Stop giving my kids Sugar!!!! - Page 2

[lilyka]

Originally Posted by dubfam

So who has a 3 year old who would turn down a cookie if mom wasn't looking?

I know my kid wouldn't have! He didn't have that kind of self control at 3.

OP has every right to expect her kids to be able to play in her own backyard without someone offering them junk food all day long.

It just seems like some of the PP's are faulting the OP because her kids wont just say "No Thanks". Well I really don't personally know a 3 yo kid who would. Especially not a kid who doesn't usually get that stuff. They are pretty impulsive around that age.

I don't expect a 3 year old to turn it down. but it is her rule so it is her responsibility to be the one to say thanks but no thanks. If she is going to have strict rules about sugar and such she needs to be the one there to make sure they are followed. It isn't anyone else's responsibility. i don't care what other people's rules are if my kids are eating a freezy pop outside they would be rude not to offer one and I am not going to look at some little kid who you can tell wants a one and not share. i do always send them home to ask their mom first though. And my kids would never accept a treat without asking me first. thats just common sense. but even if mom says no every time we will not stand there eating treats without offering to share. thats just rude and un-neighborly.

so if you can't teach your child to say no to the treats (and i agree that is hard) then at least teach them they need to come in and ask you or don't let them play outside unsupervised so that you can have more control and be able to step in and say no.

[oceanbaby]

This seems like a good opportunity to talk with your kids about always asking you first before eating something someone else gives to them. We've always had this rule for times when we are the playground or whatever.

It came in real handy at the playground one day when my son and my neighbor's son came running up to us with weird looking ice cream treats - the packaging was all beat on. They asked if they could have it, and we asked where they got it. They pointed to this older guy who we couldn't see behind the trees handing out ice cream to the kids. He had no kids with him, and something just wasn't right about him. We told the kids they could not have the ice cream, and called the local police department.

My neighbor and I both call each other before giving the kids any cake or candy if they happen to be playing at the other house, so I think it is definitely inconsiderate and irresponsible of your neighbors to not do so. But it seems like your best line of defense is instituting a family rule about eating food that others give you.

[giggleball]

My son, too, is on a restrictive diet. We all try to eat low to no sugar (but NEVER corn syrup), no artificial flavors/dyes, and no dairy. This provides challenges for our 5 year old but we started at age 3 with him so he has gotten to the point where he asks me first if it will "make him sick." I KNOW though, that he would take a treat if it were offered and I wasn't around.

I don't have any pearls of wisdom for you (that hasn't already been suggested) but I feel for you!

[Meikos]

I completely agree, and it's maybe getting better, by me keeping snacks ready to whip out the door with the moment I see stuff coming out, and I do also wonder/worry about my girls learning to snack for the sake of snacking and not because their bodies are feeling hungry and I don't want that either....but its possibly getting better....

it's a tough one...

and not to sound too stereotypical but my neighbor isn't the kind of person who thinks about things like allergies and diets and that it's not okay to just give other peoples kids candy, and well if it's not on a daytime soap (sorry in advance for any soap lovers) she doesn't think much about it...we're poor but not mainstream ...and we live in the midst of the poor mainstream...who are basically hydrogenated msg high fructose people....

[Meikos]

hahah just as I was posting the previous post I heard my youngest say I want a popsicle cuz out came the little girl with the blue vile sticks again but I was lightning fast with the frozen grapes! and there were no tantrums! well a little fussing by my youngest...but not much at all...their catching on I think.

[mama40]

You're going to have to talk more with your child and start some real nutrition ed. Not just "we don't eat this" or "this isn't healthy," but explain what these things do in the body, and why it's not healthy, and why you don't want those things in her body.

My daughter is 3.5, and she asks now if there is corn syrup in food she's given; she's aware that McDonalds is bad food that can hurt people, and that being too fat can hurt your body in ways x, y, z. (And she spreads the gospel, boy howdy. ) She's been playing with my molecular modeling sets since babyhood, so we talk about the molecules in food and how they go through your whole body, and how they get there. She's got a human-bio kids' book, too, with lots of pictures. We talk about how the body makes different kind of molecules into muscles and bones and teeth; how if you want to have a healthy body you have to put good stuff into it. How the body makes other food into sugar that goes in the blood, and how it goes all over the body to give us energy, but how too much sugar in the blood can hurt you. Basically she gets some very baby nutrition and human bio classes.

We also talk about how food is grown; we live across the street from a farm.

Anyway, she wants to be healthy and take care of the earth, partly because she sees these things are important to me. Knowing how things work lets her make her own decisions when food is offered to her. So the other night, for instance, at a restaurant, the waitress offered her fries, chips, or fruit, and she picked fruit without any prompting from me. And she talks often about having a healthy body. As she gets older I'm sure she'll be a less ready disciple , but she'll have the info and be able to use it & ask questions.

[prettymom]

I'm just outraged that your neighbor would interfere with your parenting decision.

[Carma]

I think it is weird that your neighbour offers your childeren food without asking you! I always ask because you never know about allergies etc.
It is hard to keep the good eating up, at daycare our DD currently doesn't mind yet to eat different from the others, but I think it will be soon that she will probably want to eat the same as the others.

I don't have a solution, except maybe to tell your neighbour your childeren are allergic or so. And maybe staying close for a while when they are out playing, so they know you are serious about it.

Carma

[greeny]

I'm glad things seem to be better.

so if you can't teach your child to say no to the treats (and i agree that is hard) then at least teach them they need to come in and ask you or don't let them play outside unsupervised so that you can have more control and be able to step in and say no.

I totally agree with this. Since talking to the mom didn't do anything, it seems like you have three options: 1) supervise at all times, 2) teach your kids to say no or ask you first, or 3) accept that your kids will sometimes eat the "bad" treats.

[Ambrose]

Originally Posted by prettymom

I'm just outraged that your neighbor would interfere with your parenting decision.

But the OP is also interfering with the neighbors parenting decisions as well.

I think the OP needs to teach her kids WHY the food is unhealthy (and not just a simple ;it makes you fat' answer- supervise them when they are out there and reinforce the no junk rule- and then try and be more positive with the other girl- -- the OPs kids can pick up on the negativity and perhaps relate it to the food issue and just be mean when they start understanding WHY it's unhealthy..


sorry if scrambled- DD is wanting me to play with her toys while I'm typing.

[mommy2abigail]

Ooops, sorry, I didn't realize your children were so young! I was thinking they were older than 5ish (I dont know why, that's just what I had in mind when I posted before) I like the snack tray thing. I also think that the neighbor is just trying to be polite. I would talk to the mother and the child and make it clear that your children get sick from _____ ingredients, so please do not offer. And unfortunately you will probably just have to be right there, the whole time they are playing.

[RomanGoddess]

All I can say is, you are not alone on this one.