Food and Drink.

Chocolate milk drives me crazy. It’s everywhere, and for some reason many parents seem to believe that the only way their child will drink milk is if it’s flavored (most often with chocolate, but strawberry and banana are out there, too). Both the girls are given the choice at school between chocolate and white milk, and I know they often choose the chocolate. I’ve tried to encourage them to choose the white milk more often, simply because it contains fewer calories and fat than the flavored counterpart. I’m no dummy – I know that this is unlikely because who would turn down chocolate milk (it really can be yummy), but I feel when it comes to empty calories and unnecessary sugar it’s at least worth a shot.

Knowing that they’re drinking chocolate milk at school, when we occasionally go out to dinner I (attempt to) make them choose white milk or water. (I’m not a food Nazi or anything, but this is how Americans get/got fat: taking in too many empty calories and expending too few. There’s nothing wrong with desserts or treats now and then, but chocolate milk at every meal is simply not necessary.)

Last Friday we knew we were going to go out to eat because of our evening plans, and the girls were looking forward to this outing after our participation in the Holidazzle parade (see previous post). When I picked Ruby up from school she informed me that at lunch and snack SHE CHOSE WHITE MILK so that she could order the chocolate milk at the restaurant. Ruby is five. She made the healthy choice.

And just now the girls were watching Arthur on PBS where the topic was nutrition. The children on the show were asked to pick what one food item they would take with them if stranded on an island. I asked the girls what they would want in that situation, and here are their choices, with absolutely no prompting from me:

Cici: Mango.

Ruby: Brussels sprouts.

My kids RULE.