Rafael’s favorite new snack is the Goldfish crackers made from pretzels. I’d say it’s Markus’ favorite, too, but he eats most things with the same gusto, so it’s kinda hard to tell.

So when I was perusing the web last week for blog fodder (there’s only so long I can expect anyone to read entries entitled “I like meat.” and “The taste of toothpaste.” Which, speaking of, we went back to the old blue-colored Oral-B Disney Cars toothpaste over the weekend instead of the red-and-white Aquafresh Dr. Seuss toothpaste and Rafael was quite pleased. “It doesn’t taste like sour pickle!” he joyfully declared.) and I stumbled upon this article by the Associated Press. The premise was, “Kids who load up on salty meals and snacks get thirsty, and too often they turn to calorie-filled sodas.”

Apparently, a British study published recently in an American Heart Association journal determined this stunning fact. (Please read the end of that sentence with appropriate sarcasm.)

I mean, if your child is drinking lots of soda, that’s going to translate into fat on their little bodies. If you don’t realize that, I can’t help you.

The study was based on diet data from Great Britain’s National Diet and Nutrition Survey. Researchers looked at 1,688 British boys and girls — ages 4 to 18 — over a seven-day period in 1997.

They noted that the amount of salt eaten might be underestimated in the study because it did not include salt added during cooking or at the table. The researchers also found that more than half the fluids drunk by the children were soft drinks, and more than half of those were sugar-sweetened.

I by no means hold myself out to be the perfect parent; I’ve used chocolate as a bribe with my sons and I make no bones about it. And if, for one meal, Rafael wants crackers or bread with butter, fine. We just make sure he gets protein and other important nutrients in other ways during other meals. But we don’t let them drink soda.

First off, why on earth would I give my already (very) active pre-schooler and toddler sugar and/or caffeine?

We try not to drink soda much around them, but it is, I admit (head hung in shame) one of those do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do things. I mostly drink diet soda, but I don’t want them ingesting all those chemicals while their brains are still forming. It’s too late for me, but I’d like to try to avoid turning my boys into chemical dumps. And the un-diet sodas are filled with so many empty calories that I even get annoyed at Daddy when he occasionally has one.

Still, to me, the issue is not merely whether your children are eating too many salty snacks or drinking copious sugary beverages or munching on enough carrots. The issue is simple. And it is this: Are you paying attention to what your child eats? Do you make sure that over the course of a week, she is eating enough of what he or she needs and not too much of what he doesn’t?

I just know that when Rafael and Markus get thirsty from eating pretzel Goldfish, the only beverages they get to sate their thirst is water, apple juice or milk (OK, Rafael sometimes asks for seltzer, which does make him belch, but that makes both of them very happy).

Sure, food manufacturers do seem to put too much sodium in processed foods. And it is hard, sometimes to feed what really seems like a balanced, nutritious meal that’s also affordable, to your children. Especially when your son eats two spoons of oatmeal (Rafael, this morning) and declares he ate ALL his oatmeal and he’s very full now, thank you very much. Then decides he wants a yogurt and comes into the kitchen after EVERY spoonful to inform me he’s just eaten ANOTHER spoonful! (I, of course, mustered all the enthusiasm I had an exclaimed, “THAT’S GREAT! Now go eat another spoonful.”)

But, when it comes down to it, we are their parents. We can’t go around blaming the food manufacturers for all our children’s (or our own, for that matter) weight problems.

Like this doctor says, Parents are, indeed, often the “weakest link in the childhood obesity epidemic.” (By the by, here’s a pdf of a summary of the report by the Institute of Medicine about childhood obesity that the doctor in the previous link references.)

In good news, though, apparently the FDA “is taking public comment until March 28 on a consumer group’s proposal to restrict the amount of salt in processed foods, among other options,” according to that AP article. An expert in the article said parents should feed their children more fresh fruits and veggies, but don’t add salt. If anyone has any bright ideas on how to get Rafael to eat fruits other than grapes or apples or veggies other than carrots, please call me.

But to prove that I’m not totally without quality info: Check out this recent guide to proper toddler portions in USA Today.

Photo by Joe Larese/The Journal News, 1998