Let's Not Worry So Much About What Our Kids Eat

Organic? Whole wheat? Whole Foods? Who cares?

A lot of us. But maybe we shouldn't. Or at least, maybe we shouldn't burden our kids with all our nutritional correctness.

When my older son (now 12) was in kindergarten, he came home with a keen interest in cans. Not to build towers with, or roll down the stairs. He wanted to read the labels, because his teacher had been showing the class all about sodium, fructose and calories.

So much for story time.

Anyhow, those kindergarteners must've been mighty advanced, because I'm a grown-up and I still have a hard time figuring out those labels -- especially when the can contains 3.79 servings. (Long division!) I'm also grown-up enough to know that a few years from now, whatever ingredient has been declared bad will probably be good again, and vice versa. Think: trans fats, wine, pasta, real sugar, fake sugar, chocolate -- even lard is making a comeback.

But the bubbly young teacher's interest was enough to excite my son (also several of the dads -- but that's another story,) and for a while he was talking so much about carbohydrates, it was like living with Dr. Atkins. Slowly, his interest tapered off (why ask about nutrition when all you eat are salami and Mint Double Stuff Oreos?) But an article in last week's New York Times got me thinking about kids and "nutrition awareness" again.

"What's Eating Our Kids? Fears About 'Bad' Foods" -- talked about whether young children are getting too concerned about things like calorie counts and sodium content. Some eating disorder experts said that parents are so worried about their kids eating only the "right" food they're turning the moppets into "orthorexics" -- people afraid of eating the wrong thing, ever. Maybe afraid of eating, period.

That seems a bit of catastrophic, on the experts' part. But parents who obsess about food indulge in bit of catastrophic behavior themselves. The truth is: A kid can eat a standard-issue hot dog without it throwing his whole life off balance. An unwashed grape is not a crime against humanity. Even a little roll of fat on a kid doesn't mean he, or his parents, have failed.
In our quest to be perfect, we forget that kids can survive on less-than-perfection. They can survive on stuff Whole Foods wouldn't touch with a 10-foot loofah. I know from personal experience they can survive on a diet of Double-Stuff Oreos and salami. On Wonderbread!
Speaking of which -- did you know that, thanks to all its vitamins and minerals that build strong bodies 12 ways, the much-maligned Wonderbread is credited for silently eradicating beriberi and pellagra in America? Yes indeed. Everything bad, even super-processed white bread, was once good, and vice versa.

So when we start fretting out about our kids' eating habits, and worrying that last night's kale wasn't certified organic, let's try to chill.

I've found that a little bag of M&M's helps.

You can contact Lenore at [e-mail]. She is the founder of freerangekids.com.

Comments

[Idytme]

I have to disagree with you based upon our family. We were raised with very strict, English formal eating rules. My sisters decided to deviate from that (thankfully). One going so overboard that she makes all her kid separate meals, the other introducing all kinds of foods to her kids that they get a diverse appreciation. The separate food kids are a PITA to say the least, they have ruined Christmas' and Thanksgivings. The mellow kids introduced to all kinds of foods are cool.
All the greatest Chefs when asked about their "last meal" seem to recon to some childhood meal. We forget how much food as we are young shapes our lives. I would do it as sister 2 did in raising kids.. What kids eat growing up will affect them their entire lives. If parents would just think back to their own childhood and the food they had growing up they may appreciate what it means. We are starting a second generation of people who do not know how to cook, so it is sad that perhaps these memories are at Mc Donalds.
My mother was a working mom. We had dinner every night at the table and were not allowed to not be there even for sports. We kids had to cook one meal a week from the age of 12. All the studies say this the right way to grow up.

[skinnycoach]

This seems a little dismissive of the obesity epidemic in America. Of course, eating an unwashed grape is not a tragedy but this is not the concern of most parents. The problem is not that most parents are overreacting, the problem is that most Americans are literally killing themselves and their children with the food supply. It might be a little premature to make a call to action to "not worry" so much about what are children are eating. Once we have a dent in slowing down the growing obesity rate, then perhaps we can make light (pun intended.)

[blindhog]

I SO disagree with the lead on your comment. We SHOULD worry about what our kids eat.

The documentary I saw a few nights ago is testimony to that. Parents had taken their children to dentists' offices that were more like torture chambers than anything else. I know I'd be in jail right now if I had covered that story. I think I would have picked up any heavy object to knock out those torturing the child I saw wrapped in a whole body restaint. It still makes me sick to think about what I saw!!!

I bring this up to let you know about ten years ago I had a heal xray for bone density and my density was 120% of a healthy young adult and I was over fifty at the time. Milk makes strong teeth and bones and bone marrow is the factory for blood. I still don't have any cavities.

I grew up with gallons of milk in the refrigerator--no soda. We weren't wealthy, more like poor, but we always had milk and some days we had no meat, but egg drop, potato soap. There was oatmeal and vegetables from the garden. There were no obese children is school. Yes, we DO need to worry about what our kids eat.

[Min421]

It's easy to understand that why parents really care what their kids are eating. Since we all heard some news saying that people have to be careful with the ingredient of the food because it is bad for healthy. Does it a matter? For some parents, they don't even know what trans fats are. Well, what I want to indicate is before telling the kids not to eat something, parents should know about those kind food and how bad it would be so that they can explain to their kids. however, most parents just heard from someone or medias which would misleading us. I mean if parents really care about that, they'd better to find out more rather than listening to someone else. moreover, kids are just kids.we all know that when we were a kid, we just wanted to eat anything we wanted. that was what we enjoyed somewhat. so if your kids want to eat it sometime, why don't you just say yes!