Parental FAIL!

I just can't help myself! Seriously, what is WRONG with me?

The kids have been in great spirits for the longest time. And that's not out of the norm for L-boy. But S-boy has been a little moody of late. Particularly around the holiday period.

He was either extremely happy or extremely sad. That wasn't just in Momma's humble opinion. He would announce to us all "Me, happy!" or "Me, sad!"

After much trial and error, Momma put big kid's moodiness down to a severe double case of candy-itis and TV-itis. We needed to reign him in.

I had been of the opinion 'a little can't hurt' and 'everything in moderation'.

But balls to that theory. Particularly where sweets are concerned (his TV addiction is a whole other post.) It turned out I needed to cut that shit out ENTIRELY. At least until he got his eating back on track.

By anyone's standards he's an awesome eater. But only if there is no sweet alternative, or bribe on the table. He has to believe there is NO sweet coming. Then he'll eat. It's that simple. So he's been on a sweet detox for weeks.

There are no desserts or treats in our house, save for fresh fruit. And this works. The improvement in his mood has been incredible. It really is a case of being cruel to be kind. He stopped whining all day. He eats his dinner and he even announces things at the table like "This is yummy savory food Mommy!"

He's VERY clear that it's savory and not sweet.

But he still asks for sweet treats all the time.

I usually 'treat' him to an apple with cream cheese, or blackberries. But over the last couple of days he managed to swindle some OJ out of us (I know I'm probably sounding a bit like a food militant).

But it's a slippery slope. And it turns out I'm the one who has no self discipline. I love making my boys happy, and this morning, when the mean kid-napper in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang tried to entice the kids with his lollipops I couldn't resist surprising the boys with a sucker a piece (I found them in the Halloween candy stash still sitting on top of the fridge).

(Momma's the real sucker.)

They of course loved their treats. And it was well worth it at the time. I figured it couldn't do any harm. They'd eaten their cereal and bagels this morning without a hitch. And suckers are tiny balls of candy. Not enough to spoil their appetite, surely? I could have kicked myself when S-boy announced he didn't want his lunch.

"No no no!" He cried angrily. "No savory. I want sweet!"

He even took himself off to bed in protest. I could feel the irritation well up inside of me. But let's be clear here. I'm mad as hell with myself not S-boy. It was my own fault. I know all about his candy-itis issues. I knew what would happen. I just really really really hoped it wouldn't.

So, sweets are banned AGAIN. At least until the next time Momma gets another uncontrollable urge to spoil her little Bisett boys. I think I might need to pin this pic of S-boy on the fridge for motivation:

"Me sad!"