Moms of obese children use different words to restrict eating

[Tennis]

It's a familiar scene at a birthday party: As a child goes back for a second cupcake or piece of cake, a parent says he has had enough sweets.

But the rebuke may differ family to family. In a small new study, researchers found caregivers of children with obesity may be more likely to use direct statements to restrict a child's eating.

A research team led by University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital videotaped 237 mothers and children who were seated alone in a room and presented with different types of foods, including chocolate cupcakes. Direct commands like "only eat one" were more often used among mothers of children with obesity while eating dessert, according to the findings published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.

Meanwhile, mothers of children who did not have obesity were more likely to guide children with indirect comments such as, "That's too much. You haven't had dinner."

"Current child obesity guidelines remain silent on how parents should talk to their children about limiting food intake," says lead author Megan Pesch, M.D., a developmental and behavioral pediatrician at Mott.

"There is some conflicting advice on the best approach. On one hand, overly restricting food could backfire and actually lead to overeating. But parents also want to encourage healthy habits. We wanted to study these family dynamics to see how adults try to get kids to eat less junk food."

Pesch notes that in most other areas of child development, such as discipline and sleep, direct and firm imperatives are linked with improved child compliance and behaviors. But when it comes to food, expert advice is more mixed.

"Indirect or subtle statements don't seem to work as well in general parenting," she says. "Direct messages are usually easier for kids to interpret and understand where the limits are.

"But there's more sensitivity around how to talk to children about eating and weight.

"To our knowledge, there are also no studies that have examined the impact of parental direct imperatives in restricting a child's intake of unhealthy food," Pesch adds.

The study included low-income, female primary caregivers with children ranging from ages 4 to 8. Ninety-five percent of caregivers were biological mothers, with the remainder mostly including grandmothers and stepmothers.

Pesch says there's sometimes a stereotype that parents of children with obesity are less conscious of their child's eating habits, but the observational study helps debunk some of those misconceptions.

"There's often this perception that parents of children with obesity let their kids eat voraciously and don't manage their child's diet," she says. "But the mothers we observed were on it. They were attentive and actively trying to get their children to eat less junk food.

"These mothers may be quite invested in wanting their children to have the best possible health outcomes."

Pesch says the U-M developmental and behavioral research team plans to further study what language and communication tactics are most effective in encouraging healthy eating among children.

"The finding that mothers of children with obesity used more direct imperatives to restrict eating may have important implications for practice guidelines and future research," she says.

"Direct imperatives may in fact have a healthy, adaptive role in approaches to feeding to prevent childhood obesity, but we have to do more work to understand the nuances."

"So many of the guidelines are focused on what not to do," Pesch adds. "There's a lot of emphasis on what parents shouldn't be doing and what doesn't work. We hope to find better answers to the ultimate question of what parents should do to help set their child up for healthy eating long term."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/release...0109102811.htm

Interesting.
If you were a parent, how would you stop your kid from becoming obese? Would you take necessary action or would you just let it happen?

I think the key is to get your kid involved in sports. Don't let them waste away being a couch potato.

[Happy Shoplifter]

I'd call them Augustus Gloop until they got the point.

[Vargulf the Happy Husky]

my 5 year old was just bitching that she didnt get any ranch with her chicken nugs for dinner. i guess she's tried ranch at school, i'll be asking them about that.

i threw the fuckin bottle away.

that's how you beat obesity. don't give your kid bullshit.

[Molis]

Nice fat shaming thread.

Will be interesting to see how your veiled America bashing and Fat shaming goes without your pocket moderator to protect you.

[Crillam]

So we should say "aww ur so cute with them cubby cheeks and big belly, bet you can eat a ton of cookies"
Being fat/obese is a bad thing and there is a ton of health problems that comes with it.

[Queen of Hamsters]

I had a friend who went her entire life believing that her parents, her mom in particular, wouldn't love her if she got fat due to how vicious the mom was and how upfront she was about not accepting her children getting overweight. It turned into an eating disorder, and she still to this day as a 35-year old woman goes through periods of Anorexic behaviour, coupled with Bulimic tendencies and "chew-and-spit"-frenzies.

In my family, it was about teaching healthy habits and focusing on the health aspects rather than the appearance. Our parents were always very clear that they'd love us no matter what we looked like. The only one that got a different upbringing by 1 of her parents (her dad, we're not related on the father side) suffered from Anorexia Nervosa for years and years. She got better after cutting a lot of her old ties and focusing on surrounding herself with our mother's side of the family.

If I had children, I'd bring them up the same way my parents did. Teaching about healthy living, engaging the children in sports and other activities, and take care not to impose values upon them that might make them end up as bullies to other not-so-fortunate children that DO become overweight.

[PACOX]

Youre right Tennis! The parent has to remind the kid that they are fat every morning, make sure the kid is very self aware about condition.

"Good morning sweetie , would you like some breakfast? Oh I see that you're still fat ."

You know, stuff like that. Positive reinforcement.

[Tennis]

Youre right Tennis! The parent has to remind the kid that they are fat every morning, make sure the kid is very self aware about condition.

"Good morning sweetie , would you like some breakfast? Oh I see that you're still fat ."

You know, stuff like that. Positive reinforcement.

Who said that? When the kid wants to have 10 donuts in a row, you gotta stop it. You don't say, "aww my little munchkin, eat as much as you like"

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Nice fat shaming thread.

Will be interesting to see how your veiled America bashing and Fat shaming goes without your pocket moderator to protect you.

Lul. I haven't been banned in forever if you didn't notice.

[PACOX]

Who said that? When the kid wants to have 10 donuts in a row, you gotta stop it. You don't say, "aww my little munchkin, eat as much as you like"

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Lul. I haven't been banned in forever if you didn't notice.

Who gave the kid a donut in the first place? Fat kids shouldn't be near donuts! Its like giving an alcoholic a beer.This is the nonsense we're fighting against!

[noidentity]

Have a child and let us know how it goes OP.

[Tennis]

Have a child and let us know how it goes OP.

Hopefully soon.

[Nynax]

So we should say "aww ur so cute with them cubby cheeks and big belly, bet you can eat a ton of cookies"
Being fat/obese is a bad thing and there is a ton of health problems that comes with it.

<------- the point of the post
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The Idea is not to not set limits. But to convey those limits in a way that leads to understanding and teaches self control, over "here's the limit. because I said so"

[Steelcryo]

One thing I have often noticed is that people fill their houses with junk food then complain that's all their kids want to eat. Of course it is, junk food is designed to be more appealing than real food but there is an easy solution, stop buying it. Sure your kid might bitch for a bit that they don't have any junk food but eventually they'll get hungry and be more than happy to sit and eat a proper meal without being able to binge on junk afterwards.

Of course there are more situations where it's a lot more complex than that but I'm amazed at how common a theme that is. How hard is it to understand if it's not in the house, then they won't eat it at home. Sure they can get it else where but kids spend the majority of their time at school and at home, both places where healthy eating habits should be enforced.

That's how it was in my house when I was a kid as far as I can remember, we only got junk food as a treat every now and again. Like my dad would buy me and my sister a chocolate bar or something after we went swimming and stuff like that, it always reinforced the idea that junk food was a treat, not something to eat consistently all the time and it also got us to enjoy exercise. I honestly think part of the issue is some parents are just lazy and can't be bothered to argue with children so they placate them with treats because it's easy and it's only once they see their child get obese do they actually worry about the health impacts it has.

[Celista]

"There's often this perception that parents of children with obesity let their kids eat voraciously and don't manage their child's diet," she says. "But the mothers we observed were on it. They were attentive and actively trying to get their children to eat less junk food.

Maybe that's true, but it sounds like bullshit to me. Don't keep junk food in the house, solves a lot of problems. If you're telling your kids to not eat crap that you keep buying for the household, they're of course going to pick up on the disingenuousness of those statements about not eating bad food.

I can be really direct with my daughters. When they ask to snack or eat again, I’ll tell them no. They ask why, and I say “cause I don’t want you getting fat”. They understand that overeating can lead to being overweight and they don’t want to look like that. They see kids at school who are fat and think it’s ugly. Harsh, but let’s be honest, it’s the truth (same with adults).

Maybe focus less on the aesthetics of obesity and focus on health issues with children, attitudes like that often end up back at obese kids and they end up getting further stigmatized for their looks due to weight. Which can lead to bullying and emotional overeating.

[Moon-Man]

Nice fat shaming thread.

Will be interesting to see how your veiled America bashing and Fat shaming goes without your pocket moderator to protect you.

Can you tell me what part of being Fat is okay?

Afaik, being fat is NOT okay. Only case (when being fat is okay) if it is a problem that you cannot help (eg genetics problem or diseases), which requires medical help.

But because you are weak will to keep yourself stay fit and healthy, being fat is NOT okay. Get rid of that fat, or have increase in taxes, and shittons of it. I am talking 10 to 100 persons worth of tax for 1 fat man.

[Steelcryo]

Can you tell me what part of being Fat is okay?

Afaik, being fat is NOT okay. Only case (when being fat is okay) if it is a problem that you cannot help (eg genetics problem or diseases), which requires medical help.

But because you are weak will to keep yourself stay fit and healthy, being fat is NOT okay. Get rid of that fat, or have increase in taxes, and shittons of it. I am talking 10 to 100 persons worth of tax for 1 fat man.

Exactly this, unless there's a medical reason for it why is discussing the fact being overweight is unhealthy instantly classed as fat shaming these days?

As far as I'm concerned it's the same as smoking and people have no issue in constantly telling smokers how unhealthy it is. Hell here there are even facts about how horrible smoking is accompanied with disgusting pictures of smoking related illnesses on the cigarette packets themselves. Imagine the uproar if that started happening with junk food packaging.

There's such a double standard because smoking is a choice where as rarely, being overweight isn't. Unfortunately too many people think that those rare cases mean you can't remind anyone their weight is unhealthy which is wrong. I read a story a little while back of a woman trying to sue her doctor for fat shaming her because he told her she needed to lose weight. Apparently having a heart condition that was exacerbated by her weight meant nothing.

[Dhrizzle]

Maybe that's true, but it sounds like bullshit to me. Don't keep junk food in the house, solves a lot of problems. If you're telling your kids to not eat crap that you keep buying for the household, they're of course going to pick up on the disingenuousness of those statements about not eating bad food.

I guess if you plan to keep your children in your house for their natural lives that could work, but at some point they'll find themselves with the means to buy junkfood themselves, some mysterious, forbidden thing that has been marketed towards them their entire lives, and they'll try it, and it will be delicious, and as you didn't train them to moderate their junk-food eating in childhood there's a good chance they'll embrace teenage or adult obesity.

[Celista]

I guess if you plan to keep your children in your house for their natural lives that could work, but at some point they'll find themselves with the means to buy junkfood themselves, some mysterious, forbidden thing that has been marketed towards them their entire lives, and they'll try it, and it will be delicious, and as you didn't train them to moderate their junk-food eating in childhood there's a good chance they'll embrace teenage or adult obesity.

If you train your kids to prefer other foods they will moderate it themselves, just don't shame them if you go out for a random cookie once in awhile or if they have a treat at a party. You start young when you're 100% in control of what they eat so they have that foundation as they get older and have more dietary autonomy.

Studies have shown that women are more likely to overeat due to emotional reasons and men due to physically seeing food ("I see food, I eat it") so if you can control the home environment by teaching kids what healthy eating is and what healthy portion sizes are + not having sweets laying about + teaching kids appropriate emotional outlets (exercise, journaling, talking to others, etc) then you can greatly mitigate the likelihood of a child becoming obese.

[Bigbazz]

Nice fat shaming thread.

Will be interesting to see how your veiled America bashing and Fat shaming goes without your pocket moderator to protect you.

Nothing wrong with a bit of fat shaming, when I was overweight my late grandmother would tell it to me straight, nobody was fat in her day and there was no excuse in her eyes. Fat acceptance is far far worse than fat shaming.

[Super Kami Dende]

my 5 year old was just bitching that she didnt get any ranch with her chicken nugs for dinner. i guess she's tried ranch at school, i'll be asking them about that.

i threw the fuckin bottle away.

that's how you beat obesity. don't give your kid bullshit.

......But you are feeding her Chicken Nuggets for Dinner anyway? Feed her some normal Chicken.

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Nice fat shaming thread.

Will be interesting to see how your veiled America bashing and Fat shaming goes without your pocket moderator to protect you.

You say that as if Fat-Shaming is a bad thing.