I’ve been doing a pretty good job of feeding my family real, whole, clean food for almost a year now. There are days I’m too busy to cook, weeks we have so much going on that I fall off the wagon a bit, but for the most part, we’ve been eating clean since January. Some of the first positive effects we noticed were weight loss (my husband and I both), just feeling better in general, improvement in our health (our daughter’s asthma is all but gone), and our daughter’s behavior improved.
But yesterday was Halloween.
This post could have just ended there; the previous sentence should be self explanatory.
You see, when you change your eating habits to eat clean, you don’t consume nearly as much sugar. Sugar – in any of its refined, un-natural forms – is bad bad bad! (Throw in some artificial food coloring, and you have a potential recipe for disaster!)
The past few months have been extremely busy for me, my husband, and yes, for our five-year-old daughter too. I had no idea kindergarten would be so busy! So I have relied on takeout a few times (I try to keep it healthy) and just haven’t been putting forth as much effort with our meals. During these past few months, Rapunzel has been having these crazy tantrums. She had them when she was younger, but basically grew out of them – or so we thought.
We’ve made so many excuses for Rapunzel’s behavior – full school days with no naps; coming down with a cold; adjusting to having a baby brother. The hubs and I have both suspected sugar, knowing it most likely had at least some effect. When we’ve gone out of town to visit family, there seems to be a tantrum the morning we get ready to come home; if it’s a longer trip (longer than a weekend), there’s a couple to deal with while we’re visiting. You know how grandparents are – Rapunzel gets treats like froyo with 12 toppings on it – and I’m okay with that; I don’t want to deprive my daughter or her grandparents. I just brace myself for what I have learned will surely follow.
Today’s tantrum was a doozie! It was the longest one, clocking in at about 38 minutes. Since there is already a hole in her bedroom wall where the doorknob hits (you guessed it, from a previous tantrum), there was no damage to anything, except maybe my sanity, and Rapunzel’s. The tantrums always involve a lot of crying, screaming, gasping for air, “you’re the meanest mommy ever,” hitting, kicking… You get the idea. I gently restrain her so she can’t hurt herself, and once she’s worn completely out, she just wants to hug and snuggle.
As a mom, this story is a hard one for me to tell. It’s embarrassing. If I’m a good mom, my daughter should just simply behave, right? But I do think I’m a good mom. I usually walk away from these tantrums so frustrated, confused, and worn out. I feel bad for my little girl, my baby, that she can’t find a way to control her anger better. I get angry at myself for letting her have two pieces of candy on Halloween night. And I get angry at the teacher that brought in cookies, icing, chocolate chips, and candy corn for the kids to make jack-o-lantern cookies yesterday without a single word to the parents.
After improved behavior over the past couple of weeks (I’ve gotten back on the wagon with clean eating, no takeout, etc), today’s tantrum on the day after Halloween, the “holiday” that revolves around sugary treats, is my proof that sugar is my daughter’s worst enemy. Now to make her five-year-old brain that thinks she has two stomachs – one for food and one for candy – understand that!
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