This is a great post. I have a young child, and was the protective food mom for the first few years of her life. HFCS, processed food, junk, never graced the lips of my beautiful baby! Enter the Pre-school years. Prepare yourself for the shock. I think I had a disgusted/shocked look on my face the first few months of her school life. I viewed what was being served as snack (a highly educated-parent driven co-op btw) Birthday treats that will make your head spin (think Ralph’s brand cupcakes with crazy 3 inch frosting, Candy bars, Vitamin water *yes for a 3 year old snack day) I could go on and on. (To the point, I almost considered not having her go) The deal is, Jennifer above said it perfectly. You do not have to really be one or the other. At our house we talk about interesting choices, growing food (good one) not putting any label of good or bad on something–those “foods” are everywhere. We live on a planet that is inundated with junk.

We expose her to lovely food on a daily basis. We radiate health and wonderful organic food at home, (I own an organic culinary nursery and design studio–so she is around vegetables growing out in her very own garden, and people coming to my studio who are craving how to grow their own food) and I hope that it starts working out in the wash when she becomes able to make choices on her own. (I do not consider a cupcake put on a plate in front of her at preschool a real choice) I am more interested with the Psychology of Eating (Marc David) and how we navigate our choices based on how we feel. We are helping her have a loving relationship with not only food, but herself also. You will do perfectly! I am sure of it!

My daughters (both 8) surprise me sometimes with how much they have internalized my opinions and preferences. One daughter seemed so terrified of soda earlier this year, it actually worried us! We decided to coax her to try a sip once, so she’d know what it was and understand it was not forbidden, just discouraged, and know why.

To help them learn to self-regulate in the face of junk food, lately we gave each child their own small treat jar, where they can store their favorite pieces of candy (such as those Halloween or Valentine’s treats they didn’t choose to sell back to us). We told them they didn’t have to ask us whether it was alright to take a treat from their jar — it’s theirs, and up to them to decide how/when to eat it (within reason). I recently checked and saw that one daughter’s jar still had a fair amount.

To address the fact most kids eat a whole host of junk food my daughters have never been exposed to, we’ve also recently initiated a new-moon tasting ritual, where the kids get to choose one food item they’ve heard about but never tried before, and we’ll share it on the new moon. (This month’s choice was chocolate pudding, something one of their friends eats at school almost every day for lunch, and which my daughters had never once tasted.)

The important part, in my opinion, is that my children understand the reasons for and internalize the preference for good-for-you foods. Berries disappear in our house much faster than candy does, so i think they’re on the right track.

Good luck to you! I’m sure that in no time your little one will be eschewing the candy jar for favorite fruit.