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It's 7:30 p.m. Monday night, and I'm wondering, "How can so many people be SO-OOO wrong?"

It was a day that no expert in child rearing would endorse. I can't remember what we had for breakfast (did we even have breakfast?). All I remember is rolling out of bed and landing in front of the lawnmower. Five-year-old Katie landed beside me and 4-year-old Nikki joined us when she could finally open her eyes without struggle. They spent their morning playing hard in the sun.

A shower and a bath later (no time for lunch), we were in downtown Craig, enjoying the plethora of activities that accompanied the Grand Olde West Days festivities.

For me, that meant people, talk and laughter.

For the girls, it meant lunch that consisted of a snow cone with a side of funnel cake. For dessert, they dipped their fingers into straight powdered sugar and licked it off. Several people enjoyed watching them -- white stuff in their hair, on their faces and coating their clothes -- while they dragged all 10 fingers through the sugar pile.

None moved to stop them.

Why would they? What could be so bad about a snack that has only 10 calories per teaspoon and zero grams of fat? And any dieter experimenting with the Atkins or South Beach plans would be thrilled by the sweet sensation of a mere two carbs per serving.

But, mothers already know what's in the fine print on the nutrition label: "not a significant source of fat, protein, fiber, potassium, iron, calcium, Vitamin A, Vitamin C" or any other vitamin for that matter.

Even more, mothers know what pure sugar does to children. We've heard the horror stories. We've made the connection (or tried to make ourselves believe there was a connection) between the 3 p.m. candy bar and the 7:45 p.m. tantrum.

I know the rhetoric. So, when I saw their white-ringed mouths and glazed eyes, I only waited one, maybe two, minutes before stopping their indulgence.

After a couple of laps up and down the street, stopping for a bounce in the castle, four trips down the giant slide and a train ride (they say the experience is priceless, it equaled about $1 a minute), we headed east to the carnival.

At that point, I was ready to call it a day, but no-ooo. For some reason, the girls had plenty of energy.

Three hours, eight stuffed animals and more rides than I can count later, I forced two kicking and screaming kids into the car.

By 7:30 p.m., in the middle of cooking a nutritious dinner (really, I thawed vegetables) both girls fell sound asleep.

That's when I sat down and thought, "How can so many people be SO-OOO wrong?" Two children, over stimulated by activity and food, did not equal disaster. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Hey, I don't care what the experts say, I'm ready to fully endorse anything that has my children asleep at 7:30 and keeps them sleeping through the night. They didn't even wake up long enough to crawl into my bed.

At 7 a.m. Tuesday, while comforting two cranky girls with very upset stomachs, I realized that so many people weren't wrong. Just one.