Score one for the grandmother....

For many years I have struggled with getting my darling grandson, who recently turned 7, to eat a bit healthier and to try new foods. Mostly to little avail. I'm proud to report that yesterday afternoon I felt like I had won the lottery with him. Yesterday was the first day of school, he started 2nd grade, which is pretty exciting. He spends most afternoons at my house once school is out, so he was here. Now, here's the thing, I love my daughter-in-law (well, ex daughter-in-law actually), and I think she does a great job, except when it comes to food. Due to the fact that she has the worst eating habits of anyone I've ever met in my entire life, my grandson has inherited those habits. I am constantly at war with trying to change his eating patterns, and we have made headway. So back to yesterday. I was getting his snack for school today ready, (I try to do that so I can get him to eat a healthier snack), and yesterday when I asked him what he'd like for snack, he said "I don't care grammy, just pick a healthy snack. Woo hoo. So I did, we made a bowl of fresh green and red grapes and filled his bottle with water (his choice). Then he said he would like to take lunch to school instead of getting it in the cafeteria. So together we made a peanut butter and strawberry jam (homemade, no sugar) on whole grain bread, cut some pears and he picked a LaraBar for his treat. I was incredibly proud of his choices and reminded him of what all those choices would do for his body. He went home and all was great. This morning his mom had to go to work early, so I got him off to school. As soon as his mom left, he said, "grammy, momma  added another snack to my bag and I told her that you already made my snack, but she didn't listen, so can you just take it out", so I looked in his bag and she had added a bottle of Hawaiian Punch and a snack cake. Sugar and more sugar. Not wanting to go against his mom I asked him if he was sure he didn't want that, he said no just take it out, I don't feel good at school when I eat that. So I took it out. Tell me why, anyone would rather a child eat sugar laden snacks and drinks than the healthier things that he clearly wanted? Can anyone explain this? I don't want to get into power struggles with her, but I want my grandson to have the healthiest chance he can at life. His mom is severely overweight and I don't want that for him. It's not that I'm completely against treats for my grandson, because I'm definitely not. I just think they need to be treats and not habit, and I think they need to be thought out and not just processed sugar filled junk. I'm so proud of him that he today he made great choices and I try to reinforce those behaviors. Whenever I try to discuss his eating with his mom she says "well it's better than eating nothing at all, and it's all he will eat"....I've tried to tell her that he will eat other things, especially if there is no option, but for some reason she will not listen. Does anyone else out there have these struggles, and if so, how do you deal with it? For now I will just continue to talk to my grandson about what different foods do for the body and the benefits of healthier foods vs. the problems with processed, sugary foods. For one day at least, we succeeded, now on to the next.