How do parents inadvertently put their own food and body image issues onto their children?
DF: When you are whining: “I feel fat” or ‘I shouldn’t eat that,” it is a communication about your own body image issue and tells kids that they should feel badly about eating one thing or another. Not what they need. Being conscious of what comes out of your mouth, (not just what goes in!) is important for kids’ developing relationship with food. A lot of parents have anxieties about their kids’ food that have more to do with how they were raised and also how they think they should behave in terms of limit setting, parenting stuff. For example, some parents feel strongly about setting rules about sugar, because they feel that if they don’t, they are being a ‘wimp ‘ parent. At times, this conflicts with how their spouse, partner feels about the issue and how to handle it with their child. Remember that you as a parent have the right to set the family tone the way you are comfortable. It might differ from how you were raised, or it might be the same. Know what the reasons are for how yo
