I'm a human garbage disposal and it's not good. I've found that trying to limit a child's intake of sugar can lead to an increase in one's own calorie count.

This morning at Whole Foods, I saw a plastic container of gum drops -- $5.99 for a tub of perhaps 40 gum drops -- and I immediately thought of my son, who, for some unknown reason, has been asking about gum drops lately. (Oddly, he hasn't asked about any other century-old candy treats.)

I passed them up because while I'm OK with him trying these almost certainly pure sugar drops, I don't want 40 of them in the house. Because one of two things will happen:

He will eat all of them or I will eat all of them. Both choices are unacceptable. Neither of us needs to eat gum drops on a regular basis.

But I often find myself boosting my own caloric intake in an ongoing effort to limit his sugar buzz. It's a good thing he doesn't have a taste for pure lard or fois gras.

A cookie at Alterra? Sure, but it's huge, so we have to split it. Custard at Kopp's? Yes, but even the small is too large for a toddler, so I'm often nipping into his when he's not looking, to help him get to the end faster.

Of course, none of this is his fault. After all, he'd be more than happy to oblige and finish the entire cookie.

This can't be good for me. But on the other hand it seems terrible to take half the cookie and toss it in the trash. Lately, thanks to my wife -- who is much smarter than me -- we've started taking the other half of the cookie home for the next day.

But that doesn't work as well with ice cream, does it?