Monday, April 09, 2007

Why Lollipops?

Listen universe, I have a major pet peeve to take up with you. As a mother of a soon to be 3 year old and a soon to be 1 year old I am doing my very best to feed my kids well. Thus far, I have two good non picky eaters. I am generous with 'treats', meaning good yummy sugary stuff. I am by no means stingy. I make cookies, I buy cookies. I always have a supply of dark chocolate.

My thought is that if I am going to eat something that isn't especially 'good' for me or the kids, it ought to be tasty...real....yummy. I tend to stay away from high fructose corn syrup. Did I outlaw jellybeans? No! I am a fun mommy. I let jellybeans abound for my big kid on Easter. I didn't buy them myself, but when her grandparents gave her a basket I was ready to let her eat the candy!

Grandparents have free license in my house with treats. It isn't frequent enough to be a problem...but what is everyone elses excuse?

Why oh why oh why does the rest of the world want to give my kid a lollipop? It is the day after Easter folks. We passed the bank and diva child says "Oh, Mommy, you forgot to go to the bank!! I want a lollipop". I explained that I didn't need to go to the bank and that the bank isn't actually a lollipop dispensary.

We went to the Library today. You know, the place where my kid got corrected by a librarian the millisecond she happened to run. There was a huge thing of lollipops at the check out. The mom ahead of me let her older child have one and I was the meaaaaan mommy who said no. Whatever. It was 4:45 and my husband wasn't coming home before bed time. It's not lollipop time. The little boy with the lollipop realized that I was not going to let her have one and took it out of his mouth and offered it to diva child. A sweet gesture that I quickly intercepted.

So mama decided to go to the liquor store to pick up a celebratory bottle of wine for a job well done by Big Daddy. He got his yearly merit raise and I wanted to celebrate. So we go in and my daughter ASKS the guy if they have lollipops. (Apparently at the ripe old age of 2.75 she has been in enough liquor stores to know they stock lollipops...I'm not sure what that reflects, but it probably isn't good).

He hands her a lollipop.

What's a mama to do?! How many times in one day do I want to be anti lollipop lady? I swear lollipops bring out the worst in me....it ends up with me nagging her not to chew them, picking hairs off of them, then taking it away because it is mealtime/nap time/too fuzzy to eat.

I thought balloon's were bad...at least they don't alter my child's blood sugar.

7 comments:

NotSoSage said...

Oh, ugh. You're a way nicer mommy than I am. And I'm with you. Why, when my kid LOVES dried figs and yogourt does everyone insist on treating her with crap? I don't know...but such is life, right?

Congrats to Big Daddy.

Anonymous said...

I'm pretty sure that balloons alter LP's blood sugar. I may have some testing done.

Heather said...

Hmm...stick to Trader Joe's for errands.Stickers, balloon or cereal bar...mama's choice. Never, never go anywhere else. ;-)

Mama Sarita said...

This morning, diva child was asking for an apple...I told her we have to go to the store to buy more later.

To which she replies, ' and they will give me a lollipop?!'

someone shoot me now. It isn't 8 am yet and we are already back to stupid lollipops.

Heather said...

lol! Peanut would just LOVE diva child.

Life As I Know It said...

Oh, this is so true. My kids love coming to the drycleaner with me because of the lollipops. My 5 year old comes home from preschool almost daily with a lollipop (used as rewards for just about everything there).
Glad to hear your kids are not picky though. That is a great feat in itself!

Anonymous said...

I agree completely, even the barber that I take my son to gives him a lollipop after he cuts his hair! My grievance is actually the grandparents who think it is alright to give a three and half year old a hard lollipop. As I pointed out it could a)come off the stick and slide down the throat or b)the stick could do major damage to a small child's mouth - not to mention the s**t that they put in these things!