My neighbors' kids went to a camp this summer where anything sweet was confiscated -- even granola bars. It was also nut-free, and from what the parents told me, the kids basically ended up eating pretzels for lunch all summer. That is ... not better and he will definitely not be going to that camp.
My kid's camp allowed sweets but they did try to get him to eat other things first, which wasn't great because then he rushed eating and he has a very active gag reflex.
It's funny, this post is dovetailing for me with the previous one on whether nice white parents are having their kids have school lunch, because yesterday I sent home lunch for my kid on our new agreement that he can have it once a week and, yeah, he basically just ate the M&Ms. Which was fine yesterday because it was an early release day and his babysitter fed him some other stuff when she picked him up, and I'm glad his teacher didn't try to make him eat other things first, but when I saw his full lunchbox I did kind of say "you know, in future I don't want you to get hangry because all you've eaten is M&Ms." And I dumped his sugar snap peas and peanut butter sandwich onto a plate and put it next to him and he ate all the peas, because he actually loves those things. My basic thing is I don't enormously care how many treats he has, but I want him to also get some other things.
I think one universal truth about kids and lunch/any meal is there are just going to be days where they only eat the M&Ms. And the answer isn't to ban the M&Ms, or insist they eat the other things first or otherwise micromanage the experience -- it's just to roll with it, and know another eating opportunity is coming soon, just as you did!
My neighbors' kids went to a camp this summer where anything sweet was confiscated -- even granola bars. It was also nut-free, and from what the parents told me, the kids basically ended up eating pretzels for lunch all summer. That is ... not better and he will definitely not be going to that camp.
My kid's camp allowed sweets but they did try to get him to eat other things first, which wasn't great because then he rushed eating and he has a very active gag reflex.
It's funny, this post is dovetailing for me with the previous one on whether nice white parents are having their kids have school lunch, because yesterday I sent home lunch for my kid on our new agreement that he can have it once a week and, yeah, he basically just ate the M&Ms. Which was fine yesterday because it was an early release day and his babysitter fed him some other stuff when she picked him up, and I'm glad his teacher didn't try to make him eat other things first, but when I saw his full lunchbox I did kind of say "you know, in future I don't want you to get hangry because all you've eaten is M&Ms." And I dumped his sugar snap peas and peanut butter sandwich onto a plate and put it next to him and he ate all the peas, because he actually loves those things. My basic thing is I don't enormously care how many treats he has, but I want him to also get some other things.
I think one universal truth about kids and lunch/any meal is there are just going to be days where they only eat the M&Ms. And the answer isn't to ban the M&Ms, or insist they eat the other things first or otherwise micromanage the experience -- it's just to roll with it, and know another eating opportunity is coming soon, just as you did!