I set this blog up a while ago, with the intention of sharing thoughts and ideas, answering questions that I get asked often, and commenting on information that comes across my daily practice of conscious health. Just in the last few days, it has become very clear to me what this may end up being about.
As a mom of a three year old, I have just recently been facing a new challenge. For pretty much 3 years, I have been raising, and feeding my daughter a variety of healthy, organic, pure foods. She is an incredibly active child, a voracious eater, has not come across a food she doesn’t like (she loves sushi, smoked salmon, even caviar). She loves fresh salads, with sprouts, veggies, and organic meats.
Yet this is now changing.
I’m now being faced with what I feel is a constant uphill battle, on a daily basis.
Within a matter of a few months (as she spends less and less time with me as she’s in school, and with her dad) she has been transformed into a junk food eating 3 year old, who is attracted to the bright colors, and sweet flavors, of the typical American child’s diet. Interestingly enough, in that same time frame, she has started complaining about being tired, and sleepy, much of the time. Coincidence? Not if you understand what sugar alone does to your immune system.
My point in sharing this is to bring up the discussion about “what is a parent supposed to do?” It reminds me of how I feel about smoking. If you choose to smoke, or model for your kids that it’s OK to smoke, that is your choice. However, I choose not to. So when I’m out, I don’t want to smell other people’s smoke, as it is affecting ME and my child at that point. Please don’t take away my right to breathe clean air. Yada yada yada.
Now the same thing applies to FOOD? I feed my child certain types of foods, please don’t give those foods to my child, and reduce temptation in her surroundings. And we all know what it is like when kids see other kids with something – they automatically want it.
So what is a parent supposed to do? Be a pain in the neck with all caregivers, parents of her friends, relatives, etc? Or do I just keep quiet because it’s just going to be that uphill battle. Isn’t my job as a mother to protect and nurture my child, and give her the best chance of a healthy life, teaching her proper food habits, to set her up for a strong future? At what point am I just wasting my breath, and at what point am I actually having some influence on that aspect of her life outside the home?
Which begs the question – isn’t the larger community outside of my home, also responsible for helping raise healthy kids? Shouldn’t “the village” be adding the social pressure to people who DON’T eat healthy to eat healthy, rather than the other way around?
What I’m referring to is nothing new, this is something health conscious parents have dealt with for eons.
I genuinely believe that most parents truly want their kids to be healthy, and realize junk food isn’t all that great, but that it’s not really all that bad, either. After all, good, reputable companies make these products, so they must be safe, right? I also believe that if parents really knew exactly what those foods (and chemicals) were actually doing to their child, they would think twice about feeding it to their kids.
This recent development in my own life has reignited my passion for helping raise awareness among well-intentioned parents, as to the VITAL importance of reducing the amount of junk food that our kids are exposed to. And foods, that are marketed as healthy, which really aren’t.
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