Calories for kids?

Decided that since I am going to be changing my lifestyle that my children's lifestyle is going to be changed as well. While at the grocery store and found out about the bread, I also picked them up their favorite breakfast which is Quaker instant oatmeal "Dinosaur Eggs". Because it's OATMEAL I assumed there wouldn't be "too many" calories ... HA! 190 calories PER packet. Kydrun just ate 3!! Kydrun is not an eater, he's very picky and doesn't like a lot of food so he'll go several meals without eating unless it's something he likes. So for him to eat 3 bowls of oatmeal is huge, even if it is 190 calories each.

I did some research on calories for kids. According to http://kidshealth.org/kid/stay_healthy/food/calorie.html# "How Many Calories Do Kids Need?
Kids come in all sizes and each person's body burns energy (calories) at different rates, so there isn't one perfect number of calories that a kid should eat. But there is a recommended range for most school-age kids: 1,600 to 2,500 per day.

When they reach puberty, girls need more calories, but they tend to need fewer calories than boys. As boys enter puberty, they will need as many as 2,500 to 3,000 calories per day. But whether they are girls or boys, kids who are active and move around a lot will need more calories than kids who don't.

Most kids don't have to worry about not getting enough calories because the body — and feelings of hunger — help regulate how many calories a person eats..."

My kids are EXTREMELY active. They do not watch TV and are outside riding bikes or scooters all day long everyday. So I'd put them closer to the 2,500 range. That being said however, my son just ate 570 cals, 780mg of sodium and 42g sugar (which is approx 10 teaspoons of sugar!!) OUCH! The 2005 Dietary Guidelines for American recommend no more than 8 teaspoons per day (32 grams) based on a 2000 calorie per day diet. So he's already over!! Good link: http://www.drrobynsilverman.com/2008/03/13/pour-some-sugar-on-it-how-much-sugar-is-in-my-childs-food/

So despite the fact that we don't "need" to count calories for our kids, it's probably a VERY good idea to pay close attention to what the calories are that they eat. My problem has never been "over eating" obviously as an unintentional anorexic, however the calories that I did put into my body when I finally did eat were sugar and fat and those add up FAST. So somehow, I'm going to need to trick Kydrun with the oatmeal. Trick him into apples and carrots as well. The girls I'm not overly worried about, they both eat well, but Kydrun ...