mnbyelich

Hi everyone, I'm new to the group and new to "unschooling" and so far
am loving this whole thing and am so excited to watch my kids grow and
blossom with this style of parenting and learning. I realize that I
should hang around and read more before posting but I'm just having a
little insecurity right now and hope to hear from some of you more
experienced unschoolers just to get me back on track. I really do
believe that this track is the right one and I'm so excited to watch my
kids prosper but right now, letting go of *my* food issues is a little
overwhleming! I used to be strict about what I let them eat (all
organic, mostly healthy, no soda, etc) and now I've let go of those
rules (at least outwardly) and they of course, are loving it. I just
have fears that it will not balance out soon enough and that I may be
letting them damage themselves with literally, all the junk food and
candy they are eating! It's only been less than a week so I realize it
is so early in the game but my 2 yo is eating just candy... I need
some help in this direction please!
Thank you!!! natalie

Robin Krest

Oh, barring any health issues like diabetes and allergies, I think it can take a long time to cause problems by eating just candy, ice cream, etc. I was not a healthy eater for a few years (lots of pepperoni pizza, candy, soda, etc) and I turned out fine.

We went through this with my son when we began this journey. Yes, he ate a lot of candy and ice pops and other such stuff for a month or so. It was almost exclusive for a week, then he tapered off and began asking for vegetables, fruit, etc.

Prepare the other things, have them handy, monkey platter like so many others have mentioned before...your children will eat what they require and it will all balance out.

I am now seeing a return to more high sugar foods, but he has so much energy and is so physical I think he needs that quick fuel to keep going. I wonder if I will see that change when some physical or mental leap is made...

Robin


-- "mnbyelich" <nbyelich@...> wrote:
Hi everyone, I'm new to the group and new to "unschooling" and so far
am loving this whole thing and am so excited to watch my kids grow and
blossom with this style of parenting and learning. I realize that I
should hang around and read more before posting but I'm just having a
little insecurity right now and hope to hear from some of you more
experienced unschoolers just to get me back on track. I really do
believe that this track is the right one and I'm so excited to watch my
kids prosper but right now, letting go of *my* food issues is a little
overwhleming! I used to be strict about what I let them eat (all
organic, mostly healthy, no soda, etc) and now I've let go of those
rules (at least outwardly) and they of course, are loving it. I just
have fears that it will not balance out soon enough and that I may be
letting them damage themselves with literally, all the junk food and
candy they are eating! It's only been less than a week so I realize it
is so early in the game but my 2 yo is eating just candy... I need
some help in this direction please!
Thank you!!! natalie


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Robin Bentley

Welcome!

My first thought is to offer your children more options. Make up
monkey platters for them:
http://sandradodd.com/eating/monkeyplatter

More food tips:
http://joyfullyrejoycing.com/influencing%20kid%20behavior/food/convenientsnacks.html

Read here about it "balancing out":
http://sandradodd.com/eating/balance

In fact, read lots of stuff on this page <g>:
http://sandradodd.com/food

You can also check the archives on the unschoolingbasics Yahoo site.
Search "food choices" or "healthy food" or even "choices." This topic
comes up *all the time* and there's a wealth of good advice posted.

Robin B.

On Oct 24, 2008, at 5:49 AM, mnbyelich wrote:

> Hi everyone, I'm new to the group and new to "unschooling" and so far
> am loving this whole thing and am so excited to watch my kids grow and
> blossom with this style of parenting and learning. I realize that I
> should hang around and read more before posting but I'm just having a
> little insecurity right now and hope to hear from some of you more
> experienced unschoolers just to get me back on track. I really do
> believe that this track is the right one and I'm so excited to watch
> my
> kids prosper but right now, letting go of *my* food issues is a little
> overwhleming! I used to be strict about what I let them eat (all
> organic, mostly healthy, no soda, etc) and now I've let go of those
> rules (at least outwardly) and they of course, are loving it. I just
> have fears that it will not balance out soon enough and that I may be
> letting them damage themselves with literally, all the junk food and
> candy they are eating! It's only been less than a week so I realize
> it
> is so early in the game but my 2 yo is eating just candy... I need
> some help in this direction please!
> Thank you!!! natalie
>

mnbyelich

Thanks so much! I've been trying to give them healthy options along
with the junk food but will definitely check out the monkey platters
page. Just hearing from others on this helps so much, thanks :)
natalie

--- In [email protected], "mnbyelich" <nbyelich@...>
wrote:
>
> Hi everyone, I'm new to the group and new to "unschooling" and so
far
> am loving this whole thing and am so excited to watch my kids grow
and
> blossom with this style of parenting and learning. I realize that
I
> should hang around and read more before posting but I'm just having
a
> little insecurity right now and hope to hear from some of you more
> experienced unschoolers just to get me back on track. I really do
> believe that this track is the right one and I'm so excited to
watch my
> kids prosper but right now, letting go of *my* food issues is a
little
> overwhleming! I used to be strict about what I let them eat (all
> organic, mostly healthy, no soda, etc) and now I've let go of those
> rules (at least outwardly) and they of course, are loving it. I
just
> have fears that it will not balance out soon enough and that I may
be
> letting them damage themselves with literally, all the junk food
and
> candy they are eating! It's only been less than a week so I
realize it
> is so early in the game but my 2 yo is eating just candy... I need
> some help in this direction please!
> Thank you!!! natalie
>

Schuyler

It will help a lot if you don't separate food from food by labelling it junk or healthy. Dentists frown on apples and pears and other fruits because of the sugar and the acids. Do you want to think about food in those ways? Or once was labelled as a carcinogen and now is being demonstrated to be good for you like coffee and chocolate and wine? Or by color, white versus green versus brown versus red versus yellow? It's all food. It's what you are hungry for that matters. If Linnaea or Simon ask for food I will narrow it down by asking sweet versus savoury or quick versus cooked or a platter versus a specific request. I don't ever say junk versus healthy. I don't think I even think in those terms.

Today Linnaea and I made beet ice cream. Is that junk food or is it healthy? What about carrot cake, or oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, or beet brownies? I've been making these really weird pancakes lately from Kenny Shopsin's cookbook; mac and cheese pancakes and Slutty cakes which have a center of pumpkin and peanut butter mixed together with pumpkin pie spice. They are so yummy. In the cookbook he writes: "Anybody who is tempted to question my use of frozen pancake batter might want to stop and think about what pancakes really are. They are flour and milk drowned in better and some form of sugar. They're crap. As far as food value, you might as well take Crisco, whip it up with powdered sugar and spread it on your face. I am not saying they're not delicious or that you shouldn't eat them, but they're a luxury, a recreation, lke smoking marijuana or having sex." I don't think pancakes would have ever fallen into a category of junk food for me, it's fun
to read someone else's take. He has this interesting theory about why people stop eating certain foods when they are full, foods they really enjoy and click with, but with foods that they feel obligated to eat, like salads, they keep eating and eating and eating, they never click. I like Kenny Shopsin.

Schuyler
http://www.waynforth.blogspot.com







Thanks so much! I've been trying to give them healthy options along
with the junk food but will definitely check out the monkey platters
page.

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