Anonymous wrote:

No, but our kids have zero desire to eat six pints of Ben & Jerry's on a regular basis (or ever) because they have been allowed to have an appropriate serving size of ice cream pretty regularly from a young age and have had more and more freedom to to eat as they please as they have aged.

I don't agree with PP, but I also think you are overemphasizing the degree to which being allowed to have snacks necessarily eliminates binge eating issues. We allow my son to have dessert every single evening, but still major issues with him sneaking downstairs and eating a huge amount of food in the middle of the night. If we don't have snacks, he will eat a bag of bread, or box of crackers. His doctor thinks it may be a dopamine issue due to ADHD, but thus far, adjusting his medication has not helped.

Anonymous wrote:

No, but our kids have zero desire to eat six pints of Ben & Jerry's on a regular basis (or ever) because they have been allowed to have an appropriate serving size of ice cream pretty regularly from a young age and have had more and more freedom to to eat as they please as they have aged.

I don't agree with PP, but I also think you are overemphasizing the degree to which being allowed to have snacks necessarily eliminates binge eating issues. We allow my son to have dessert every single evening, but still major issues with him sneaking downstairs and eating a huge amount of food in the middle of the night. If we don't have snacks, he will eat a bag of bread, or box of crackers. His doctor thinks it may be a dopamine issue due to ADHD, but thus far, adjusting his medication has not helped.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are a thin family. My kids are all stick skinny. We are family friends with parents who are overweight and they have so many restrictions with food. The mom does not allow sugar and is a total nazi about junk food. The kids are growing and thin but the parents are overweight. I would guess mom weighs around 160 pounds on an average frame and dad is 200 pounds on an average height so both large. Their kids have a total complex with food!

is this post a DCUM joke?
160 pounds on an average sized woman (assume 5'6") and 200 pounds on an average sized man (assume 5'10"-6'0") is hardly overweight.
Maybe by 5-10 pounds each? If they're muscular that's not overweight at all.

And that’s the problem with the US. Sorry 160 for a woman is in fact overweight. It just is.

Yep. I'm, 5'8" and 135lbs. I'm slim but not skinny. An extra 25 lbs and 2" shorter? That's overweight.

I don't agree with PP, but I also think you are overemphasizing the degree to which being allowed to have snacks necessarily eliminates binge eating issues. We allow my son to have dessert every single evening, but still major issues with him sneaking downstairs and eating a huge amount of food in the middle of the night. If we don't have snacks, he will eat a bag of bread, or box of crackers. His doctor thinks it may be a dopamine issue due to ADHD, but thus far, adjusting his medication has not helped.


Are you talking about a growing teen/tween?

I posted before having 12 and 14yo boys often eating a second dinner. I don’t consider this a problem. They sometimes get hungry. I do not monitor their eating and definitely would not think eating when hungry at night to be an eating disorder or an offense.

Anonymous wrote:

No, but our kids have zero desire to eat six pints of Ben & Jerry's on a regular basis (or ever) because they have been allowed to have an appropriate serving size of ice cream pretty regularly from a young age and have had more and more freedom to to eat as they please as they have aged.

I don't agree with PP, but I also think you are overemphasizing the degree to which being allowed to have snacks necessarily eliminates binge eating issues. We allow my son to have dessert every single evening, but still major issues with him sneaking downstairs and eating a huge amount of food in the middle of the night. If we don't have snacks, he will eat a bag of bread, or box of crackers. His doctor thinks it may be a dopamine issue due to ADHD, but thus far, adjusting his medication has not helped.

Anonymous wrote:12 pages of thoughts.

OP bottom line you are a horrible parent.

Control is your thing

Shame on you.

Get parenting help now please.

No, but our kids have zero desire to eat six pints of Ben & Jerry's on a regular basis (or ever) because they have been allowed to have an appropriate serving size of ice cream pretty regularly from a young age and have had more and more freedom to to eat as they please as they have aged.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Let me be clear that we do not restrict healthy food. He gets to eat as much as he wants of non-junk food. Yes, he gets enough proteins, fats, and carbs.

My mind is blown that intelligent, well-educated parents think it's okay to let their kids eat unrestricted quantities of unhealthy foods. It's really OK if your kid wants to have six pints of Ben & Jerry's at a sitting on a regular basis?

As I said, we allow small amounts of junk food as occasional treats but I cannot fathom allowing kids of any age to free-feed on food that crowds out healthy calories.

Sugary junk food is made to be addictive and kids, especially teens, do not have the forebrain to fight the addiction.

Think about inserting other kinds of addictive substances -- vaping, meth, alcohol instead of junk food. Of course forbidding something cannot make it attractive. Does that mean we should allow free access to vapes, drugs, and alcohol?

What a total dereliction of parental duty.

No, but our kids have zero desire to eat six pints of Ben & Jerry's on a regular basis (or ever) because they have been allowed to have an appropriate serving size of ice cream pretty regularly from a young age and have had more and more freedom to to eat as they please as they have aged. I have a 13 year old boy, too. He does not binge because I don't control what he eats. Period.