Kids-oh kids

Lately we have been struggling with the problem of Hope receiving WAY to many sweets when not with us. Preschool treats for one are sometimes outrageous, from pop tarts to m&ms, even powdered donuts! These are just a few by the way. The handbook for preschool states the obvious, please only bring healthy treats as the children snack, thank you. Ya see, the parents are in charge of the treats every 8 weeks, so it is up to us to make sure the children eat well. I hate to think that some parents to truly that dumb, maybe just simple laziness-I don't know. I would just like to know what the heck is wrong with apples or grapes, bananas for heaven sake. Last time Hope was in charge of treats, I was running short on time, but still managed to buy little bags of organic already sliced apples along with a small yogurt smoothie. Yes it does cost me around $25 every time I do treats, but I would gladly be in charge of treats every week to know that my daughter is being fed healthy food.
My kids have been raised very health conscious and we do our best to teach them to make good choices, but they are young kids and it is hard, but they do learn. For instance, a week or two before Christmas, we went to church "fun" night on a Wednesday night. That night they were given fudge cookies as a snack and then later invited up to have cake and ice cream with the older kids. O the drive home from Church, Hope got sick and was absolutely miserable. She quickly learned what too much sugar does to your body. Haidyn is another good example of our lifestyle, she can't consume much of an ounce or two of processed sugar without throwing it up. We don't deprive them of sweets, we are just very careful of what and when we feed them treats. Most of the sugar in the house is raw and not processed. If they do have a treat, such as a chocolate valentines heart, they get to have a small bit after we have eaten a nice meal. This prevents them from having an absolute blood sugar shock to their systems.
So the point of this all, is the interesting things that come from a child's mouth. Mike and I teach the sugar education to our children a little differently. I tell them that too much sugar makes them sick, makes their immune systems over worked, and basically rots their teeth. Mike takes the more simple approach and tells them that it makes you fat and gives you a big butt. So we are at the check out at walmart the other day and Hope spotted the suckers. She tells the cashier, whom is overweight by the way) "I don't want a sucker, they make you fat and give you a big butt." For the first time, I saw someone give MY child a dirty look. I asked Hope where she learned that, and she said daddy told me mommy.
On a side note, the reason we watch our kids' sugar intake so much is because of their health and well-being. Too many kids are addicted to sugar at such a young age. Soon they go to school and the teacher thinks that they have ADHD, you need to medicate them. Why can't they just TRY decreasing their sugar first? Most kids eat a sugary cereal, or a pop tart, toaster doughnuts, sugar, sugar, sugar! We have a family in the office that had been complaining about their youngest child and his ADHD. Mike asked them to try a very disciplined experiment by not giving him any sugar of any kind in the morning before school. (Carbs tun into sugar the moment they reach your tongue by the way) For the next couple of weeks they didn't hear anything from the teachers and he was doing great even at home. The next part of the experiment was to give him his old breakfast on a Saturday morning and see how he reacts. Mom reported that she couldn't even deal with him that morning, he drove her crazy. Experimental success...