Research has shown that when parents have bad eating habits, their kids are more likely to have problems with food into adulthood.
Experts say there are three specific habits you need to avoid if you want to give your kids a healthy relationship with food:
1. Not eating your own dinner, just picking off your kids’ plates: Give yourself a healthy plate of food with proper portions. You should make one dinner and everyone in the house should eat it. If you want your kids to eat their vegetables, you have to eat them too! Not even giving yourself a plate makes kids think it’s OK to skip meals as adults.
2. Eating while standing in front of the fridge: Eating dinner should be designated at the table at a particular time. If you don’t want your kids to snack and ruin their appetite, you have to follow the same rules. You should never teach your kids that scarfing food in front of the fridge without sitting down and taking your time is OK. This sets them up for a habit of binge eating.
3. Obsessing over your weight or size: Bad mouthing yourself and dieting in unhealthy ways is setting your child up for body image issues and possibly eating disorders. If you want to lose weight, do it by eating healthy and exercising.