Boo! Scary Treats for Halloween

Halloween is a month away, but maybe you have already bought your Halloween candy. Maybe you are concerned about the ingredients in the candy your kids will eat. Parents used to worry about needles inserted into candy packages, but now we need to worry about GMO's and artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives.

On her popular blog, Food Babe, Vani Hari encourages everyone to make healthy choices when purchasing food, including Halloween candy. Now, whether or not you agree with her position on potentially harmful ingredients, you might see yourself in one reader's comment:

"I would really hate to be “that mom” that goes around to the neighbors before trick-or-treating to give my neighbors acceptable candy to give to my kids, but I just might have to do that unless you have any other ideas!"

Hey--you gotta do what you gotta do!

Happy Moms, Happy Kids, Happy Meals

The pressure to consume, consume, consume can be overwhelming to us; it is probably even more so to our kids. Fast food restaurants capitalize on this, offering kids' meals full of unhealthy, addictive food and including a cheap plastic junky toy along with it. Smart moms know that they have to fight back and limit, or better yet, prohibit these bad food choices. However, when a mom is overworked and out of time and facing increased pressure because the tasty food comes with the hottest "it" toy, it can be easy to cave.

Great mom "S" has found a way around that with her family's tradition of Healthy Happy Meal Day. On a day when she is tempted to stop and buy happy meals for her kids (and probably equally non-nutritious food for herself and husband), S whips up something healthy like frozen (store bought) veggie burgers, sweet potato fries, broccoli and a salad. When she has time, she might make something from scratch, but the clincher is that her kids' meals come with an inexpensive toy or something to keep them occupied. Healthy Happy Meal Day isn't every day; maybe once a week if that.

I couldn't call S a mean mommy, because it seems like she never really let her kids have fast food much in the first place. However, if you have gotten into the habit of stopping at McD's every week and you try to switch over to a healthy version, I'm sure your kids will think you are mean and even torturing them. It's also important to note that, in order to make your own happy meals at home, you need to have ingredients and toys on hand, at least somewhat in advance. The idea of a happy meal is that it's the food and the toy, at the same time, on demand. If you want to go this route, you need to make the commitment.

The Battle Between Junk Food Mom and Health Food Mom!

Today on her Facebook page, "A Healthier and Happier You", personal trainer and fitness guru Jessica Clark posed the following question: "For you moms and dads...do you try your best to keep...sugar filled and processed foods from your children...?" She admits that she feels "judged by some people when I don't allow [sugary, processed foods]", and wonders  "Isn't that strange to be judged for good choices but no one thinks it is strange when you load your kid up with crap?" I felt compelled to to share with her two of my previous posts that deal with the overabundance of crap that our kids have access to: Oh Yum, Fresh Chemicals and Eat Healthy, Eat Healthy, Eat Healthy...Here, Have Some Crap. As you know, I am concerned about the same thing, and I have been judged for nixing crappy food. 

If you think about it, a mom who insists on a healthy diet for her child (and herself) is probably intimidating to a junk food mom. As any mom will tell you, 99% of us are not confident and often worry that we are screwing up the whole motherhood thing. Moms are notorious for  judging one another, and the fear of being judged by another mom is enough to strike fear into a woman's heart. Junk Food Mom looks at Health Food Mom and thinks "Oh, she probably makes all her kid's food from scratch using only organic ingredients that she grew herself, when she wasn't busy working full time, running a marathon, and coaching her kid's soccer team. She must think she's way better than I am." Maybe Junk Food Mom is judging Health Food Mom's "holier than thou" attitude, without realizing that Health Food Mom doesn't have an attitude to begin with. Junk Food Mom probably loves her child every bit as much as Health Food Mom, but isn't as informed or convinced or passionate about making healthy choices and has talked herself into believing that she is being condemned by Health Food Mom. Health Food Mom's food choices can be perceived as a personal attack, questioning Junk Food Mom's love for her own child! If Health Food Mom would just buy a candy bar or a Coke or a box of Twinkies, she wouldn't have the right to question Junk Food Mom's maternal love! 

Junk Food Mom would probably argue, "jeez, a Big Mac or Krispy Kreme doughnut or Slurpee won't kill you", and technically, she would be correct. Sure, those "foods" are full of empty calories, fat, artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives, but one serving won't kill you. It might even taste good. However, researchers are telling us over and over that these "foods" contain ingredients that are addictive and keep people wanting more and more and more. Once you fall into that trap, it's hard to get out, and your waistline, blood pressure and overall health will suffer. Health Food Mom has learned that--perhaps the hard way--and wants to keep her child from suffering such a fate. Fast Food Mom hasn't made that connection, or naively thinks the effects of a bad diet can be undone easily, at a later time. And after all, Junk Food Kid loves his junk food. Junk Food Mom shows her love for her child by providing him with what he loves.. 

So that's my take on Ms. Clark's post. Unless Junk Food Mom is just a lazy slob who can't be bothered to provide decent nourishment for her kid. In that case, she deserves to be judged. Rock on, Health Food Mom!

Full Tummy

This morning, the kiddo started counting her bits of cereal, and announced that she had six left, and she just didn't have room in her tummy for them. She then asked for her vitamins. Excuse me?

As you can probably guess, we don't do sugary, neon-colored cereal in our house. Hubby and kiddo eat Quaker cinnamon squares, which are not my idea of a perfect breakfast, but a relatively healthy choice. However, the kiddo tends to waste cereal--not much, but enough to make hubby mad, since after all, I buy it for him, technically making it his cereal. He shares it with the kiddo, and then she wastes it. You can understand how that could be frustrating.

So, when the kiddo made her announcement/request, I opted for some mommy legalese: "But, if you don't have any room for the rest of your cereal, you can't possibly have any room for vitamins. I don't want you to waste both cereal and vitamins". She gave me a half-hearted argument, then walked away to finish getting ready for school. Without her vitamins. Either she really was too full to argue, or she didn't have a good argument to match mine. In any case, her tummy was full and she got her vitamins later. But I'm wondering: if she had been eating some sugary, glowing cereal, would she have finished it? If we never find out, I'm OK with that.

C-A-N-D-Y!!!!!!!!

It is Easter time! No matter how you celebrate, there is a good chance that your kids have been inundated with candy. Jelly beans, chocolate bunnies, Cadbury eggs...This year, I have noticed some new go-to holiday treats that are not candy: pencils, rings, pencil sharpeners, erasers...but candy is still the big thing. Have you noticed that candy has even found its way into St. Patrick's Day festivities? Some leprechauns actually leave candy after playing their mischievous pranks. Another holiday, another reason to buy mountains of candy, complain that your kids are jacked up on sugar, then express concern over child obesity.

As a child, I loved getting my Easter basket, because it was full of treats I couldn't get anywhere else. I didn't get candy at church--I had to sneak in candy from my Easter basket to eat covertly during mass (and my dad always busted me, but I shared with him so it was OK). There was no Easter candy at school--hello, Easter is a religious holiday. Separation of church and state, people! My extended family normally had a big Easter dinner, which of course included dessert, but no additional candy.

It seems like we have forgotten the concept of  ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.

This year, the kiddo had an egg hunt at school, big family dinner @ Nana's house with dessert, egg hunt @ Nana's, treats from the Aunties, and there will be an Easter can hunt at church (with candy as the reward). This all comes on top of the kiddo's birthday, plus a bunch of other birthday parties that she has attended, all complete with cake, most with ice cream, and many with goody bags filled with candy.

I, myself, feel kind of blah from all the extra goodies I have been eating (and I only eat the good stuff), so this year, I decided that the Easter Bunny is going to be quite stingy. There are only going to be a few goodies in the kiddo's basket, plus some eggs for her to find. I mean, isn't an Easter basket also supposed to hold the eggs you find on an Easter egg hunt? It's not supposed to already be crammed full when you get it, right?