Back in the day when I might have actually let her eat that pile of sugar, dyes, flavorings and toxins. Look how red her cheeks are!
Yesterday I went to shop for some gluten-free goodies so my kids could get through this Halloween without sugar, phenols, glutens, or casein cheats. (The shelves were EMPTY by the way, so it seems the whole valley has gone gluten-free, a good thing!)
As I left, I saw a little girl having a major meltdown in front of one of those candy machines, the kind that takes the quarter in, and you twist the handle. It may have been a run of the mill tantrum (“the machine ate my quarter!”), but my Spidey senses* picked up an autism tantrum.
Anyhow, rather than do the typical “bad mom/bad kid” (or perhaps grandma in this case) self-righteous scenario that everyone seems to be playing these days, I gave it more prayerful thought.
This tantrum bothered me because I didn’t see a spoiled brat, so much as I saw a child in pain.
Dire DIRE pain. Jonesing for candy, and freaking out over her inability to get one out of the machine, to me, rates high on my own “Possible Gut or Food Intolerance Issue Scale.”
I look back over the last couple of years and how much our eating habits have changed. I CARE about MSG, GMOs, glutens, dairy allergies, phenols, sugar, and other junk that possibly is causing havoc with my childrens’ behaviors. Maybe people think I’m a nut, that I should stop bitching and just let them lax ONE DAY. “Who could it hurt?”
Then I think of that little girl. Honestly, would she tantrum ANY LESS if you denied her the candy? Perhaps the machine getting stuck was God’s way of telling you, “Don’t do this.”
As we sit on the cusp of a holiday that means too much candy, too much sugar and dye and chocolate and dairy and preservatives and God-knows-what going down the digestive tracks of our kids, can we blame ourselves when a little girl cannot contain herself over the sight of a candy machine?
Another thing I will say: If you do this crazy restricted dieting for your kids long enough, your kids will respect the diet. I’m not kidding. Amelia may not understand 4th grade math that well, but she knows to look to mom if she hasn’t had an apple for a year and wants one. And Zoe just spurns most unnatural food these days, even ice cream. (Not all – I’m certainly not that good!) Or about 3 or 4 repetitions of “no!” and she’ll back off the pizza and the pasta if Chris and I are eating it.
This holiday, it’s worth considering that the BEST thing you can do for your kids is feed them better. Drop the fast food chains – or at least reduce the visits. Cook more. Buy local, organic, and grass fed at least when you can. Drop the soy and vegetable and canola oil, and consider coconut oil, sunflower oil, and olive oil. RETHINK FOOD.
And then, find yourself benefitting too, because eating like this will make you healthier, more energetic, and maybe even slimmer. Peace out folks…
*Actually, not so much Spidey senses, but with the rise in autism, every tantrum that fits a certain criteria looks like an autism tantrum to me. Maybe I’m over-reacting and the world is just filled with more naughty, undisciplined kids than ever. I just don’t buy that.
