Rowan has been so excited waiting for Valentines Day to get here! This will be the first time that she exchanges valentines at school, and she has been eagerly awaiting the Kindergarten party today. She was really excited to go to Target to pick out a gift for her teachers and her valentines for the class. She agonized over her choices for a very long time, finally deciding on a box of puppy valentines that came with little tattoos, and a bag of Dove dark chocolates to attach to them. Killian has been pretty excited about the upcoming festivities as well. Its not that cool in 5th grade to give out actual valentines, so he picked boxes of Starburst jelly beans to write his name on and hand out. They had a great time addressing each one to their classmates:
As you have picked up on by now, the kids will be eating candy this Valentines day. Is it Paleo? No. Is it something we are going to buy and have in the house? No. Is it something we are going to let them enjoy and participate in at school because its a special occasion? Yes! Matthew and I decided at the start of this journey that no matter how much we don't want them eating things like candy, our best bet to getting them to eat healthy is education, not complete and total control. They are old enough to remember the way we used to eat (heck, Killian even remembers going to McDonalds!) so its not like we can pretend that stuff doesn't exist. And its even more difficult to have two school age kids with radically different diets than most other kids. There is an overwhelming culture of bad food choices in schools. The teachers give out suckers and M&M's for good behavior. All school functions have a menu of pizza and soda, candy and chips. The PTA requests for parents to bring in juice boxes and box tops from processed foods to collect to turn in for money for the school. Crappy food is EVERYWHERE in school, from the lunch tray next to them, to the birthday celebration cupcakes, to the special occasion parties like Valentines day. There is no avoiding it, and we don't want to make the kids feel any more different than they have to. So on occasions like this, the kids are allowed to have a couple pieces of candy with their classmates and we use the opportunity to discuss healthy eating and how those candies make them feel. And then, we drop it. Because life is to short to get all uptight about eating a laffy taffy.
I was actually really happy with the kids solution to the valentines day situation though. On their own, they discussed it, and then came to me with their idea. They wanted to keep a few pieces of their candy, and then trade in the rest to us for money. This is what we do on Halloween, and I have to say, it was the perfect idea for valentines day! I have such smart kiddos. :) So they happily skipped into school this morning, a bag of candies and Valentines bulging in their backpacks, excited to celebrate with their friends at school.
I was able to join Rowan in her class, and boy...those Kindergartners are SO cute when they get excited about something! Rowans teacher had a really difficult time getting them all to settle down and listen to instructions. She finally got them corralled on the carpet, goodie bags ready to be filled!
The kids walked around the room stopping at each station where a parent volunteer was ready to hand out the goodies that the other kids had brought. It was so much fun to watching the excitement on their faces grow as their bags filled up. They rushed right over to the carpet and dove into that candy as soon as they could!
Rowan and her amazing teacher - we love her so much!
The kids were true to their word when they got home, and kept a few pieces of candy to keep while the rest went into the trash. I was so proud of them for making such a healthy choice, and Matthew and I did the same - we didn't eat one piece of Valentines candy (not even those delicious little conversation hearts!!) and you know, it was a really easy choice to make. I am happy we made it through our first holiday with our sanity and health intact. I'm sure it will only get easier from here!
As you have picked up on by now, the kids will be eating candy this Valentines day. Is it Paleo? No. Is it something we are going to buy and have in the house? No. Is it something we are going to let them enjoy and participate in at school because its a special occasion? Yes! Matthew and I decided at the start of this journey that no matter how much we don't want them eating things like candy, our best bet to getting them to eat healthy is education, not complete and total control. They are old enough to remember the way we used to eat (heck, Killian even remembers going to McDonalds!) so its not like we can pretend that stuff doesn't exist. And its even more difficult to have two school age kids with radically different diets than most other kids. There is an overwhelming culture of bad food choices in schools. The teachers give out suckers and M&M's for good behavior. All school functions have a menu of pizza and soda, candy and chips. The PTA requests for parents to bring in juice boxes and box tops from processed foods to collect to turn in for money for the school. Crappy food is EVERYWHERE in school, from the lunch tray next to them, to the birthday celebration cupcakes, to the special occasion parties like Valentines day. There is no avoiding it, and we don't want to make the kids feel any more different than they have to. So on occasions like this, the kids are allowed to have a couple pieces of candy with their classmates and we use the opportunity to discuss healthy eating and how those candies make them feel. And then, we drop it. Because life is to short to get all uptight about eating a laffy taffy.
I was actually really happy with the kids solution to the valentines day situation though. On their own, they discussed it, and then came to me with their idea. They wanted to keep a few pieces of their candy, and then trade in the rest to us for money. This is what we do on Halloween, and I have to say, it was the perfect idea for valentines day! I have such smart kiddos. :) So they happily skipped into school this morning, a bag of candies and Valentines bulging in their backpacks, excited to celebrate with their friends at school.
I was able to join Rowan in her class, and boy...those Kindergartners are SO cute when they get excited about something! Rowans teacher had a really difficult time getting them all to settle down and listen to instructions. She finally got them corralled on the carpet, goodie bags ready to be filled!
The kids walked around the room stopping at each station where a parent volunteer was ready to hand out the goodies that the other kids had brought. It was so much fun to watching the excitement on their faces grow as their bags filled up. They rushed right over to the carpet and dove into that candy as soon as they could!
Rowan and her amazing teacher - we love her so much!
The kids were true to their word when they got home, and kept a few pieces of candy to keep while the rest went into the trash. I was so proud of them for making such a healthy choice, and Matthew and I did the same - we didn't eat one piece of Valentines candy (not even those delicious little conversation hearts!!) and you know, it was a really easy choice to make. I am happy we made it through our first holiday with our sanity and health intact. I'm sure it will only get easier from here!