Show Yourself Grace because Your Kids are watching

I wrote the following on my Facebook page last year.  I decided that I would share it here on my blog.

"A couple of thoughts today!  I apologize for the length...

I was watching a video where a counselor was talking with various people with food addictions.  There were several who had various problems in their past, like being compared to a sibling was thin or being abused by a parent or spouse.  All terrible things, of course, that led to low self-esteem and turning to food.  However, a majority of them, was falling into one of 2 categories.

1. Their mom obsessed over their own weight when they were a kid.  Each on them admitted that they felt that their mom believed that what gave her self-worth was whether or not she had the perfect body.  As many of you know, I have struggled with weight issues all of my adult life.  I hope that what my boys got from that was that I wanted to be healthy; but, you never know how a child interprets things.  I have told my boys many times that what I long for is to be able to keep up with them. I say that to say this...moms...there is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to be healthy and to have energy; but, we (preaching to myself too) need to show them that we know we have value no matter what size we are.  Oh, and by the way, some moms put the same emphasis on exercising as moms who focus on dieting (which could cause the same thoughts).

2. They had weight issues as a child and their parents would restrict the from certain food groups: because, they wanted them to lose weight.  I understand completely that you want to help your child to get healthy.  Many of them said that when they weren't with their parents they would eat everything in sight.  I would think (I've never had to deal with this myself) that the best way to handle it is to make sure your whole family is eating healthy and exercising.  And being sure not to single out that one child.  Also, I think there is a huge problem in our society right now about singling out a food group for weight loss (such as low fat or low carb). Instead, we are speaking very little about mindless eating.  Our kids need to know what it feels like to actually be hungry instead of eating because the food is there.  Just a thought..."