I still remember my son coming out of his playroom and letting me know there were ants in there. Of course my husband and I sprang into action assuming recent rain had driven them inside as so often happens here in Texas. However as we began to move around the contents of the room we discovered candy wrapper after candy wrapper stuffed into nooks and crannies and carefully hidden under furniture. At that point it became evident that our ever emptying candy bowl was not the result of my husband’s sweet tooth but instead was from my five year old sneaking sweets.
Needless to say I was concerned. My son is a healthy weight and always has been (no thanks to my genetic contribution) but that much sugar is not good for anyone. We then went and did a thorough clean of his room and and discovered even more wrappers. I didn’t want to get angry because honestly what does that accomplish so instead I developed a game plan to help him understand why eating this many sweets isn’t healthy and try to mitigate any contributing factors.
So if you find yourself in a similar situation here are some suggestions for how to handle it in a positive way.
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Talk to Them
For some parents this may be difficult but try not to make assumptions as to why your child is sneaking these less-than healthy snacks. Instead sit down with them and ask. They may reveal that they were hungry and the candy bowl was the easiest accessible food, in our case it was the only food out (while the rest was in the fridge/ pantry, albeit within his reach). They may not understand why a piece of candy is any different than a Banana so use it as a learning opportunity.
Once you know WHY they are sneaking sweets dealing with it becomes so much easier.
Keep a Bowl of Healthy Snacks Available
This probably made the biggest difference in our household. I realized that the candy was the easiest accessible food in our house because I had a bowl sitting out for guests at the front of our home. We had plenty of other healthy options available but they were all in the pantry or the fridge and for my son it was largely out of sight out of mind.
So I made a change and began keeping a bowl of fruit and other healthier options on the table where my son could easily see and reach them. This allowed him to make better choices because he always knew they were available and were right there for him to grab.
Talk About Healthy Choices and Habits
Other than our frequent “why do I have to eat my veggies” talks I hadn’t;t really discussed making healthy lifestyle choices with my son which was probably a huge contributor to the situation. To him a piece of candy was little different than any other snack in the household because I hadn’t explained what nutrition was or why we need to limit sugar intake.
Coming from a family of bibliophiles I once again found myself turning to books to help explain why candy wasn’t the healthiest choice and the importance of nutrition in a way my child could understand. Some of our favorite “healthy eating” books are below!
–Gregory, the Terrible Eater
–The Seven Silly Eaters
–We Are What We Eat: Holistic Thinking Kids
–The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Junk Food (also one of my favorites as a kid!)
Limit Eating to the Table
I’m sure many of you already do this, but if you are in the habit of letting your child head to the playroom with a snack it may be time to rethink that policy. By limiting eating to the table and making no exceptions you are setting the foundation for visible and transparent eating practices. You can monitor what they are choosing to eat and help guide them to make better choices.
Put Away The Candy
Move the candy to an upper shelf of the pantry where it is both out of reach and out of sight. If you keep a guest bowl out with candy for the holidays put it away when guests aren’t present. Remove the temptation completely by making it unavailable.
Do Follow Up
We all want to believe that our children will listen to us the first time we correct their behavior, however we as parents also know that sometimes it doesn’t always happen that way. So it is extremely important that you don’t just say it and forget it.
Get involved and help them clean their rooms making it harder to hide any wrappers. Communicate with your spouse or others in the household about where that bag of candy went. Make it so sneaking food becomes harder and that if it does occur again ensure you can readress it before it becomes a habit.
