Yesterday at swim class with the kids, I ran into a mom who is on my newsletter mailing list. She turned to me after class and confessed, "I feel SO guilty everytime I read your health tips for kids... like I'm a horrible mom!" I think I actually felt the arrow hit my heart as she spoke these words.
The last thing I want is for moms who are simply doing their best to feel guilty about their child-rearing decisions. I truly believe that moms will do whatever they feel is best for their children. The problem I plainly see is that most moms are never given enough truthful, unbiased health, nutritional and medical information to base their decisions upon. That's MY job to help fix that.
So moms, we're together on this journey. We each do what we can to give our children the best. We all experience different limitations or challenges at various points throughout mothering. Sometimes, we may not financially be able to 'swing' buying all natural insect repellant and sunscreen... BIG DEAL! Do your best in other health-related areas and let go of the guilt. You're making a choice. As long as you remember the consequences of your choices, you're on the right track for creating optimally healthy kids.
I recently had a discussion with a mom who told me she couldn't afford organic foods, let alone all the body care products I recommend. During our chat, she realized that the money she spent every week on fast food meals, "designer" coffees and soft drinks could easily pay for several improvements in her family's lifestyle choices. When I consult with parents, it's usually much easier than they think to add healthier options for their family.
Remember... this is a NO GUILT ZONE! Moms have enough on their plates... there's absolutely no room for wasting energy on useless guilt!!! So there.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Monday, July 9, 2007
Birthday Party at OUR House!
Parents, mostly moms, have asked me, "Ok, so what do YOU do for YOUR kids' birthdays???" I laugh and say, "NOTHING! There will be NO fun in our house - only strictly enforced health rules!"
My daughter celebrated a birthday last week and had a big, loud, fabulous party over the weekend. What a great time!
To keep it healthy and simple, I served a tray of organic fruit (strawberries, blueberries and red & green grapes), a tray of organic veggies (carrot sticks, cucumber wheels, broccoli and grape tomatoes -really a fruit, I know!), organic blue corn chips with organic salsa and mexicali dip, organic potato salad, organic chicken hot dogs and organic chicken brats with organic buns and condiments. For drinks we had bottled water and organic juice boxes. Since it was a very hot day, I also encouraged the kids to drink the water before they had juice. They all agreed.
We had all the aformentioned food out for a good 2 + hours before we ever served birthday cake. I watched the kids - they had several servings of fruit and veggies early on in the party. BINGO! That's all I'm lookin' for! As I've said before, if you fill up with health first (give your body what it needs to be healthy), then I say if cake is what you want... go for it! Those kids were overflowing with healthy food by the time we brought out the cake! So many of them were too full to eat even half of their cake... oh, so sad! They left a nice big piece of NON-organic, completely delicious cake for ME! Hey, I ate plenty of broccoli first!
All the parents were surprised at the party favor bags I had prepared for the kids. I just can't stand the junk that has crossed our threshold in those cute little baggies! I stuffed the gift bags with individual size bags of organic chocolate chunk cookies, organic animal crackers and organic Clif bars for kids. Sure, they got an overdose of starchy carbs... but I feel a TON better about what was going home in that bag than what I've previously seen.
The kids were lovin' it! I heard a couple dicussing their excitement and surprise by the fact that there was such a thing as "healthy" chocolate chip cookies! (I may have created some monsters!) I was stunned by the number of parents who said, "I just never even thought to give the kids something healthy in there!" Wow. My purpose in life has been reaffirmed!
My daughter celebrated a birthday last week and had a big, loud, fabulous party over the weekend. What a great time!
To keep it healthy and simple, I served a tray of organic fruit (strawberries, blueberries and red & green grapes), a tray of organic veggies (carrot sticks, cucumber wheels, broccoli and grape tomatoes -really a fruit, I know!), organic blue corn chips with organic salsa and mexicali dip, organic potato salad, organic chicken hot dogs and organic chicken brats with organic buns and condiments. For drinks we had bottled water and organic juice boxes. Since it was a very hot day, I also encouraged the kids to drink the water before they had juice. They all agreed.
We had all the aformentioned food out for a good 2 + hours before we ever served birthday cake. I watched the kids - they had several servings of fruit and veggies early on in the party. BINGO! That's all I'm lookin' for! As I've said before, if you fill up with health first (give your body what it needs to be healthy), then I say if cake is what you want... go for it! Those kids were overflowing with healthy food by the time we brought out the cake! So many of them were too full to eat even half of their cake... oh, so sad! They left a nice big piece of NON-organic, completely delicious cake for ME! Hey, I ate plenty of broccoli first!
All the parents were surprised at the party favor bags I had prepared for the kids. I just can't stand the junk that has crossed our threshold in those cute little baggies! I stuffed the gift bags with individual size bags of organic chocolate chunk cookies, organic animal crackers and organic Clif bars for kids. Sure, they got an overdose of starchy carbs... but I feel a TON better about what was going home in that bag than what I've previously seen.
The kids were lovin' it! I heard a couple dicussing their excitement and surprise by the fact that there was such a thing as "healthy" chocolate chip cookies! (I may have created some monsters!) I was stunned by the number of parents who said, "I just never even thought to give the kids something healthy in there!" Wow. My purpose in life has been reaffirmed!
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