"Normal"

At fourteen months of age, baby has yet to eat her first refined sugar. Neither her mother nor I tolerate it overly well, and we have chosen to follow the advice of a parenting book that says there are advantages to postponing exposure to candy and cake. The idea is that if kids are a little older when they eat their first white sugar, they’ll be capable of noticing how it makes them feel (very good, and very bad, in quick succession). Beyond that, the idea is that they’ll make relatively intelligent choices once they have that information. The theory may be true, and I hope it is. In the meantime, though, refusing sugar in social situations, such as a party we attended as a family tonight, can be a difficult thing to do. A piñata was part of the evening’s festivities, and every little kid there dove for the candy when it was knocked to the ground. It’s not that candy is inherently bad for kids; it’s more that sweets are no longer a luxury or a special treat, and are being eaten in such quantities that childhood obesity and diabetes are epidemics in our country. That said, at some point, and maybe not that long from now, I will almost certainly have to buckle to peer pressure and allow my precious daughter to be “normal.”