From: pfieland@citron.sw.stratus.com (Peggy Fieland)
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Subject: Re: A Balanced Diet (Was Re: Halloween Stories)
Date: 13 Nov 92 18:31:55 GMT
Organization: Stratus Computer, Software Engineering
NNTP-Posting-Host: citron.sw.stratus.com

In article <119450009@hpsmtc1.cup.hp.com> kperdue@hpsmtc1.cup.hp.com (Karla Perdue) writes:
>
>Judy, or anyone else but Judy has been the strongest proponent:
>
>If you decide to start a "eat what and when you want" program with a
>5 yo in Kindergartten, when you have been regulating her diet in the
>past, what about the following issues:
>
> - about soda -- I would be willing to let her drink soda when she wanted
>   if she did not wast 4/5 of the can.  She only want to drink 2 or 3 oz
>   at any one time.  The rest of the can then looses its fiz and is eventually
>   thrown out.  How do you handle preventing waste (the throwing out of
>   good food/drink that could have been easily used with better planning)?
>
Good point.  My kids like the IDEA of soda much more than they actually
like soda. We always buy bottles that can be resealed, rather than
cans, for just this reason.

> - This issue of waste is significant for me (another discussion) and I have
>   tried to follow a general rule "eat what you take".  She get a fair amount
>   of control over what she takes (the "eat what and when you want" program
>   would have me change this to give her complete control over what she takes),
>   but then has to eat that.  Sometimes her eyes are bigger than her stomach.
>   She can always go back for more, except when we run out which is seldom,
>   so there is little benefit to taking a lot all at once.  How can one merge
>   a negative attitude toward waste with a lenient attitude for what IS eaten?
>   Can "eat what you take" be compatible with "eat what and when you want"?

Well, we try.  But we're still struggling with the kids, especially the
youngest, taking too much cereal in the morning.  He likes to pour his own,
and I guess that it's both that he has a hard time judging how much he will
want to eat, and also that he has a hard time controlling the amount that
comes out of the box (he's almost 6).  But it's improving.

>
> - What happens when the child is at school (where there are fixed times
>   when snacks/lunch are allowed)?  She does have all her day's food in her
>   lunch pail and so can control what and how much she eats at one time, but
>   the teachers control WHEN these times are.  In my case, she gets at least
>   some say in what goes into the lunch pail.
I'm told by my kids that they trade parts of their lunch with the other kids
in their classes, so it seems that they have more control at the moment
than I might have thought.  When I make their lunches (not all the time --
we have a nanny, and often she makes their lunches), I try to consult them,
but they don't always answer (not interested in lunch at the time, or 
whatever).  I try to include stuff like, sandwich , drink, crackers or cookies,
fruit, whatever, so if they  don't like the sandwich, they can at least eat
the crackers.

>
> - What if your child spends a significant amount of time in someone else's
>   house (divorced parent, in-home daycare, playing with friend) where this
>   time is long enough to include significant eating times (all day or even
>   multiple days at a stretch)?  These other adults may not go along with
>   the program.  What affect does this have on the child's eating habits?
>
Yes, the incompatible eating habits of others can be a problem.  It's probably
mostly a problem for kids going from a restrictive home to a "free" one, I
think -- ie, kid in own home is forbidden to have cookies, gets to house where
its OK and doesn't know how to handle it.  As far as I can tell from my kids,
when they go to a home where eating rules are more restrictive than ours,
they cope just fine, but I've had kids from more "restrictive" homes
visiting ours and have trouble coping.  Note that when I know the friend's
"house rules" in advance, I try to cooperate, but I don't always know
in advance.

>Thanks for any additional input on these issues.  I am very interested in to
>topic.
>
>Karla Perdue                 The opinions expressed are strictly my
>Mountain View, CA            own and not those of Hewlett-Packard.

Peggy
Newsgroups: misc.kids