to not let 12 year old eat supper?

[Jw35]

My 12 year old dd is a little overweight. She's not fat and she's growing but she's in age 14-15 clothes.

I also have an almost one year old. I get up at 5.30 most mornings and by the time baby goes to bed at 7pm in shattered (I'm also pregnant so more tired than usual).

Kids have dinner at 5pm. Always a biggish meal, dd is always full afterwards. She wants more to eat around 8pm-usually a sandwich. By this time I'm tired and want peace and quiet. I've introduced 'quiet time' between 8-9pm so she goes upstairs and reads or whatever then comes down to say goodnight at 9pm

I said she can have supper at 7.30pm but my sister has said to me (while she visited last weekend) she shouldn't need anything else and I'm over feeding her. (Not in front of her) Is she right? Does she need supper at all? How should I handle this? She doesn't snack much just 3 meals a day and supper

2.5 miles isn't actually that far for an 11 year old. My dd walks 4 miles plus pe on some days. She moaned a lot to start with but has gotten used to it.

Could you get her to do one way maybe? Perhaps walk with her first to see how long it will take her.

It takes my dd and her mate about 40 minutes to walk there and a good chunk of that is up a pretty steep hill. It will do her good to learn not to rely on a car for shorter journeys. I am not sure what exercise she does at the moment byt.maybe look up the recommended amount per week for a child and use the walking as a big contribution.

It's made massive difference to dd. I haven't weighed her as I don't want to give her weight issues but she has lost all her tummy fat, lost weight off her legs and arms and is slimmer in her face. And it's a much healthier way to approach the issue with a pre teen than start talking about limiting food and calories.

My kids (slim/active) have always had cereal, usually weetabix, as supper before bed. It seems to be (even as teens) part of their winding down/relaxing routine.

To be honest, I'd personally not try to restrict her diet at this age. My mother tried to restrict my diet at this age as she thought I was putting too much weight on and, in hindsight, I was probably going through a growth spurt incurred by puberty.

I ended up with an eating disorder and being a good few inches shorter than I probably ought to have been.

What the lass needs is more exercise if she is a little overweight. And five o'clock seems a bit early for a 12 year old to eat her main meal. In our house, a 12 year old would eat a meal with adults a bit later, having had a snack after she came home from school -- though I stress this could be a cultural practice with us.

5pm is very early for an evening meal. Can she not eat later?