Like most parents, I have one particular child which stands out from the rest. The mainstream word for him is “strong willed” but we prefer to call him “spicy”.  He is 5 years old and has been going strong in his terrible two’s for almost 3 years.  To say this little guy has been “challenging” would be understatement. Before he came along I felt pretty confident and down right puffed up about my parenting skills. However, confrontations with him and his behavior, more than once brought me to my knees, locked in a dark bathroom crying out to God for guidance.

Well, God did answer my prayers in the most unusual and surprising way! Since the old stand-by ways of discipline (which worked beautifully, I might add on my other children) was not very effective on this little trooper, I was forced to come up with some alternative and creative ways to deal with his behavior. Little did I know, the answer to my prayers on how to control this out-of-control child, was about to be revealed as a result of this creative discipline.

It all started with me disciplining him for unkind words which he often times screamed at his siblings when he didn’t get his way. I told him that since the words coming out of his mouth were not “sweet”, nothing “sweet” would be going in either. Due to his strong willed nature, he would be grounded from sugar (which entailed ANYTHING sweet with the exception of fruit), for several days at a stretch. About 2 weeks into this form of discipline, my husband and I noticed a change in him. We were sitting in the living room talking about how calm he was and how he hadn’t been acting crazy and out-of-control in our recent memory. That is when the light bulb went off and we made the connection to his behavior and sugar. His little body was responding to sugar like a drug!

My son has been  off of sugar for most of the year now. Since that time, his behavioral problems have decreased so drastically that friends and relatives say he seems like a different person. My sister made the comment recently that she really never knew his personality until he got off of sugar. Before then, it was a constant barrage of screaming, crying and bouncing off the walls. He is still our “spicy” child and will require more work than our other children. However, his life and our families will be much more peaceful and fruitful as a result of God answering our prayers by revealing this truth.

• No eye contact
• Body stiff and jerky
• Temper tantrum over nothing!
• Rambling words

•  Cuddle
• Read (He learned quickly once he could concentrate on the page)
• Look people in the eye
• Talk slowly
• Deal with life better