Food, You Were Too Dear To Me - Part 3

The presentation to an eight year old that not only does she have some extra weight that she must lose but all the good times at McDonald's and the unrestricted ability to eat as she please was about to cease, seemed like really scary experiences ahead.

I was told a story from a friend at work about a similar experience she had gone through with her child. When she and her husband attempted to get their daughter to stop eating extra sugar, they found candy hidden in the oddest places around the house. When they were able to put a stop to this, they then got calls from the school about how the child was overeating and eating unhealthy there since she could not do it at home. In other words, their daughter felt she was justified to lie and hide food in order to continue fulfilling the need that she had to fulfill what she was missing. My wife and I could only pray that we did not have to deal with the issues that this couple did.

We sat our daughter down and explained that it would be better for her health if she cut out the sweets and the junk foods. We also made it clear that nothing else would change, like the weekend outings and the trips to the toy store when she and her sister were good. Her answer to all of this was "Okay". We waited for the "Willy Wonka" revolution but there was none..

As the months rolled by, we were amazed by the reaction of our daughter. She followed every food restriction without a fuss. She ran and played as she had always done and the new dietary routine that was set up for her simply became part of her life. By the time she was nine years old, it was amazing to see the difference in the way she looked.

As much as I would like to take a big part of the credit for the weight reduction, there was another factor going on which was really driving the little guinea pig. As much as my wife and I wanted her to lose the weight for her health, our daughter wanted to follow through with the program because SHE wanted to look a certain way. She was headed towards teenage years and wanted to change her image. It seemed that the little darling had a master plan of her own.

I worried for a while that she would relapse and gain the weight back but that never happened. I guess she liked the way that she looked

Here she is at age ten, then age eleven and then age twelve,

By age thirteen there was no stopping her. The love and concern that she had gotten from her parents helped but the dream that she had and the love that she had for herself is what drove her across the finish line and beyond. Not only is she she still my little cutey but she is a true inspiration for me. She made me as a father proud that she was so determined and she succeeded. The End.

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Food, You Were Too Dear To Me - Part 2

Between the ages of five and six, my lovely daughter had gained some extra weight. Perhaps you can tell the slight difference.

I guess the problem was that my wife and I couldn't see it. Being so close to the angel caused us as parent to say things like "She hasn't really gained that much" or "Her body is just going through a change" or the ever popular "It's just baby fat. She'll grow out of it soon." By age seven she was still growing but she looked so cute.

Life was going along smoothly with the whole denial thing. It was only mother nature we said to ourselves. We loved our daughter too much to possibly be responsible for her gaining. As loving and protective as we were, that just could not be so. Unfortunately, during the next visit to the pediatrician, we were in for a rude awakening.

Usually the our visits were friendly and I tried to be humble with all the compliments being thrown in my direction but this time Dr. Bombay blasted us both for being inattentive parents. He said that her weight gain was too fast and we were not taking what was happening to her body seriously. Finally he said that there was no need for this kind of weight gain and we needed to seriously do something about it or what was happening might affect her for the rest of her life.

Well blow me down and call me Elmer but I could not have been more embarrassed. We were given pamphlets and written instructions on what the child should and should not be eating. The junk food and any kind of fatty foods were definitely out of the question and this is not to mention sweets of any kind. We now had to admit that we had been loose and free with the "showing our love through food" game. We were the responsible parties.

We knew that we could cut off the pipeline but how was our little darling going to react when we told her that there would be no more Flintstone Dinosaur-Burgers? We were about to find out.

Our eight year old darling would hopefully understand.

To be continued...........




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Food, You Were Too Dear To Me - Part 1

I'd like to thank my daughter for my being able to do this piece because without her permission, she would have killed me.

When you are a caring parent, you have so much love for your child that sometimes you think that your heart might really burst. The first time you see that little face, you want to give them the world. This is the story of loving parents, their first child and food.

As my daughter grew, that feeling of giving of things also grew as a reflection of the love that my wife and I were trying to express. How could you help but want to give extra to this sweet little innocent?

This is especially true when the child is compliant and accepting of the rules that are being placed upon them. We as new parents were trying to learn our way through the perils of child/adult growth but the fact that our little one was always a such happy baby, made the entire experience one of life's greatest pleasures.

To see your child growing up healthy and smart was a blessing. That also made us want to have other children (as you can see) but that's a story for another day.

By age five, this little wise-cracker seemed to have her father's sarcastic sense of humor but never in a mean way. How could I help but spoil her? And this is where lies the danger, waiting to pounce like a hungry turkey leg.











With the invention of the Happy Meal from McDonald's, we found that  that in addition to the food, the toys were a wonderful treat for them. These simple pleasures seemed to make them so happy. Don't get me wrong. I am not blaming McDonald's for their food being healthy or otherwise. My blame is aimed squarely on we the parents. We loved to shower our children with things that they liked but what we were not paying attention to was that when it comes to food, everyone's body is affected differently.

By age six, the extra love through nutrition was beginning to catch up with her. It all seemed to happen very quickly but it really didn't. What happened next was a child with unnecessary extra weight and a very angry pediatrician.

To be continued .........


Check out my website at EndlessPerceptions.com