I have a tentitive month for my surgery and need to talk to my kids - my daughter is 6 1/2 and my son is almost 4 - we eat healthy foods already - but my portion sizes will change. Any advise will be appreciated from those with small children have done this.

Thank you,

Helena

Mine aren't as young as yours are, but I still struggled with how much to explain to my kids (Daughter-13; Son-10). I did not want my daughter to have any reason to watch her weight since she is very tall and slender, must get it from DH side of the family.

Anyway, the kids usually start to eat first-- and by the time I sit down with them, they're more than 1/2 way finished and our portion sizes are more equal to each other.

The big change was TIME. It takes much longer for me to eat now, and my son loves it. He likes to talk- A LOT. So, it's just he and I finishing up at the dinner table. I think he enjoys having more one on one time.

As time went on, they understood more and more about stuff that I *couldn't* eat vs. stuff that I just didn't want to eat anymore. Oh, and we are all eating more and more grilled fish- which they love!

My daughter was 8 (shes nine now) when I had the surgery on March 06-07. She's a little older than your children. But i basically told Halley that i had to do this to feel better. I explained to her the procedure with pictures and such. She was very upset at first. She really did not want me to do, because she thought something might happen to me. But over the course of a few months she came around. I think it helped by telling her that once i start losing weight we'll be able to do more of the things we use to do (biking, swiming etc..)Children are very smart and I think its important to be as honest with them as possible. My only concern was that i was afraid that i was going to make my daughter more weight conscience than she already is....but overall i think it its been a positive experiance