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  • With Mayo Clinic nutritionists

    Jennifer Nelson, M.S., R.D. and Katherine Zeratsky, R.D.

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  • Nutrition-wise blog

  • Sept. 5, 2012

    What messages are kids getting about nutrition?

    By Jennifer Nelson, M.S., R.D. and Katherine Zeratsky, R.D.

4 comments posted

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At a recent picnic with my extended family, my 8-year-old child and a 12-year-old nephew were discussing the calorie content of a certain food. My mother commented to me that she didn't even know what a calorie was when she was their age let alone be worried about it.

And as a parent, my mother certainly didn't worry about whether I was getting the right number of minutes of physical activity each day.

Times have changed. Obesity and eating disorders are on the rise among children under the age of 12. One might lay the blame on any or a combination of the following: technology, safety, shifts in parents working more or outside the home, or food choices.

Rather than playing the blame game, however, perhaps we need to step back and reflect on our reaction to weight and childhood obesity.

In our well-intended fight against obesity, have we yelled too loudly, sending the wrong messages to children? Put too much emphasis on weight rather than health? Created feelings of anxiety and regret around food and numbers on a scale?

How do you talk to kids about food, health, exercise and weight?

Here are few suggestions:

  • Be a role model. Actions speak louder than words. Let your children see you enjoying all food — in reasonable portions and in the context of a nutritious diet.
  • Get up and play. Be active inside and outside. Dance, hop, jump, skip. Visit a park. Don't just sit on the bench.
  • Be happy in your own skin. Negative talk about your weight puts the focus unnecessarily on appearance rather than health and a positive body image.
  • Don't treat food as a reward. Remember food is first and foremost nourishment. This one gets complex as food is ingrained in our culture, making it difficult to separate food from emotions. But try to focus on the occasion (for example, a birthday) and not the food (cake).
  • Stay connected. Plan, cook and eat meals together. You can see firsthand how your child chooses foods and portion sizes. Gently guide his or her choices. Watch for red flags of a possible eating disorder, such as eliminating foods or entire food groups, and strange behaviors with food or at meal times.
  • Talk about cues. Educate kids about listening to their body's hunger cues rather than eating in response to external cues such as "it looks good" or "I'm watching TV so I need a snack."

As kids grow and mature, their body image and self-esteem evolve. If you have concerns that your child has issues related to weight or food, talk to your health care provider, sooner rather than later.

Any advice to share with a fellow parent? Anything you've done that has worked well for your child? Or anything you'd do differently? Please share.

To our children's health,

Katherine

4 comments posted

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  • October 26, 2012 5:53 a.m.

    My grandfather was a control freak who was obsessed with weight. He would watch olympic gymnastics and rant with absolute disgust at how fat this or that girl's thighs were. (Yes, the girls who were training so hard they weren't menstruating.) He thought Monica Celes was a pig. Anyway, my mother, who is morbidly obese, clearly didn't respond very well. Neither did she learn any lessons in her child rearing. I still remember sitting with one of those little Yoplait yogurt cups in the kitchen, and she saw me and got in my face and yelled, and her voice and her face were just grotesque, "That's a WHOLE MEAL!". I think I was 10 or so. I turned into a really fat kid. And now I'm a fat grownup. And I'm a little torqued off about that.

    - Heather

  • September 13, 2012 7:58 p.m.

    I was glad to see the term "kid" was used only a few times when speaking of the childern in this article. Thsnks.

    - Jerry

  • September 10, 2012 1:39 p.m.

    I completely agree. I have three children and found they were offered junk food everywhere we went -- from the dry cleaners to their preschooler dance class. It was offered with best intentions, but people did not realize the amounts available to kids. I realized that I had to do three things to limit the damage. First, I had to educate my kids that junk food was an occasional treat, not a daily necessity. Second, I had to be the bad guy sometimes and say no thank you on their behalf. Third, I had to limit sweets we ate as a family because they were offered so much outside of the home.

    - Mary

  • September 10, 2012 10:37 a.m.

    I have a 2 year old and the most difficult part of healthy eating that I have found is controlling what others are trying to give him. It is a constant battle to explain why I don't think he needs cookies or juice all the time. One family member couldn't believe he had never had M&Ms yet. He is 2! He doesn't even know what any of it tastes like so when he asks for a cookie I say, let's have a banana and he just agrees. I would like to hear how others deal with the constant societal and family pressure to give their children unnessary junk food. Occassional treat sure, but why is it expected that this food is a part of their normal diet at such a young age?

    - Cara

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