Obese Kids

[HalloweenBaby24 447]

My mother was never over weight growing up, She was very focused on her looks and weren't able to leave the house until she was done with her hair and make-up (God forbid if one of us kids had a hair out of place!)...That being said, I have my own daughter now and I don't enforce looking perfect on a daily basis in my home. She is 4 (Will be 5 in November) and an average weight and height.

[Tamlyn 107]

My daughter is 6, and she's a skinny little thing. I grew up with a mother who was constantly talking about getting skinny (ironically, she wasn't terribly large at the time, maybe a 14/16), so I have never talked badly about my weight in front of my daughter and she doesn't know I'm going to have WLS. We talk about how some foods are nutritionally better choices than others and that it's better to eat more of the healthy stuff and have sweets and stuff like that for occasional treats, but I don't say things like "good foods" and "bad foods." I don't want to give them the allure that forbidden food has for me.

She's also inherited her dad's family's build, and they're all tall, thin and athletic as heck. So she's got that going for her. I am just trying not to mess her up!

[Butterflyhigh 504]

I have two daughters who are very different from each other in many ways. My eldest is 13 and I raised her as a single mother. I have been aware of my bad eating habits and where I learned them from young adulthood so I treated food differently when raising her. I never made her clean her plate, no soda pop, no sugary treats/cereals/drinks. I taught her to eat just until she is not hungry...not until she feels stuffed full. I never used food as rewards. As a result she makes healthy food choices (except for those awful ramen noodles she loves so much), does not turn to food for comfort, and eats only as much as her body needs. She is a size 0-2.

My youngest daughter is being raised by myself and my ex-husband. From a very young age when she was in her highchair still, I realized that food was being presented to her differently. Her daddy's mother fed people to show her love...you know the type of mother. She would pile food on people's plates, insist they eat more and try this or that, and in general just express her love by feeding them. I noticed he started doing that too. Food time was fun time. He worked a lot so dinner time was special time spent with the girls. My little one associated food with fun and good feelings. She was also told a lot to finish her plate, just get one more bite in, and no dessert until you finish your food. Now at age 4 I can see the effects. She LOVES food...I mean more than normal. She gets good feelings from eating. She eats very fast and has very large portions for a child her age. Because we are now divorced it is very difficult to help her view food differently. I try to teach her to eat slowly...completely chew and swallow before taking another bite...pay attention to her tummy and stop eating when she's full...it's okay to leave food on her plate...always eat the Protein and veggies first....food is not a reward. She is a perfect little girl, not overweight, but she is in the 95th percentile in weight and height. That just means that she is at risk for having a weight problem as she ages. She is right on that line...it would be easy to cross the line into overweight.

I am concerned about her. Her dad and I are trying to be on the same page, but you all know how hard it is to change food perceptions. A major way he shows his love is by feeding her and buying her things. He is a wonderful and loving daddy, but this is frustrating and sad for me to see her being set up for future problems with food.

[Fluffnomore 1,235]

I have one obese kid and one slightly overweight one. Part of it is family conditioning: my husband is a big believer in rewarding with food. And I think the younger one lost the genetic lottery too. It's always been easy for him to put on weight. He is currently working with a counselor on his choices. At 11, it is almost impossible for me to monitor every bite he puts in his mouth and it would probably backfire anyway. He's doing a food diary and trying to make better choices while also trying to do something fun for a physical activity every day. It's a huge question mark to me.

[kpay10 95]

I have two children, ages 23 and 24. My 24 year old son has never been overweight and is, in fact, naturally skinny. My daughter was chubby from about 2nd to 5th grade and then hit puberty and thinned out. I always was careful with what I fed them and they were both actively involved in sports. Now that they are grown, my daughter watches what she eats, as she has a tendency to gain weight and my son is a vegetarian.