never say never

There are a few parenting choices I made when my girls were born that may be out of the norm for most of today's society, but I feel they are important to their health and well worth the 'uniqueness'.

1. I don't serve them pop, soda, coke, whatever u want to call it. With 10 tsp sugar(or Tbl, don't remember which) equivalent in each can, I don't think its a wise choice. I love (read sarcasm here) when waitresses (or other moms) offer caffeine free varieties (like Sprite I guess) to my kids, assuming that because it has no caffeine its ok. Duh! its not just the caffeine that winds up a kid, its a ton of sugar! (which of course is also not healthy for their bodies or teeth). Blows me away at school parties when some thoughtful mother brings a whole can of pop for each child (ugh!). Has anyone out there ever heard of water bottles?! Anyway, that is one of my choices. I don't serve them pop on a regular basis. Now, ONCE in a while for a special occasion they can have a small glass. But I don't want them to get accustomed to pop on their palate at an early age and then wind up as a teen or adult being addicted to it and not able to quit. I would rather they be addicted to fresh, ice cold , refreshing WATER. I personally grew up not drinking it (just special occasions-popcorn night with Faygo- and really don't like it that much now (the fizz gets me, I have to stir it until almost all the carbonation is gone b4 I can drink it). Now Dan on the other hand, grew up in college guzzling the stuff. Its been harder for him to cut back over the years. So I just think if there are some bad habits u can not begin, then u will be better off health-wise. Which brings us to #2...

2. I don't feed my kids fast food. I proudly say "I have never bought my kids McDonalds"...
until last night.
My theory on this is... well, childhood obesity and all the crap the fast food makers (mainly McD's )put in their food to make u crave it more is ridiculous (ever watch the video "super size me"? If not you should! It will OPEN your eyes to the whole ploy to make u buy and eat more). I grew up in a small town that didn't even have a fast food restaurant (they do now though). So the only time we got McD's or BKing as a kid was when the school sports team u were on was traveling to a (far) away game and we'd stop there on the way home to eat. Thankfully we grew up NOT eating it on a regular basis and I think that made our bodies healthier. I look at kids across America who are growing up eating meals from fast food restaurants for breakfast(!) (before school I see them in the drive through line!) , and lunch (summertime), and dinner (family night out!), and it saddens me to see all the cellulite on these kids. Kids should not have cellulite or diabetes at that age! Its what is going into the body that is causing it. They need fresh fruits and veggies, not overprocessed, over preserved, foods fried in trans fats. I literally watched the cellulite appear on a child once. At 3yrs of age, they had none. (Their older sibling though at 5 already had ripples of cellulite on their belly). The next year during swim season, that 4 yr old now had ripples of cellulite all through its butt and its belly was starting. Now as teens both these kids are severly overweight, double chins and all. You know as well as I do that this is not healthy for their bodies but also for their self-esteem!
Anyway, back to my point (I could preach from this soap box all day!). I don't serve fast food to my kids, the closest thing to fast food is sandwich places like subway or schlotsky's.
Now don't get me wrong, with all of today's research, I know that even non-fast food restaurants are not always serving up healthy fare (have u seen those salads that are 1600 calories!? yikes). But I feel that a hamburger and fries cooked in non saturated oil is better than one that is, so I choose not to frequent fast food restaurants, and I don't want my kids to be addicted to them like so many people(adults too) are these days.
(I will point out (unfortunately) that my oldest daughter has gone to McD's twice before though. I did not find out about it till AFTER the fact, but evidently her grandma(!) took her once, as well as a friend's mom during a playdate. I was not pleased.
Anyway, her school was having a fundraiser this week. Thurs night from 5-8pm the teachers would work/serve at McD's and 25% of the profit would go to the school. Plus they had tip jars for the teachers so if u didn't buy much u could still donate to help the cause (without eating all that crap).
I for one, ALWAYS support our school and teachers. I think its important to support the education system especially when I don't feel that our society supports our teachers enough (why do we pay our teachers who are raising our kids for 8hrs a day less than almost every other job out there?!) Teachers should be paid more, they are IMPORTANT!
So we make plans to go to this fundraiser. However, I still will not eat their food, nor serve it to my kids, so we go eat dinner at a regular restaurant then come here for dessert (I figure how much more unhealthy can ice cream be here than anywhere else right? ha ha).
So we buy our shakes and a flurry thing and sit down to eat. Now I do remember as a kid getting those vanilla shakes and loving them. They were so cold, and white, and yummy. I get a vanilla shake (knowing a cone would be healthier, but going to splurge on the nostalagia of it all), only to be thoroughly disappointed. It was yellow! ick! not white , and tasted like crap. and it wasn't even cold enough that it would be thick enough to spoon it up with the straw like I used to do as a kid. It was runny and disgusting. I didn't eat it. I will admit though that I finished W's oreo flurry thing and that was tasty :) So $400 dollars later in the tip jars, I think we did our part to support our school, even though we didn't 'officially' eat there. It was fun though seeing a lot of the parents, kids, teachers and chatting with them. It was a huge social experience that's for sure! T loved it ha ha.
Anyway , so that's my slogan, you can never say never, because some day u may wind up doing (or partially doing) what u thought you'd never do. It was for a good cause though so it WAS worth it this time.
P.S. I know my stance on this is in the minority and most people reading it probably don't feel the same way. That's ok. Its my choice for my family. I think it makes a positive difference so I choose to do it.