Little Sugar Addicts

My daughter used to have explosive rages, they were unpredictable and way beyond my ability to control or reason through.  During her rages she was very aggressive, and I was her target. 

I hated it. I felt abused, resentful and like my life was totally out of control.  I was ashamed that somehow this was my fault, that I was a bad parent, that I should fix it…I just didn’t know how to make it better even though I desperately wanted to.   

In those days I was always paying attention to what her mood was. If it was good I would give a big sigh and relax, if it was bad I felt my stomach clench up in fear and I would walk on eggshells, waiting for the inevitable explosion. Read more........

My son was not quite three when he started screaming.  He would scream when I tried to talk to him.  He would scream instead of answering my questions.  The anger and frustration rolled off of him in almost visible waves as he stood, tensed, arms at his sides balled into fists, tendons sticking out of his neck, just screaming his lungs out at me.  Sometimes there seemed to be a reason and sometimes there wasn’t.  I just never knew what would set him off.

Eventually the screaming stopped and the antisocial behavoir began.  According to his preschool teachers, he avoided circle time and was defiant, doing only what he wanted to do.  Read more.......

When Clara was a baby I knew about sugar sensitivity and wondered if she was or wasn't sugar sensitive. I knew I was, and I knew her older sister Emma was. I hoped that Clara had escaped the wrath of the sugar-sensitive biochemistry. As she got older and her diet expanded and included more variety (including sugar), I looked for the signs that I thought I knew: hurt/sensitive feelings, cravings, withdrawals. 

I didn't see them...I thought her biochemistry was different! (At the time, I was trying, failing, and trying again to move through the steps myself. Sugar was still in our lives.) Read more..