Limiting junk food for toddler question

[RunawayBunny]

Thanks for the replies. I get (lovingly) teased a lot by my friends and family because of how we eat so I guess I am a little paranoid.

I totally agree with "everything in moderation" and really feel like thats how we eat. I wont at all deny an occasional treat. And really I wouldnt deny a taste of pop or coffee if ds asked but he never has.

[bluedaisyma]

I think u can both be right . My sil and her friend had a drawer of candy at their respective houses and the kids could have it whenever however much from a young age. All the kids self regulated and are very healthy eaters as teens. I was really strict with my older kids but now with a non compliant dh and teens in the house there is a good amount of junk here and I bake a lot. The 2 yr old (while I don't give him free reign) will set down a cookie for hummus or fruit or peppers etc. he regulates really well. I don't think you are doing anything wrong by being strict though!

[mommy2abigail]

Um. My 2 year old chews gum. And drinks my coffee if I don't watch her. She also eats any fruit, veggie, beans, protein, plain Greek yogurt, ect. I have two older kids, so if my toddler sees them get some gum, she wants some too. When I just had dd1, everything she ate was organic, I fretted about her eating SO much. Now it's a family joke about her first birthday cake...it was all natural, sweetened with applesauce and bananas, ect. I certainly don't just give them crap food all day, but I wouldn't judge a mama for giving her two year old a piece of gum.

[RunawayBunny]

Originally Posted by mommy2abigail but I wouldn't judge a mama for giving her two year old a piece of gum.

I thought I made it pretty clear I wasn't judging her. She brought up an interesting point and I wanted input on how that point might affect my parenting.

[mrspopo]

I've been a nanny for a long time, and I've seen many different food arrangements. I love when kids have the ability to self regulate and don't just chow-down on the junk food, but that is a tall order IMO.

My nephew had a very restricted diet when he was little, as in the list of foods he was allowed to eat was ridiculously small. And now at 7 he has absolutely no self-control or ability to process regular food. The tiniest bit of sugar and he's bouncing off the walls. I can't tell you how many times he would get access to something and eat until he pukes. And he became incredibly sneaky. This is a very extreme example, but definitely what I want to avoid. One family I babysat had "candy day." They were not allowed candy, ever, unless it was Saturday. This was hard because they would get treats from school or wherever and I had to take them away. Those kids would talk about and fixate on candy all week until they were allowed to pig-out on Saturday.

I definitely go with moderation for my DD. We have things in the house that I'm ok with her eating. And when we encounter something yummy, it isn't a big deal. I do enjoy my "chocolate coffee" most mornings, and I don't mind if DD (she is 1) licks at the empty mug a little. I'm definitely not planning on doing gum in the immediate future though.

[Kiliki]

I have 3 kids - one is almost 6, one is 4 and the other is 20 months.

I have always done my best to not only restrict crap that they eat, but also to MODEL good eating habits. And a lot of that is dialogue.

I make all their meals, or give them healthy options to choose from. They get occasional treats. And for special occasions, they usually get more than normal.

My older kids will ask for water to drink. If they do ask for juice, I allow them one cup a day. Typically they don't finish it, and ask for water instead. This is b/c I never let them have juice until they were, like 3. They could drink water. Juice was a big treat.

The older ones will ask for healthy snacks - "Can I have an apple?" "Can I have a banana?" "Could I get a string cheese from the fridge?"

If they eat all their dinner, they may have dessert, which is typically one or two cookies, or one small scoop of ice cream, maybe one fun size candy bar. That's pretty much all they get by way of garbage most days. Sometimes, although rarely, they will ask for fruit instead of candy/junk. Which is fine. My son the other day opted for a pickle for dessert. lol.

So, I think my restricting their diets when they were younger helped them to have a better view of food. We don't just eat stuff b/c it tastes good. I mean, yes, we like the way food tastes. But food is ultimately a fuel we use to keep our bodies going, and to keep us healthy. And that is how we talk about food in our house. If I say no to a food, it's either b/c a meal is just about to be served, or I tell them "No, that's not good for us, let's pick a better snack."

A lot of it IS dialogue. We don't eat out often. And when we do treat the kids to Chick-Fil-A, we make sure to say out loud, "Ok, this is a treat! Let's enjoy this!" And then when they ask to go again the very next day, we say something like, "Aw, yea we had fun, didn't we? But we can't eat there often, b/c that's not healthy for our bodies." They get it, too, b/c as we drive around town and they see a fast food place, they'll tell me, "Oh mom, I'd love to eat there! But we just ate fast food, didn't we mom? We can't have that too much. we need to keep our bodies healthy!"

Now, when they go to Gma and Gpa's, it's caution to the wind, and they are drinking root beers, and eating popsicles, and having baggies full of cocoa puffs. But I think they know that is a treat, b/c they see it is not typical for how we eat in our family. I don't even buy those things for our house.

For me, personally, I would not let young kids self-regulate their junk food intake. I just don't think they have the ability to do that without proper training first.

[willownz]

Actually I was taught in my university nutrition classes that children up to the age of eight are far better at regulating their food intake than adults. If you actually let a child eat anything they want they will end up eating a pretty varied diet and they are far better at portion control than adults.