I love to bake and my children have always enjoyed the rewards of an afternoon spent mixing sweet and tasty items to result in cookies, cakes, or breads. I do not, however, let them make a meal of the treats as they are just that . . . treats. They know the difference between what is good for them to eat and what is fun for them to eat and the balance has to be in favor of the foods for a healthy life. A friend once told me that she wished she could be a tough mother like me as she couldn't even get her husband to eat properly. I said to fix what it good for them and eventually they would get hungry enough to eat it. Given that she wasn't 'into' healthy food, either, it never happened. It was easier to sort of compliment me on my mean approach to the dinner table.
It turns out that letting families have what the want or will eat turns them eventually into picky eaters. And, yes, obesity is a problem in a country that should be thriving on the food foods it has to offer. The government's answer to the obesity problem? Bigger servings of government.
http://iwf.org/blog/2788525/Big-Government-Won't-Solve-the-Problem-of-Big-Americans
This is an interesting take on the subject. For the most part, obesity goes back to the attitude of the mother. I've always wondered where not providing proper nutrition comes in when we come to our own, personal judgment days as mothers. Taking the life of another is against the Ten Commandments. Where does jeopardizing the life of another come in? I saw someone giving their toddler a donut bigger than herself and she excused herself with, "She won't eat anything else!" Our pediatrician gave us the best advice. She said that when a child is hungry enough, he/she will eat and it was our parental responsibility to make sure the food offered was healthy. Children learn to eat what they are given.
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