You know that mom, the one who's the president of her children's PTA, feeds her children only organic, dye-free foods, never lets her kids near candy or juice, has never turned on the television, and only buys educational toys. She enrolls her children in piano and violin lessons, takes them to the art museum regularly in her hybrid vehicle that plays only classical music. At home she tutors them after school by reading to them in Spanish and Latin on subjects such as kindness and generosity and does yoga with them in the mornings while an aromatherapy machine mists lavender scents so her children will be prepared for a perfect day in a perfect world.
That's not me. I am not that super parent and I don't want to be. I like McDonalds. I like candy. Okay, I love candy. My children have had both McDonalds and candy, and cake and I remember brownies for dessert last night and probably many other, "unhealthy" food choices over their very short lives. But they do have fruit every day. My daughter used to share a banana, but now I have to give her her own one or supplement with lots of grapes because she likes her fruit. My son likes to peel and eat tangerines and he loves juicing oranges. They both had salads for dinner last night, although hot dogs were also on the menu. So our diet isn't all unhealthy.
We give our children juice. This is apparently a hot topic these days. It seems to be a bad thing to give your child juice. "There's so much added sugar!" I hear. When I was growing up there was Koolaid. And there was a lot of it going around. It had artificial dyes and lots of sugar added in and it was best friends with two other, similar drinks, named Tang and Hawaiian Punch. Some children don't drink juice, but an entire aisle, from the front of the store to the back, is lined with all manner of juices, so someone out there is drinking a lot of juice.
At school, the children are allowed to drink water whenever they're thirsty. My husband suggested we offer water between meals and give juice or milk at mealtimes. This has turned out to work well and I like that the children can drink both.
I don't buy all organic foods. It seems to be a point of pride nowadays to say you eat only organic, some people seem a little aloof because they do (or can afford to) eat only organic. We do buy some organic, but not exclusively. We focus as best we can on balanced foods across meals and better food choices where possible.
And then there's the whole "screen time" debate of late. We've been hearing since before I was born that, "television will rot your brain" and other such comments. I don't want the television (or interactive smart devices) to be a baby sitter or fulfill a large portion of my children's waking hours, but we do allow some television and device time. From a television standpoint, I don't have a problem with short periods from time to time as long as it's an educational or age-appropriate show for occasional entertainment.
In other electronic realms, my daughter only cares about Elmo calling her on my cell phone as at sixteen months she doesn't really understand the interactivity of the iPad. My son does though, so we have it hidden, only to be brought out for special occasions (or emergency distractionary purposes.) We did some tests just before our family vacation and we realized what an incredible mental draw and time suck the iPad can be. So we save it in the hopes it will keep it's magical attention holding powers and he sees it about once a week now. Can I just say though, that when I was sick, giving him that mental pacifier was a life saver.
Behaviorally, I will admit, I'm trying very hard to be that perfect parent. It's a hell of a job not to lose your temper at a child when they're doing something like climbing into the warming drawer and inviting their sibling to get in with them; but we're learning ways to address the variety of situations you seem to find yourself in as parents.
We''re trying to do the right thing as parents; we're trying to raise happy, healthy, responsible children, but I'm not going to become an obsessive super parent and turn into a person I'm not in order to do so. I suppose we'll find out in a few decades how we did.
The Big Boy Update: Smooth shopper. We were getting a bike rack at the bike store today. To keep my son occupied, I asked him to find the prettiest bike in the store. He looked around, went over to the children's bike area and then climbed around one bike to get to the teeniest bike I'd ever seen. I helped him pull it out. It had no kick stand, no pedals and no training wheels. It was very low to the ground. He got right on and started rolling it forward. It turns out it's a trainer bike that has been touted as a better way to learn to ride than training wheels. He drove his "motorcycle" as he calls it, over to daddy and we decided to get it because it's getting warm and he loves to ride vehicles around inside and out.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: "pee pee" She the whole potty process we've established. Today she had soiled her pants so I took her up and sat her on the potty. I emptied her pants into the potty and after sitting she was happy to see results (that I had previously dumped) in the potty. She took the insert, put it in the big potty, flushed and watched it go down. Then she brought the insert back, say back down, concentrated, looked at me and said, "pee pee" and sure enough, she had. I think she just wanted to dump and flush again. Also, I didn't even know she knew the words, "pee pee."
Fitness Update: 15 miles and a weak workout. Yesterday I wanted to do a fourteen mile run. I had mapped out a new route taking advantage of some of the new greenway trail they had recently opened. I added a mile to check out some of the art museum's surrounding property and got back in one tired, sore and uncomfortable piece. I need new running shoes. They're only rated for about three hundred miles running and I was well over that. My feet told me to throw that pair out when I got in. Twelve hours later I was back at the gym and I wasn't able to do as much as normal because I was still in recovery from yesterday's run but I didn't want to miss a day.
Someone Once Said: William of Occam’s Razor. It’s the name for a principal in logic; whenever two hypotheses both cover the facts, use the simpler of the two.
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