This is not a brag post, or an I'm-better-than-you-post, or a you-should-do-this-too post. This is a post to explain why we have come to avoid artificial colors, flavors, and HFCS for our children (and ALMOST entirely for ourselves).
Last night, if you saw yesterday's post, we went to a craft/Christmas party hosted by my coworker. I hadn't thought too far in advance to think about what sort of food would be offered. I knew we were ordering pizza but I thought that was it. WRONG.
Within 5 minutes of arriving, Bebe and Dois were offered a cookie covered in colored sugar and a juice box that contained HFCS. Bebe looked at me and begged and I said, "Oh, what the heck! You can have them for a treat!" She was SO excited.
When we'd entered my friend's house, Bebe was fearful of the 2 dogs there. To the point where she didn't want to come in. She finally did and I eventually got her to sit in a chair at the table (with her legs up) to participate.
15 minutes after her "treat", Bebe went to the bathroom. After a few minutes we heard her open the door and then immediately shut it. I wondered what was going on so I went and told her it was fine, there were no dogs out there, etc. She kept yelling at me through the door but with 14 other kids in the house, there was NO WAY I could hear her. Finally I got her to unlock the door, and she says, "there's a cat out there!" Now, I knew she was afraid of dogs--but cats?! I tried patiently to convince her to get OUT of the bathroom, and then I just lost my patience. I told her I was counting to 5 and if she didn't come out by 5 we were leaving as soon as she came out. I was just so mortified that she was acting this way in front of everyone.
She came out when I got to 5...and I had to pick her up on my hip like I do DS. Mind you, she's 8 and 60 or so pounds...
She eventually settled down, but the rest of the night was just horrible in terms of her behavior. Every time we asked her a question we had to repeat it 2-3 times before it would register and she would respond. When we were walking around "Candy Cane Lane" she COULD NOT follow directions. She was OFF THE WALL.
I hate seeing her this way. She has a hard enough time controlling herself when she's NOT ingesting such things. At the same time, it's really hard for her to accept that she can't eat everything other kids are. And since she's not allergic, she really doesn't get it. Telling her it doesn't make her feel good doesn't work, because she doesn't notice the difference like we do. We try our best to find suitable alternatives but sometimes there just AREN'T any. It's frustrating.
Tonight just reaffirmed why we do what we do for her, though.
