ENOUGH with Birthday Land already!!!

Today, my daughter's class celebrated the 5th birthday in as many days. Yikes - she's beginning to think that cake is part of the food pyramid! Afterall, "all the mommies are bringing in cake... it can't be junk, mom!" I went from having a kid at the start of school who had cake a couple times a year. Now, she's convinced she has the meanest mother in the entire world because I don't serve it up on a daily basis! Gimme' a break!

These poor little kids' adrenal glands are taking quite a beating in the last few weeks of school! Days are longer and are filled with class parties, field trips, recognition & awards events, field days... all complete with plenty of "treats" - ie. JUNK! How did we ever come up with the commonly accepted notion that things so blatantly bad for us should be considered "treats"??? How strange! "Honey, since you've been SO good, here's some neurotoxic poison, although delicious, it's known to destroy your health. It directly contributes to obesity, every deadly disease of lifestyle like cancer, diabetes and heart disease, it will harm your immune system and lead to a chronic underlying state of inflammation. Enjoy it sweetie - you're such a great kid!"

Hey, I'm all about sampling some delicious goodies (I don't think I've ever met a truffle I didn't like!) ... BUT, you know my stance on that! Health comes first. Period. When we choose 'treats' we shouldn't confuse that with healthy choices... or as a reward. It's simply a choice - maybe a social choice, for example. Remember that health comes from regularly making choices that are sufficient and pure. Birthday cake is rarely either

I half-jokingly suggested to the teachers that on the day a birthday is being celebrated in class, we could serve some organic raw veggies and fruit first! The laughter was deafening! Really though, as moms, we could move in this direction. If we know our kids are going to have sweets or junk at some point in the day, we can make sure that their other meals and snacks are much healthier choices. At the very least, give 'em lots of water to drink so they can get rid of all those toxins more easily!

The messages directed at kids are strange and confusing enough these days. As moms, we can make this one much more clear for them!