Topic : General Advice

My son is a healthy little boy.  He goes otuside all day long, we run and play and have fun together.

I usually allow him to eat when he wants to.  Because of his immense amount of activity, and the fact that he is a very lean little boy, he will usually eat in one day the following:

A pancake and glass of milk for breakfast (my pancakes are rather large)

A bananna and an apple for a snack

A sandwich with a snack pack of mixed fruits

A junkfood snack (pudding, ice cream, etc.)

Then dinner, usually something I cook, has meat, bread, veggie and I make potatoes a lot.

A bedtime snack (sometimes dessert, but usually leftovers from dinner)

My mom and sisters are on me about cutting back what he eats.  Like I said he is a *very* lean little boy, and by no means has extra weight on him.  His doctor says his diet is fine unless he slows down, or becomes less active.  I try to keep his day time meals light in weight and easy to run with so that he doesnt get sick in the heat.  He drinks anywhere from 5-6 glasses of water, a glass of milk, and is allowed one glass of kool-aide a day.  his pediatrician is thrilled with his good appetite but my family makes statements that he wont be so athletic as he gets older.  Whats some things I can do to keep his energy levels going and keep him active?

I love his diet and I lvoe that he eats.  I love the compliments he gets when someone notes how he will eat anything for them.  How can I make my family realise that his diet is necessary for the amount of playing and running he does?  I had weight issues after I had him, and my siblings and mother have weight issues.  Am I doing the right thing?  Is it wrong to allow him to undulge in snacks so long as he has eaten his meals??

Opinions on this are appreciated.

Actually, it sounds to me as though you're doing everything RIGHT. He's active, and he's got a relatively healthy diet to go along with that. Even the pediatrician is happy with things as they are.

I understand concerns about future problems. But there may never BE any. Could be this child will remain active, and will need the diet to go along with that. Snacks never hurt children. A poor diet and ZERO exercise will.

You don't have to explain to your family how you are raising your child. If they can't take one look at him, and realize he has NO weight issue, then they need to just tackle their own weight issues and leave you to the job of raising your son. Sounds to me like you're doing a GREAT job of it!!! Good luck...

i am a mother of three and they are at the ages of 4 and two 3 year olds so im going through the telling stage with my 4 year old so my 3 yr olds like to do what sister does. and that s telling on each other really u shouldnt put them in the corner becuse thats going to tell them that u dont want them to tell you things. you should sit down with them and explain which u probaly have already but children at these ages need consitancy. with your oldest you should explain that he/she has to act as an example and show the others whats good to tell on or whats bad in your household/in the world. also sit down with them and ask why they are telling so much ask if something is bothering them about the other and see if it has something to do with there feelings.

i am a mother of three and they are at the ages of 4 and two 3 year olds so im going through the telling stage with my 4 year old so my 3 yr olds like to do what sister does. and that s telling on each other really u shouldnt put them in the corner becuse thats going to tell them that u dont want them to tell you things. you should sit down with them and explain which u probaly have already but children at these ages need consitancy. with your oldest you should explain that he/she has to act as an example and show the others whats good to tell on or whats bad in your household/in the world. also sit down with them and ask why they are telling so much ask if something is bothering them about the other and see if it has something to do with there feelings.

I am the father of a 7yr old son,  He lives with his mother in another state.  I am an airline pilot so travel benefits allow me to see him frequently and bring him here as often.   I talk to him everyday sometimes more than once.  Here is the problem.   His mother tells me that he has been getting up early and sneaking food.  Half a jar of peanut buter one morning,  a couple fruit roll ups another morning.   He goes so far as to climb the counters to reach the things that she hides.  He also has a huge problem with ADHD.  He is on medication for it,  but it only lasts a few hours and he is almost unbearable when he's not on it.  When he is with me we can jump on the bikes and ride for hours.  When he is at home that is not the case.  Hence the meds.    What causes kids to sneak food?  He is not small,  I won't say he is overweight but he is not skinny.  When he is with me I can regulate what he eats and only feed him healthy things since that is all my wife and I eat.  We are both athletic and I try very hard to instill that with my son.   When he is here we are always doing something, he will help with house work,  yard work whatever.     The biggest problem now is the food sneaking.  He has done it at my house once that he admitted to.  I am very worried about this.  What causes it?  I want him to be healthy and happy.  

i think the only one who can answer the question, what causes it, is your son, or maybe some educated psych. so i'd say try to talk to your son, and show that he will not be judged because of something he might say, and see if you can get something out of him. if that doesn't work, you could keep only absolute healthy foods, it doesn't really matter if he 'sneaks' a carrot, you would probably have given it to him anyway. but since that might be a problem, you could also put locks on the cabinet, but that might seem a bit dramatic. so i'd try really hard to find out what the reason is, if he doesn't know himself, just start talking to him about his life, and maybe he'll say something, what might cause it, even though he doesn't know it causes it. but you might be able to notice. make sure he feels safe, and make it clear to him, that you don't like him sneaking food, that he can ask for it, or say that he can get a sandwich by himself if he wants too. my step-daughter usually gets up at 8 or nine in the weekends, and she wants candy because she gets hungry, so we now say, she can get herself a sandwich if she's hungry, so she doesn't want the candy anyore.

OK...my daughter just turned 8 and recently has not been able to stick to any of her own decisions when it comes to spending time with her friends.  For example...a good friend asks her to go somewhere and my daughter accepts the invitation and looks forward to going but once she gets into the car and the mother drives away, my daughter wants to return home...another instance is when she's invited to a friend's house to have a girls only movie night, she's thrilled with the invitation and says she'll be there but at the last minute ends up changing her mind.  Just today she was invited to go to a birthday party that began at a waterpark, she didn't want to go to the waterpark but wanted to wait until the girls returned to the house for cake and ice cream, that is until she saw all her  friends leaving to go to the waterpark without her and she's now upset that it's too late to go and she'll have to wait until the girls return.  How do I make her understand that once you accept or decline an invitation, you need to stick to it?

My 6 year old step daughter and our friend's 8 year old son was caught in a very compromising position. I should start by saying that my husband and his friends have been good friends since before any kids were born. Our friends have an 8 year old son and a 4 year old daughter. My husband has a 7 year old son, 6 year old daughter, and a 2 year old son. I have a 3 year old son. All of the kids besides my son have grown up together all of their lives. The kids have all stayed at each other's houses millions of times. Well just last Friday our friend wanted the kids to come over and stay the night. My 3 year old was sick so he stayed home. The next morning our friend called and my husband answered. She said that we needed to come get the kids and explained why. She caught her 8 year old son under the covers and between our 6 year old daughters legs with her pants and panties off. We do not know the exactly what was done but anything is not good. I understand that they are at a "curious" age but I am at my wit's end with this little girl. Let me let you in on a couple of examples to get you up to speed. Her 1st year in kindergarten she was caught under the table kissing a boy, and then two weeks prior to this incident we got her in trouble for pulling her nightgown up to her brother and saying "look, look".  Other brief examples are ...she has spray painted her sitters AC unit and then begged the boys not to tell on her. if they didn't she would give them money, she peeled the paint off the walls at her mom's house when they made her stand in the corner for hitting her brother in the head, and she she went to the bathroom at her grandmother's house and opened and poured 36 pairs of contacts down the sink. She is on maxed dosage of adderall for ADHD and I am on antidepressants just to try and deal with her!! We sit her down and talk to her everytime she gets into trouble and no matter what we say or do it does not seem to get through to her. Any advice on anyone has is more than appreciated......