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A lot of us. But maybe we shouldn't. Or, at least, maybe we shouldn't burden our kids with all our nutritional correctness.
When my older son was in kindergarten, he came home with a keen interest in cans. Not to build towers with or roll down the stairs. He wanted to read the labels because his teacher had been showing the class all about sodium, fructose and calories.
So much for story time.
Anyhow, those kindergarteners must've been mighty advanced, because I'm a grown-up and I still have a hard time figuring out those labels — especially when the can contains 3.79 servings. (Long division!) I'm also grown-up enough to know that a few years from now, many ingredients on the "death on a fork" list will probably be on the "if you want to live past 40, eat three times a day" list, and vice versa. Think: trans fats, wine, pasta, real sugar, fake sugar, bread, chocolate — even lard is making a comeback.
But the bubbly young teacher's interest was enough to excite my son (also several of the dads — but that's another story), and for a while, he was talking so much about carbohydrates it was like living with Dr. Atkins. Slowly, his interest tapered off (why ask about nutrition when all you eat are salami and mint Double Stuf Oreos?).
A while back, I read there's been some concern about kids and nutrition awareness — the fear that children are getting too concerned about things like calorie counts and sodium content. Some eating disorder experts even warn that parents are so worried about their kids eating only the "right" food they're turning the moppets into "orthorexics" — people who are afraid of eating the wrong thing, ever. Maybe afraid of eating, period.
Parents who obsess about food indulge in a bit of catastrophizing themselves. The truth is a kid can eat a standard-issue hot dog without it throwing his whole life off balance. And that includes the bun! A malted milk ball is not a crime against humanity. Even a little roll of fat on a kid doesn't mean he or his parents have failed.
In our quest to be perfect, we forget that kids can survive on less-than-perfection. They can survive on stuff Gwyneth Paltrow wouldn't touch with a 10-foot loofah. I know from personal experience they can survive on a diet of Double Stuf Oreos and salami on Wonder bread!
Speaking of which — did you know that, thanks to all its added vitamins and minerals that build strong bodies, the much-maligned Wonder bread is credited with silently eradicating beriberi and pellagra in America? Yes, indeed. Everything bad, even super-processed white bread, was once good, and vice versa.
So, when we start fretting about our kids' eating habits and worrying that last night's kale wasn't certified organic, let's try to chill.
I've found that a little bag of M&M's helps.