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On the other hand (as a father of two) I find myself thinking about how my dad handled situations, comparing how I just handled it, and going, “wow did he have
by Forgeties79 5y ago
On the other hand (as a father of two) I find myself thinking about how my dad handled situations, comparing how I just handled it, and going, “wow did he have that backwards” haha. Not all the time of course and like you I have definitely come to appreciate how tough it is to make the “right” call, but we certainly have learned some things.
One thing Boomer parents were really bad about - at least in my experience - was building a healthy relationship with food and meals in general. So much punishment and reward centers around food, it’s quite upsetting when you really think about it.
I’ve had quite a few friends in my life - men and women - with eating disorders of all shapes and sizes. You can almost always find stories involving their parents at the core of them. Making everyone sit at the table until the last person has finished their plate, the old “starving children in Africa” line we’ve all heard at least secondhand, forcing toddlers to eat everything and then they get dessert as a direct reward (which often ignores teaching them how to read signs that they’re full). The list goes on.
- ryandrake 5y agoI think the Boomer "Eat all the food on your plate" meme came from their parents, who lived through the Great Depression and food insecurity. Mindlessly passed down from a time of scarcity to a time of abundance. They just repeated it, but this time with gigantic, obesity-levels of food on their kids' plates. We usually just ask our kid how much she wants to eat. It seems to work a lot better than the way my parents did it, with a lot less drama, and she's not growing up with an antagonistic and/or compulsive attitude towards food.
- flycaliguy 5y agoSpeaking of dinner time, the negative effects of all the boomer moms and their trendy diets on young girls at the time. Weight Watchers. Just the phrase “Weight Watchers” being in the house and in the air.
- Forgeties79 5y agoNo kidding. My wife talks about this a lot actually - how basically every mom she was around constantly talked about diets, losing weight, I need to fit in x or y outfit, etc. Just constant (usually negative) body talk all the time by adult women.
- jackallis 5y agodang this that we do - "forcing toddlers to eat everything and then they get dessert as a direct reward (which often ignores teaching them how to read signs that they’re full). The list goes on" sometimes you do need another perspective. you go through the process without even thing about harm process could be causing.
- sul_tasto 5y agoI wonder if that mentality was a residual aspect of a time when empty calories weren’t so prevalent and food costs were a higher percentage of the monthly budget.