How Many Calories Did I Eat?

My son was eating a snack the other day.   As he finished his granola bar he asked me, “how many calories did I eat?”   My son is four and has no need to know about calories or how much he is or isn’t eating, but he sees his father, me, our friends and parents talking about food all the time.    Children don’t have filters, so they hear it all and if it’s something important to the people around them, they think it’s important to them too.

So I told him how many calories were in the granola bar and told him he was very fortunate that he didn’t have to worry about how much he ate, but if he wanted to know any more calories he could ask us.  A bit later in the morning he ate a banana and wanted to know about calories in it.  

My husband and I have been very successful losing weight and trying to be more healthy.   Until I was over thirty-years-old, I could eat whatever I wanted without gaining any weight.   I think it was largely because I ate when I was hungry, stopped eating when I was full and didn’t over eat just because something was delicious.

I want to make sure our children approach food with a healthy mindset.   We’re striving for healthy mindset as well as healthy food choices.   We don’t eat all healthy choices, in fact we have days that have downright unhealthy selections all day long, but we’re working on a balance and good habits.    I hope we make the right decisions as we raise our children when it comes to food.

The Big Boy Update:  We were driving to the zoo yesterday when my son called out from the back seat, “do you know which part of this song I like?”  I hadn’t been paying particular attention to the song on the radio up until then but when I realized what song it was, I could guess which part he meant.   I told him to let me know when he heard it again.   When the chorus came around, he said, “this is the part!”   I agreed, it was a good part of the song.   In a few years maybe we’ll play Third Eye Blind’s “Never Let You Go”  song and see if he still likes the same part.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  “A few days ago.”   My daughter was telling a story and my husband said afterwards to me, “did you catch that?”   She had (for the first time we think) indicated a time in the past that was something other than, “yesterday.”    Until now, everything in the past, including when I was a baby, for example, was under the heading of “yesterday” in her mind.