nxmcclar

We are in the process of "defooding" and my 2-year-old really wants to
have gum since he sees his older brother (5), chewing it. I let him eat
about 8 pieces yesterday, but he just doesn't get how to chew, not
swallow.

Any suggestions on how to approach this. As fast as he was going at it,
I don't know how soon he would have stopped. He finshed off the pack
and we were out, so there was not more, but at home he knows where the
Costco-size supply is. I told him no today, but that didn't feel right.
However, health-wise, I'm not sure if there would be an impact if he
decided to eat 40 pieces all in a row or something. I'm not worried
about a few here and there, but....

Tammy Curry

Our son loves his "bubble gum, bubble gum". The initial newness wears off eventually and he has suffered no ill effects of swallowing it and we had our days when I thought he was going to turn into a piece of bubble gum. He has finally learned to chew it for a while and then spit it out. I will admit though, if I have a piece long enough and it loses flavor I have been guilty of swallowing it without thinking about it.

Tammy C.



----- Original Message ----
From: nxmcclar <nancycallan@...>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2008 1:28:16 AM
Subject: [unschoolingbasics] Gum for a 2-year-old


We are in the process of "defooding" and my 2-year-old really wants to
have gum since he sees his older brother (5), chewing it. I let him eat
about 8 pieces yesterday, but he just doesn't get how to chew, not
swallow.

Any suggestions on how to approach this. As fast as he was going at it,
I don't know how soon he would have stopped. He finshed off the pack
and we were out, so there was not more, but at home he knows where the
Costco-size supply is. I told him no today, but that didn't feel right.
However, health-wise, I'm not sure if there would be an impact if he
decided to eat 40 pieces all in a row or something. I'm not worried
about a few here and there, but....






[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Michele James-Parham

--- In [email protected], "nxmcclar" <nancycallan@...>
wrote:
>
> I told him no today, but that didn't feel right.
> However, health-wise, I'm not sure if there would be an impact if he
> decided to eat 40 pieces all in a row or something. I'm not worried
> about a few here and there, but....

I watched Mythbusters awhile back and they disproved that gum stays in
your stomach longer than other 'foods' and it certainly doesn't stay
there 7 years or whatever my parents used to tell me! If he ate 40
pieces in a row, he might end up with a stomach ache, but that would
be the result of overindulging on anything, right?

I'd warn him that he could end up with an upset stomach, but let him
eat (try to chew) the gum. I can't imagine him binging on the gum more
than a couple times at best before he learned to chew or decided that
eating 40 (or however many pieces) wasn't a *good* thing.

michele
www.naturalattachment.net

Ren Allen

>
> I watched Mythbusters awhile back and they disproved that gum stays in
> your stomach longer than other 'foods' and it certainly doesn't stay
> there 7 years or whatever my parents used to tell me! If he ate 40
> pieces in a row, he might end up with a stomach ache, but that would
> be the result of overindulging on anything, right?


I've met two people who got stomach obstructions because of swallowing
too much gum. That's not very many, considering how many of us
swallowed gum. Apparently it CAN get large enough to cause a blockage
though. So maybe 40 pieces is a bit much.;)
All of my children have swallowed gum without any complications. I
might be careful about too many pieces though.

Ren

Michele James-Parham

--- In [email protected], "Ren Allen"
<starsuncloud@...> wrote:

> I've met two people who got stomach obstructions because of swallowing
> too much gum. That's not very many, considering how many of us
> swallowed gum. Apparently it CAN get large enough to cause a blockage
> though. So maybe 40 pieces is a bit much.;)
> All of my children have swallowed gum without any complications. I
> might be careful about too many pieces though.

Oh Ren, that is awful. I have heard about people needing operations to
have huge gum AND hairballs removed, but the people had a condition
where they were eating their own hair AND swallowing gum. I know that
I used to eat gum like that's what you are supposed to do with it when
I was a kid! I still swallow it every once in a blue moon when I chew it.

michele
www.naturalattachment.net

Paul H. Beaulieu II

One solution you may want to try if you are giving gum to a smaller
child(i.e. a 2 yr old) you may want to give them denture safe gum as it
is not as sticky and breaks down a little easier. so while swallowing
is still not probably a good choice is will prove less risky than with
godd ole hubba bubba. My uncle is one of thos3 who had to go to the
hospital for a gum caused blockage, which as you can imagine left an
indellible impression on our family. so as the little ones may still
not get the chew then spit cycle maybe a less adhesive gum would work
to their advantage.

just a thought
Paul

Emily

Even as I am about to type this, I realize it might just take you to a
*different* place you don't want to go, but what if you made a game of
it. You could get a piece of poster board or plywood and when he is
done with the gum you could stretch and stick it on and make it art!
I'm sure ya'll are groaning right now, picturing gum stuck on every
imaginable surface, but if you know what they say about desperate times...

My just turned three year old thinks gum is pretty cool, but he finds
spitting to be part of the fun, so he only swallows it about half the
time.

Good luck,
Emily

Meredith

--- In [email protected], "nxmcclar" <nancycallan@...>
wrote:
> I let him eat
> about 8 pieces yesterday, but he just doesn't get how to chew, not
> swallow.

What about buying him something *like* gum in terms of sweet chewiness
that is intended to be swallowed - like Laffy Taffy for instance? That
will give him what he wants without you having to go through a bunch of
What Ifs.

---Meredith (Mo 7, Ray 14)

Faith Void

That;s what I was thinking. I did this with my middle child who didn't like
typical gum flavors but wanted the chewiness. plus they come with jokes!
Faith

On Fri, Sep 12, 2008 at 8:03 PM, Meredith <meredith@...> wrote:

> --- In [email protected]<unschoolingbasics%40yahoogroups.com>,
> "nxmcclar" <nancycallan@...>
> wrote:
> > I let him eat
> > about 8 pieces yesterday, but he just doesn't get how to chew, not
> > swallow.
>
> What about buying him something *like* gum in terms of sweet chewiness
> that is intended to be swallowed - like Laffy Taffy for instance? That
> will give him what he wants without you having to go through a bunch of
> What Ifs.
>
> ---Meredith (Mo 7, Ray 14)
>
>
>



--
www.bearthmama.com


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

swissarmy_wife

When I was younger I loved Nickelodeon. Double DAre and You Can't Do
That On Television being two of my favorites. I recently found out
that Alanis Morrisette was on that show. But that's beside the point.
Some other show, I can't remember which covered an entire coffee
table in colorful chewed gum. It was beautiful! I suppose they just
polyurethaned it or something. My whole childhood I really wanted to
make one.



--- In [email protected], "Emily" <emilybug@...> wrote:
>
> Even as I am about to type this, I realize it might just take you to a
> *different* place you don't want to go, but what if you made a game of
> it. You could get a piece of poster board or plywood and when he is
> done with the gum you could stretch and stick it on and make it art!
> I'm sure ya'll are groaning right now, picturing gum stuck on every
> imaginable surface, but if you know what they say about desperate
times...
>
> My just turned three year old thinks gum is pretty cool, but he finds
> spitting to be part of the fun, so he only swallows it about half the
> time.
>
> Good luck,
> Emily
>

Meredith

--- In [email protected], "Emily" <emilybug@...> wrote:
>> My just turned three year old thinks gum is pretty cool, but he finds
> spitting to be part of the fun, so he only swallows it about half the
> time.

I was thinking about that, too - that maybe you can make the "spitting
out" part of the fun. I love the idea of gum art, although I don't know
if I'd be brave enough to suggest it to my kids <sheepish grin>. Not so
much the mess as the ick factor itself.

---Meredith (Mo 7, Ray 14)


Susan Chenoweth

I have a 3 and a 5 year old and our typical answer to the request for
gum is, "Oh that's gum, we don't eat that." And the query just ends.
They have never actually had a piece of gum in their mouths or seen
anyone chew gum, but if they have they probably just thought the
person was eating something so it was just ignored.

I really liked the idea about making art from the chewed gum. If
there's a reason not to swallow it maybe that would prompt the child
to remember to get it out of their mouth before swallowing. Maybe we
only chew gum in this room so we don't forget to put it on the board
when we're finished with it...

We just got back from a trip to Ocean City, Maryland and on one of
the "famous" haunted house rides on the boardwalk there was a door
COVERED with chewed gum that people had stuck there over the years.
It looked like an impressionist painting made out of gum. HEY!
There's an idea!!

Good luck,

Susan

[email protected]

-----Original Message-----
From: swissarmy_wife <heatherbean@...>


When I was younger I loved Nickelodeon. Double DAre and You Can't Do
That On Television being two of my favorites. I recently found out
that Alanis Morrisette was on that show. But that's beside the point.
Some other show, I can't remember which covered an entire coffee
table in colorful chewed gum. It was beautiful! I suppose they just
polyurethaned it or something. My whole childhood I really wanted to
make one.

-=-=-=-

Soooo....what's stopping you *now*??



~Kelly

Kelly Lovejoy
Conference Coordinator
Live and Learn Unschooling Conference
http://www.LiveandLearnConference.org

diana jenner

OOooooh pick up a plaster bust at a thriftstore!
~diana :)
xoxoxoxo
hannahbearski.blogspot.com
hannahsashes.blogspot.com
dianas365.blogspot.com


On Sat, Sep 13, 2008 at 6:04 AM, swissarmy_wife <heatherbean@...>wrote:

> When I was younger I loved Nickelodeon. Double DAre and You Can't Do
> That On Television being two of my favorites. I recently found out
> that Alanis Morrisette was on that show. But that's beside the point.
> Some other show, I can't remember which covered an entire coffee
> table in colorful chewed gum. It was beautiful! I suppose they just
> polyurethaned it or something. My whole childhood I really wanted to
> make one.
>
> --- In [email protected]<unschoolingbasics%40yahoogroups.com>,
> "Emily" <emilybug@...> wrote:
> >
> > Even as I am about to type this, I realize it might just take you to a
> > *different* place you don't want to go, but what if you made a game of
> > it. You could get a piece of poster board or plywood and when he is
> > done with the gum you could stretch and stick it on and make it art!
> > I'm sure ya'll are groaning right now, picturing gum stuck on every
> > imaginable surface, but if you know what they say about desperate
> times...
> .
>
>
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Kimberlee

There are artist who work with chewed gum. Check out these websites: www.gumblondes.com
(Jason Kronenwald) and http://gumart.com (Jamie Marraccini). The
latter sells kits that seem like paint-by-number "ChewByNumbers art
boards" which even include the gum. Might be fun.

Kimberlee :)


On 13-Sep-08, at 6:23 PM, diana jenner wrote:

> OOooooh pick up a plaster bust at a thriftstore!
> ~diana :)
> xoxoxoxo
> hannahbearski.blogspot.com
> hannahsashes.blogspot.com
> dianas365.blogspot.com
>
> On Sat, Sep 13, 2008 at 6:04 AM, swissarmy_wife
> <heatherbean@...>wrote:
>
> > When I was younger I loved Nickelodeon. Double DAre and You Can't Do
> > That On Television being two of my favorites. I recently found out
> > that Alanis Morrisette was on that show. But that's beside the
> point.
> > Some other show, I can't remember which covered an entire coffee
> > table in colorful chewed gum. It was beautiful! I suppose they just
> > polyurethaned it or something. My whole childhood I really wanted to
> > make one.
> >
> > --- In [email protected]<unschoolingbasics
> %40yahoogroups.com>,
> > "Emily" <emilybug@...> wrote:
> > >
> > > Even as I am about to type this, I realize it might just take
> you to a
> > > *different* place you don't want to go, but what if you made a
> game of
> > > it. You could get a piece of poster board or plywood and when he
> is
> > > done with the gum you could stretch and stick it on and make it
> art!
> > > I'm sure ya'll are groaning right now, picturing gum stuck on
> every
> > > imaginable surface, but if you know what they say about desperate
> > times...
> > .
> >
> >
> >
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Ren Allen

~~I have a 3 and a 5 year old and our typical answer to the request for
gum is, "Oh that's gum, we don't eat that." And the query just ends.~~

Why would you decide that FOR them? Unschooling is about trust and
deciding what someone else will or won't try, isn't conducive to trust.

Who is the "we" in this case? Why on earth wouldn't they be able to
try gum? And if gum is such a big deal, how do you handle other more
serious topics?

Ren

Melissa Gray

LIL off topic, but we just left a horrific potluck dinner at
someone's house. The girls invited their friend to come home with us
to spend the night, and as we were pulling out of the driveway, the
mom flagged us down. "F____ is not allowed gum, we have a moratorium
in our house right now." I asked what had happened to require such a
thing, and it turns out that the oldest brother had dropped his gum
in the car, and the next brother had stepped on it. So, I asked
curiously, he spit it out on purpose? No...no, he dropped it on
accident. Oh, so the brother stepped on it on purpose? No, that was
an accident too. So why is the little sister banned? Because gum
apparently isn't safe in their home or car. But surely in my own
house? Absolutely not!

Is it any wonder that as we backed up the girl shouted "Yay! I'm free!"

I have a slew of stories from tonight that have left me exhausted,
nauseous and sad.

Melissa
Mom to Joshua, Breanna, Emily, Rachel, Samuel, Daniel and Avari
Wife to Zane

blog me at
http://startlinglives.blogspot.com/
http://startlinglives365.blogspot.com



On Sep 13, 2008, at 9:32 PM, Ren Allen wrote:

> ~~I have a 3 and a 5 year old and our typical answer to the request
> for
> gum is, "Oh that's gum, we don't eat that." And the query just ends.~~
>
> Why would you decide that FOR them? Unschooling is about trust and
> deciding what someone else will or won't try, isn't conducive to
> trust.
>
> Who is the "we" in this case? Why on earth wouldn't they be able to
> try gum? And if gum is such a big deal, how do you handle other more
> serious topics?
>
> Ren
>
>
>



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

nxmcclar

Thanks for all the responses on this! In the spirit of creative
solutions, I thought I'd give a try to the idea of offering to let
him stick the gum on a board to make a picture, but he simply doesn't
get the concept of chewing rather than eating. I've been trying to
have him stand right in front of me and keep showing me he still has
it in his mouth. I think he just chews till it loses it's original
shape--it's the little Trident rectangles, then thinks you are
supposed to swallow it--no matter what we tell him. He tells me when
he is "finished" very proudly and asks for more (direct quote: "I ate
it--can I please have more gum please. From the package--let me
unwrap it.")

The last two days, I've been telling him that too much in a row could
make his stomach hurt and telling him he can have only 4 pieces. He
wants them all in a row, then stops asking. I've let him have one or
two more later in the day when he asks again. I'm sure he'll figure
it out if he keeps practicing! I'm thinking the alternate candy
approach won't work because with our current defooding process, his
older brother is going through candy like crazy and Davis is trying
it all--so he knows the difference between candy and gum since he's
seen so much of it lately--and he sees his brother getting the gum
and he likes to open the gum wrapper since it's just folded he can do
it.

Robin Bentley

>
> The last two days, I've been telling him that too much in a row could
> make his stomach hurt and telling him he can have only 4 pieces. He
> wants them all in a row, then stops asking. I've let him have one or
> two more later in the day when he asks again. I'm sure he'll figure
> it out if he keeps practicing! I'm thinking the alternate candy
> approach won't work because with our current defooding process, his
> older brother is going through candy like crazy and Davis is trying
> it all--so he knows the difference between candy and gum since he's
> seen so much of it lately--and he sees his brother getting the gum
> and he likes to open the gum wrapper since it's just folded he can do
> it.
>
So, you've given him the information that his stomach could hurt if he
has too much, but you're still controlling the amount you "let" him
have? Hmmm. And what is it that "he'll figure it out if he keeps
practicing"?

If you are seriously "defooding" (eep, is there a better term for
this?) this seems to only apply to your older son. Does he also get
information from you about his stomach hurting if he eats too much?

I'm a little confused about your approach within the context of
unschooling.

Robin B.

Meredith

--- In [email protected], Susan Chenoweth
<susanchenoweth@...> wrote:
>
> I have a 3 and a 5 year old and our typical answer to the request
for
> gum is, "Oh that's gum, we don't eat that." And the query just
ends.

In the short term, its a convenient way to control kids' behavior
and thinking. In the long term, it tends to backfire. Eventually,
kids start to question the "we" part - why do I have to be a part of
your we? I want to try. Not all kids, for sure. Some are people-
pleasers or just not terribly analytical by nature. But many,
probably most kids, eventually see through the smoke. Then what?
Then you've burned a bridge connecting you to your kids. Its not the
only bridge, happily, but is it one you really want to burn?

Radical unschooling is about fostering the connections between
parents and kids. That's important. Its important because learning
is all about connections. Its important because the more we can be
the trustworthy ally and safety net, the more our kids will listen
to us, will take us seriously.

My stepson was raised with a lot of "we don't do/eat that" sorts of
comments when he was younger. He still resents that, although that's
healing in our unschooling home. We had to rebuild a lot of
connections with Ray. I'm glad not to be burning those bridges with
my younger child.

---Meredith (Mo 7, Ray 14)