Honey, We're Killing the Kids: Television Show Inspires Parents to Change Their Family's Diet

It was summer of last year (I'd say, around August) that we first saw Honey, We're Killing the Kids. We had been channel surfing and, fortunately, caught this program from the very beginning.

The show's program description is as follows: (excerpted from the link above)

Honey We're Killing the Kids! offers a startling look at the causes of America's childhood obesity epidemic and issues a critical wake-up call for parents. In the series, our nutrition expert Felicia Stoler, MS, RD shows how everyday choices can have long-term impacts on children, and offers both the motivation and the know-how to help turn these families' lives around. Using state-of-the-art computer imaging and certified assessments based on measurements and statistics, Felicia first gives Mom and Dad a wake-up call to the possible future of their children. Then, introducing her new guidelines and techniques, Felicia will work with parents to reverse course and give their kids a healthy diet and active lifestyle.

The family then has three weeks to overhaul its bad habits under the direction of Felicia, who delivers a set of life-altering rules with the aim of completely transforming the children's future health and lifestyle.Our experience with this show:

It only took one episode for us to realize we needed to make some serious changes in our decisions, our lifestyles, our influences on our children, influences from outsiders (in other words, the bad influence Grandparents tend to be in terms of dumping junk food on kids) and the level of our family's activity. Because this show was on so late (10:00pm EST, if I remember correctly), we were able to have a candid discussion about these issues without the children being present, then put together a plan to follow through with the next morning.

Our first plan of action: over-haul the kitchen

I was mortified when I took a "new look" with a serious set of eyes at my kitchen. Not the way it was decorated. Not the way it was organized. Now how clean or dirty it was. Rather, the contents of the cabinets, counters and refrigerator was what set me aback. I didn't want to deprive my family of everything "bad," because we don't believe in that type of lifestyle. However, it was appalling how much candy (left over from holidays and brought from relatives) was there, how many sugar treats (Little Debbie snack cakes, cookies, ice cream, pudding, Popsicles, chips . . . and so on) were scattered behind just about every door or on every surface. Baked goods stayed (like banana breads, blueberry muffins and things like that), but everything else went into the trash.

Snacks weren't the only things that needed to be addressed. We also took a look at what we were feeding our kids at mealtime and discovered we could be making better choices. We got rid of all the "prepared food" (which contains too much fat and sodium) and replaced it with ingredients necessary to prepare healthy meals from recipes.

Next plan of action: restock the kitchen

For every sugar or junk food snack we found, it was replaced with a healthy alternative. Fruits, cheese, vegetables, whole wheat crackers and things like that were spread all over the kitchen. Rather than offering "junk food snacks" to the kids, we explained that these were their new choices. At first, this was an issue because they were used to having the food that wasn't the best choice for their health. Now, though, without those things being around, they don't ask at all.

Our next plan of action: setting up a schedule

Prior to seeing this show, we'd give the kids whatever they wanted whenever they wanted. It never occurred to either one of us that they may be eating because they're bored or because they were experiencing cravings just from seeing the food out. We'd also have a loose schedule for mealtimes where we rarely ate together as a family. This caused a bridge in communication and some behavioral issues.

Now, we have two set snack times (offering something "junkie" maybe once or twice a month) and we sit together at the kitchen table for every single meal. The kids know when to expect meals, can depend on everything being ready and they know there will be productive conversations during this time.

Next plan of action: how are we spending our time?

We took a serious look at how much TV the kids were watching and determined it was way too much. We already don't allow video games in the house, so we were on the right track there. Now, the TV only goes on when the kids are exhausted and need a half hour of down time or at the end of the day if something special is on. We have family movie night periodically throughout the month. The TV use to be on throughout the entire day and now, between the adult and child use, it's on less than two hours per day.

Because the TV is on so much less, we're spending more quality time inside and outside of the house with the kids. We're more active in terms of exercise during the none winter months, so we try to balance that out with sledding and board games so the quality time is still there. During the non-winter months, we're outside going on "adventures," playing at the playground, working in the yard or playing in the pool every moment we can.

There's a lot of controversy about this show and, yes, we did experience a lot of flack from our families for these changes. The reality is that tooth decay, obesity and "poor lifestyle choice" related illnesses run predominantly on both sides of our families. Seeing these family members suffer as they do and hear them say, "it never hurt you when you were kids," it baffling. We're standing strong and holding to these new values.

The positive results we've seen in the past six months:
> the kids are behaving better
> the kids are sleeping better at night
> we have a strong communication system in place
> I've lost ten pounds
> we all have more energy
> we all have a better ability to concentrate and stay on task
> there are less experiences with bad moods
> there are less fights over what we're eating
> the kids almost never ask for junk food
> there were no cavities at the last check-up's (compared to five for one child last time)

So, despite the controversy, this show worked for our family. We plan to continue watching the show, encouraging our friends to watch this show and keeping the negative from trying to ruin a good thing. It's an on-going challenge that does require work, but what part of parenting isn't like that already?