Up on my soapbox!!! :)

Today, as I was walking into Target, I passed a mother with a small child in her shopping cart....the thing that got my attention was that the small child (probably around 2 or younger) was drinking an ICEE!!!!! I can't think of any reason why a small child needs to drink a sugar coated sugar drink....my kids always ask for one when we go to Target (or any other store that has them), but the answer is always irrefutably NO.....I certainly don't want to step on anyone's toes here, but could someone please give me a GOOD reason why we reward our children for being good by giving them something that has no benefit to them, and ACTUALLY is harmful to them, why do we give in??? Why are children allowed to decide what they get to eat???  If your child wanted to drink Drano, you would never just "give in"....or if they were asking for a beer or cigarette....why do we think that giving your child more sugar in one sitting than they should be eating in a week is a good idea??? Where did we get the idea that sugar = love??? Or is it that giving your child whatever they want = love???? I know it is hard as an adult to walk away from foods that we love, but maybe it would have been easier to do, if we weren't bad eating habits as kids....I allow my kids to have some sugar, but I keep a very close eye on the amount......for instance, we go to the bank on Monday, and we are given 2 dum dum lollipops....when we go to the store, they are given said suckers, and that is pretty much the extent of their sugar for the week, maybe they will get a cookie (a small one), we went to a birthday party on Saturday, and I gave the kids cake and ice cream.....they ate a little of it, but didn't clean their plate, it is because they hardly get any sugar, that even if I gave them free reign to eat a whole piece of cake, they just take a little and then they don't want any more....to me, it is evidence of good parenting :) I don't just give my kids what they want, and I don't reward them with food.....I think that a lot of my struggles with eating are a result of bad examples from my childhood, on the one hand we were taught that at places like buffets that we need to "eat our money's worth", and when we had holiday get togethers, we would gorge all day, we weren't really given a lot of sugar, but every Sunday night after church, our dinner was cookies, or ice cream or some other dessert and that is all we ate because we ate so much for Sunday lunch, no one was hungry for dinner before Sunday night church....Not very many people know this, but when I was in high school I struggled with an eating disorder, I finally got to the point where I felt that I needed to tell my parents about it, so their answer was to make me eat yogurt and drink juice, and then they just told me to NEVER do it again....that was it, so I continued to struggle with it until I met Josh....I told him about it, and he was so concerned and worried about the damage I was doing to my body, and he made me PROMISE that I would never do it again, and I didn't want to let him down, so I kept my word.....I don't want to make my parents sound bad, cause I really have GREAT parents, they just weren't raised with proper food perspective either....one was taught to eat too much, and the other was taught to eat too little and that junk food was ok....After getting married, I realized that Josh was also raised with poor eating habits, too....I think if I polled most of my friends they would say the same thing, cause the truth is, no one knew as much about food and proper eating back then, as they do now, but now that we have all this knowledge why aren't we using our better judgement....WHY are people still buying their kids bug juice??? Why are people still giving their kids cup after cup of full strength juice everyday, juice has the same amount of sugar as pop, it is just as bad for their teeth and bodies if they are given too much, I let my kids have 1 8oz glass of half juice half water, and other than milk, that is the only juice they get for the day, anything else is water.....I DO NOT want anyone to think I am criticizing their parenting, I just want to encourage each of you to re-evaluate what you think is right for you and most importantly you children, don't you want to give them a better chance at having a healthy outlook on food than you have??? I want to give my kids every opportunity to have the best, and to make the best choices.....kids are not capable of making the right choices on their own....that is what parents are for.....if your not taking an active role in choosing for them what to eat, and what they watch on TV, or where they go and who the hang out with, then your just being their babysitter, your not PARENTING......I know it is a lot to change at once, I have encouraged you to look at your own life and make at least one change to a better life, now I would like to encourage you to do the same for your kids....show them that you love them enough to teach them what is right :) Look at the labels on the things you give your kids to eat, how much sugar is in it....and while we are on labels, if there is a label to read than it is pre-packaged food....of course, frozen fruit and veggies have labels, and of course that is ok, but really think about what your putting in your kids, and what you are teaching them by the choices you either make for them, or allow them to make for themselves :)