How Sweet It Is

I might be the neighborhood freak.

I don’t allow my kids to eat sugar.

Sure, they eat fruit, and I use honey and maple syrup to sweeten breads and granola bars and such, but I absolutely don’t allow them to eat processed sugar. So… No cupcakes, cookies, popsicles, etc. They’ve never had a Coke or a candy bar or even an M & M.

They had their way with homemade cupcakes when they turned one…

…but none since. (And, quite frankly, I’m not sure how much of the cupcake actually made it down to their tummies. They were more interested in the Mess Factor then the Eating Factor.)

Please understand that I’m not passing judgment on folks that choose to feed their kids sugar; we just don’t feed it to our kids. My reason is simple: I want to keep their little bodies as pure as possible; for as long as possible. I’m certain there will come a time (especially if they attend a traditional school) when they will trade meals and end up eating something that I would never offer. (And they will survive it, I’m sure.) But for now I’m in control and I choose to leave sugar out of the equation.

We’ve never had an issue with it because we’ve never introduced it into their lives. People seem to be amazed at this. “How do you do it?” they ask. I guess we’ve never really thought about it. We’ve never offered so they don’t ask. Easy peasy. For instance, on Halloween this year they collected “treats” (we didn’t call it candy) and did not ask to eat anything even though they were allowed to play with their loot afterwards. They were curious about the packaging but didn’t understand the “candy” thing.

I had a moment of pause this Saturday. We attended a small birthday party for a neighbor kid friend and I was a little concerned about what to do when it was “Cake Time.” We’ve been to plenty of parties but they’re usually large, crazy affairs and the cake seems to be lost in the birthday whirl of chaos. This was the first time that they were just two of maybe 7 kids, the cake would take a much bigger spotlight than ever before. As the cupcakes were being handed out a neighbor mom mouthed to me. “How are you going to handle this?” I didn’t know… (Praying?!?!) Turns out I didn’t need to come up with a game plan… I gently steered my kiddos away and they bounded down the hall to play with balloons. They didn’t ask about the goodies, or seem to miss not being part of the sugar-eatin’, cupcake-enjoyin’ group.

Crisis averted.

For now.

It’s going to be interesting to see how the “No Sugar” dictum will do once the holidays hit with full force.

We’re headed down south to spend the holidays with Danger Dad’s family. They are big Gingerbread House folks. Making it, decorating it, EATING it. It’s a HUGE tradition and I don’t want my kiddos to miss out. DD’s mom even suggested decorating the house this year with dried fruit but, really, even I can agree that's just sacrilege.

So, I will go with the flow and see what the kiddos want to do. I wouldn’t be surprised if they weren’t interested or maybe took a small bite and decided, eh, it’s not that great. (Gingerbread is a bit spicy and they may not like it, who knows?)

Stay tuned. :)