In 2017-2018 my MIL lost about 50 pounds through weight watchers, mainly with diet changes that in my opinion because very disordered and limited exercise.
Some examples of why I think it is disordered eating is if someone suggests pasta to her, she says “oh no, I can’t/don’t eat that” she does the same thing with bread, pop, snacks, etc., the issue I have is that she is projecting it onto her kids. Her making pasta for her kids for dinner is a TREAT for them. She talks very negatively about food and constantly talks about calories around them and what’s horrible for you to eat. At one point, while we were all at a restaurant her 13 year old daughter said “oh I’m not going to get that, it’s too many calories” while I agree it’s important to teach your children about proper calorie intake, I think she takes it too far the way she talks about food.
Two of the most recent incidents that caused me to reach out for advice is regarding her 8 year old. We rent the basement apartment from them so we see them daily. My MIL came down a few weeks ago just to talk and ended up mentioning how bad she feels because her 8 year old is gaining weight and none of her clothes fit her and her belly is showing. She said “she’s getting a belly and I don’t know what to do for her, I’ve told her to be careful with the clothes she’s picking and to watch what she’s eating”. A few weeks later she was going through their summer clothes and realized that her 8 years clothes were a size 6... so she just didn’t have the right size clothing.
Tonight we went on a walk with my MIL and the kids and my daughter, my 8 year old SIL was telling me about how she might not have to go on the evening walk tonight if she gets all her steps in on the walk we were on. She then told me that her mom says she needs to walk 10,000 steps a day throughout 2-3 walks that they go on, and basically if she didn’t get it on the one we went on she would have to go on the evening walk. At one point we were stopped and the 10 year old started pacing around so that he could get his 10,000 steps.
I’m very concerned about the impact this could have on them and am not sure how to approach it. I know that exercise and Healthy eating is important. But to me it seems disordered and she talks so incredibly negatively about food, and I know this can have a huge impact on children/teenagers.
tl:dr my MIL always talks very negatively about food and her body around her children, I’m concerned about the impact it will have on her children.
Submitted June 29, 2020 at 06:38PM by motherinlawED https://ift.tt/2YHB8CJ
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