Is Sneaking Fiber in Your Children's Diet OK?

When my children were young, I could get away with sneaking in some bran in the cream puff dough. After all they loved the homemade cream puffs I whipped up especially during the holidays. They even volunteered my services for any school celebration.

Now that they are older, that trick went the way of Santa Claus, The Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy. I had to confess. They now know that being regular is not hereditary, it was the secret work of mom. It became very obvious when they went out on their own and they started having regularity problems. The answer, mom was not around sneaking in a little bran here and there.

Because I was sneaking it in, and not being honest about the importance of fiber in their diet, they grew up thinking that it was magically in their system. They did not understand why their friends were having problems and they were not.

My advice is for you to educate your children early on the importance of fiber in their diet. This way they start a good habit early in life and keep it for life. Don't make the same mistake I made. My children are now learning how important this is, and although I'm not a believer of the phrase " You can't teach an old dog new tricks", the difficulty they are having including this basic ingredient in their diet is challenging this disbelief.

You can still keep Santa, The Easter Bunny and The Tooth Fairy a mystery, but please do not add "The Fiber" in your diet to that list.