I am working really hard to raise a strong man over here. I want my little boy to be able to say no to drugs and illicit sex, so I try to give him a chance to say no and make choices even now. He is really good at telling you he doesn’t want to watch a certain movie or eat certain foods. I only give him options that I support, such as letting him choose eggs or oatmeal. I also let him choose his own snacks. Until recently, he would always choose things I felt comfortable giving him like tangerines or bananas. Now, he can tell me directly that he wants chips or cookies. I know that I can’t control what he eats at his dad’s house or when he is with his grandma, but I try to steer him away from high sugar, high sodium snack foods by not having them readily available at home. I wish that I could say this was working perfectly, but it’s not. When he’s at school he has pre-packaged snacks. When he visits other kids for playdates, he has pre-packaged snacks, and when he visits my mom, he encounters a baker’s rack full of bright boxes and bags filled with sugar, salt, and preservatives.
It’s not my intention to raise a perfectly organic, vegan child who has never tasted a processed treat. I know that is unreasonable, but I wish it was not so hard to protect our kids from the very enticing food industry that puts more sugar in a box of cereal than a can of Coke. It is frustrating to think that I can’t find potato chips that don’t contain sugar. I try to make homemade heathy options that can replace fast food, but even jars of pizza sauce contain sugar. The industry knows that sugar and salt together provide an unbeatable chemical reaction in the brain. It is addictive like cocaine but more socially acceptable. Even with all of my effort to protect him from food products, it is clear to me that he has just started a battle. We as parents have to help our kids win by voting with our dollar for foods that don’t contain chemicals, additives, and the highly refined sugar that makes them fat, sluggish, and distracted all day.
Because I know that I am raising him to be a responsible adult who can make these choices and be aware of what’s going on in the industry as he chooses, I pray to stay strong through this fight. I encourage you to fight the snack battle with your children. They will thank you later.
mommemagic 