I wish I didn't... I wish it wasn't in EVERYTHING... I wish every holiday, special occasion, day that ends in "y" I would stop justifying my sweet tooth and just quit it all.
A few weeks ago I was trying to cut back on my sugar intake after reading 25 things that will terrify you about sugar. I knew it would be drastic and crazy and impossible to go cold turkey.
The next day one of my 5th graders was reading a food label (that is a whole other issue I don't dare get into right now) of a birthday treat from his classmate and said, "Wow, this has our entire daily value of sugar in this! And he actually only ate one of the three truffles and saved the other" At that moment, I wanted to have that self control... I wanted Declan to someday have that awareness and control.
I don't want to be that crazy person and crazy mom that never lets Declan have sugar... But I do want to be that crazy person and mom that allows it very little until Declan is truly old enough to read the food label and have the self control like my student did! And being truly honest, I want to selfishly prevent as few temper tantrums and refusals to eat other food when that stage starts. So I am looking forward to the documentary that can hopefully help me (scare and brainwash me more to continue cutting back) We will see what "Fed Up" convinces me of after May 9th.
On a related sidenote, being a mom has made me worry more and try to control things I know in my mind I really won't be able to control long or forever, but as day by day goes by, the true magnitude of being a parent has hit me hard as Declan is imitating more, "speaking" at us all the time, doing and exploring unsafe things, etc...
I'm am also reading THE ONE BOOK I am begging Andy to read, Brain Rules for a smart and happy Baby: 0 to 5 now. I can't stop thinking how we'll do some of the common sense and not so obvious things that research shows can influence and guide kids to be moral, hard working (smart), and content (happy). A lot of it is obvious to me as a teacher and good review from my psychology classes, but I love the research studies explained in easy to understand terms. But the obvious things to do are still HARD WORK as a parent! Practicing and teaching empathy and emotions are so intertwined in the brain! I plan to blog about this book more this summer (once I finish it, reread it, takes notes on it and digest how we really can do it) but I would seriously recommend this book to any new parent or parent of a kid under 5... Because if your kid is over 5... they may already be screwed up ;) j/k... sort of... parts of the book alarm me. Especially the importance of face time in kids 0-5 and all that they are just waiting for time to tell what technology/screens beyond TV do.
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