Who Knew Being Snack Mom Could Keep Me Awake at Night?

Since my children started playing soccer and going to Brownie meetings, I have done my duty as “snack mom”. My job was to provide a drink and a snack for each of the kids participating in the soccer game or Brownie troop. I watched other moms bring parades of Krispy Kreme donuts and Gatorade for post-soccer game treats. My own children would go crazy with glee and greed, begging for more than one donut. Why, you might ask? Because I am the mom who doesn’t feed my kids donuts or Gatorade very often. The other day my daughter came home from a Brownie meeting on a sugar high, she had been treated with a cupcake and a cookie and a piece of candy, which she gobbled down in about 3 minutes, the time allotted for snack at the beginning of the meeting.



I would watch all of this sugary stuff parade by, watch my kids crash shortly after the hysteria of eating the chocolate and sprinkle coated donut and think, that won’t be me, I won’t bring donuts, I will bring a healthy snack! Oh, the pressure. I won’t give in, I won’t give in, I chanted to myself. And I tried, I honestly tried but you can imagine what happened, can’t you? No one ate the snacks. They begrudgingly drank the 100% juice boxes and a few nibbled on the peanut butter crackers but most turned their noses up. Oh, no, I thought, I have failed! My son is going to be teased for being different! My daughter won’t be liked at Brownies, all because their mom doesn’t believe in sugar-loading her kids.



So I admit, I caved. I didn’t go to Krispy Kreme and I still only brought water or 100% juice boxes, but I did buy Oreos or those giant packs of multi-flavored chips. One month I made brownies for Brownies. I try not to lose sleep over it and I usually compensate at home by making my kids eat extra servings of fruit and vegetables. Am I making myself crazy?Making my kids crazy? Maybe, but they are healthy and neither one has been sick with the flu or had anything worse than a slight cold for the past two years. I can’t remember the last time one of them stayed home sick from school. Eating healthy is a priority in our family but an occasional sweet treat isn’t going to kill anyone.



Dr. Minette Riordan is the publisher of North Texas Kids magazine and mother of two elementary school aged children. She can be reached at minette@northtexaskids.com.



This article appeared in the January issue of Richardson Living Magazine, thanks to them for publishing my mommy rantings!