The Good Mother

Hmmm, what could she possibly be writing about....Well, today's it's about Honey Nut Cheerios versus Lucky Charms. Also known as "Be Careful What You Teach Your Children."

You see, when I had my children, I was determined that I would be a Good Mother and not poison them with high sugar (and delicious!) cereals that I grew up on - Captain Crunch, Lucky Charms, and Sugar Pops (it's got the word sugar in it!) to name a few. So at first I fed my girls plain Cheerios. They not like that very much and we put sugar on it anyway. Then we discovered Honey Nut Cheerios (we tried Multigrain but they liked Honey Nut better - I wonder why..) I can't tell you how much Honey Nut Cheerios we've eaten at $4 a box!!

So I take my HN Cheerios-addicted daughter with me to the grocery store the other day. We get to the cereal aisle.
Daughter: "Mom, why can't we get fun cereals?"
The Good Mother: "Because they're not good for you and have too much sugar."
Daughter: "Oh yeah! Let's compare." And she proceeds to compare the calories, fat, sugar, and carbs. "See mom, Lucky Charms is actually lower in all of them than HN Cheerios."
The Good Mother: Now I'm starting to shake. "That can't be. There must be some category HN Cheerios is better in." But we can't find one. Then I decided to go to my old stand-by.
The Good Mother: "Well, surely it's more expensive. Let's look at the unit cost. (another Good Mother lesson to her daughter) Oh, it's 26 cents compared to 24 cents. Hmm. Not much of a difference."

So, alas, I have no choice but to let her get Lucky Charms (secretly, I couldn't wait to sneak down at midnight and dig into the box myself).

At least this Good Mother can be proud that she taught her children how to read the nutrition labels. I hope she doesn't ask me for Captain Crunch next time.