sweet tooth

one of the hardest things about being a parent is doing something which the child perceives as a punishment, but which is really just good for them.

first, some backstory. our son is a toddler (1-1/2 years old). he is gorgeous and brilliant and well-behaved, if i do say so myself. so it is really hard to deny him anything, and i must confess to a few egregious errors on our part. we give him sweets. we let him drink diet soda, and we let him drink coffee. shocking, i know. i am genuinely embarrassed by this state of events, but let me explain.

he is underweight (7th percentile for his age). so basically the pediatrician gave us a free pass to feed him whatever he would eat so he would gain weight. well, unfortunately, he liked candy, ice cream, cookies and especially, cake. he still is underweight, but i worry about the repercussions of his having such a sweet tooth. he begs us for candy from the candy dish every time we go by it. he eats a whole, adult-sized slice of birthday cake at parties, of which there are many.

as for the diet soda: he would always beg for some of my drink (diet coke), without ever having tasted it, and he would get very verklempt over not getting any. one day it occurred to me that most people don't like the taste of diet drinks, and that it is an acquired taste, so i thought if i gave him a sip he would not care for it and wouldn't continue to ask for it. well, long story short: i was wrong. he thinks it's delicious. he wants some every time i have one. you'd think we'd have learned from that, but the same scenario happened with coffee, or more accurately, frappuccinos. i like to make myself feel better by imagining that there isn't a lot of actual coffee in them, but that's probably just fooling myself.

so, in an effort to right our wrongs we are attempting to limit his consumption of such unhealthy foods, but as i mentioned- not a big eater. and now, a little boy with a big sweet tooth, who sees any attempts to restrict access as punishment.