Over-Controlling Mum?

I got a shock yesterday when I went to pick up Sam from childcare & found him munching on - of all things - a prawn cracker. I was so stunned, I didn't dare ask the teacher why Sam was eating such an unhealthy snack. I was afraid I would have sounded too harsh & unreasonable, and should that offering be from a parent, instead of the teacher, it would have been rather embarassing.

So by this morning when I'm able to blog about this topic sensibly, I was thinking more along the lines of "am I being too paranoid?" instead of "how to stop my son from eating unhealthy foods?". After all, I'm an avid snacker myself. Though only God knows the lengths I've gone to to prevent my son seeing me eat potato chips, chocolates & potato chips.

So why on earth should I try stopping my son from eating all the 'interesting' foods???? I might as well enjoy sharing the snacks with him, right, just as my own mother does with me. The thing is, my mummy didn't start fighting with me over bags of potato chips till I was in adulthood, earning sufficiently to support our eating habits.

Sam is only 3 years old, and usually refuses to eat vegetables & fruits. I've a hard enough time trying to get him eat balanced meals so that I won't have to resort to popping more health supplements into him (already he's eating Vit C tablets). I don't want to affect his appetite with all these junk foods. Already I'm compromising by reducing his dinner portions (by 2 spoonfuls) so that he could eat his fav biscuits or ice cream as a reward for completing the meal.

And for that matter, surely there're healthier snacks than prawn crackers????? I'm not even talking about raisins (believe me I've tried, but Sam just spat out the raisins after giving them a good chew), or similarly healthy snacks all the magazines I read agree to be good for children. I'm talking about snacks with some kind of nutrients inside them: flavoured breakfast cereals such as CoCo-Crunch, chocolate-flavoured oatmeal balls (from Quaker), Hi-iron/calcium biscuits, candy laced with vit C & made with fruit juices. With such choices in the market, why do people like my in-laws still want to buy gummies with nothing in them except sugar & artificial flavourings??????

Am I being too uptight over a minor matter??????????