When I was a kid we could eat sugar on Sundays. Yup, Sundays. I have no idea what the significance of Sundays was, but that was the rule. Although, we had Kool-Aid in the refrigerator at ALL times. Not sure if back then they realized that Kool-Aid IS sugar! Anyway, sweets were limited to a point when I was a kid. By no means were they off limits, but limited. I do remember mixing brown sugar and butter and eating it though! I also remember one time thinking I was so lucky as to find chocolate in the cabinet, eating it, and then realizing it was not chocolate but baking chocolate, yuck!
What I am getting to here is that I now as a mom, try to limit how much sugar my kids eat. I think we now have more knowledge on nutrition and health than our parents did. You can't go a day without a breaking news story about nutrition these days. I don't forbid sugar or junk food, but try to limit my kids intake as much as possible. Although, we don't have a Sunday rule.
When my kids visit their grandparent's house (the grandparents who limited my sugar) they eat toxic amounts of sugar and junk food! They come home and experience a sugar withdrawal! An overnight stay at their grandparent's house begins with a trip to the market to stock the house up on junk food. I don't believe anything is off limits there. I usually prep the kids before about not eating too much, but the temptation is too good. I used to stress about this when my first two kids were young and would spend time explaining to my parents to please not give them too much junk food. Now onto kid number three, I just go with the flow and figure it is only a day here and there and won't hurt them.
Is this a grandparent right? Remember, these are the same people who limited my sugar intake. Do you go with the flow or put strict rules on junk food and grandparent visits? I wonder if I will overindulge my grandchildren with sugar and junk food one day.
Junk food, sugar, and grandparents
Posted by Dalia (Generation X Mom) Labels: grandparents, junk food
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9 opinions:
Dude, seriously. It is crazy with my parents (who didn't limit my sugar at all, truthfully). Cheetos at 9am, Diet Rite in sippy cups, SIPPY CUPS! I used to get really upset about it and my husband used to get REALLY upset. We try to just grin and bear it now and save our "suggestions" for things that really, really matter. It's hard though. I think it is a grandparent "right" to a certain extent, but I think they also (at least here) cross the line a lot. There's a difference between indulgence and complete hedonism.
I am very fortunate in that Turtle's grandparents on both sides (and great grandparents on mine) are extremely respectful of our wishes. And they also have fantastic common sense.
While I do think a grandparent should have "the right" to spoil their grandkids (I mean, that's the fun), there should always be limits. A treat or two is one thing. Diet Rite in a sippy cup (sorry Missy) is something completely different. I think grandparents should absolutely defer to the child's actual parents, and the parents should be reasonable in letting the grandparents have a little fun.
I don't remember having this much access to sugar and candy when I was a kid! Candy was always a rarity and ALWAYS a treat. Kinda like Saturday morning cartoons....the only time we could watch cartoons was Saturday mornings (because that's the only time they were on!), but now they're on 24/7.
I'm not a prude...my kids eat sugar cereals, oreo cookies, and kool-aid (although never at the same time! :), I just try to limit those things.
I could have whatever I wanted at my grandmas and that was fun - pudding and cocoa were the must haves!!!
My girls get 1 special treat at their grandparents who live next door. But that is all!
I think that's just one of the role's of a grandparent - something a parent couldn't do.
And thanks so much about the sweet words about Theta Mom - means a lot. :)
It is funny how our parents who had no problems saying "no" to us are hard-wired against it as grandparents. Oh well. I guess I shall inherit that right with my children's children. While I don't love my kids getting over-sugared, I think that there are certain times to just let it go -- Halloween, birthday parties and yes, grandparent visits.
:-)
Traci
I'm pretty go with the flow - I do my best to feed them as much healthy stuff as I can, but we have treats pretty regularly too. The grandparents are all out of town, so their visits are a special rarity, and I just let them spoil the kids silly. I think I'm one whose own parents were extremely strict, and I err on the side of being less so...
Thanks for your note on MBC, am loving your blog :)!
Peryl
My parents gave us unlimited quantities of R-C cola growing up. Now my mother recognizes that was not good parenting. They buy sweets for my daughter to prep for our visit every Saturday. I'm kind of lax about treats so I go with the flow. My daughter seems to self moderate pretty well.
Of course, it's a grandparents right! How else are we going to get them to like us? :-)
There wasn't a whole lot of sugar going on in my house either. My father had bad teeth back then and it bothered him. Consequently nobody got sweets. So when I started dating my first boyfriend whose grandmother baked 3 pies on any given weekend, I went nuts there!
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