Food Issues
This is more so just a bit of a rant, but I do want some thoughts/advice.
For some context, my 10 year old step daughter has an obsession with food. I’m a very balanced person, I workout regularly and I take care of my body. My husband and I have tried to encourage healthy habits, but she does overeat (she is quite tall for her age though) and bio mom lets her eat whatever she wants. Her school lunches are all processed foods, loaded with sugary, unhealthy snacks. I pack her healthy lunches, but she usually doesn’t eat them or will just buy a cheeseburger at school instead.
As a family, we will have the odd pizza night together. I always ask what she would like in terms of toppings and I’ll get half a large pizza with those toppings, and the other half as cheese for my toddler. Half of a large pizza is five slices - I feel this should be enough? What I notice is - if there is any left over pizza of what I order for my husband and I, she will wake up early in the morning and eat it all. She does this every time. I don’t know if I’m making something small into a big deal, but I feel like she should at least ask? I usually pack any left overs for my husband’s lunch with a salad. I’ve told her before to ask, but she just wakes up and helps herself anyway. This bothers me for a few reasons ..
I would prefer she have a healthy, protein filled breakfast and not pizza in the morning.
It’s not her pizza? I will sometimes order her a medium so she has a little extra of her own if she wants some for lunch the next day, but if I do that, she will eat four slices in one go and then the rest later that evening. I don’t know how to get ahead of this because her eating habits are just extremely unhealthy and I don’t want her to struggle when she’s older.
My main thing is - her never asking. My husband does reinforce that she needs to ask before she helps herself, but has told her that she can have fruits and veggies and granola bars whenever she likes (or when she’s looking for a snack to eat). She doesn’t understand the difference between a meal and a snack. If we have an early dinner, she will ask ‘is this dinner, or just a snack?’ .. when I tell her it’s a meal and not a snack, she gets super angry and asks what we’re eating for dinner later. I’m not sure if she normally eats two dinners at her moms, but she’s 180 pounds and 10 years old. I don’t know what to do anymore. Any advice is appreciated.