We’ve turned our children into Cheezit-hoarders. It was
quite by accident. In general I’m opposed to Cheezits, partly because of their
addictive quality which I came to know first hand when I was freshly out of
college and in charge of my own food budget for the first time. I ate them by
the boxfuls. It was quite uncontrollable, and I was young and clueless. My main opposition to Cheezits now comes from the fact that they are a processed food of
epic proportions. Read the label if you don’t believe me. And while you’re at
it, notice the salt content and the hydrogenated oils. There truly isn’t much
good in Cheezits. But I completely understand they taste good. That said, my
children and I had to come to terms in regards to the number of boxes of
Cheezits I would provide on a weekly basis.
For several years now, the three boxes of processed snack
food a week (primarily Cheezits, but sometimes goldfish or whale crackers) has been
our bottom line. But as they all are in or approaching their teens, their
appetites have increased. So has their mistrust of their siblings’ fair
consumption of the Cheezits. Fights began to break out and nasty comments about
who was eating how much were flung about. When my kids were little and fought
over a toy I would always take the toy, place it on top of the refrigerator,
and say, “If you’re going to fight about it, then I’m going to get rid of it.”
That would settle that. But life, apparently, can’t go on without Cheezits. And
all of them can reach the top of the fridge now.
