Marshmallows in the Safe

You may wonder why we keep our marshmallows in the safe. The answer is simple, really. If anyone in the family wants to have marshmallows to put in our hot chocolate on a cold winter day, we have to hide them from Levi. We've tried lots of hiding places--on a high kitchen shelf, under the dresser in my bedroom, in my closet. No matter where we put them, Levi finds them and eats them all. Or, even worse, he eats half of them and puts the open bag under his bed for later, only to find that they have gone the way of all marshmallows left in the open air: they've turned into very sweet rocks.

So, the best place for our family supply of marshmallows is in the safe. That's also where we keep the chocolate and the yogurt raisins.

You see, some kids with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) have an extreme craving for sweets. Levi is proof of that. But, in addition, his doctors have recommended that he limit his consumption of sugar in hopes of preventing more mental health diagnoses as he gets older. So we dole out the sweets in small amounts.

Levi has gotten to the point that he sometimes suggests that we put his candy in the safe so he can enjoy it, a piece or two at a time, for several days. He loves to eat a small handful of yogurt raisins after school every day. And one of his doctors has suggested that he eat dark chocolate on a regular basis, so we keep that in the safe, too, so Levi can enjoy eating a reasonably-sized portion once in a while.

Whenever someone gives Levi a candy bar, he always offers to share it with me or another family member. He is generous with his candy, except during those times when he is feeling stressed, or in the middle of the night, when he just can't sleep. As Levi says, "Did you know that the night is just as long as the day? If I'm awake, I get hungry!" It's during those times of minimum supervision, when the rest of the family is asleep, that Levi just can't control his craving for sweets.

Levi is beginning to understand his limits, and so are we. So, we never put candy out in a candy dish and, even though I love to eat refrigerated chocolate, I'm resigned to taking my chocolate out of the safe to eat it at room temperature. It's certainly better than no chocolate at all.

But don't worry, there is plenty of healthy food on hand for Levi to eat whenever he is hungry!

Now, about the lock box in the fridge... That's where we keep the cheese sticks. We started that habit when Levi was diagnosed with a milk allergy. Unfortunately, he loved cheese sticks, and was known to sneak downstairs in the middle of the night to devour a whole bag of his favorite Colby Jack cheese sticks. That caused all kinds of allergy symptoms, not to mention certain undesirable digestive issues. So, since the rest of the family didn't want to do without cheese, we started keeping the cheese sticks in a lock box in the refrigerator cheese drawer.

Even though Levi has recently outgrown his milk allergy, we still keep the cheese sticks in the lock box, because he still isn't quite able to resist eating a whole bag of his formerly forbidden favorite food. We have instituted a family rule of only two cheese sticks a day. So, whenever Levi or grandson, Tobin, wants a cheese stick, I punch in the combination to the safe to retrieve the lock box key. Then, I can open the lock box in the fridge, and pass out the cheese sticks.

Oh yes, that's another thing we keep in the safe--the key to the lock box. And the key to the freezer. Did I mention that Levi loves ice cream, too?