Since I started this unlimited sweets drawer experiment for my two-year old daughter one week ago today, I have been asking myself (and my husband) such questions as: Am I crazy? Is this a totally ridiculous experiment? Is this going to backfire on me and will Jo turn into a dessert-aholic? When I am deeply pondering such questions, I often turn to Google for answers. I wanted to learn about other parents’ experiments, techniques and results.

And guess what? There isn't much out there. (Here's an interesting page of parents' stories that covers access to both sweets and TV.) For the most part, parents have initiated these types of experiments before me, they have not been discussing it online. But thanks to Tranquil Parent readers, who have been extremely generous in sharing your personal stories (successes and failures) with me, I know that I am not a crazy parent after all!

Here is a summary of the last seven days at our house:

Day 1

I introduced the experiment to Jo and made a moderately big deal out of it. I opened the empty drawer, poured in the sweets and told her that she could eat as much as she wanted. I wished that I had been video taping this next part. When I asked Jo if she liked the drawer, her response was “Yes, I do. THANK YOU Mommy!”
Breakfast: From 7 to 9 a.m., she ate jelly beans, chocolates and lollipops. I offered her the usual toast and fruit at breakfast, but she didn’t even notice it.
Lunch: We went out for lunch, and she didn’t mention the drawer but ate a typical meal of grilled cheese, mango and pretzels.
Dinner: Her dinner chair sits right next to the sweets drawer, so she went back and forth during dinner. She would eat one black bean, go back for a few more jelly beans, taste a tomato, and dine on more chocolate.

If you start this at home and plan to include chocolate in your experiment, be sure that your dog cannot get to it! We learned that the hard way on Day 1.

Day 2

She completely forgot about the drawer! I did not mention it, and she did not remember.

Days 3-7

Jo must have been dreaming about the drawer on that second evening, because on Day 3 she woke up asking for more chocolate!

Days 3 through 7 have been pretty similar. For the most part, she still frequents her drawer all day long from early in the morning until close to bedtime. And she has been consistently eating about half of her lunches and dinners. The biggest difference is that she does not ask for any (healthier) snacks throughout the day, but grazes at the sweets drawer instead.

Throughout this entire week, she has continued to be diligent about drinking her milk. Her milk/water consumption has been identical to the previous months. And we have been brushing teeth like crazy, twice a day.

My daughter still begs to visit our garden daily. She ignores the drawer, pops on her Crocs, grabs her toddler shovel and begs for more peas, baby carrots and even plain ol’ green dill!

I think it is too early to make any sweeping conclusions about most children's behaviors when presented with this experiment, but I hope to make further predictions in my final post. All in all, I am still really happy that we initiated this experiment, and I truly don't have any regrets.

Have you tried this at home yet? Are you considering it? Keep sharing your thoughts!