Your Child is Obese and It’s Your Fault

Today I read a blog with this title, and let me tell you it left me fuming.

I was irritated enough I even left a comment. Maybe its because I am an angry person or maybe its because I have struggled with this fear for awhile but I am happy to say that while reading one of the commentors I found a lot of piece. But more about that later.

This blog post discussed that as parents we are responsible for our children, agreed. We are also responsible for feeding our children, again agreed. Schools should not do as much parenting as we are allowing them to do, um weird but ok I get where your going. And then she condemned all the parents out there for giving their child soda, cookies, any junk food. She then said you are what you eat so if your child is overweight/obese its because you as a parent have failed them and are making bad choices for them. She then also said if us as parents would stop and teach our children portion control they would be the appropriate healthy size. She also explained that she feel ok to judge because someone has to in order to create a change. That got me thinking.

My daughter is beautiful, sweet, gentle, loving and kind. She is also however overweight, but she eats healthier than any other toddler her age I know. Every morning she eats two scrambled eggs with peppers, mushrooms and onions. She loves pizza but we make her eat the supreme because it has veggies and meat on it. She is not allowed to snack, and each meal has to be pre-measured and have the correct protein to carb ratio. Moral of the story my daughter eats very healthy well balanced meals. Yet she is still overweight. I may struggle with this thought because sometimes I feel guilty that it is because she isn't active enough but honestly how many two year olds can you tell to go run 2 miles and they will. We go on walks, or play outside a lot she is just a little chunkier.

Anyway after reading her post I posted my response and fell upon a gem of a response from someone else. This lovely lady stated, that she was so glad that blog lady was attempting to help people become more active and make healthier choices. However blog ladies tone was completely inappropriate because she is not aware of all the underlying circumstances with every child. What she was doing was actually harmful to the parents and children out their. Judgment should never be allowed, because it will make some parents feel superior to others and that is oppression. To make a long story short it got me thinking about how important it is to love and cherish everyone no matter what they look like. That chubby kid may have a health problem that causes him/her to be heavier. Or that tiny girl/guy may have an eating disorder. It is never our place to judge because being the person watching or feeling that happen to one of your children is one of the worst feelings ever. 

In other news we went to Holland, Michigan this past weekend to enjoy the beach. The beach was gorgeous and we all had a blast. We also met a lovely family that kept offering to let us borrow their stuff, an umbrella a chair. Any food if we were hungry. Faith in humanity restored. I will never see this family again but I really hope one day I can be as awesome, sweet and kind as this family from Dearborn, Michigan they truly were amazing.

 

4th of July

It is crazy to think that my little E. is already six months old. That means we are nearing the point that he has been in our lives as much as he was growing inside me. But in honor of it being his half birthday and 4th of July I figured we should celebrate in true American Fashion.

We had a fun week in Colorado/Nebraska for the fourth of July Week. Since all the new Dental students had just started school the week before 4th of July they gave all the upperclassmen the week off. Apparently upperclassman freak out the incoming Dental students. Which is great with me because a full week with the honey is just what I needed.

After Class finished on Thursday we began driving to Colorado in order to surprise my mom. This is no small feat, one if you know my mom she knows everything, and two its an 18 hour drive so that in itself tells me that C. and I both deserve a medal because we all made it to Colorado still breathing. Well except for our car. The kids did awesome only a small amount of crying, mostly from E. Turns out our A.C had seized so first thing Monday morning we took it to a shop. Well they couldn't fix it so we took it to the dealership. Well they didn't have the part in stock. So then we waited, they fixed it turned out there was another problem and that needed to fixed and ordered etc. Long story short our car is enjoying a vacation from our two kids with my mom. Who is a much quieter and cleaner passenger. Of that I am sure. While .Cade and I get to ride around in a nice new Toyota highlander!

I am so not complaining in all honesty if my mom wants to trade vehicles for the next three years that would be all right with this girl. Yes my mom is a saint for letting us borrow the car . Again a saint, that I am so grateful to call my mom. Plus while we visited we got to do a lot of fun things and spend lots of time with family and friends. (picture overload)

     

Enough fun to wear these girlies out!

So then we went to Nebraska for the 4th, where it is legal to shoot off fireworks. We went wakeboarding and swam. A. had a blast!!! She still asks to go swimming with cousins. She also lost her CGM(a small electronic gadget that updates us on her sugar level every 20ish minutes) in the Lake. Now to replace it costs $500+, makes you a little sick right. After 24 hours of it missing, and literally trying everything that included snorkeling for it, using a metal detector and simply looking for it, we couldn't find it.   we were resigned to the fact that it was gone and we were just going to have to shell out the money to replace it. A couple dozen prayers later a friend dove into the water early in the morning while it was still and calm and he found it resting on the sand 10 feet down. Miracle. Here is how small it is and how lucky we were he found it. 

Its the one on the right.

Pictures of our Nebraska trip

     

Cade also went spear fishing unfortunately I forgot to take  a picture of that, or his awesome sun burn. All in All it was a great trip and a fantastic week.

We then traveled home and the kids slept from 9pm Colorado time to when we pulled into the parking lot of our Apartment in Michigan. Yay for an awesome trip…

But how could it not be awesome when you have kids like this!

Why Sharing Sucks!

You know that phrase sharing is caring!

Well yesterday I came to the decision that phrase sucks… Excuse my language if any of you are offended by that term. But seriously while visiting Colorado/Nebraska over the Fourth of July (another post later!) one little cousin was sick which led to another little cousin being sick which led to A. being sick and so on and so forth. Anyway no one wants to share sickness but it seems anytime we get together as a family sharing our illnesses is a sure sign that we really care. Which means my brother should feel really loved!

Anyway I digress, so the other night A. and I were eating dinner while Cade was at school. A. was being super sweet and decided she would share my meal with me. Even going so far as to give herself a bite then give me a bite. Oh how sweet hearts touched yadda yadda, NO literally all I could think was what I don't know how to calculate bites. I have given you a measured out portion of food so that I can correctly(fingers crossed) dose your insulin. Yep that was my thought in that awesome oh yay she is sharing and trying to be a good girl all I could think was, stop it and eat your pre-measured food!

Which then got me to thinking man this has to be so confusing for her. In Nursery at church we constantly try to tell her to share the toys, etc. Come snack time if she is lucky enough to get a fun snack of kix, raisins we have to determine a small amount for her. If she is unlucky and has high blood glucose she gets cheese and popcorn. Which then other people take so we have to tell the other kids not to take her food, and for her not to give it to them. Here lies the problem. Its like some confusing game of try to comprehend what the adults are thinking. Anyway moral of the story I have decided Sharing SUCKS! and yes I will continue to teach my toddler to share her toys and not share her snacks (hate me all you want, my brain can only work so hard). But I will also continue to be annoyed that sharing doesn't come preprogrammed… that and potty training.