Onto happier things - early this week I read so many weekend ideas and I committed to doing 3 (something amidst the stress of this morning I hugely regretted). Let's just say, we will see how it goes but I will try my bets.
Firstly Marcia and some other bloggers do monthly goals etc. I did it once but it totally stressed me out - I need more short term stuff. So when the idea of a weekend accountability list came up, it seemed like a good idea. Also taking into account that I got so much done last weekend - I framed the family gallery and brought it up to date, I tidied the medicine storage and threw out expired stuff and other more personal less home stuff. So my goals for this weekend are:
- Take good pictures of the boys playing rugby tomorrow. It may be a challenge as the Princess' ballet course is right in the middle of their game time but maybe.
- Swim with the kids at the gym
- Have flowers in the house for Spring day tomorrow.
- Get my pictures of the week up for Marcia's link up.
- Re organize and tidy and purge my clothes cupboard
- Re organize and tidy and purge my shoe cupboard
- Start on a mosaic cross for my moms friend who knitted lovely jerseys for the kids this winter.
- Bake something
Let's talk sweets - that thing that kids love most of all and that we as parents possibly love most of all for ourselves, but not for our kids. As little ones I kept my kids totally aways from sweets, especially the Princess when typically first time mom I believed that no sweets was a great idea. Only to be totally embarrassed by the first real party we attended when she literally sat at the party table and ate as many sweets as she possibly could while all the other kids went to play.
I had a chat about that with our nursing sister who is a specialist in kiddies nutrition and she gave me her thoughts about sweets. She said that as we crave sweetness as adults, kids have a way stronger craving as their bodies use up energy on a much faster level than ours. The balance is to feed that craving with fruit and raisins etc for most days, but to allow sweets in limited quantities because totally avoiding sweets will compact the issue. She suggested a "sweeties day" a week - say Saturday when they can eat as much as they like, or alternatively small amounts spread though the week after say a well eaten dinner. But not every day. This was a better option for me simply because I could not imagine the over sugared sweetie day in the week.
She also said that kids feel they need to own something and that they often will finish all the sweets they get in one shot because they think they may never get to eat it if they do not eat it now. They need to know that mommy will keep it for them.
So without further ado, our system that we have been using with the kids from way back then (A was about 2 at the time) - thus been running for about 5 years. It works really well for us and I have often been complimented on how little sweets the kids actually eat at a party.
When a sweetie reward or treat is in order I let them choose something from their tubs. Sometimes I will put a limit on lollipops as these take long to eat so in the evenings I may say any sweet but a lollipop. If their tub fills up they have to go through it and donate what they do not want to me to create space for the new stuff. Recently there has also been a few lessons in economy when trading out started between the 3 kids. The idea is to add some sweets if the tubs ever empty out but I have only once ever had to do it for the boys and never for the Princess. Somehow there are always enough sweets - I guess our rate of sweets eating is not that high.
So what is your rules for sweets and do you have a system?
I do get what this nursing sister is saying but don't agree with her. This is just the way I feel. Mainly due to the fact that when we do allow that one or two sweets each month for our son (ADHD), he can become like 3 boys in one. So once a week is not going to work for us. Our situations do differ and whether my son was ADHD or not, I just feel that sweets aren't necessary when one get alternatives like making your own healthy sweet things which do include raisins and dark chocolate.
ReplyDeleteLove those sweety buckets - so creative.
wow, that is a pretty impressive list for one weekend, sjoe! My kids arent big sweet eaters, i generally throw stuff out from party boxes. They do like ice cream and ice lollies in summer tho - those are so easy to keep healthy!
ReplyDeleteEish...your list makes me feel tired. Since the pressure is off, my body has gone into rest mode...I have to drag myself around;-)
ReplyDeleteSuch a good idea - your sweetie system! All things in moderation! Good Luck with your little man, I am sure things will come right!
ReplyDeleteGem would quite happily eat sweets all day if she could! She didn't have any sweets for the first year of her life and then, was introduced to chocolate on her first birthday, and that was that! I can always tell if she has had too much sugar in a day as she is hyper hyper and then tends to crash and get emotional so I generally intersperse her sweets throughout the week, saying that, she doesn't eat a lot and was taken to the movies a little while ago, given a small box of smarties and only ate half of them. If she asks me for sweets at some random point in the day, she is usually hungry or tired and so then only has sweets after she has eaten some food:-)
ReplyDeleteYour weekend list is long! I have work in the morning, and then would like to plant some herbs and make chocolate pudding for tea on sunday. And now I have written an essay;-)!
I didn't see yesterdays post until now, but I'm sending you hugs and prayers!
ReplyDeleteSometimes I end up using sweets to bribe/mask the taste of gross medications my daughter has to take. After her last surgery that was the only way to get her to take her medicine in the hospital. Not ideal, but she needs those meds and they really do taste awful.
Hi Cat! I love this idea! All things in moderation, for sure. What a great way to keep the moderation, and to teach about economy with trading, and about generosity with donating to keep the amount in the bucket to a reasonable level. That's a wise way to do things.
ReplyDeleteSo---confession. I've never given my 2.5 year-olds candy. They've had chocolate, and bites of cupcakes and other dessert items, but we've never done any sort of actual candy. For some reason I'm afraid to "go there". Partly, because of the risk of choking, but, if I'm honest, candy just makes me anxious. I don't want them to crave it so much, but at the same time, I don't want it to be this taboo thing, so that they go overboard when I'm not around to monitor their consumption. I've told myself that I'll let them have some (maybe) this year at Halloween time. We'll see---I might chicken out between now and then, but that's the plan. :)
I like this idea! I've never been particularly fussy about sweets and Jake has always preferred fruit to sweets in any event, so it's never been a huge issue. He'd rather eat a bowl full of watermelon or berries than a bowl full of sweets. I agree that the more you hold out on them, the more they crave sweets and the more they "pig out" given the opportunity. Jake and I both have a sweet tooth, me probably more than him. Recently though, with Jake's troubles at school, I have been trying to eat healthier and cleared all sweets out of the house. It is soooo hard not being able to pick on something nice during the day. We try keep a treat for a Sunday evening, after dinner now, but I'm still not strict when it comes to parties...
ReplyDeleteSue X
What a clever idea!
ReplyDeleteWe don't have a system - the only rule i have is if she refuses real food then there is no sweets either. In general she'll have one or two but she rarely goes on an all out sweetie fest. At parties she is much more likely to get stuck in the cheese curls than the sweets too. And if there's a jumping castle she won't give a twig about any of that. ;-)