Teens & Preteens Eating Too Much
- Related page: Overweight Teens & Pre-Teens
Parent Q&A
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Hello, my wonderful pre-teen likes food too much and frequently eats too much food at nearly every meal. She doesn't balance it with exercise and I know she feels bad about herself. I can't seem to say anything right to teach her and/or support her and I can't monitor/regulate it all. I don't want to argue about serving sizes and seconds and I worry she feels judged and/or criticized and/or controlled when it comes to these requests. Besides making sure we don't have too much junk in the house, does anyone have any books / podcasts / other materials for her and/or me that might be helpful? Hoping she learns to regulate herself but she's having a very hard time. Thank you.
Jan 24, 2022 -
Hi BPNers - My husband and I disagree over food issues in our house. We have two kids 14 and 12. They both have ADHD and are not great decision makers and forget most everything (ie house rules, chores, etc) we tell/ask them.
We monitor their food choices VERY closely. They cannot go the fridge and just grab something. They always have to ask - juice, granola bar, yogurt, sandwich, etc. They have made bad choices in the past - eating straight sugar or sugary foods (cake, ice cream) at 6/7am, grabbing pizza at 10pm, eating other people's food or eating ingredients we needed for a meal.
I'm much more - 'eat whatever you want within reason' and don't really care to monitor what they eat or when. Problem is they have made bad choices in the past. My husband is more 'ask us and we'll say yes/no'. They always forget to ask and get 'in trouble'. We have gone as far as locking all our cabinets and refrigerator so we don't have to police them. I feel like a food Nazi - it doesn't feel good or healthy.
I wonder what other parents do. Do you care what your kids eat? or when? Like eating a slice of pizza as dinner is being made? or eating the cupcake you bought for yourself? or eating the last yogurt/using all the milk and not telling you so you can buy more?
We disagree in that I think we are too strict on them. But I'm curious to hear if these 'issues' are in all households and you deal with them or ignore them or just don't care??
Any insights greatly appreciated!
Jun 21, 2016