Self Control

Self control is hard enough for an adult , but can be nearly impossible for children. Todd has difficulty with sugar and certain dyes in food. We have worked hard to limit his sugar content so that he would do well in school. Sugars and dye can make him wild instantly. It is like we injected him with pure hyperactivity. Last year, he got in some trouble at preschool for being too active. For school this year, we had discussed having him bring his own snack instead of eating what was brought by others because of the sugar. We decided to let him try eating what was brought but if it did not work, he understood our plan. Well, a few weeks ago, he had been doing perfect in school, so I put a fruit roll-up in his lunch. It has a smaller amount of sugar than a lot of things. As I put it in, I stressed to him to not let it get him in trouble. I also told him if he had something sweet for snack, he probably should not eat it. That day, he ate it because they had been given crackers for a snack. Yesterday, I had given him another fruit roll-up. I did not "preach" to him. As a matter of fact, I did not even mention the sugar issue or not eating the treat. When he got home yesterday, he had not eaten the fruit roll-up. I asked him why and he said, "Because our snack was something sweet". It had been 2 weeks since we had that discussion and he remembered it and followed through with it. I was so proud of him. I was wanting him to learn to control it on his own and he had! That takes a lot of self control! I'm not sure I would have been able to do it if it was something I liked as much as he likes fruit roll-ups. So after a big praise, we opened up the fruit roll-up and ate it. He is growing up fast!