Toddler Diet Mishegosim
I'm outraged!
Yesterday, when all the kids sat down for their sandwiches, I couldn't find one girl's sandwich, so I ended up making her one, because why should she suffer and go hungry because her parents forgot to send food?
I sent a note home to the parents (a sister brings her and picks her up) asking them that their daughter didnt have aruchat eser today, and to please remember to send for her.
Today, her sister comes with a message: “My mother didnt forget to send her a sandwich; she purposely didnt send because my sister is on a diet because she is too fat. Please don't give her food either.”
A two year old? A diet? A little girl not being allowed to eat when she is hungry?
Can I mention that this little girl is nowhere even remotely close to fat. When she is dressed, she looks like a skinny string bean, but when undressed you can see she has a tiny little drop of tub on her thighs and belly, but thats about it! I know what fat kids look like; I have four fat kids I watch every day, and this girl comes nowhere near that!
And even if she was fat, its because Hashem wants her to be that way. Toddlers often are a little chubby, because that's part of the normal growth for a little kid, and within no time and no interventions, they will most likely slim down. A portly toddler is not because of terrible eating habits, but rather because that is their natural growth curve.
I ask the parents to send their kid with a sandwich (or two or three) to eat at 10, as well as a fruit to eat at noon. The kids are at me from 8 am till 1 pm. As it is, this mother was sending only a small, stale, whole wheat sandwich, after which the daughter was still hungry and I often had to supplement her lunch with things from my own pantry, and I provided her a fruit, because this little girl was soooo kvetchy and hungry until she was satiated, would cry and cry.
So now for the whole 5 hours, her mother sent her with one apple and asks that I not give anything else. Result: daughter will be VERY kvetchy and cranky because not only is she hungry, she will have nothing to eat while everyone else does. Her mother is basically somewhat starving her because she thinks she is fat. (Mother is quite skinny.) Methinks not only is this cruel and might even be reportable, but she is setting up her daughter for major eating disorders.
But the thing that gets me most upset is that she expects me to follow her mishegos and deal with an insanely miserable hungry kid. If a parent wants to put her kid on a starvation diet, she should keep her at home and not send her out and expect their childcare provider to starve the kid as well. Or at least, speak to me first and not just stop sending her with lunch and have me find out from the sister “Oh, she didnt send lunch because the kid is fat”.
This little girl has been coming every day for the past couple of days crying, and continuing to be very kvetchy all day long. Connected to this new diet, possibly? What do you think?
Yes, there is always the possibility that the sister passed on the wrong message or made up something... But how would she know to pass on such a message unless she knew what was in the note that I sent home? Which makes me think she was told to pass on this message.
What would you do in my shoes? Starve the kid and go along with mom's mishegos? Confront the mom and tell her that what she is doing is very wrong, or more politely ask her to explain what is going on (I'm not that good at that- I'd probably not go a good job of having such a conversation being non confrontational)? Or just give the kid food from my own cupboard? Report on them?
Have you ever put a 2 year old on such a strict diet for weightloss purposes? What do you think of doing so?
Yesterday, when all the kids sat down for their sandwiches, I couldn't find one girl's sandwich, so I ended up making her one, because why should she suffer and go hungry because her parents forgot to send food?
I sent a note home to the parents (a sister brings her and picks her up) asking them that their daughter didnt have aruchat eser today, and to please remember to send for her.
Today, her sister comes with a message: “My mother didnt forget to send her a sandwich; she purposely didnt send because my sister is on a diet because she is too fat. Please don't give her food either.”
A two year old? A diet? A little girl not being allowed to eat when she is hungry?
Can I mention that this little girl is nowhere even remotely close to fat. When she is dressed, she looks like a skinny string bean, but when undressed you can see she has a tiny little drop of tub on her thighs and belly, but thats about it! I know what fat kids look like; I have four fat kids I watch every day, and this girl comes nowhere near that!
And even if she was fat, its because Hashem wants her to be that way. Toddlers often are a little chubby, because that's part of the normal growth for a little kid, and within no time and no interventions, they will most likely slim down. A portly toddler is not because of terrible eating habits, but rather because that is their natural growth curve.
I ask the parents to send their kid with a sandwich (or two or three) to eat at 10, as well as a fruit to eat at noon. The kids are at me from 8 am till 1 pm. As it is, this mother was sending only a small, stale, whole wheat sandwich, after which the daughter was still hungry and I often had to supplement her lunch with things from my own pantry, and I provided her a fruit, because this little girl was soooo kvetchy and hungry until she was satiated, would cry and cry.
So now for the whole 5 hours, her mother sent her with one apple and asks that I not give anything else. Result: daughter will be VERY kvetchy and cranky because not only is she hungry, she will have nothing to eat while everyone else does. Her mother is basically somewhat starving her because she thinks she is fat. (Mother is quite skinny.) Methinks not only is this cruel and might even be reportable, but she is setting up her daughter for major eating disorders.
But the thing that gets me most upset is that she expects me to follow her mishegos and deal with an insanely miserable hungry kid. If a parent wants to put her kid on a starvation diet, she should keep her at home and not send her out and expect their childcare provider to starve the kid as well. Or at least, speak to me first and not just stop sending her with lunch and have me find out from the sister “Oh, she didnt send lunch because the kid is fat”.
This little girl has been coming every day for the past couple of days crying, and continuing to be very kvetchy all day long. Connected to this new diet, possibly? What do you think?
Yes, there is always the possibility that the sister passed on the wrong message or made up something... But how would she know to pass on such a message unless she knew what was in the note that I sent home? Which makes me think she was told to pass on this message.
What would you do in my shoes? Starve the kid and go along with mom's mishegos? Confront the mom and tell her that what she is doing is very wrong, or more politely ask her to explain what is going on (I'm not that good at that- I'd probably not go a good job of having such a conversation being non confrontational)? Or just give the kid food from my own cupboard? Report on them?
Have you ever put a 2 year old on such a strict diet for weightloss purposes? What do you think of doing so?