Visions of sugarplums are nothing to fear compared to the mounds and mounds of real-life holiday treats at the fingertips of your anxious child. Cookies clumped with coconut, candy chips, cherries or shaped like gingerbread men. Cakes cascading with frosting and fillings. Little chocolate Santa Clauses, some of them plumped up with marshmallow.
Where does the madness – and your anxious children’s begging for treats – stop?!
You can be a total scrooge and stop it by putting all holiday treats off limits, a solution that can lead to resentments, future guilt and eating disorders in the making. Or you can take a few tips from a Psychology Today article by Zanthe Taylor:
“So what is the solution to this plague of sugar so many parents fear? I call it the Candy Drawer. It’s a drawer that existed in my home as a child, and now exists in my family’s home. It’s full of candy. The drawer’s not out of reach of my children, nor is it locked or otherwise secured. But there are rules: candy comes after dinner, not in the middle of the day or at 10 a.m. Dessert comes in limited quantities, which can vary according to the treats that preceded it or the size of said candy.”
This delicious little tidbit is just the icing on the cake, so to speak, in the insightful article on an o-so-common issue that gets even bigger during the holidays. Taylor even includes a page of healthy recipes you can try that are as delicious as they are nutritious. Give yourself a treat and read the whole piece.
Read full article at Psychology Today: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/million-meals/201212/the-dessert-problem
