We all try to make healthier food choices, but when it comes to kids’ diets, the stakes feel even higher. Most parents do their best to provide their children with the most beneficial diet they can so they grow up healthy and happy. However, with so many temptations around, maintaining kids’ healthy eating habits can get quite challenging.
For this family, the source of temptation was the grandma, who, against the parents’ wishes, fed her grandchildren all types of junk food. After finding out what she did, they nicely asked her to stop, but she didn’t, and she had to face the consequences.
With so many temptations around, it can be a challenge to maintain healthy children’s diet
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For this family, the temptation was the grandma who fed the kids junk food against parents’ wishes and caused quite the drama
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“Regular consumption of takeout or junk food may lead to malnutrition in children”
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Popping a frozen pizza for a quick dinner or having McDonald’s to celebrate an occasion once in a while probably won’t hurt anyone. However, the reality is that convenient and highly processed meals dominate the diets of American kids and teens. That’s because most adults around them aren’t concerned enough about their eating habits, doing them a huge disservice to their health and future.
Since junk and fast food are full of fat and additives like sugar, salt, coloring, flavorings, and emulsifiers and lack beneficial nutrients, they can have quite a negative effect on children’s health.
“Regular consumption of takeout or junk food may lead to malnutrition in children,” registered dietitian Stacey Woodson previously told Bored Panda. “Although these foods offer a significant amount of energy, they lack the vitamins and minerals needed for proper development. Additionally, eating lots of these foods early in life may establish preferences for foods that lack nutrient density in adulthood.”
Unfortunately, that’s far from all. It only takes visiting a fast food restaurant three times a week to increase children’s risk of asthma, eczema, or rhinitis. In addition, frequently consuming high-fat foods, which junk food tends to be, can result in heart diseases and unhealthy weight. Poor nutrition can not only impact children’s health but also their academic and social performance, as fast food doesn’t provide enough nutrients to focus and do activities to get good grades and remain in peer groups.
Grandparents are famously known to overindulge children
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All of this isn’t to scare, but to say that children’s nutrition should be taken more seriously by both parents and others around them.
“It is essential for children to eat a balanced and nourishing diet during childhood. Nutritional status in childhood has many lifelong implications that impact growth, immune health, cognitive ability, and mental health. The first 1000 days of life are particularly important and may influence the risk of developing chronic diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure later in life,” explains Woods.
Parents are the ones mainly responsible for their children’s nutrition, but they can’t always be there to ensure they eat healthily, especially when others are taking care of them. Grandparents, in particular, are famously known to overindulge children, which can be worrisome to some parents. And when grandparents disregard parental feeding practices, tension or conflict can arise.
In cases where this doesn’t happen too often, there’s really nothing to worry about. But if kids spend an extended amount of time with their grandparents, it can develop into a problem, one that is becoming more frequent as the caregiving role of grandparents is increasing.
How to approach junk food talk with grandparents?
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“If grandparents are primary care providers or sitters, it’s reasonable (and beneficial) to have a discussion about feeding. You want to be on the same page and provide consistent boundaries for your kids,” said registered dietitian Rosanne Robinson.
To approach this conversation more easily and make it more productive, she suggests having it when children aren’t around and keeping emotions and finger-pointing out of it. “Keep the conversation neutral. Provide some concrete examples about how you are feeling. Start your sentences with “I feel …” instead of blaming phrases like ‘You are…’,” Robinson said.
Parents also should let the grandparents know why they’re upset and provide some alternatives without cutting out the treats entirely. “You may suggest that Thursday afternoons can be ice cream day instead of every afternoon,” Robinson suggested. “Don’t burn bridges. I know deep down you appreciate their help and support. Let them know how grateful you are at the start and end of the conversation.”
The mom provided more information in the comments
The readers were truly divided, with some saying she’s in the wrong here
While others thought she was too controlling
