Kids eat too much

[user1457213512]

I spend too much time on Instagram, mainly following accounts who post photos of their food, particularly their children's food. Day after day I see photos of 2 year olds eating a whole adult size portion of pasta, 6 year olds eating massive meals. Today when out I saw a one ish year old eat a whole shop brought sandwich plus a packet of crips. It just seems so much food. Also it seems like everywhere you go a kid must have a snack, even at a half an hour club (but maybe that's a whole other thread!).

I personally think balance is great and a pack of Pom Bears or a cupcake isn't going to do a kid any harm every now and then, but it's just the sheer quantity of food some kids appear to be eating that surprises me more than anything.

Aibu to think some parents are feeding their kids way too much? Will it affect their attitudes to food later in life? Again, this isn't about 'healthy' food as such, more the amount.

Doesn't that suggest that the 2 thirds of 10-11 year olds and the whopping 4 fifths of 4-5 year olds are eating a perfectly fine amount?

If you look at that figure by itself. But not when you consider that currently two thirds of adults are overweight or obese and 70% of adults are expected to be overweight or obese by 2034 (govt statistic) - habits formed in childhood stick.

When was the last time you were really hungry?

Today.

Of course people get hungry! You may be snacking all day but we aren't all.

Just the fact that you're deliberately missing the point, shows how worrying the blasé attitude to obesity has become over the years

How is that missing the point? If a fifth of 5 year olds are overweight (which is far too many, obviously) then 4 fifths are not overweight. So complaining that all children are eating too much is quite clearly not accurate.
I think it is you that is missing the point. I can care about childhood obesity in the abstract while still pointing out that mine, and the majority of other children, are not overweight. And telling us that we need to change our childrens eating when they are a healthy weight is like saying all adults must go on a diet because some adults are fat!

geek
They should both have a healthy, balanced diet around the recommended level of calories for an 8 year old. The sporty child would probably benefit from a small nutritious snack when they are doing their sport.

Adults having treats and snacks after gym visits often end up consuming more calories than they actually burn in the gym. I can see parents giving snacks to active children being quite similar.
Oatcake and peanut butter / fruit / yoghurt/ toast, probably fine.
Justifying large portion servings all week, probably not unless they are genuinely in the minority of people who burn off food really quickly.

Oh that's alright then, no need to worry about population level rises in obesity and weight related illness because obviously there isn't a massive and growing snack industry.

I bet the teenagers I see leaving Starbucks with frappuccinos bigger than their heads were have those as their main meal of the day...

You can worry about the population while still keeping some reality about it all!

So complaining that all children are eating too much is quite clearly not accurate.

Who is complaining that 'all children' are eating too much?

Of course they're not, otherwise all children would be overweight/obese.

But the fact is, far too many kids are eating too much and not exercising enough and obesity levels are rising amongst children.

No matter how many children are not.

my DS probably burns an extra thousand calories a day he does 1-2 hours an evening of solid football, plays it at the weekend too not to mention the leisure football he plays in the garden and at school or the bike rides and taekwondo. We have a balanced diet we eat well and regularly he is tall and skinny age 10-11 trousers and is only 7. These struggle to stay up so we have to buy skinny ones with draw in waists. If he was not appropriately nourished he would not be able to play his sport at 100%. The issue in this country is lack of mobility of children and unbalanced diets rather than too much food. Small snacks don't cut it if you are very active.

I don't know where 6yo ds puts it all some days, there is sometimes just no filling him. He's extremely active though and there's not an ounce of extra fat on him, he's totally normal weight. He does snack regularly but it tends to be quite healthy stuff mostly as luckily he loves fruit and would eat it all day if he could. And he was probably one of those 1 year olds who could devour a full sandwich. The problem isn't necessarily how much children are eating (though obviously in some cases this too has a bearing) but what they are eating that is the problem.

All kids on here seem to be really active, I wasn't as a kid. I had normal portion sizes as a kid and now as an adult is when I find myself having too large portions of food!

The issue in this country is lack of mobility of children and unbalanced diets rather than too much food

I think it's both to be honest.

Before the obesity epidemic, kids generally played out in the street more/had far less TV/no internet/XBox etc

And at the same time, the average dinner plate/bowl and portion size were smaller. Not to mention far fewer takeaways on the high streets.

I take your point Beagle but I reckon it's about more than just portion sizes. It's also down to record levels of physical inactivity, the availability of junk food, the ubiquity of snacks and the aggressive marketing of shit 'convenience' food.

Plates from the 50'sand 60s are actually smaller than modern plates.

If you'd seen what DS ate last night you'd think I was overfeeding him! But he seems to go through phases of wanting more food than usual - I assume it's to do with growth spurts as it seems to be around the times he suddenly gets taller.

How many DC do you have, OP, and how big are their appetites?

I do find ch having a growth spurt might put it away for England for a few days, then grow a few inches overnight and then eat less again. Have you not noticed the same?

Making a judgement based on an instagram post is unreasonable.. However many other children do obviously over eat otherwise there wouldn't be an obesity crisis.

I have a child with ADHD so is constantly on the move so looks like a rake.. but it is irrelevant ..Many children are been fed too much. Obviously there are growth spurts, often after reconvering from illness when they have not eaten they catch up but generally a preschools meal should fit on a tea plate.

The poster who said because you can doesn't mean you should was right..

However we have been out for meals and the size of the meal is far too huge for my DS however he doesn't finish it and it might end up on a fb post but by the time he has ate 1/2 he is full.

Who is complaining that 'all children' are eating too much?

Half the people on this thread? OP is complaining about portion sizes on instagram, without seeing who they are for or what their individual needs are. It's inane.

The overweight kids are probably eating too much. The rest of them probably aren't. This is rather obvious and has nothing at all to do with random pictures of food on instagram!

YANBU and there are some kids who are overweight before they even start primary school. Small boys with manboobs is just wrong!!
I do think Instagram is a bit fake though and you can't say for sure if the child actually ate that amount.
I wish my kids would eat more - they eat tiny portions and aren't very adventurous. But their build is not dissimilar to mine or DHs back in the 70s and we didn't eat big portions or have snacks back in the day & my Mum used to limit biscuits etc. Both are healthy and sporty and active so I would prefer that to them being overweight.

There was a post the other day and someone said they managed to get about 15 portions of fruit and veg into their child every day. All well and good that they enjoyed fruit/veg but the photo of a full plate of veggies served as a sort of starter before each meal was alarming! Surely everything in moderation applies to all food.
I recall watching an episode of a tv show Jo Frost was doing and it was to do with portion sizes, the amount of pasta that some parents served their kids was crazy.
Then I recall a thread about sausage and beans and one MN proudly announced that she and her DP and two under 12's would get through a whole box of potato waffles, two tins of beans and 2 packets of sausages for one meal and that was normal.

I struggle with this. I have a 10 year old DS who doesn't want to eat much at all and he's as skinny as a rake.

I also have a 6 year old DS who will guzzle anything and everything, and is towards the podgier side of normal... portion control with the two of them is an absolute nightmare.

I ate far more as a child than I eat now as an adult.

I was always hungry, growing and active. I'd eat cereal for breakfast, a snack, a full three course school lunch, cereal after school, my evening meal and cereal before bed.

I was never fat and I certainly couldn't eat all that now. I think children sometimes do need a lot of food.

Obesity is a huge problem and portions are getting bigger for everyone. A friend commented that I would give DD an eating disorder if I carried on giving her smaller portions than DS. He is 6ft3 at the time she was 5ft2, of course I am going to give different portions just as I do with DP and my portions. I look at the photos of my childhood and even the girl who was teased about being overweight would be classed as thin today. Plus size clothing for children would of been unheard of.

Er I eat proper meals, as do my DC, don't snack. To the casual observer those meals might look huge. But actually they probably eat half the number of calories that snacking kids do.