Ask 10 moms what you get when you mix their kids with a big dose of sugar, and I bet you’ll get 10 responses on the same theme: hyperactivity. It’s a parenting theory on par with gravity!
So imagine my surprise when I read this article in the British Medical Journal, which says that sugar does NOT cause hyperactivity in children. To say it another way: sugar didn’t cause behavioral changes in kids. Rather, the studies they cite instead found that it is the parents whose behavior changed. They found that when they told a parent that their child was eating sugar, the parent would then begin to rate their child as more hyperactive (regardless of the actual sugar content of the food.) Oops.
Anyway, Happy Holidays, I’m off to go bake cookies. ;^)
(Hat tip to the Working Parents Blog for this info.)
I believe family is the foundation of who we are as people and as a culture, and helping improve family lives is my calling and my passion. My top priority is helping you manage behavior more effectively while preserving your parent-child relationship, either with one-on-one coaching or through my online offerings.
