Leaving her comment…(guest blog)

 The following was written by my BFF in response to my last post. Because I found it relevant and well-written, and because my brain is currently taking inventory this weekend, I am posting it instead of writing an original thought. Enjoy and stay tuned…

Humans have a wide range of emotions – not excluding passion – that are all too frequently misinterpreted as anger.  When passion is proceeded by genuine reflection and true observation, sometimes it alone has the ability to force us to examine uncomfortable truths, dispel misconceptions, and propel just causes. 

Our beloved author did not shrilly proclaim that she is 110% perfect, immune to indulgences herself, the absolute standard-bearer of “the only way”. Au contraire, she clearly took pains (quite literally, I’m sure) to consider family history and behavior, make observations, and confess her own personal struggles in order to illuminate how they shape her choices and concerns about healthier living. What she did have the audacity to do, was to address our collective failure to embrace personal responsibility for individual health in this country, and to take a firm stand for what one believes in.  For that I applaud her. 

In the USA far too many children are overweight, but more importantly, unhealthy. Some are morbidly obese, others are weak and scrawny, ridiculously hyper, oddly lethargic, and “allergic to everything”. Unhealthy comes in all shapes and sizes and not everything is limited to outward appearances.  More often than not, it’s more about what’s in the inside. Like juvenile diabetes, asthma and hypertension – all increasingly common in the USA. As are trans fats, red dye #2 and shelf-loads of microwavable foods.  Just how much red dye #2 is too much for a 4-year-old?  We don’t know, and I doubt Hostess will be cutting into their profit margin anytime soon to conduct a study and enlighten us.  It is outlandish that we passively stand by and condition our nation’s young children to opt for SUGAR! FAT! PROCESSED FOODS!  VIDEO GAMES! and THE CAR!  We are de facto contributing to the likelihood that they will face diseases with potentially tragic consequences, and share in compromised adult health. 

Your own health affects our country’s collective ability to continue to compete in a global economy in an affordable and sustainable manner. Adults make all sorts of poor choices: they smoke cigarettes, load up on Jack Daniels, forgo seatbelts, get severe sunburn – the list is endless. Yet most parents would not advocate such obvious risk behaviors to their kids.  And I’m sure most would be incensed to discover another adult doing the same behind their back.

Parents lay the foundation to their children’s life-long attitudes and habits regarding nutrition and exercise. And should be held just as accountable for this parenting responsibility as all those other pesky – yet absolutely essential ones.  Society demands that parents do their utmost to safeguard their young children from unnecessary broken bones, drinking the Drano and third-degree burns. To turn a blind eye and do nothing is unacceptable – it’s not considered  ”laisse-fare” – it’s considered lazy and irresponsible.  And at that point it stops being just “your” issue and becomes “our” issue.

A steady stream of store-bought candy is not love.  I very much doubt The Q will have adult memories of random cookies or candies given to him “on the down-low” by folks that cross his path. Yet I’m wholly confident he will have a patchwork quilt of fond memories sharing afternoons with his mother, while learning a thing or two about gardening and the wholesome ingredients she lovingly prepares for yet another healthy meal. I know. I’ve seen it with my own eyes and plopped it in my own mouth, and the results are truly delicious.

Yet increasingly, he will also need to socialize with children whose parents are “too busy”  to educate themselves about nutritional guidelines, ones who disregard healthy portion sizes and opt out of vigorous exercise.  Her ability to influence that is limited – they’re not her children.  She’s rightly focused on her own. So she tries her best NOW to encourage her young son to make positive choices about food, exercise and sustainable living. Hopefully he will be that much more immune to  negative influences, confident in his own ability to chose what is right for his body and his mind.  He will be better prepared to be a lifelong steward of his own health, his children’s and our planet’s. We should all be so lucky.

She is the mother of one young child.  With respect to establishing family ground rules that promote healthy living, she is accountable to him and his father.  Not his friends, or their relatives, and most certainly not the woman at the bank…  No reason to be stigmatized about positive parenting choices, much less undermined by adults.

So Amy E Johnson, keep on doing what you’re doing, mama.  And don’t apologize for politely exercising your right to demand what you feel is best for your child.   He deserves no less from his mother.