Are Your Kids Eating Too Much Junk?
Hey kids, instead of those twinkies and ding dongs, how about some of these carrot sticks and apple slices? They kids want the junk, you want them to be healthy. This is what it is like in practically every household in America. But does it have to be that way? According to experts, no, it doesn’t.
Psychologists now suggests that it is ok for kids to enjoy sweets once in awhile, in moderation. Something I have learned over the years, with kids, they more you take it away…they more they want. Same rings true with junk food.
By no means should we be absolutely letting them load up on chip, cake, and candy, but it really becomes more appealing when they don’t have it. Am I right?
Studies have shown, kids whose parents used an iron fist when it comes to treats, actually ate more of the bad stuff because they were trying to “make up for lost time” as soon as they had access to the bad stuff.
How many times have you tried to keep something from your child because you thought you were doing a good thing, only to find that it backfired later. A good analogy would be the old stereotype of the preacher’s daughter turning out to be the “bad girl”.
We mean well, really we do. Where our focus should be educating our kids to make the right choices on their own and for them to have a good understanding of the consequences of overloading on the Little Debbie treats.
Here’s an idea…keep some sweets in the house and make them available for dessert only. Make the kids feel like they have some control over the portion size. This certainly works better than eliminating the good stuff all together.
Also, explain to your kids WHY it is not good to eat junk food all the time. Sometimes it is also good to add something healthy to the not so healthy stuff, such as caramel dip for the apples, or some whipped topping on the fruit.
When you are dealing with childhood obesity, it can be a little more tricky as childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years. I still blame video games and the decrease in liberty that children have outside the house. That has changed drastically over the years. I remember riding my bike all over town at the age of 10. Not like that anymore. That is a whole different blog altogether.
Again, the best way to education children about good choices is to teach them about moderation, but still allow them have their favorite snacks too, so they don’t feel like they are being deprived.
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