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Monday, August 31, 2009

Food Getting Your Kid to Eat Well

Posted by Dan Savage on Mon, Aug 31, 2009 at 10:15 AM

It's really not that hard.

Your kids will eat fruits and vegetables and greens if they see you eating fruits and vegetables and greens. They'll learn to exercise self discipline if they see you exercise it. They'll learn to indulge without binging if they see you indulge without binging. They'll learn to enjoy all sorts of different foods in moderation—including treats—if they see you enjoying all sorts of different foods in moderation. And no soda in the house—none for the kids, none for you.

The end.

There are a lot of parents out there who say they don't want their kids to eating nothing but crap and drinking nothing but soda who refuse to cut back on their own crap and soda consumption. Hello? When mom and dad eat crap washed down with corn syrup their kids do the same. The real problem with children's eating habits in America are adult eating habits in America. You can't set limits for your kids if you refuse to set limits for yourself. My kid can have milk or water at meals—which means his dads can have milk or water at meals. If we sat there and drank Coke during dinner, he'd feel deprived and resentful for being made to drink water or milk. (Similarly, no TV on school nights means no TV for him and no TV for us.) And Joan is right and Andrew is wrong:

Joan Yamini, a mother of one in Austin, Tex., said it was important not to have unhealthy foods around the house, but Andrew Segal, a father of three in Glen Ridge, N.J., said that children who can’t find cookies, ice cream and similar snacks at home can always find them elsewhere—and probably will.

You tend to eat what's in the house and not to miss what isn't. And, yeah, sometimes our kid will go find cookies and ice cream or crap elsewhere. But at least he had to go farther than his own kitchen to find those foods. Sometimes when he wants ice cream or cookies he has to—gasp!—get on his bike and ride to the store to get it. And, no, my kid isn't deprived, he doesn't have a complex, he isn't a budding anorexic.

 

Comments (6) RSS

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1
Ditto Dan. My son doesn't eat much crap (I am not speaking literally, of course), but when he does "find it elsewhere," like at the neighbors' house, he often thinks twice and says no or at least runs back home to first ask before indulging in soda, ice cream, candy bars, cookies, et cetera. Parenting is all about role modeling.
Posted by jacob.s on August 31, 2009 at 10:25 AM · Report
2
If you kid has to drink sweet fizzy stuff, get them used to drinks of 1/2 sparkling water, 1/2 100% juice. That stuff is good, and, though sweet, is not full of sugar or HFCS.
Posted by Dave J. on August 31, 2009 at 10:31 AM · Report
3
Can I somehow modify this idea and apply it towards my husband?

Posted by kiala on August 31, 2009 at 11:42 AM · Report
4
check out "Curtis Loses It Over Bacon":

http://www.eatmedaily.com/2009/04/wife-swa…
Posted by Chunty McHutchence on August 31, 2009 at 11:53 AM · Report
5
King Curtis rules! Seriously though, I agree that if we are disciplined and sensible in how we eat (and in general how we live our lives), our children will embody these positive traits in the long run. If we project neurotic fears onto our children and try to sabotage (i.e. "protect") them from learning to think for themselves, they are going to develop neurotic behavior, natch. It's really quite simple. All that is needed is for each of us to take responsibility for ourselves and for the choices we make in our lives and the rest will fall into place as it needs to. Most children are a lot smarter than their adult wranglers are willing or able to give them credit for. God damn, that means we all have to step up and start taking responsibility for ourselves!
Posted by iwouldprefernotto on August 31, 2009 at 4:24 PM · Report
6
Either you have never had kids, have one kid that happens to eat what mom or dad eats, or hit the lottery in having two or more that will mimic their parents' eating habits.

THE END.

I have two children, a boy 8, and a girl 6. My wife and I eat fish, salads, white meat chicken, and about every two weeks will eat a steak. We always eat good, rustic bread with every meal. My daughter will eat pretty much anything we do. My son lives only on dinosaur chicken nuggets, papa murphy's pizza, fruit, and (surprisingly) cous cous. My daughter HATES cous cous BTW.

Growing up, I was like my son. If it was green in color, I didn't touch it. Now I am one of the most adventurous eaters out there. Kids taste buds and attitudes toward food develope differently. To make some blanket statement that if you, as parents eat well, your kids will - THE END - is just stupid and ignorant.
Posted by buch on August 31, 2009 at 6:59 PM · Report

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