Radical Unschooling and sugar

[Ayla]

http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=5e7ceda4-56d5-4284-9d04-bb544a30ed48


Aw, Sugar, Sugar

Full disclosure: I have been researching Radical Unschooling. Radical unschoolers are a small, brave and trusting, some may say foolhardy, subset of home schoolers who do not believe in imposing limits of any kind on their home schooled children.

They firmly (and I mean firmly) believe that left to their own devices, children will learn what they need to know when they need to know it.

Radical unschoolers carry this philosophy into every facet of their parenting lives. They do not limit television, video games, Internet use or – my subject today – sugar.

And who am I to say they are wrong? Many kids who were radically unschooled have become tremendously happy and successful young adults. They know how to think independently, how to incorporate their creativity into everyday life and work, and how to set their own limits.

These, at least, are the radically unschooled children being written about. Who knows how many are out there floundering in front of their X-Boxes, too weighed down by cake and ice cream to make it to the front door?

You see how quickly I turn sarcastic. I can see how Radical Unschooling, in the right hands, could be a wonderfully freeing and world-rocking way to grow up. Give the kids lots of opportunities and let them choose their path. But it seems to me that in the wrong hands – unschooling in the guise of lazy parenting, for example– it could be a disaster.

So earlier this week I asked your opinion about limiting (or not) TV. And thank you for all of the thoughtful responses. Today I am coming back to ask about sugar.

While I can see myself relaxing the rules somewhat on our children’s time in front of the TV (or in our case video) screen, I truly cannot imagine letting the kids eat cake and candy all day in the hope that they will eventually get sick of it and come to me on hands and knees begging for green beans.

Excess sugar makes two out of our three kids absolutely nutty. They bounce around in a rush of giddy ecstasy for about half an hour, utterly unable to process anything you tell them, and then crash into a heaping toxic meltdown. It’s ugly.

So part of my reasoning behind limiting the kids’ sugar intake is self-preservation. But most of it is far more serious. I simply don’t believe it’s healthy. A steady diet of unlimited cookies and ice cream every day will, at least here at our house, lead to a houseful of cranky, buzzy and perhaps overweight individuals. And this, in my opinion, is no way to live.

That said, I feel like I am fairly liberal with giving the kids sweets. We bake our own desserts, mostly from the King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking Book. So yes, the chocolate chip cookies do have sugar, but they also have whole-wheat flour. The kids get half a cookie (they’re big) after meals, or perhaps a small scoop of ice cream or a popsicle, as long as they eat a sensible amount of healthy food. This is just enough to take the edge off the sweet tooth and get them to the next meal.

Most of our snacks are not sweets. We eat lots of fruit (which does have sugar, admittedly), some nuts, crackers, or non-sugar cereals.

What about you? What is your family’s sugar policy? Has anyone tried NOT limiting sweets? Does the kids’ diet eventually reach a healthy equilibrium? And if so, how long does it take?

[GreenGully]

I just don't allow excessive amounts of sugar into the house (being the one in control of the money). And I don't buy the few junk food items J likes, he must buy them with his pocket money which is $2 a week (homemade icecream from the corner store is his thing atm). He sometimes saves his money for toys (which I also don't often buy). So he is free to eat what he wants from a healthy selection (for the most part). Some things, (like chocolate milk) he finds makes him tummy sore if he has too much (and it is not the milk but the sugar that is the issue), so he has learned not to buy that anymore. If I see him eating lots of sugar I remind him about what it does to teeth (he has a v bad tooth, which is not caused by his sugar intake but I want to protect the others too) and his body. Same with food colouring, same with soy. He almost always chooses something else when I remind him of these things.

What it comes down to is that I know, and he knows, that he is in control of his body. I can't tell him what to eat or what not to. If I tried (and I have in moments of frustration) then he would explain to me that I can't tell him what to do. He knows his rights. I can however tell him my reasons and what I would like. So I influence his choices, but I do not exert control.

[Burra]

Too much sugar will eventually overload the body's ability to deal with it, leading to hyperinsulinism and probably ultimately to diabetes. The first signs are fluctuating blood sugars levels, including drops caused by too much insulin being secreted, which will cause feelings of intense hunger (I'm a sever hyperinsulin/hypoglycaemia sufferer - I know what it's like...) so no, children who are exposed to too much sugar are *not* likely to be able to reach a healthy equilibrium. Our bodies are designed to cope with an infrequent sugar intake, where it's a good thing for us to find, say, a tree full of ripe fruit and stuff our faces. That gives us the reserves necessary to cope with a dearth of fruit or other food for a while. Our bodies simply aren't designed to cope with endless sugar.

I *have* to limit sugar in the house else I'll stuff my face with it. I don't limit fruit though. At all. Even though I'm sufficiently unstable that it will unbalance my blood sugars. In fact I'm in the middle of planting up a food forest, encouraged by the sight of my son sneaking off regularly to gorge on the fruit of an abandoned strawberry tree. Kids don't need sugary snacks, and they are unnatural and harmful. Filling the house with them is so they can stuff their faces is just plain irresponsible. I don't think you can fill the house with them and then restrict them, that's crazy. Just don't buy them, or only buy them occasionally.

I liked the advice in the Jackie French book I just read - always buy a fruit tree for a child's birthday.

Your description of how two of your three children respond to sugar - bounce around in a rush of giddy ecstasy for about half an hour, utterly unable to process anything you tell them, and then crash into a heaping toxic meltdown is a classic description of insipient blood sugar problems. First of all the tissues begin to lose their sensitivity to insulin. The pancreas is already not responsive enough to churn out the right amount of insulin fast enough, so the blood sugar rises, causing the 'rush of giddy ecstasy', then finally the pancreas goes into overdrive and churns out waaaay too much in an all out effort to get things under control and the blood sugar drops, creating the ugly toxic meltdown, usually accompanied by demands for more sugar as the body *knows* that it's blood sugar needs topping up.

We also make our own ice cream, using soy milk, cocoa powder and fruit juice whizzed up in a blender. Just keep whizzing while you drop in slices of frozen banana and keep dropping slices in until it turns to ice-cream. No added sugar required.

[Ayla]

Your description of how two of your three children respond to sugar

It's the blog author's (Pam Dolan's) children, not mine ;)

[Sarasvati]

We definitely limit sugar in this house. Kira used to eat quite a lot (my baked stuff, not sweets) and so did I, but when I went on GAPS she had virtually none the whole time. I've allowed it to creep back but we can always tell when she's had it and I will be limiting it more now I can see how noticeable the change is. We don't RU TV either though.

[Burra]

It's the blog author's (Pam Dolan's) children, not mine ;)

Doh, my brain hurts. I should have pointed out that Burra means 'dumb ass woman'... :oops

[Ceres]

I generally don't have sugary foods in the house, except if we've made biscuits or something (but even then they're pretty damn healthy). I don't object to him having the odd icecream or chocolate when we're out, but if it's not in the house, he can't go overboard with it.