tastings, they may find that new food to be something they now like. Forcing them to eat an entire serving can cause them to avoid it at all costs. So, control the selection so that they can learn to love the good stuff.
Are you a good role model?
Do you eat an appropriate portion size, are your physically active, and why kinds of things do YOU eat? Parents must be the example. The old saying: “Do as I say, not as I do” does not work. Children learn from watching the behavior of those they are most frequently around. That also means that in addition to your eating well and exercising, you should be doing those thing with your children to provide the example they should be following. They will always do what you do before they do just what you say.
Do you teach your children self-discipline?
Kids need to learn how to recognize hunger. If you put food in front of them because it is “time” for lunch, they may not be hungry. You may try asking them if they are hungry for lunch. That question causes the child to question themselves about the state of their hunger. They need to learn what their hunger cues feel like. Too many of us eat “just because.” If we learn as young people to recognize those hunger cues and eat at that time, controlling weight would be much easier. That is not to say that schedules are not important, as I believe they are. When we eat at regular times and intervals, that is when our bodies begin to tell us that is is time to eat.
Try these tips (maybe with yourself as well as your kids) and see if eating habits become easier over time. Start right now with those young people in your lives to set them up for success later on.
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