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Can we just let kids be kids?
And, if a kid is healthy, do they really need their food portions regulated?
That’s the dilemma in this story from Reddit’s “Am I the A**hole?” page.
Let’s see what happened, shall we?
AITA for putting my foot down about decreasing my daughter’s portion sizes?
“For background, my husband’s parents were very strict about food growing up. They restricted him in what he could eat and shamed him for eating anything they deemed ‘bad’.
They didn’t teach him how to have a good relationship with food, and subsequently this led to him sneaking in junk food as a teenager and going crazy once he moved out of home. He gained a lot of weight because he was eating all the things he couldn’t eat as a kid and had no sense of self regulation.
On the other hand, my parents forbid any diet talk in the house and didn’t categorise foods as good or bad, and as a result I have a great relationship with food. There was also zero talk of weight in our household which is something I want to carry out now as I raise our child.
My husband and I have an 11 year old daughter together and so far things have been going really well. She’s never been a skinny kid, but she’s at a perfectly healthy weight for her age and height. Lately she’s hit a growth spurt and I swear she grew 3 inches taller in 3 months.
She’s had a bigger appetite and has been going for seconds at dinner or having slightly bigger portions at meals. She’s a good eater and she’ll eat all her veggies. It’s not like we’re pulling teeth to get her to eat spinach or anything.
With her growth, she’s obviously gained a little weight as you do when you get taller/eat more/get all those pre-teenage hormones working. She’s still healthy. She’s still playing basketball and swimming and doing everything she loves.
But despite this, my husband really wants to begin monitoring her portion sizes and not letting her go for seconds, or letting her eat chips or lollies at all. I put my foot down and told him absolutely not, because that’s a quick way to fast track an ED at her age.
He told me he doesn’t want her to be fat like him. I told him the reason for his weight is due to his parents’ attitude towards food, and that if having a fat daughter is so terrifying then we should be encouraging her to have a healthy outlook on all kinds of foods and not restricting. I also said he should be more scared of having a daughter with an eating disorder than having a fat daughter.
He called his parents, who have never had anything nice to say about my daughter’s weight. His mum was your typical “always on a diet mum” and it really messed up his sister. This is the last thing I want for my daughter and I feel like I’m being attacked by them.”
Here’s how Reddit users reacted.
One person said that this mom is not the a**hole and that she’s doing a great job.
Photo Credit: Reddit
And another reader offered up a story about why this kind of behavior can be dangerous.
Photo Credit: Reddit
And this Reddit user said that not letting a kid have seconds at that age seems crazy and they didn’t allow this kind of behavior.
Photo Credit: Reddit
What do you think?
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Thanks a lot!
