Eating issues

[Angad]

Hi,
I’m getting concerned about my 12 year old daughter’s eating habits in so far that she doesn’t stop!!! At a party where there is a buffet, it’s getting embarrassing. If I allowed her, she would eat all day. She’s very slim at the moment but I worry that it will all catch up with her. She thinks it’s all a big joke. Due to the current situation, she’s not playing netball etc. We do walk a lot and she does do the couch to 5k run with me now and again. We eat healthily as a family but I worry that as she’s becoming more independent, she’s making bad choices. How do I deal with this without making her have other issues with food like eating disorders? I talk about putting healthy things in your body and approach it that way rather than focusing on weight but she doesn’t really listen. I would appreciate any advice. Thanks

Hi, this is a difficult one. I've just had an argument with 13yr old DD myself about this as well. The last few days she has been downstairs in the kitchen hunting for snacks when she should be getting ready for bed. I've been telling her it's too late to be snacking but she says that she is hungry and I can't 'deprive her of food' when she's hungry (despite the fact I cook a decent sized home cooked meal every day)

Earlier today I made a cake with youngest DD. 13 yr old DD comes downstairs and asks me what kind of cake it is. I said 'lemon cake but don't have any until tomorrow, it's a bit late now'
We then had a row as she accused me of fat shaming her and said that she isn't always coming down to get snacks and that I was making her feel bad by making assumptions. 30 seconds later she was in the kitchen getting a snack. I was speechless.

It sounds to me that at least your DD hasn't got a hangup about food or weight yet. Hopefully you might be able to talk to get about it now while you haven't got the whole 'fat shaming' thing going on. Maybe emphasise the importance of nutrition over volume of food? Well done for picking up on this early, I left it a bit late and now have a bit of a situation

Hopefully out the other end here!
My daughter was exactly the same - remained skim but hugely poor choices regarding food.
I literally had to stop buying snacks and treats and over the years now she has a very good diet.
However it could have gone either way.

Thanks for the replies. It’s good to know that it’s not just my daughter. It is very difficult to strike a balance between promoting a healthy approach to food and overdoing this which causes other problems isn’t it? It’s not as if my husband and I don’t have treats; we often go out for coffee and a cake as a family when walking the dog etc. She just seems beyond at the moment. I guess that I just need to persevere carefully whilst encouraging an active lifestyle. Thanks for your replies.