I'll admit it.  Between my husband and my son, there has been quite a bit of cookie consumption in the last week.  When I ask Ethan what he would like for lunch, he yells "Coooookiiiieeeessss!"  It is never a good sign when your child thinks that cookies can make up an actual meal.  So what can I do to get them back on the road to healthy eating?

• Don't stress.  It was fine to have a little cookie anarchy over the holidays.  Life is too short to be policing the kids all the time about eating right.  Just accept that perhaps a little too much sugar was consumed but that alone does not make for long-term bad habits.  Even if you were on your game and someone else (perhaps an older, more accommodating person) was pumping your children full of candy or sweets, all is not lost.  It's OK to say that "we had a great time this Christmas and ate lots of fun food but now our bodies need to eat healthy." 
  
• Saying "no" may get you a not-so-nice reaction from the little ones, but reality is sometimes difficult.  Offering an alternative of "after you finish all your sandwich, you can have one cookie" may just be the middle ground you need to manuever through those expectations that cookies are always an option.
  
• Only offer healthy snacks.  Ethan doesn't really know what a "cookie" is exactly so I have found that offering him a pretzel may be just as pleasing to him, without all the sugar that concerns me.  Junior might not want the healthy option but it may win out over the alternative to nothing. 
  
• Put the junk food out of sight.  As the old saying goes, "out of sight, out of mind."  This works for adults who may need to step away from the sugar and get back to the asparagus.

Just a few ideas if you, like me, let the kids take over for Christmas when it came to the food department.  I'll let you know how our journey back to good eating is going.