While we knew that age two was simply training for age three, and that three is training for the teen years (and all those other axioms about behavior which people like to throw about when they learn the age of your child) we had an inkling that Jamey's erratic and devilish behavior was being caused by something more than normal development.
What we discovered one day after a long drive (aka the Sunday nap), during which Jamey's only snack was a bag of Goldfish crackers, was that gluten renders him almost completely incapable of rational behavior. When he started acting up after returning home from the drive/nap we tried a time out. This quickly deteriorated into a complete meltdown. He was spitting, screaming, and stripping. He could not be contained to his time out corner. He could not be consoled. He was beyond all rational thought and behavior. Even when we abandoned the time out, he couldn't really calm down.
Fast forward several weeks, and we now have a child who behaves entirely different. If we screw up and give him anything with gluten in it, we don't have to read labels to find out what happened. We know by his behavior. He spits, screams and melts down.
But since we've been avoiding gluten like the plague, he is one of the sweetest three-year-olds I've ever seen. Sure, he's still three and he still behaves like a three year old, but his behaviors make sense. He's upset for a reason now, rather that completely at random.
It's hard to imagine what some parents must go through if their children are suffering in this same way, and they never find out why. So please, if you know anyone who might benefit from reading this, feel free to share this article with them. Tell them to start researching gluten and mood. Have them contact me. Just do what you can to help them so that they might enjoy their children as much as we enjoy ours.
