Emotional eating isn't just for adults.

Sometimes the most intense cravings for food occur when people are faced with strong emotions. For instance, people eat in response to negative emotions (i.e., to relieve stress or boredom) as well as positive emotions connected to birthdays, holidays and other celebrations. This is known as "emotional eating," and can sabotage healthy lifestyle efforts. There are things you can teach your children to avoid emotional eating.

Become more aware of your own habits around food.
Do you find yourself turning to food when you are stressed? Do financial concerns or health-related issues make you crave your favorite "comfort food" as a way to "get through it"? Although some people may actually eat less in the face of strong emotions, the majority eat more. Additionally, do you see birthdays and other celebrations as an opportunity to overindulge with "permission"?

Be aware that children model their caregivers and can learn to use food in these same ways. Then, before you know it, both adults and children automatically reach for a treat whenever feeling an emotion without thinking about it. Find new ways to tame your stress-such as through yoga or meditation-and model these behaviors for your child

Find new ways to reward or comfort your child
Do you frequently reward your child with food-such as offering a trip to the ice cream shop for a good grade? When your child is sad or disappointed, do you offer food or sweets as a way to help cheer your child up? Many parents do these things with good intentions, and an occasional treat to celebrate can be a positive experience. However some parents make it a habit to reward or comfort their children with food, and that is often when a child begins to associate feelings with food.

The next time you want to reward your child, consider taking him or her on a special outing or purchasing a special toy or other item. If your child needs comfort, talk and listen to him or her, give an extra hug or go on a walk together instead of offering a food. Additionally remember that what most children crave even more than food is verbal praise from adults.

Establish a consistent eating environment.
Establish uniform rules for eating that will help to discourage emotional and boredom eating. For instance, making a household expectation and rule that food should always be eaten in the kitchen or dining room, while sitting down at the table will help decrease the chance your child will overindulge in his or her favorite snack while his or her mind is preoccupied and distracted by the TV, homework or video games. Also, maintaining a structured and routine eating schedule helps your child learn when to expect his or her next meal so he or she is less likely to overeat knowing food will be available in another few hours. Finally, refrain from keeping supplies of comfort foods in your home if they are hard for your child to resist.

Talk to Your Child About Eating

Talk to you child about his or her habits and about making healthy choices. Here are some questions and ideas to help get you started:

• Do you feel like eating when you are happy? Sad? Worried? Angry? Frustrated? Bored? Scared?
• Are you truly hungry? Is your hunger physical? Help your child recognize the importance of understanding the body's natural response to being hungry, such as listening for a rumbling tummy. Also help your child understand the body's response to being overfull with too much food. Help your child learn to manage the amount of food he or she eats at one time.
• Sometimes it can take a while to make the connections between food and emotions. It might help to keep a journal, where your child can write down his or her feelings and times when he or she feels like eating.
• Make a list of activities with your child that he or she can do when bored instead of eating.

Even if your child is of a healthy weight now and has good eating habits, habits can change. For instance, as your child matures he or she may look for new ways to deal with stress, and one of those ways could be through emotional eating. Establishing healthy habits now will lead to healthy habits later.

- Kimberly Slendak, LMSW