Home Mothers of small children - how much do they eat?

[softly softly]

Kaleigh it''s not the fact that her diet is restricted because of her allergies that concerns me, it''s the fact that her parents seem to be deliberately restricting her access to healthy foods to such an extent when she quite clearly wants to be able to eat more and that she is never given the opportunity to decide when she is full. My BIL said he is convinced she would eat until she explodes but I have seen her when she is at my MIL''s and she definitely pushes her plate away if she is full.

Mrssalvo I think you are right, M is approaching an age where they will start to have less control over how much food she is able to eat. Judging by BIL''s reaction to us, I feel sorry for any unsuspecting parent whose child decides to share food with her.

 

[Dreamer_D]

I feel for this child and the future self loathing she will have with parents who are so concerned about her weight

I think the more details you give the more disturbed I am by the whole thing. If the whole family feels strongly about this (other than BIL and his wife), then perhaps a family intervention is in order? But maybe not if he is so aggressive.

All you can do I suppose is keep an eye on things. If you think that their daughter is truly suffering in some way from this treatment, though, not only the food but the emotional component of it, there are avenues though child services I suppose, though I don''t know if that would do more harm than good in the long run.

 

[softly softly]

Dreamer it is a worrying situation, but as you said there is probably very little I can do. According to my MIL they do plan to go and see a dietician, so hopefully that will help them see that they don''t need to be so strict with her diet. As I mentioned before, the thing I find so unfathomable is that they seem absolutely convinced that they are doing the best thing for her because they are not letting her get ''fat'' which they see as the worst possible outcome, so therefore they are protecting her from a childhood of teasing and shame. They simply can''t see that by making such an issue of her appetite and food intake they are probably setting her up for a lifetime of issues that could be very dangerous and destructive.

I''m all for teaching my kids healthy eating habits but the thought of my daughter one day developing an eating disorder, which is a serious psychological condition that can result in death terrifies me. I wish they could see that ultimately they (and M) can not really alter her bone structure or body shape through diet. I am reminded of this on a daily basis when I look at my kids who eat the same food in the same sized servings - one is small for his age and is very slightly built and the other is tall for her age and not so slightly built. This has been the case since they were babies, and while I do worry that one day my daughter will be unhappy with the way she looks (and I think this is a potential risk for all young girls regardless of their body type) I firmly believe it is my job (and my husband''s) to encourage her to see herself in a positive light.