Sugar Rush: The Struggle Is Real

Sugar rush; a term used by parents all over the world for years.

And while one would think this is an actual condition or reaction, Wikipedia surprisingly describes it as "the UNPROVEN popular belief that consumption of sugar-containing food or beverages can lead to temporary hyperactivity."

So yes, we have penned the term and lived by it, but science says it doesn't exist.

Well dear science, I've got some proof for you!

Rewind to about a year ago, when my daughter Danielle was about a year and a half.

It was a Sunday morning at church and as per the usual, my husband's family all sit together during the service. 

This particular day, almost everyone decided they needed to bring a snack to church for Danielle. The sweet kind.

Danielle had eaten everything from sweets to marshmallows and a lollipop. 

I was not happy about this but I let it slide.

It was only a few hours later that I had realised what they had done. 

Danielle consumed all of that sugar and then refused to have her day time nap. 

She also refused to watch her favourite shows, and proceeded to roll on the floor and cry because we had no peeties (sweeties) for her.

This was absolutely shocking for my husband Ashley and I. 

Danielle had never behaved like this before. To be honest, she never really knew what having a lot of sugar was like, because we were set on not giving her loads of sweets.

I would buy her a small box of Smarties and give her only 2 Smarties every few days. She was okay with that, and I was happy knowing that I was neither depriving her nor overindulging her.

Fast forward to this weekend. We attended Ashley's nieces birthday party and all the kids, including Danielle, were given party packs.

The packs were filled with sweets, sherbets, fizzers, juice, marhsmallows and more.

On the day I told Danielle to pick 2 things out of the box that she could have over the next 2 days. She picked what she wanted and we were happy campers.

But once that was finished, she wanted more. Each time I opened the fridge, she would dash to my side to try and snatch the box of treats from the fridge.

And whenever she didn't get the treats, she would kick and sob and demand for them.

The sugar had created a monster. And me wanting her to stop with the crying and nagging, handed her the box.

Boy what a mistake I had made!

Yes she calmed down. But that later afternoon Danielle was bouncing off the walls. She could not sit still and was running and screaming around the house. 

She also began rolling on the couch and crying because I had lied that the sweets were finished. This lasted until she went to bed.

Danielle almost became violent in the sense that she wanted to hit me, and when she wouldn't get her way she would fling stuff to the ground.

This was a side of my child that I had never seen, nor liked.

And that's when I said to hell the sweets, I don't care if she cries, but she is not getting any more.

So science, I say to you, what more proof do you need? 

Danielle experienced the same effect a year a part. The same behaviour after consuming large amounts of sugar treats. 

Image Credit: Google Images

I think that's proof enough!

And to the more experienced mom's out there, thank you for the warning.

I would rather go on the basis of a so called 'old wives tale', then go through the roller coaster behaviour I experienced with Danielle.

Besides the behaviour aspects, having a lot of sugar treats contributes to childhood obesity. 

Have you experienced some sort of sugar rush with your child?

How did you deal with it?

Tell me in the comments below. :)