One thing that I thought would be really hard was getting the kids to stop drinking juice. We were really good with our first son. He only ever drank water or milk as a little man. He is 15months older than his little brother, so it wasn't until number two was a toddler that we introduced them to juice. The older always preferred milk but the little one fell in love with apple juice and I thought I was doing the right thing (surely it is better than soft drink) by letting him have juice. Little did I realise at the time (or bother to check for that matter) that there is actually more sugar in a juice than in most standard soft drinks! My friend Kerrie reminded the other day of the fact that as kids we always had to squeeze an orange (ONE orange) to get some juice. None of this readily available squeezed into a carton or bottle stuff we have today. We forget how little juice is actually in one piece of fruit - so it would take the juice of 3 or 4 apples to fill a glass. As David Gillespie says, would you sit down to breakfast, eat your vitabrits and then follow it up with 4 large apples? I think not...
So one day I said to the boys, "Mummy is going to change some of the things we eat and drink, so we are not going to be buying juice anymore." Number 2 said "But i love it Mummy". I explained to them (at the time 3 and 4 yrs of age) that Mummy didn't want them having lots of sugar because it would end up making them very sick so I would like them to drink milk or water instead. The older child shrugged his shoulders and said OK... the little one was a little tougher. But after 2 days of asking for juice and getting milk or water, he just stopped asking for juice. And he rarely asks for it anymore. In fact, he now loves milk as much as his brother.
We have noticed some behavioural changes in our younger son too. He has always had a very active outlook on life, to put it politely. Since really cutting back on sugar and refined foods, his moods have become more stable. I can't say for certain that it is the change in food habits that has done it, as it may well be a maturity thing for him too (he is 4 in 3 months time). But there has been a massive change in his attitude since Christmas just past.
Now, when we are the shops doing our groceries, we tend to mostly avoid the biscuit aisle (although I do go there to pick up rice cakes for Scott and the boys, as well as BBQ or Pizza Shapes - at this stage still on our ok list as they are very low in sugar). When we do see things the boys used to have they usually say (quite loudly I might add) "We don't have that now Mum because that is full of sugar!"
So many people say you can't educate children so little about stuff like that, but I think if you don't try, then you are doing your children a disservice in the long run. I know of other kids who are able to identify foods they have allergies to from a very early age, so why not sugar too?
I am not so strict with the kids that they NEVER have sugar laden foods, but I try to make sure it is a long gap between exposures. Obviously, at parties and things they are going to still be exposed to it, but I can educate them to make better choices based on what is available.
My older son just started prep this year, and goes to before and after school care. They provide breakfast and afternoon tea for kids who need it. He has had breakfast a couple of times there, and the first time had toast with jam on it (a novelty for him these days). After that when he has breakfast, he prefers rice bubbles (one of the lower sugar cereals) over a vitabrit (about the lowest sugar other than porridge). He never eats afternoon tea, not for want of trying on the part of the staff. He is simply never hungry. He eats his lunch (salami and sauce - homemade sauce - sandwich) and morning and afternoon tea (yoghurt, ffAnzac bikkies, banana or other fruit). He drinks milk when we get home at about 4.45 and the boys still eat dinner around 5.30.
So, I actually think now that what I thought would be the biggest challenge turned out to be not so difficult after all.
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