Should Kids diet?

Hi, I have a question.

My brother has a three year old son. My sis-in law never gives him any choclate, cookies,chesse,chips, bread etc. Kid has been so restricted that he hasn't ate a single chocolate till now. He is fed with lot of veggies and fruits.

Though i agree with the health consiousness of the parents ,i find it too odd ? Why should a small built kid be so restricted? Will this help him / affect him in the long run?

It's probably a good thing to teach him to eat healthfully now by giving him fruits and vegetables. Some people agree that the comfort foods they turn to as adults are the foods they enjoyed as a child, so this is probably good in the long run. Fruits and vegetables are healthy but cookies, etc, will not contribute to a three-year-old's physical development.

I struggle with the same issue with my three year old son and people here have convinced me that there are most likely no negative consequences of "depriving" a kid of sweets and junk food except for the inevitable "But mooooom! so-n-so eats candy/chips...!" which is the type of thing you are bound to hear all the time anyway, so why put your child's health at risk? Obesity is far more dangerous than artificial-additive/preservative/high-fructos e-corn-syrup/trans-fat deprivation, if you know what I mean.

That being said, I do treat my son every once in a while to a happy meal or a lollipop, for example. It's fun for him and easy for me, I admit. One CC-er told me that she is similar to your brother and sister-in-law and joked that if she weren't, she might as well set up their calorie count accounts now! lol & ssl (sorry so long).

You should post this to the  "Ask Mary" part of the site. I am interested in what she will say. I can see not giving your child sweets/refined sugars, but you can make your own bread very healthily. Everyone, but especially growing children need a lot of complex carbohydrates like bread and pasta.

It's definitely not bad to ditch the junk but the cheese and bread? That's a bit much. Cheese is a good source of protein and calcium when eaten in moderation (since it's high in saturated fat). It's very easy to find whole grain bread that is low in sugar and minimally processed.

Here's the Mayo Clinic's guidelines for childhood nutrition:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/nutrition-fo r-kids/NU00606

And here's a wealth of information from About.com:

http://pediatrics.about.com/od/nutrition/Nutr ition_for_Children.htm

Just wanted to add from personal experience - my mom restricted the candy etc in our house too, then when I was old enough to walk to school on my own all of my pocket money went on sweets before 8am.  When I was old enough to be left in the house alone the first thing I would do when the front door shut was raid the biscuit tin, pantry, crisps, anything that I wasn't allowed to eat normally.

(I'm not slating my Mom for anything BTW, she did a great job bringing us up)

It was only after I moved out of home at 19 that I started looking at what I was eating and how it was making me feel.

I was the first of 4 kids, she lightened up on the others who subsequently don't have the sweet tooth that I struggle with every day.

I wasn't allowed fizzy drinks, sweets, crisps, diary produce, eggs, beef, when I was younger.

We were allowed the occational sugar free lollipop, biscuit or one piece of dark chocolate for a treat. Everything else was seeds, nuts or fruit basically. I felt my mum was denying me so many things at the time, but at the age of 13 me and my brother were given more choice and then free reign of what we wanted. After a few years we both ended up eating the diet we had been given by our mum before. 

Being taught good nutrition from an early age helped out big time. Now I'm watching how my 3year old cousin is being brought up (I still can't believe how much junk she is allowed!) I sure do feel like I was the lucky one.

Your sister-in-law is passing on her own neuroses about foods she considers are 'bad' to her child.  A healthy diet contains fruit, vegetables, wholegrains and so forth but it can also contain a small amount of 'fun' foods like chocolate and crisps without instantly becoming unhealthy.  

I think good parenting revolves around education.  If we teach our children that vegetables are delicious in large amounts and that chocolate is nice to eat in small amounts they will hopefully take that message through into their adult life.  If we simply pretend that chocolate doesn't exist and hope that by excluding it they'll never discover it we risk creating a very attractive 'forbidden fruit'....

I think that she is being too strict. She should teach her kids about moderation. Also she is running a risk that her, completly denying her kids of thesse foods might make them want it more.She could of course point out the benefits of eating healthier food, and moslty serve healthy food.But as others said she shouldn't make any food forbidden.

I may not be the best example, but my mom let my brother and me eat whatever we wanted.  We could have as much soda, chips, sugary cereals and whatever else to our heart's content.  I enjoyed lots of candy, cookies, Doritos and chips as a child.  Even when I decided to become a vegetarian in my teens and basically lived off of bread and cheese she left me alone (I am not a vegetarian anymore).  Now I am in my early 30's and have the healthiest diet of anyone I know!!  I still enjoy some of those treats, but feel like I got most of it out of my system when I was young, so don't have crazy cravings for that stuff regularly.  I suppose it may have been different if I was overweight or developed health problems, but I have always been very healthy and never overweight.  I am inclined to do the same with my (future) children, however I plan on exposing them to more types of foods early on (I was never exposed to different types of cuisines, exotic fruits and veggies, etc.).  If health and weight become an issue, I will of course reconsider.  But as far as your nephew goes, I guess if the idea is to instill healthy eating habits in a child then restricting the child's diet seems counterproductive--as we all know, a healthy diet is built on balance and learning moderation.     

In response to painter09-  a three year old doesn't know any better. If all they eat is healthy food, then to them that's normal and that's okay. The child is not at an age where they can be taught to make the healthy choices, they have to be given them. Sure, as the child grows up, the parent might want to teach them that some foods are okay in small amounts every once in a while, but the purpose of food is to nourish bodies. THat parent may then want to teach about proper nutrition, but at three, that child needs noursihing, not the junk we all struggle with.  If all the parent wants to have in the house is healthy, balanced food, then why purchase additional items, just so the child won't be "deprived"

bhoo- I think more parents should have this perspective. WHy does a three year old need candy, sweets, or junk? They don't. they need proper nutrition. It's only odd because most people in our society feed their children overprocessed, useless junk, and then struggle with being overweight and obese for life. If she wants him to have sweets, fruit is an amazing thing that tastes great, satisfies, and is sweet and delicious. Now if she started calorie counting for him...that might be a whole other issue to deal with. :) GO easy on her, she's trying to do what is right for her child and her home.

Hi all,

Thanks for the reply. I'm going to post this question in Ask Mary section too.

I'm a bit concerned now because he turned out two kilos underweight in  yesterday's health checkup.

Original Post by kristicro:

In response to painter09-  a three year old doesn't know any better. If all they eat is healthy food, then to them that's normal and that's okay. The child is not at an age where they can be taught to make the healthy choices, they have to be given them. Sure, as the child grows up, the parent might want to teach them that some foods are okay in small amounts every once in a while, but the purpose of food is to nourish bodies. THat parent may then want to teach about proper nutrition, but at three, that child needs noursihing, not the junk we all struggle with.  If all the parent wants to have in the house is healthy, balanced food, then why purchase additional items, just so the child won't be "deprived"

bhoo- I think more parents should have this perspective. WHy does a three year old need candy, sweets, or junk? They don't. they need proper nutrition. It's only odd because most people in our society feed their children overprocessed, useless junk, and then struggle with being overweight and obese for life. If she wants him to have sweets, fruit is an amazing thing that tastes great, satisfies, and is sweet and delicious. Now if she started calorie counting for him...that might be a whole other issue to deal with. :) GO easy on her, she's trying to do what is right for her child and her home.

 But you're operating under the same assumptions as the mother.  She has a personal list of 'bad foods' and is imposing this on her child.  A piece of cheese, chocolate or a biscuit is a pleasant treat for anyone, any age and can be enjoyed in moderation.   Just because some people over-feed their children with 'overprocessed useless junk' and they end up being overweight doesn't mean that the intelligent/caring response is a total ban. 

There is an increasing problem with (mainly middle-class) parents that mistakenly try to bring their children up on low-fat, high-fibre diets and end up giving the poor things malnutrition as a result.   Because the high-fibre low fat foods are too filling and don't contain enough calories the children don't thrive and without sufficient fats in their diet, children's brains can't develop.  Now we know this child is underweight, maybe something similar is happening.