Teens Unhealthy Habits

[BorryMum]

I'm just interested in the opinions of others with teenagers to see what they would do in my situation. DS is 17 and has his own money from a part time job. We have always been a family that has been active and sporty and had a relatively healthy diet, we didn't ban anything when he was younger but definitely kept fizzy drinks and junk food to a minimum. Well it has come back to bite us on the backside, DS is rebelling against this big time.

He has dropped all exercise and lives on frozen supermarket food like onion rings and fries and drinks gallons of fizzy drinks. He pays for it and cooks it himself. He will occasionally have a home cooked meal if it is one he particularly likes but mostly does his own thing.

We have had a difficult few years with him anyway and if we try to encourage better habits he fights against it so I have stopped trying. I'm hoping it is just a stage and he will grow out of it and to be honest I don't have the energy to fight it anymore. He isn't overweight and doesn't look bad on it but it does worry me a lot.

WWYD? Leave him to it and hope he grows out of it soon to keep the peace or keep pushing the healthy options and risk lots of arguments?

Before anyone says it's down to bad parenting and I should make him, this is just the tip of the iceberg and I'm just looking for an outside perspective on this issue.

I think it's quite common for teens to go through this phase. By early adulthood they tend to realise how bad it makes them feel - especially if their metabolism catches up with them. I wouldn't worry too much.

Thanks @pinkprettyroses I was hoping he might get fed up of it!

My dd is 15 and makes really poor eating decisions too. I wonder if it is my fault for limiting sweets and junk food qhen she was younger, or whether she would be like this anyway. It for worry me as you have less control when they get older. She is always I don't like that I'll just make myself something and then does soup or instant noodles etc. I'm making a nice chilli, roast dinner, Spanish chicken and rice etc and she just won't gave it. No ideas but you are not alone!

My ds is the same! I went in his room yesterday and found 7 big packets of sweets and only one of them was not opened and empty. So in two days 7 packets. He's 14, I took the sweets and told him he's only allowed sweets on Friday. I know its not crack but jeeze.

I don't know if I'm being out of order or not, I just know he's not making good decisions when it comes to food. He will also go to the chip shop and get a chow mein ect when I cook food he doesn't like anything veggie based.

I told him yesterday its my job to get him to 18 as healthy as I can get him and I'm not having him binge eat sweets like this anymore.

I have two older teen DSs. Ds1 eats pretty sensibly and healthily. He is way below average height and build for his age. Ds2 is towering above him despite being younger and lives on beige food and junk purchased with his own money. Neither are overweight.

It’s a teen phase and ultimately they’ll make more sensible choices as they get older but in the meantime it’s unlikely to do much harm unless they’re overweight or at risk of diabetes etc

Hello. So, as a real sugar addict myself - I think this is not about how you treated sweets when they were kids. I think we now live in a time where sweets/ sugary crap as just pushed at us all the time and they are SO CHEAP. A kid can go into a shop and for 2 quid buy huge bags of totally addictive and tasty sweets. I know this painfully myself! It is so so hard to resist when shops are just full of this stuff at rock bottom prices.

The reality is they will need to learn to control themselves. I would suggest sitting down at a non confrontational time and engaing them in conversation - talk about the long term health impact of a high sugar diet - how it will have them hooked and they will just want more and more of this crap and it will erode their health and age their skin.

In the end - its up to them but I do think as much as you can keep them off it - the more crap they eat now they more addicted they will end up. I wouldn't be letting them order their own crap food either - that is disrespectful when in your home.

I'm a way it's good to hear I'm not alone but also bad! It must be so tempting for them when it is all so easily available but I was hoping that some good habits might have rubbed off along the way. @Wondergirl100 I'm afraid non confrontational doesn't go well right now as he is very defensive about everything but I will keep providing the options and hope that it sinks in at some point. After reading your replies perhaps I will take baby steps, try not to worry but also try and get some fruit and veg down him when I can. Feels like when he was a toddler again!