Oh, sugar! (an open apology to my kids)

As I was causally swooshing around the Internet, as one does from time to time, a video grabbed my attention as something that would be funny to watch.

Here it is...

...and my initial reaction as I started watching it, was to chuckle to myself. Some of the reactions are pretty funny.

Spoiler Alert: You're possibly about to stop reading and say something like "Oh shut up, stop being so dramatic, it's just some frickin' soda." And that's okay because I believe in free will, choice, open thinking, freedom of speech, freedom to choose, and all that good stuff. So... if you're about to go on a rant about my reaction, m'kay. Comments are around here somewhere, feel free to react - just try to avoid reacting without thought #lifelesson

Then it hit me.

Not long after it started I immediately started watching it differently. More in the manner of "what the actual f...!?"

Here's the thing...

Replace the soda (pop) with cocaine. Or heroin.

"Do you remember your child's first hit?

Oh, how we laughed!"

Not funny, right? Right.

Now don't get me wrong, there are levels here... I get that. It's somewhat different to compare giving your kid a sip of Coke, Pepsi, or whatever than to inject them with class A narcotics.

Your child's brain doesn't think so though. That addictive, habit-forming, needy bit. That doesn't care that it's a perfectly normal legal sugar rush that everybody is doing.

For transparency, I drink a lot of soda. A lot. Far too much. And I know it. I know what it does to me, and I know what it does to my body, my emotional state, and have done cold-turkey soda-free stints from time to time. As I write this, I know I have some Pepsi keeping cool in the fridge. I am a self-confessed and self-aware soda and coffee, addict.

Fortunately, it's not heroin, so I can take it or leave it.

Not everybody can though. For some, and especially for children who don't get to chose what's bought or given to them, it's not as easy as simply deciding not to have it. Personally, and again I get that this is not on the scale of class-A drug addiction, I have been very aware of being really unhappy when I've not had ready access to soda as-and-when I want it. And I know I've been very unpleasant to be around as a result. That's pretty shocking on reflection.

I'm not a preacher, and I'm not going to tell you what you should or shouldn't do if you have kids or are in a position where you are essentially in control of what somebody else consumes.

I would like you to think about it though.

Whether it's alcohol, drugs, nicotine, caffeine, or simply sugar... simply sugar... an addiction is never a great gift for your children.

So if I had a second chance of raising my kids again, I'd like to think I would do some things a little different. I wouldn't have started giving them soda so young because I do believe it would have been better for their health.


So... to my kids...

Sorry. I know more now than I did then, and I wish I knew more then than I did. Now go and eat & drink some wholesome, healthy, organic, and sustainable stuff... we did a fair bit of that too, mixed in with the bad stuff... do more of the good stuff. - Dad x