FREEPER FAMILY TABLE--The troubled child

me | March 4, 2005 | grellis

[grellis]

Let me preface by saying that this thread is aimed at discussing kids who are dealing with socially driven syndromes or disorders. In a thread in the very near future, we will discuss family members with special physical needs: Down's syndrome, autism, Alzheimer's, et al.

There is a lot of ground to cover on this subject and it is difficult to know where to begin. All of us have heard, I am sure, that Americans (particularly children) are more obese today than we have been in the past. Are our children becoming food addicts or couch addicts? How do we stop this problem before it starts? What help is available to parents who have an obese child? Are we dong the best that we can, as parents, to set a good example: Do we exercise on a regular basis or come up with excuses not to do so? Are we eating healthy most of the time? Then there is the opposite end of the spectrum: anorexia and bulimia. Are we as conscious as we can possibly be of our childrens' self images? How do we encourage our children, especially our young girls, to embrace their frames rather than strive to look like one of the Olsen skeletons? Am I wrong in thinking that steroid use in adolescent boys is, in a way, related to anorexia in girls?

How many parents are aware of cutting? I'll be honest--I do not know that much about it, just that it is on the rise. Cutting entails the intentional, physical harm of one's self, ie slicing open the skin with a razor blade. What drives a child to do this?

Addiction to drugs and alcohol might best be left to a thread on its own. What say all of you?

[FatherofFive]

The second phase of my "No Flour, No Sugar" diet is the "White Out" diet. Eat nothing white. No potatoes (Sweet potatoes are OK) No milk. No Rice. I eliminate these in moderation. If I needed to lose weight, I would eliminate them completly.

That being said, I love rice. It contains complementary protiens when served with beans (refied or "Ranch Style"). It also is the perfect media to hold a nice beurre blanc sauce. I also bake it with butter, garlic, chicken broth, parsley, thyme and bay leaf. (I'm getting hungry!)

To me, there is no such thing as an unhealthy food. A piece of cheese cake is not unhealthy. A piece of cheesecake everyday is an unhealthy diet. Fitness and weight loss is a lifestyle thing. Fads don't work.

[backinthefold]

She was very stressed out about it and ate for comfort. Maybe it will have the reverse effect on your daughter

 

Little-bit has been eager to get her period ever since her big sister got hers.. so I dont think it will be a problem. Little-bit is so much like me, I had the same body type till I hit puberty.

 

Anny, I was in 6th grade, so was my oldest when we got the curse :) 9 years old?? Lordy, I cant imagine that!

[backinthefold]

All I can do is tell myself "Do you want a slightly resentful child or an Amber Alert?"

 

What a sad world we live in. I lay the blame on the hippy, pinko, nambla, aclu, liberal weeines out there.

[annyokie]

I had just started seventh grade. The curse, indeed!

My friend who got hers at 9 was also an Italina. A redhead.

[luckystarmom]

My daughter is a little over-weight. She is an identical twin and weighs at least 10 lbs more than her twin sister.

She just eats more than either of my other kids, and she always has (even as a baby). My other two kids rarely finish their food, and she is always asking for 2nds (or 3rds).

One summer, I kept juice boxes in the refrigerator. I noticed that she put on a lot of weight. She was about 4 years old, and she had just been getting juice boxes out and drinking them without me knowing it. I moved the juice boxes after that.

I've had to put my foot down with her. I've told her that she can't eat the sweets, and I have to tell her no when she wants 2nds or 3rds. I tell her that she can have as many fruits and vegetables as she wants, but that's it.

It's hard because my son is really skinny, and I'm always trying to get him to eat more.

[luckystarmom]

My son is skinny, and he is a couch potatoe. My daughter is heavy, and very active. She just eats a lot more than he does.

[LadyShallott]

I was a chubby kid who grew into a chubby teenager. When I hit 14 years old I had a friend of mine tell me that I was well "padded". I had never really seen myself as heavy until then. I dropped 40 pounds in three months. I came back to school after the summer break a size 5. My teachers actually called my mom to ask her if I was ok. I am over 5 foot 8 and they were concerned. I have to say two things would have helped me growing up. I wish someone in my family would have talked about body perception and taking care of yourself in a healthy open manner. It didn't matter what we had to eat, we had to eat it all. And I mean all of it. We were viewed as somewhat ungrateful if we didn't. So I grew up with the you eat all things on the table and you finish it. The concept of leaving food on my plate wasn't something I grasped until I starved myself through high school and into college. And the positive enforcement of not eating through the women in my family, looking back, made a very strong impression on me. So I think communication, as well as healthy options for eating, coupled with exercise on some level would be much better than any celluloid role model. :)

[backinthefold]

my best friend can eat and eat and eat, and I mean a bowl of cereal in the middle of the night kind of eating, and never gains a pound...

I hate it, but I guess its that motabalism thing... I lost mine when I gave birth, and I havent been able to find it agian

[backinthefold]

I had a friend of mine tell me that I was well "padded".

 

I was nicknamed "saddlebags" because of my thighs....

[luckystarmom]

My girls love to swim. It's great in the summer because we have a pool, and they are outside for several hours every day.

They also love to ride bikes, but I have to go with them to do that. They love to go on the bike trail by our house. It's hard in the winter because by the time homework is done, it's dark outside.

I'm glad it's almost spring. We can go bike riding after dinner!

[BizzeeMom]

I love my rice cooker too!

The stove that came with this house doesn't adjust down low enough to simmer things; it will always burn on the bottom. That was the main reason I bought my rice cooker. Also my dear friend who grew up in the Phillippines has taught me a lot about rice. She buys only jasmine rice, and cooks it every day. I had never seen a rice cooker until I went to her house.

The rice cooker does not need to be fancy or expensive, I think mine was 19.95.

[kiki04]

I would love to see that! Or the TV could have Ted Kennedy talking...

[DUDLEY]

Hi Kiki! Evie is getting so big and even more cute!

I noticed that you have pierced her ears. Can you give me all the details...when you did it, where, did she scream. I am considering having Marlowe's pierced but I wanted to ask around first.

As soon as tax season is over I will post a bunch of pictures of her. Thanks for the info!

[kiki04]

Can't wait to see pictures!!! We did Evie's ears at 3 months. All the girls in my family have them done at that age, so we don't remember if it hurt! We went with a friend whose daughter was 6 months old to the mall, Claire's actually. Evie screamed but afterwards I let her nurse and she fell asleep. She really doesn't notice when I clean them, and we change them everyonce in a while. Her daddy bought her her first diamond earings for christmas!

[DUDLEY]

Thanks Kiki!

I always thought I was against piercing ears so young but now that I have a daughter I want to. I am going to talk to the doctor at her next visit and see if he can do it for me. I am so excited!

[grellis]

...you can make a pot of rice in 20 minutes on the stove-top.

The reason I have had a lifelong hatred of rice is because I have never once tasted it prepared properly--not even by my Korean-born and raised friends. My husband wanted that particular rice cooker for Christmas and when I ordered it for him, I thought it was kind of a waste of money...NOT AT ALL!!! We almost never used to have rice--not just because of my strong aversion to the taste but clean-up is a pain in the butt. This rice cooker is completely idiot proof (IOW, Grellis-proof)--perfect rice, every time, and cleans up in under a minute. It wasn't really expensive, around $65, considering how often we have rice now. I love the thing. I would have paid twice as much for it and I am cheap!

[annyokie]

You aren't cheap, you are thrifty. At least that's the way I view myself, the Thrift Shop Denizen.

I make rice at least three times a week. Spanish rice, fried rice, etc. I don't know what the elevation is where you are in Michigan, but I know I have had to cut back on the water here in Oklahoma since we are nearly at sea level. (Ironically, I just made a pan of rice.)

Considering all the ringing endorsements on this thread for rice-makers, I'll look into them!

[grellis]

It used to be juice boxes with my boys as well, now its cheese slices. They get up earlier than hubby and I, sneak downstairs, and help themselves to several slices of American cheese each. Not only a bad pre-breakfast snack but cheese isn't exactly pennies a pound. I'm going to pick up a few cheese slicers this weekend so I can buy blocks instead. Hopefully that will get the kids to snack on something else in the wee morning hours...cereal, perhaps??!