At Primary school my best friend was Sally she was petite and beautiful I was fat and clumsy. Sally dressed in modern short dresses with different coloured sandals; her hair moved gracefully and never looked a mess. Each of her outfits had a hair band to match she was perfectly decorated. My clothes were second hand they came from my cousin in Canada where the dress code for children was different so I often looked out of place. I stood out like an extra terrestrial I really wanted to hide away but my strange clothes meant I was always on display ‘a freak’. My hair never behaved itself so my mother put in up in a tight bun every day, the hair grips that kept it in place hurt my head so much so that I felt my face would stretch under the strain and remain that way but I never complained because it was futile the bun would be there the next day whatever.

 Although Sally’s mother worked at the school every day as a dinner lady Sally always went home to lunch, she went to her Aunt’s house where she had exactly what she liked to eat. On her return to school she always brought with her two bars of chocolate or a packet of fruit gums she always had two. She never shared them with me and I never expected her to. Sally was perfect and I wasn’t she deserved sweet rewards and I didn’t. 

The children of the early sixties treated sweets as a luxury; they were in your stocking at Christmas and were gulped down immediately for fear that they might disappear. Lemonade and coke a cola and other sugar drinks were again just for Christmas and birthday parties we never had them throughout the year. Sally on the other hand had whatever she wanted all year round. Sally’s mother would sometimes invite me to tea and I relished and devoured the feast of high carbohydrate high sugar foods. My mother never invited Sally to our house just as well because I’m sure she would not have been impressed with our frugal diet of plainly cooked meat and boiled vegetables. A rich tea biscuit just one with a cup of tea was a treat in the evening before bed.

I lost touch with Sally when we went to secondary school I got a scholarship to a private grammar school and Sally went to a secondary modern. I never remember her congratulating me and I never expected her to. 

I am now a grandmother and thankful that I was not subjected to the onslaught of sugar from a young age, I’m glad it was only for special occasions. I look around me and I see a world of Sally’s and parent s with absolutely no insight to the damage a high sugar diet can do to their children’s health. Or perhaps like Sally’s mother they feel that this constant rewarding with sugar is an act of love. 

It is very interesting how our attitudes towards food have changed, specifically surrounding sugar. 

Beverley, I found your point about how your views have changed now that you are a parent; very interesting! It also appears that our parents were not as focused on sugar as being an issue!

Do other people feel the same? If so why do you think this is? 
Also from a teachers perspective can you see a shift in parents attitudes surrounding the foods they eat?