Setting A Good Example For Your Kids When On A Weight Loss Journey

Ok… hot take… Kids aren’t dogs, so can we please stop rewarding them with food for good behavior?

At the dinner table it’s “finish your dinner, and you can have a cookie,” or “eat your veggies first to get dessert.”

Outside of meals it’s “behave at the store and I’ll buy you candy at the register,” or “let’s leave now, and if you come without crying, we can get ice cream on the way home.”

When they fall it’s “you scraped your knee? Let’s have a cookie to cheer you up,” or “I know you’re sad, how about some chocolate?”

While eating should DEFINITELY be enjoyable, linking it too closely to rewards can lead to unhealthy habits and a poor relationship with food that are REALLY HARD to change in adulthood.

Using *indulgent* foods as rewards can also confuse kids, making those *reward foods* more appealing and leading them to prefer it over other options. This starts to create a ‘good’ and ‘bad’ food mindset for them without us realizing it.

Kids are naturally good at knowing when they’re hungry, but using food as rewards can make them eat even when they’re not hungry, which can affect the ability to recognize hunger cues.

So, what can we do instead? Here are a few ideas I suggest to my clients:

• Offer real tangible rewards like stickers, art supplies, or trips to the park.

• Give attention and praise with simple gestures like high fives or smiles. Before you call me ridiculous, remember that how much they perceive this as a positive reward comes from learned behavior.

• Involve them in picking meaningful experiences like a library visit, extra playtime with friends, or staying up later to watch a movie. My clients also love having their kids join in on little workout sessions that feel like a game!

How adults respond to their feelings now shapes how they cope later. It starts with us.