Being a Good Parent Sucks

Yeah, I said it.  Trying, anyway, to be a good parent kind of sucks.  To do what truly is the best for your kid makes them mad, you "don't understand" and if you are in the unfortunate position of having a divorced situation, the "other" parent always understands more than you.  My daughter got in trouble at school & was issued a Saturday detention.  Now, she's a good kid, but she made a bad judgment call, so they hit her with Saturday school.  As I was tempted to let that be the only punishment, wrongly thinking "that was punishment enough", I stopped to think about what a bad idea it was to think that way.
Remember when you feared about the punishment at home because you knew whatever you got at home would be ten times worse than at school?   It seems like many of us are taking it way too easy on our kids.  I am certainly not talking about capital punishment, but teaching our kids real consequences.  Sometimes consequences suck.  Sometimes, you screw up at your job with a bad judgment call and you get fired.
Raising my daughter to be a successful adult is a huge priority to me.  Realizing that what we teach our kids when they are young should be about what they can expect as adults in this big, sometimes not-so-nice world.  It's all about making the right decisions and guiding them into doing so...even when they tell us we suck.

Childhood Obesity; it's a Weighty Issue

Childhood obesity, it’s a weighty issue

Is there an obesity problem in America?  Yes, there is.  Is there a childhood obesity problem?  Yes, but caused by whom?  McDonald’s?  Most fast food chains offer healthier alternatives.  Do kids buy the food at the grocery store?  So where does that leave us?  Say it with me…..parents.  I saw an ad for Anytime Fitness, actually, that was awesome.   “There is no childhood obesity epidemic” (We just need better role models).  I wish there were billboards for that everywhere!  As parents or guardians, it is our job to choose meals that are for the most part, healthy for our children.  If you serve fried foods, soda & fattening desserts most days of the week, you & your children will be overweight.  If YOU allow your kids to spend hours on the computer, Xbox, etc., your kids will be unhealthy.  I’ve actually heard people say that “they can’t get their kids to do anything other than play video games”.  Who’s the parent??  The bottom line is that we are the leaders for our kids, their role model and if we’re lucky, their inspiration.  Junk food is fun in the “once in awhile/special occasion” way and we should be the ones to show and explain that to our kids.  XBox?  Totally fun!  But again, not in place of any exercise, sport, some kind of activity, reading, etc.  

We need to get to a place as a society where we “call a spade a spade”…there is no childhood obesity problem in America…there is a role model problem.

http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/obesity/