It’s so hard to be that Mom who takes the lollypop away from my child
I have only the fondest memories of you. I can clearly envision the shul my family davened at when I was ten years old, and how I waited in anticipation for you to exit the men’s section after leining. I can picture in my mind how you shuffled out and would lovingly smile at each of us or stroke a cheek as you doled out the special treat of the day. I can only imagine how much simchah it gave you to see our eyes light up and a huge smile appear on our faces at the sight of you.
It’s been a couple of decades, and now my offspring stand in line excitedly awaiting your appearance. Then my little ones run back to me to open their treats. I quietly pilfer a bit when they do this, handing back half of a taffy, or only one lolly. Not because I still have a sweet tooth. You see, my children are sensitive to sugar. Very sensitive.
It took us a long time to make the connection between this Shabbos treat and our… non-seudah. But once we discovered that it was the lichtbentshen taffy I would give my kids that made them so hyper it could take over half an hour just to get through Kiddush and hamotzi, we put an end to that Friday night treat. But that’s at home. At shul, there’s only so long I can give my kids back half a taffy before they start to notice. And I don’t want to be the parent who doesn’t let their children do what everyone else does.
It’s not just you, Candy Man. When my children return from friends all wired and then tell me what treats they ate there, I have to remind myself that their friends’ mother doesn’t know what she’s subjecting me to when she opens the nosh cabinet and lets the kids party.
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