using the words "special treat"

[aim]

Hi all - I have a toddler and he rarely gets sweets or juice or anything like that, I have not read a ton about feeding but I seem to remember someone (not sure of the author) talking about not referring to these things as "special treats" - Can someone please give me the run down on why? My husband has been referring to these things as treats and I have this nagging feeling that we may not want to be doing it but I don't know where to go to figure out why - can anyone point me in the right direction.

Amy
DS Bennett 1-14-04
DD Nora 1-24-07

[SnuggleBuggles]

So they don't put those kinds of foods and drinks on a pedestal.

Beth

[Beth568]

Exactly - if you characterize something as special, sometimes it takes on a kind of significance beyond what it should have.

We took a cue from Sesame Street and started talking about ice cream, junky snack foods, candy, etc as "sometimes foods" - things that are OK to eat from time to time, but that don't give your body energy or help you grow. I think the concept really made sense to my DD (not that she doesn't ask for dessert, but at least now when I say no, I have a way to talk about it that feels reasonable). HTH.

[jgriffin]

>We took a cue from Sesame Street and started talking about ice
>cream, junky snack foods, candy, etc as "sometimes foods" -
>things that are OK to eat from time to time, but that don't
>give your body energy or help you grow. I think the concept
>really made sense to my DD (not that she doesn't ask for
>dessert, but at least now when I say no, I have a way to talk
>about it that feels reasonable). HTH.

Does SS still do this? We don't watch it very often (maybe 2-3 episodes a week), but it seems that Cookie Monster is eating a cookie every single time. Not that I have a problem with this, but I had read several years ago (pre-E) that cookies were now a "sometimes food" and this doesn't seem to be the case anymore. :)

I can't believe I'm having a discussion about Cookie Monster. LOL!

[jhrabosk]

I was actually going to post the same thing, except I read it in an article. There's a preschool connected to Rutgers that focuses on nutrition and healthy eating. They talked in the article about teaching kids the difference betwen "sometime" and "anytime" foods.

As far as calling things "special treats," I think the Super Baby Food talks about something similar. For example, she says not to use sweets as a bribe (i.e., finish your brocc and you get a cookie) b/c it sets up the idea that cookies are better than brocc.

[brittone2]

we avoid trying to make it special. We don't have or eat a lot of sweets, etc. but when we serve something like that, I serve it with dinner so it is just another food. IMO reserving dessert as a "reward" for eating dinner, a punishment/bribe, etc. makes it more enticing. I think a lot of adults tend to think of junk for themselves as a "reward" for a difficult day, as part of a celebration, etc. I think we'd have less of this if we just treated food as food.

Even if DS ate just his ice cream for dinner, his meals the rest of the time are healthy enough I wouldn't worry. Usually he takes a few bites right along w/ the rest of his meal like it is no big deal.

I read about this approach a few years ago online somewhere and it made sense to me. I think a lot of us have food=reward=treat ingrained in our heads from our own childhoods, and I don't think it is the best mentality from a health standpoint.