I was completely caught off guard by the amount of candy that came home from school with my daughter on Monday.

I expect to be bombarded at Halloween.

I brace for it and lay out the rules well in advance.

Two or three pieces of candy are enjoyed after trick-or-treating. A half-dozen or so pieces get set aside to be enjoyed (or traded) later. The rest is left in a bowl for the Candy Fairy in exchange for a little trinket or toy. Done. Thank-you-very-much. See ya next year, Halloween.

I expect December to challenge us.

Giant cookie platters crowd out veggie trays at our church coffee hour. Sweet breads filled with chocolate chips and wrapped in ribbon are hand-delivered by kind-hearted neighbors and friends. Plates of fudge are sent home by thoughtful and well-intentioned co-workers. Candy canes are handed out on every corner.

I know going into December that there is going to be a sugar explosion around us.

I talk to the kids a lot about healthy eating throughout the holiday season.

I remind them (and myself) what sugar does to our bodies. How it tricks us into thinking that we have energy, sending us rocketing into the sky only to come crashing back down (often loudly and painfully) a short time later. And how it disturbs our natural sleep cycle. And compromises our immune system making it harder for us to stay healthy.

We talk about short and long-term gratification (in words that little ones can understand like “fire-cracker” versus “slow-cooker” gifts and foods).

We seek out concentrated proteins (meat, cheese, hummus, nuts/nut-butter) at holiday gatherings and eat these first to ground ourselves and stabalize blood sugar levels before enjoying a treat (or two). And make (sometimes difficult) choices. Either hot chocolate or cookies. But, I’m sorry, not both.

I am often less than popular with the children I seek to nurture and protect for my insistence that we not blindly ride the sugar train from October straight on through New Year’s.

I’m okay with that.

We make plans. We have discussions. We make compromises.

But this weekend as I was cheering for Marriage Equality, helping to plan a wedding ceremony, painting our living room (oh yes…we finally finished the painting project I started almost three years ago!!!) and watching my children create sweet homemade expressions of love, I totally missed the major sugar storm looming on the horizon.

Judging by my Facebook feed Monday evening I was not alone in my Valentine goodie-bag shock and overwhelment (no, not really a word – I think it should be though).

Tuesday morning I woke up to a blog post in my in-box from Lisa Flynn of Childlight Yoga (where I am currently completing my Children’s Yoga Certification and will soon begin the Yoga4Classrooms training program) that I think nicely sums up what many of us are feeling.  

I hope you will take a few minutes to read Lisa’s Valentine’s Day Rant of Love.

I think she is spot on and I love the gentle way she writes, not pointing fingers or excluding herself from sometimes less-than-ideal parenting choices, but encouraging all of us to step back and look at the path we are on.

Too much of a “good” thing is not good for any of us, most especially our children.

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Tagged as: going public