School started in September. It's now only 3/4's of the way through November and Eden has been engaged in 4 birthday parties (possibly more...lost count), two monthly celebrations in her class, one being combined with a halloween party, trick or treating, smarties used as a lesson tool in math, November's monthly celebration coming soon and then the holiday party foods. Now it's Yummy Dough for another lesson. Let's not forget our own "in family" celebrations that include visits from family, and just downright loss of time to cook a few times here and there.
If we were to break down how often a child would eat junk food, not including the typical junk being passed for healthy snacks like fruit roll ups, fruit juice popsicles and wheat berry muffins that were premade and preserved so they would not need refridgeration, it would work out to approximately 11 sessions of consuming junk....I included 2 family visits in this since that's what happened in this house but I'm not including ordering supper out since I didn't keep track.
There are 12 weeks in this timeframe which means Eden has been eating "institutionalized" junk at least once a week. Institutionalized is a term I use to refer to acceptable behaviour according to social constructs. For instance, it would be rude to exempt Eden from the apple pie and ice cream served as desert for our family who travelled 8 hours to break bread with us. It is a social construct that places a certain amount of pressure to allow for a lowered standard of intake. And rightfully so. Aren't these the moments that qualify for the 20% of the time concept? Remember? The 80/20 rule. I welcome these times where we celebrate each other, eat nourishing yet super duper yummy sweets....
But for some reason these other situations are starting to take over the available 20% my family values. It's no longer as open for my family to "slack" off in meal preparation if I happen to get low on energy or an emergency happens. Don't we get dibbs?
Snacks are now provided in children's activities and are almost always a pre made, heavily processed, colourized, preserved, additive based sugar high without a stitch of real protein to accompany it...and no, pasturized milk isn't protein. Outside of our classroom celebrating monthly b-days, holidays, special days and using candy for lessons, our kids will also inhale the junk from their soccer practice a few times a week as well.
Here's an idea. Let's celebrate our kid's b-days in the classroom with a special dance, a special crown ... something that doesn't involve consumption. Our lesson plans can certainly utilize unedible counters, stickers, playdough....you can even use yummy dough to create with but without the need to include consumption as part of the lesson. Why even introduce that concept? Parents...why do we decide to make something edible instead of teaching them the boundaries of the situation? Sure we can use the edible stuff but do we have to tell them it's edible and to go ahead and chomp away? Wouldn't it be better to know that if they accidentally consume it, they may not suffer as much harm as ingesting regular playdough? I think the edible part is more a special secret for parents to know, not an advertisement to go ahead and eat what you create.
So as you can see, I've had a breakdown in recognizing the enormity of the battle for my child to eat healthy outside of the house. Adults don't seem to be understanding that our actions done now lay the foundation (a.k.a habits) of the future. Our kids are becoming familiar with the concept of eating junk at random and not just for truly special occasions. 10 monthly birthday parties celebrated at the school classroom does not qualify. A birthday for a special friend in our neighbourhood does since there is an investment in a relationship, that nurtures my daughter and nurtures that child in the neighbourhood as well as our families. Soccer practice doesn't qualify. Apples would do well in that situation...not freezes.
I had to take time to speak with my daughter's teacher because I felt the need to explain our situation emphasising that Eden will have limitations. Concerning the Yummy Dough, she could manipulate it but not consume it. I provided a plan of what she'll consume instead and offered my time to provide alternative ideas for lessons and parties. Guess What? She was completely responsive and absolutely fantastic to speak too. She understood because she comes from a family with food allergies and ensuring alternatives to the standard food issues are a norm for her. I was fearful that Eden would be regarded as high maintenance and she reassured me that there's no chance Eden would be viewed in that light. I am so thankful. Thank you Mdmme!!!!!!
So here are some photos of what Eden and I did as the alternative plan. We decided that we would make our own cookies and in the process do the lesson that was to be taught in class which was making shapes, getting to know their names in french and exploring manipulation and creativity. The great thing is, with these cookies she was allowed to consume her creation just like the kids would the next day. This plan allowed her to provide an alternative that was similar and educational and prompted a great discussion between Eden and I. She had no problem with NOT being allowed to eat the Yummy Dough, and loved the fact that she WAS allowed to manipulate it and play with it, like any other playdough.
So take a look at her shapes and see if you can identify the star, the heart, the triangle, the santa and whatever else is there.....and yes she learned the french words for them, I just can't remember them right now. LOL!
Cheers Everyone!
Stacey
http://www.foodkin.ca/
