Dumping Sodas

by Sparkplug 37 Replies latest jw friends

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  bikerchic

  (((((Sparky)))))

  I have no words of wisdom, but I know I've been in your shoes with my family. I raised 5 kids and I know how much kids especially growing boys eat. Here is what I did when faced with the same situation you are in:

  Make a weekly menu and post it on the frig.

  When and believe me the food designated for the menu will disappear that night you fix P & B sandwiches and chicken noodle soup. This is the tough part......fix it serve it with no blaming no animosity just eat. The culprit gets the picture and his brother and sisters will put the pressure on the culprit for ruining an otherwise good dinner.

  You will have to do this several times, reaching into the back of the cupboard to find something else to eat, and don't substitute the next nights dinner with the one missing. If the next nights is also missing so it goes......one night we had left over cereal ( the icky stuff no one eats) with powdered milk and there was just enough for each of us to have one bowl which left us all hungry. All the kids complained all night that they were hungy and the piggy kid got the picture. I did pop some pop corn, lots of it and good thing it expands in your tummy, LOL.

  You need to give him some other options to eat stuff to fill him up, keep fruit, cut up veggies, pop corn (note healthy choices) in good supply and let him and the other kids know they can eat unlimited quantities of it but to lay off the stuff designated for dinners. Whole grain breads can be bought at bread outlet stores for a buck a loaf and these are great for filling them up and good for you. Buy the biggest jar of natural (not Jiffy) peanut butter and some lower sugar jelly this is a healthy filling snack.

  Soda is crap I agree no one needs to drink it, milk is crap too. Get them used to fruit juices and dilute it. I buy unsweetened cranberry juice and from a quart I can make a gallon. It actually quenches your thrust and is good for you.

  Being hypervigulant about food creates more hunger and also eating disorders, trust me on this one! My oldest daughter had bulimia talk about a waste of food......talk about a lot of $$ spent on therapy! You can afford the healthier food way more than the $$ for therapy!

  You made a comment about not being able to afford the healthier foods well I don't agree with that. It takes time to adjust to eating healthy but after a couple of weeks your body adjust and you actually quit craving the crap food. Actually for me it only takes 3 days and my food bills are lower when I eat whole live foods and limit my meat to chicken, fish and lean cuts of beef eaten just a few times a week not daily, the meat that is.

  Purge all the crap food from your house, anything white is crap! LOL No white foods!

  ......steps off my soap box

  Good luck and you're only normal to feel the way you do, change your attitude, change the diet and it will make a world of difference on everyone.

  PS My daughter who had the eating disorder......she has two kids and lives by the above no white food and boy does she scold me when I try to give my grandkids sugary foods! Hey the grandkids even scold me they don't like sugary foods! No cookies in my cookie jar when they are here, just a nice big fruit bowl and tiny boxes of raisins, they love 'em! I had to realize I was doing to my grandkids what my granny did to me baking homemade treats, sigh. Now I just love 'em up and play with them they crave the attention more than the food. Ahem......maybe your son needs more attention in a positive way?
• 

  desbah

  Here's my 2 cents to your situtation, your decision to dump soda is a wise choise, instead of all that sugar in sodas there are other healthy drinks for your children. some of my extended family members are diabetic from dirinking too much sodas, I quit drinking sodas to lower my blood sugar.

  on that food issue, when my older childern were teenagers they did eat alot because they were involved in sports after school. now, my pre-teen eats alot when he gets home from school. boys can't wait to eat, when they are hungry they want to eat anything in sight.

  for the lying about the food disappearing, nobody wants to admit the truth because they are all guilty. what good will come out of it? if one of them becomes a snitch and tattle-tale on the others. have a good talk with all of them, if they are to cook make something for the whole family instead of themselves.

  carry on...make it work!

  ~desbah~
• 

  Billygoat

  Ahem......maybe your son needs more attention in a positive way?

  I'd like to think that your intention was not to be condescending??? She's a single mom with a full-time job and a part-time job trying to make ends meet and she doesn't get child support, like many other single mothers. I'd like to imagine that you of all people might understand that.
• 

  Elsewhere

  Simple: When you get home from the grocery store make an announcement that NO MORE FOOD will be purchased for the rest of the week. If they gorge themselves on the one week supply then that's just too bad.

  Trust me... once the kids who are not gorging on the food start to get hungry, they'll rat out the culprit real fast.

  -Elsewhere, of the Never Been a Parent Class
• 

  bikerchic

  I'd like to think that your intention was not to be condescending??? She's a single mom with a full-time job and a part-time job trying to make ends meet and she doesn't get child support, like many other single mothers. I'd like to imagine that you of all people might understand that.

  
  

  
  Noted Andi and I'm not trying to be condescending at all, just trying to give her other options. There is a lot a parent can do to give their children the attention they are craving. I'm just trying to give her ideas and another way to look at the situation. We can buy time out of other things to just sit side by side with our kids on the sofa or across the dinner table and talk/listen. Talk is cheap but the rewards are priceless. Make dinner time important and a priority for everyone to be present at this one time.

  An extra hug and a deep look into their eyes/world can go a long way toward them feeling important, understood and cared about beyond their everyday needs for food and instant gratification. We live in a world bombarded with instant gratification as if we are entitled to every thing of our whims desire when all we really want is to be loved and feel needed.

  I hope I did not offend you Sparky with my comments I hope you understand I know what it is like to be a parent stretched beyond the limits. No I wasn't a single parent in the same way you are, I did have a husband who provided the comforts of a home and financial support, (I know that was a lot of presure taken off me) but not the support of actually taking his precious time he spent doing what he wanted to do at the price of neglecting his family. In many ways I felt like a single parent.

  That said if I could go back and do anything over it would be to quit working outside the home to provide the x-tras for my kids and stay home and be a better mom giving them the much needed time of myself they really needed........I have such deep regrets for not doing that.
• 

  Frannie Banannie

  I raised two sons and I KNOW that they eat individually like a whole camp of lumberjacks. My oldest would come home from school, fix himself a half a loaf of bread's worth of sandwiches for an after-school snack, turn around and ask "What's for supper?" Then after supper (two hrs later), he'd want to know if there was anything for dessert!

  Perhaps, it would be better to find out what your son would settle for as snacks and edibles for himself alone and put these things off-limits for the rest of the family. Try to figure out just how much he needs individually to consume, then mark what is his alone for consumption. It's worth a try. You could do this with both children as witnesses, letting him know how it's affecting the rest of the family (using guilt, instead of anger, and I DO know how frustrating this situation is). Or maybe you could encourage him to get a part time job to help defray the excessive cost of the indiscriminate munching he's obviously doing, which is causing the rest of you to do without.

  Worth a try?
• 

  Billygoat

  Perhaps, it would be better to find out what your son would settle for as snacks and edibles for himself alone and put these things off-limits for the rest of the family. Try to figure out just how much he needs individually to consume, then mark what is his alone for consumption. It's worth a try. You could do this with both children as witnesses, letting him know how it's affecting the rest of the family (using guilt, instead of anger, and I DO know how frustrating this situation is). Or maybe you could encourage him to get a part time job to help defray the excessive cost of the indiscriminate munching he's obviously doing, which is causing the rest of you to do without.

  Frannie, I've always thought you were a wise one. I think this sounds like a great idea! If I had a kid to try it on.
• 

  bikerchic

  Perhaps, it would be better to find out what your son would settle for as snacks and edibles for himself alone and put these things off-limits for the rest of the family. Try to figure out just how much he needs individually to consume, then mark what is his alone for consumption. It's worth a try. You could do this with both children as witnesses, letting him know how it's affecting the rest of the family (using guilt, instead of anger, and I DO know how frustrating this situation is). Or maybe you could encourage him to get a part time job to help defray the excessive cost of the indiscriminate munching he's obviously doing, which is causing the rest of you to do without.

  Yeah options! You can eat as much of this as you want but from this you can't eat........sounds like Jehober. Hey Sparky you are the Goddess of your universe!
• 

  Frannie Banannie

  Frannie, I've always thought you were a wise one. I think this sounds like a great idea! If I had a kid to try it on.

  Ya, Andi....but I devoted WAY to many years to having my head up my butt so that I could get this hindsight for the benefit of others.
• 

  Billygoat

  I devoted WAY to many years to having my head up my butt so that I could get this hindsight for the benefit of others.

  LOL! Then I thank you for having your head up your butt.