Is no candy worse?

Gold Member Joined: Feb 12 2008 Posts: 2386

I think a large part of it is a child's inborn personality. I have seen two kids from the same family and one will go crazy every time there is junk food around and the other doesn't really care. We do not regularly have candy around, my DD gets a lollipop on Shabbos from another parent, and she will sometimes eat half of it and say she doesn't want more. She can also eat half a cookie. I really don't think I am that great of a parent that I have instilled moderation and self control in a 2.5 year old, I really think she was born that way.

Even with toothbrushing candy is very cariogenic and a lollypop has sugar sitting in the mouth for a much longer time then something like pasta that is chewed and swallowed so the sugars aren't around the teeth for a long time.

I do think of homemade baked goods or pretzels very differently. They are also a sometimes food (not every day as part of regular nutrition) but they also don't make me cringe as much because they don't have things like food colouring and a lot of preservatives.

Executive Member Joined: Jun 26 2010 Posts: 364

Platinum Member Joined: Sep 11 2004 Posts: 19241

I didn't realize what sugar did to my 8 yr old until this year. He had two siyums in the past four months and each time it took him 3 days to settle down. Purim was disastrous even though he ate very little of what he received from his friends. A week later he drank a soda can and he was wacky for another three days.

Recently I've been doing a special therapy with him and his hyperactivity and compulsiveness disappeared. Each time that he had sugar, it returned and slowly dwindled over a period of 3 days. He could not even complete his therapy while he was dosed on sugar, it took a total of 5 days to get him back in-sync.

You bet I allow him pretzels and chips over candy. I am even keeping him on a minimum of fruit.
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Posted: Wed, Mar 28 2012, 6:30 pm Post subject: Re: re: Is no candy worse?

imasinger wrote:

As a teacher, I can tell you that it is a known thing that the more restrictive the parents are, the more likely those children are to pick up sweets that others have dropped on the floor or steal them out of their lunches.
Not all the time, for sure. As with anything, there are those who are comfortable with no sweets and those who are not. But many parents don't limit treats half as much as they think they do.

This is true, but only temporarily. As a child I gorged myself on nash whenever I got the chance. Today? I and my siblings are the only people I know of that never touch soda, and there's always soda in my house (hidden from kids to satisfy my dh's sugar habit, who incidentally grew up on the unhealthiest food and tons of nash and soda). Put candy in front of me and I will have zero desire for it. I am not exercising self control, it's simply unappealing garbage to me. Now just give me a good brownie otoh.... Laughing

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Diamond Member Joined: Sep 18 2004 Posts: 2600

Platinum Member Joined: Sep 11 2004 Posts: 19241

I just watched a documentary which is supposed to be released soon and they spoke about how white sugar is like a drug. That one day we will view sugar the same way we view smoking or alcohol nowadays.

I'm not saying pretzels and chips are nutritious. I still would prefer it for my kids especially since I can get whole wheat/unsalted/baked/etc.

I have organic candy too with no food coloring but at the end of the day, it's still sugar.

Diamond Member Joined: Nov 11 2007 Posts: 3791

Posted: Wed, Mar 28 2012, 11:50 pm Post subject: Re: re: Is no candy worse?

Diamond Member Joined: Dec 28 2005 Posts: 4656

gryp, I watched that documentary too. Very interesting (although I have a lot of questions now, particularly what they were saying about juicing. Maybe I'll start a thread).

I don't buy food/snacks with artifical coloring and do my best to avoid artificial flavoring as well. I buy/make cookies, chips, pretzels, granola bars as snacks. That being said, I don't restrict what they get at school or out of the home at all. I try to be more laid back when at grandparents - well, one set in particular, the other set is very healthy but it's an effort for me and I get my husband on board before we go regarding what the limits are. My kids understand and when we engage them like to make healthy choices. My son also finished a health habits unit in kindergarten that he's gotten a lot out of. I put a lot of hishtadlus into modeling good eating behavior and my kids often nosh on bags of whole steamed green beans. I also look at what they ate that day, for instance, yesterday my kids each ate an entire plain boiled chicken cutlet (ate it with their hands and called it a "cookie") so they got a bag of pretzels to eat outside after getting into PJ's. If it would have been a cereal and milk night (ie - they refuse to eat my suppers) I would not have given into the pretzel request.

Platinum Member Joined: Sep 11 2004 Posts: 19241

Neat, Tova! I am interesting in juicing too, although it isn't a new concept for me, I never considered it till now.