No wonder Americans have weight problems!

[2angelsinheaven]

I went to Walmart for the first time on a weekend in months and I couldn't believe all the parents rewarding their children with junk food. "Oh Sally you did all your chores this week, here is $5.00 for candy...", etc. It wasn't just one family it was quite a few. The family behind me had three children and one toddler, all three kids had a gob of cash and a basket of candy/gums/chips/cookies each... I would say around $15-20 worth of junk food per child. And the baby was eating Oreos from the package. The older one bought a whole case of Hershey Bars with his allowance. Yes that is what the mom said, they had to use their allowance money... call me crazy but does anyone else see a problem with this.
I notice it at my work as well, the girls get their monthly allowance, be it only $10 and blow it all on McDonalds or Candy.
I hope when I have children I have the will power to say No, and reward my children with play time or outdoor activities instead. Not blaming but the parents but was pretty shocked today! Had no idea it was so common.

 

[Denine]

WOW!

I have a 2 yo DD. I try to get her to eat healthy and no way would she be allowed to spend money on junk like that. Yes, I do let her have treats. I have low fat merengue cookies that she likes and can have 3-4 of them if she is good that day.

They are 2 points for 12 of the cookies.

I won't let her drink pop, even though I see a lot of kids her age drinking it. I think it is more important for her to drink milk. She gets watered down juice, but only in the morning.

 

[nuke]

Denine,
I did the same thing with my son. I didn't think it was right for babies to be drinking soda so I just never gave it to him. Now he doesn't like it at all and he drinks milk or water and occasionally he will have some juice or capri sun. That's a shake he is drinking in my sig picture!

I also never used food as a reward because I can see the problems it causes.
My son is healthy but thin and there are days he eats like an adult and other days he picks at his food. I don't make an issue out of it. He rarely gets ill and he is active so whatever he eats, he eats.

 

[disboo]

I work with school age children, and what their parents send them into school with in the morning is appalling. We had a kid with a 20 ounce coffee the other day. Or they come in with Slurpees and soft pretzels. Even Power Ade is not an appropriate breakfast meal. And the meal the kids can buy for breakfast from the school include healthy choices but what we see the kids being allowed to have is a donut and a chocolate milk.

When we run summer camp, we forbid soda and candy before lunch. We're thinking of banning soda completely.

What are parents thinking???!!!???

 

[Zoesmama03]

I'm not surprised. I see it all the time. My mom was a parent like that she was poor and had food assistance and often she'd give us food stamps to go buy candy. Not to mention all the food she brought into our house. She has always served fairly healthy food and we all love veggies which is more than a lot of families but we also grew up having snack foods and learned to eat them in execess of occasionaly treat. Since my hubby and I don't have much money we don't buy those things yet I still seem to have trouble with weight. We don't buy soda and although I have tried giving my 18 month old sprite before she wouldn't drink it. It was because I forgot to bring some of her soy milk with us(she has lactose or milk allergy).

I've been very careful about what foods I feed dd. She loves veggies and has frozen veggies daily. Her favs are brocooli and cauliflower and green beans. She also has chicken on occasion doesn't care for beef or pork much though. She loves beans especially kidney so between milk and beans she gets plenty of iron and protein.

That is part of the reason I'm working on my own eating and exercise habits want to be a good role model.

 

[Zoesmama03]

I work with school age children, and what their parents send them into school with in the morning is appalling. We had a kid with a 20 ounce coffee the other day. Or they come in with Slurpees and soft pretzels. Even Power Ade is not an appropriate breakfast meal. And the meal the kids can buy for breakfast from the school include healthy choices but what we see the kids being allowed to have is a donut and a chocolate milk.

When we run summer camp, we forbid soda and candy before lunch. We're thinking of banning soda completely.

What are parents thinking???!!!???

Sometimes its bad but I've also seen what they serve in our local school cafeteria. Pizza and fries very little veggies. though they did have a fruit bar but I'd only see about 1/3 of the kids eating those.

 

[sskem96]

There is no pop allowed in the cafeteria at my dd's school. I try to pack her healthy lunches. She loves salad, and one day she took a salad, carrots and dip, a WW 1 pt. snack cake, and a bottle of water for lunch. She said the lunch room monitor hassled her because she didn't have a sandwich. I realize she probably thought the snack cake was a zinger or something, but if you've got a problem with what my kid's eating for lunch, you need to call me, not embarass her in front of her friends. She's a little overweight, and I don't think she needs a sandwich everyday if she's happy with a salad. She eats meat at supper and sometimes eggs for breakfast, so it all balances out.