I’m a mom of 2 adolescents, and raising them as intuitive eaters, so I allow many different foods into our house. One food I’m struggling with is chocolate syrup. I’m okay buying ready-made chocolate milk- and do so frequently! But my kids want the syrup so they can add as much as they want to milk. I’m just not comfortable with this! What do you suggest?
Bracha’s Bite:
This is such a great and nuanced question! On the one hand you’re okay with chocolate milk and gladly give it to your kids. But on the other hand, there’s still some hesitation and discomfort around letting them have “too much.”
I have 3 points about this:
1. Taste is personal
A store made chocolate milk may not be chocolatey enough for your adolescents!
2. Kids need the opportunity to fail before they can succeed
Yes, they may use too much syrup, but until they’re given access to it, they won’t have the ability to figure out how much is “the right amount.”
3. Only the individual knows how much they need to eat at a given time
Chocolate syrup is essentially sugar and thus calories. So they may need more calories at a given time than you think! Pairing this syrup with full fat milk provides sustained energy for your growing adolescents!
Read this post for more tips for normalizing sugar in your home.
While you don’t need to buy the syrup, doing so will help your adolescents habituate around it and get more comfortable trusting themselves and their body signals.
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