I was reading my sister's blog, and I was going to respond, and then I thought I would really get out there and add my two cents to her two shekel and see where it gets us.
My sister wrote on her blog about food, and the push for better nutrition. I won't repeat verbatim what she said but she summed up, in my opinion, that she felt pressure it isn't good enough to home-bake something, it has be whole wheat this, fresh from the farm this, and if it isn't you are eating junk. She felt like she got a lot of pressure form people as to how and what she feed her family. I agree with her that the pressure is there.
We both agree that people with food allergies and other issues, like celiacs disease, have to watch what they are eating-constantly. My 9 months as a "dairy avoider" taught me much and people with food issues for whatever reason face a lot of difficulties. They are excluded from the following rant.
Feeding our children has turned into a battlefiled on par with where we send our children to school. Do we home-school? Daycare? Send them to slave drivers? Do you bake at home? Use fresh produce? Feed your kid nothing but preservatives and lead from China? 100 years ago lard was a popular ingredient in everything. Give your kid a candy bar today and you get the cross-eyed look that you must not really care about your child. I manage to give Asa something fresh almost everyday. Fruit, vegetables-something that came from a tree or the ground within the last few months. I never give him pop, eat again after dinner, and I watch his candy intact like a hawk. We push the beans, super watered down juice, and dairy products like some type of dealer. I also give him sugar cereals, noodles and bread bought from a store, and dried fruit. Turn me into child services.
Feeding your child, like everything else we do as parent, should be done to the best of our ability and within a parameter that is fun and educational. I don't want Asa growing up thinking broccoli is a weapon of torture. And I also don't want him growing up thinking that the four food groups include chips, cookies, twinkies, and ketchup as a vegetable. We as parents need to support each other as we do our best to make informed decisions. We are all in the same leaky boat of parenthood and most of us are getting by on little sleep, a lot frustration, a hell of a lot of love, and the willingness to do right by our child. Isn't that enough?
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4 comments:
Yup...I'm sure that we "do it all wrong", too. For sure we don't home-school for the "right" reasons, we buy the cheaper "non-organic" fruits and veggies, we let the kids drink pop sometimes, we eat fast-food...guess you'd better call child services on us, too.
Hey Dena,
I totally understand and sympathize with your frustration. I read your sister's entry that you referred to and responded to it. Check it out. I hope my thoughts aren't too jumbled.
Jill
I am so honored that you devoted a whole blog space in response to me! I am obviously in total agreement with what you wrote! Although I am not necessarily peer pressured into the things I do, I find it comical that there is this great "food war" out there! We are sitting here eating raw cookie dough as I write this and kids are in bed! Shhhh don't tell the health food police!
Moderation is the key baby!! I am not particularly fond of the food police and I use to "be one!" The thing I always found frustrating was peoples all or nothing menatality, "I can't ANY sugar!" Uh, ok ifyou want to be miserable feel free, personally i am going to have my MODERATE chocolate a night... which amounts to 3-4 candy bars right?
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