Under idea conditions, we sugarfree our babies until they are grown, never have sugar at home ever, and when they do leave, they are never offered sugar-ever. Wouldn't that make it easy? No sugar addiction, no problem! But, of course, we usually don't realize that some kids will refuse to eat anything green ever with a moderate amount of sugar in their diet until it becomes a problem. Of course our kids are bombarded with candy everywhere they go, and told that they receive it because they are good. Of course we tell them that a lot is bad for them, but then they receive a little multiple times daily and they get really confused about what "just a little" really means.
As a disclaimer, we have not always been sugarfree. We are really strict with the kids when they are little, which has not always been easy, but has become easier with time. We have gone back and forth about eating sugar and not many times, but, really, it's just easier to not eat it at home. And it's easier to not eat it when we leave the home. If you are convinced that sugar is addictive, even just a little bit, hopefully this will make sense. If I eat sugar in a moderate amounts, cravings really don't return until I overdo it--but I am more irritable. I handle stress more poorly. As a mom, I see my job as so important that it's just not worth it to be a little ornery with my husband and kids...at least until I go so long and am distracted by a moving across the nation or something that I think it doesn't really affects me. Then I go through the cycle again. But most of the time, we are sugarfree.
At home, this is really easy--once you know how. If you are reading this, you probably have a good concept of this, and if you want a better idea, let me know. I would be happy to post about it. The greater difficulty in teaching kids to sugarfree comes when they are offered food elsewhere or cookies are dropped on your doorstep or there is a birthday or you have dinner guests....there is always something, at least in our world! So, we have to create your own world! Here are a couple of things we have done that have really helped our kids.
Make it an identity
I didn't start this, my kids did, but it sure has helped when they feel eating healthy is a part of who they are. "We sugarfree." "Those are those kids on that blog who sugarfree." Also, share it without embarrassment. Let your children's teachers know (with your child's permission, of course) that you sugarfree or eat low amounts of sugar.
Have limits
Decide among your own family at an amount that everyone agrees upon, such as sugar not in the 1st 5 ingredients, or 1 piece of candy once a week. We usually go with if it's going to train their taste buds to love sugar or not. If it's two tablespoons in a batch of clam chowder, we don't care. If it's in animal crackers, we do.
It's their choice
We talk a lot about right and wrong in our
house, good and bad. When kids know sugar isn't good for them, their
young brains can only understand, "Then it must be bad for me!" And
they may guilt trip you if you give it to them. Always offer choice. But, of course...
Make sugarfree more desirable than sugar
Kids get better and better at doing this. When our kids first were big enough to care that the weren't going to eat the candy at Halloween, we traded them for other treats we knew they loved. Once we paid them, and it worked, but not as effective. So, an alternative food is nice. The equivalent food they'll accept has gotten less and less as they have grown better able to recognize the rewards of being healthy. More effective for us has been an appeal to their higher senses. Service! We send our candy to Afghanistan one year. Sometimes we'll give it to Santa. But eventually they realize that if it's not good for us, it's not good for Afghan children either, so that fizzled out. Our current strategy brings us us to our next point:
Make it cool!
Right now when our kids get candy, they accept it graciously, then give it to their friends! Our kids get a lot of popularity, you can imagine! After a while of this, a few other kids have joined them. "My mom doesn't let me eat sugar either." I have heard from kids whose parents I am pretty sure never thought to deprive them so! But of course we run with it! Ah, and this reminds me that:
You can be the excuse
Our kids have our permission to use us as an excuse at any time. I have dropped my daughter off at a birthday party, perfectly assuming she'll eat the cake and ice cream. Later her friend's mother will tell me my daughter told her I said she wasn't allowed to eat it. I never mind being the excuse, even if it makes me look like a Nazi-mom.
Hopefully those are helpful! What has worked for you?
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