Saturday, April 2, 2011

Like Stuffing Ice Cream in a Baby

The other day I witnessed something pretty disturbing.  I was in the presence of a fussy toddler, and her mother kept shoving food at her every time she'd cry.  And junk food at that, ice cream, cookies, chips.

Now, I know it's frustrating when babies won't stop crying.  And I know it's hard to be a mother.  But I also know that our relationships with food are formed very early in life.  And what this child was learning was, "When I'm upset, I'm supposed to eat junk food."

And it wasn't even really working.  She'd eat the food, then she'd scream more.  And then it got to where she would turn away from the food.  But her mother kept trying to give it to her.

Cry.

Eat junk food.

Repeat.

Feel bad anyway.

Get fat.

Feel worse.

It's interesting to me that when R and I are responsible for feeding his daughter, I make an effort to feed her healthy foods.  I make sure she has a vegetable.  We eat at the dining table like human beings.  Yet I'm responsible for feeding myself all the time, and I don't always make good choices.  And I eat dinner in front of the television every night.

It's easy to see patterns when it involves someone else.  And it's easy to know what to do to fix it.  But when it's yourself, somehow it's much harder.

3 comments:

Cat and DOG Chat With Caren said...

so true...but at least we CAN decide what we choose to put in our bodies. The poor baby is too young to do that. You are right...her Mom is setting her up for a life of wrong choices leading to obesity!

Hilary said...

It is so sad how much of our food relationships are formed when we are young, like that poor baby. I know that if my dad was my mom, I would have had a totally different body type and a different relationship food my whole life… It is sad. My dad would have been like that mother you saw. Food was pretty much his answer to everything (good, bad, etc)

Sisy said...

{{hugs}}

What else can I say? It's so true....