I have a "big boy", but he's not obese. At this age, it's cute, but I also worry about him having weight problems as he gets older, as it's something I've struggled with my whole life. In an effort to make sure my child is healthy, we rarely eat fast food (it's a treat MAYBE once a month), he gets exposed to plenty of vegetables and I monitor the types of food he's eating. He doesn't get sweets or junk food unless it's a special occasion (like birthday parties).

He's too young to make his own nutritional decisions, so it's my responsibility to make sure that he's being fed, but also being fed quality foods.

No, not really! My child used to be somewhat obese because of too much milk. But as she grew and had to eat solid foods, she doesn't eat that much anymore, that's why she is getting thinner.

Originally Posted by medako

He's too young to make his own nutritional decisions, so it's my responsibility to make sure that he's being fed, but also being fed quality foods.

Sounds as if you're doing a great job here. I think a lot of the obesity problems come from when the kids are fed the junk food whenever they ask for it. I've heard people excuse that by saying something like "I can't stand to see him being hungry!" but I'm not sure they're actually hungry all those times they ask for the junk food.

The vast majority of fat kids are fat because they eat too much of the wrong sort of foods and do too little exercise. These things are controllable by the parents.

However, there is a fine line to be trodden when watching your children's weight. The last thing a child needs to develop is a complex about their weight.

We might want to be careful about putting all of our reasoning under a single umbrella, to wit: single working moms are likely to want their kids to stay indoors while they are home alone, that defers the opportunity for biking and hiking, and then they bring home fast food for something the kids will eat without protest. It's a very real problem.

Originally Posted by Green-Moo

However, there is a fine line to be trodden when watching your children's weight. The last thing a child needs to develop is a complex about their weight.

Well there's the problem the way I see it. Self esteem is very fragile to begin with and starting to serve carrots and green stuff when it used to be lasagna and garlic bread all the time is going to send the message "I'm trying to change you, you're not good enough the way you are" and then some really sad things could start.

To me this is the parents fault. I think as a parent you it is your job is to watch and try and control what your family eats, It sometimes it is hard too d, but a must.

I think many parents are scared that their child is going to starve. They will keep offering all kind of food to make their child eat and of course the child will pick the nice tasting junk food and sweets.

I work in child care and was told that one of the boy would only eat nutella and drink milk when he first started. I told his mum that nutella was out of question as we are nut free centre, but he would be allowed to have as much milk as he wanted. The only things I expected from him was to sit at the table with us when the other kids ate.

The second day he asked for the same lunch as the other kids had. Now, a month later he has no food issues at child care, he is happy to taste anything we offer him.