I was at a kiddie party this weekend that totally proved my thesis on this one. All the little kids were sitting around the little table outside after the birthday girl had blown out her candles. And as children around the world know, after the candles it means cake time! Unless of course your mother is a nut.

So, one woman started to hand out cake and ice cream to the kids who were patiently waiting for their treat. After she placed it in front of a particular 4 or 5 year old girl, the girl’s mother comes running over “Oh, no, Debbie, oh, no!” She fluttered around holding the paper plate aloft with the sweets looking for someone to had it back to. I stared for a minute, trying to figure out what she was flapping around about. When I figured it out, I offered to take the plate from her and I gave it to my daughter.

Debbie looked forlorn as the other kids stuck their fingers in their food. She was beat down, she’d been through this before. The mom came back and handed her daughter a piece of cookie the size of half of my pinky. Ironically, Vivien ate one bite of the cake and two spoon-fulls of the ice cream and then left the table for the jumpy house. I nudged the woman who had been handing the plates out and she said, “That women is going to give her kid an eating disorder. I went to medical school and that’s what they told us, because those kids never learn to regulate their own eating.”

Food-controlling-mom wasn’t done making it a special day for her offspring, “Here, Debbie, here’s your treat,” as she placed a plate full of cut watermelon in front of sad Debbie. One mommy friend said, “She shouldn’t even take her kid to a party if she can’t have the cake. That’s the deal, kids at party get cake.” That’s what I thought.