I just watched Hannity debating with Al Sharpton on TV and I’m pretty sure he said “colored people” on TV.  Am I crazy or did anyone else watch that?

He’s such a jerk.  I hope he gets fired over this.

Had an awesome weekend at Shades of Green Resort.  Shared two rooms with family and friends making the already affordable $126/night even more affordable (for Disney $$$).  My sister/boyfriends and her friend/daughter shared a room and my mom, hubby/I shared the other.  Both were joined by a door which was great.

Sister stayed out of my hair, she was busy with the nieces, and the friend and her daughter…well it was interesting.  The girl is 6yo and lacks all sorts of manners and super uber hyper.  I wouldn’t complain about hyper…my kids are hyper.  But hyper is bad when mom says nothing to keep it in check.   Twice this girl pushed me out of the way as she was running, failed to apologize and twice told me to “get up” off “her”  chair.  Ugh.  But all in all I made it clear to the girl that I meant business…and she steered clear of me and my disappointing looks.  

The mother though did one of my pet peeves: she complains about her kid in front of her kid.  I hate that…I don’t want to hear you complain about how she never eats veggies in front of her.  At one point the girl is choking on her eggs and the mom loudly declares “you don’t do this drama at home!”  As if to prove to us she’s a tough parent forcing her to eat “good food.”  Later at dinner she says “now I want you to finish that plate because at lunch you said you were full and 30 minutes later you said you were hungry.”  Not to mention the myriad of false threats that I heard over the weekend.  

Don’t force your kids to eat stuff

First off I hate parents that FORCE kids to eat stuff.  Stop it…it’s stupid.  You’ll turn your kids into overweight spoiled brats and it’s not teaching them a thing.  Teach them instead to make the right choices, to fill up on good food first and eat the “junk” stuff after.  Instead of saying to my kids “finish your dinner” I allow them to make choices about what they want to eat, ask them “which” (and not IF) veggie they would like, and tell them that the order should be veggie then protein then rest.  So long as my kids eat veggie then protein I’m happy.  I don’t care if they eat a gallon of ice cream later…and since they never do, I’m good.  The rules about food here are simple really: “you don’t have to like it but you have to try it.”  If they don’t like it fine…they tried it at least.

Nagging is annoying

Nagging is different than expectations.  My kids know I expect them to eat some sort of vegetable, and they comply pretty well because it’s part of a routine.  Everyday we have vegetables and it’s on the table and it gets dished out…it’s there and a part of dinner everyday.  Stop saying no all the time.  It’s fine to say no, but you can tell bad parents because they say no to stupid stuff that can be negotiated.  This girl wanted to have ice cream..so the mother says “if you don’t eat your whole plate you’re not getting anything…” and continued with some nagging that made no sense.  My daughter knows my bar is negotiation and instead looks at me as says “mom I had my veggies but I didn’t like the meat.”  (it was beef strogonoff…) I asked her if she could try mine instead (it was roast beef).  She liked it, had 4 bites and said was full.  She had the equivalent of her-handfull of food and then indulged in a little bit of ice cream with sprinkles.  At home we don’t have ice cream often so no big deal.  

Kids graze because they have tiny tummies

Later my daughter was hungry along with the girl and the mother is ofcourse giving her some diatribe about how she didn’t eat enough at dinner.  Kids graze and so should all of us.  This 3 meal a day crap is dumb.  I can only imagine and laugh at the idea that cave people kept to 3 meals/day.  3 meals a day are good for factories, but not good for humans.  Let them eat smaller meals, and let them listen to when their tummies tell them they are full.  Don’t make them ignore the signals and overeat.  So we got some fruit because it was an opportunity to pack nutrients missed that day…no drama!

This isn’t really just a post about bad parenting as much as it is about how proud of my own kids that they have learned to make good choices (at least around me.)  My oldest is a picky eater for sure, and she admits it herself, but she tries hard to eat healthier and for that I’m proud of her.   Does that mean I don’t have to remind her? No.  Does it mean I don’t have to suggest something healthier? No.  But it means I don’t get flailing arms and screaming children at restaurants and I don’t have drama…at least if for that moment in our lives I don’t have drama!

 

Are you kidding me???