Last weekend I just completely skipped the Sunday Sound-Off, due to the fact that we were running around like headless chickens, but I am definitely doing one this week! Sunday Sound-off is basically a chance for me to get something off my chest. But afterwards, I have to come up with three RELATED things for which I'm grateful.
Today's Sunday Sound-Off is going to be about the health food craze. No, I don't hate health food, it's just that I think that it's being taken too far. The other day, I found out that some schools are no longer allowing students to bring sugary birthday treats. I'm sure that they have best of intentions, but to me that just seems like overkill. Even with 40 students in a class, that's only 40 days out of the entire school year that the kids would have these treats. And besides, not everyone brings in treats in the first place.
The same goes for moms who send their kids to playdates or birthday parties with a package of prepared food and instructions on how to feed their child. I used to be a party coordinator at a kids playhouse, and this often happened at my parties. Unless your kid has severe multiple food allergies, I just don't understand this. Why put all that extra work into having your child served specially? How is your kid going to feel when everyone else at the birthday party has pizza and he's stuck with his little lunchbox?
I'm all for replacing vending machine candy with healthy options, but curbing birthday celebrations and generosity just seems to me to be going too far. The same goes handing out carrot sticks on Halloween. In my opinion, the solution to eating healthy is not to purge our society of anything that's not health food (which by the way is impossible), but instead to educate our youth and encourage them to make healthy decisions.
That being said, I am grateful that something is finally being done. I'm on the petite side, and I kind of just never grew out of the girls department. I still fit quite comfortably in sizes 14/16 or XLs. Well, within the past year, I've started to see 16/18 sizes. The other day I had to return a 14/16 shirt because it was too big. I'm pretty sure that I didn't shrink over the past year (not counting the whole pregnant and none pregnant thing), so it's safe to say that the sizes now accompany bigger clothing. You know it's a problem when companies are making bigger clothing to fit bigger kids.
I'm also very grateful for the many different health food choices out there. When I was a kid, no one seemed to care about nutritious values or organic foods, and you were hard pressed to find anything of the sort in your regular supermarket. That's not saying it was impossible, but now that health foods have been "mainstreamed", it's just that much more easier and convenient.
A lot of this "mainstreamed-ness" also stems from the fact that it is now considerably easier to obtain information these days, thanks to the world wide web. There are countless websites out there offering tips on how to live a healthy lifestyle, where to look for nutritious values, and even support groups. On a general scale, people have much more information now and are able to make informed decisions about their life choices. I am so grateful that it's so much easier these days to get access to information!
You might think me to be an evil and irresponsible person, but when my little princess gets to be old enough, we're still baking birthday cupcakes. And if her school won't let her take them, well...I'm sure her playgroup or her peewee soccer team or her cousins won't mind eating them. It's a family tradition that both my husband and I enjoyed, and one that we definately want to share with our kids.
And if any mom attempts to inspect my pantry before a playdate, I'm calling it off and taking my little princess to Chuck E. Cheese.
Please feel free to join in the Sunday Sound-off by making a post on your own blog and leaving a link with Mr. Linky, or you can also join in through the comments. You can sound-off on anything at all, just be sure that you're grateful for 3 things within the same category. Give it a try...it's very liberating to get something off your chest!
Today's Sunday Sound-Off is going to be about the health food craze. No, I don't hate health food, it's just that I think that it's being taken too far. The other day, I found out that some schools are no longer allowing students to bring sugary birthday treats. I'm sure that they have best of intentions, but to me that just seems like overkill. Even with 40 students in a class, that's only 40 days out of the entire school year that the kids would have these treats. And besides, not everyone brings in treats in the first place.
The same goes for moms who send their kids to playdates or birthday parties with a package of prepared food and instructions on how to feed their child. I used to be a party coordinator at a kids playhouse, and this often happened at my parties. Unless your kid has severe multiple food allergies, I just don't understand this. Why put all that extra work into having your child served specially? How is your kid going to feel when everyone else at the birthday party has pizza and he's stuck with his little lunchbox?
I'm all for replacing vending machine candy with healthy options, but curbing birthday celebrations and generosity just seems to me to be going too far. The same goes handing out carrot sticks on Halloween. In my opinion, the solution to eating healthy is not to purge our society of anything that's not health food (which by the way is impossible), but instead to educate our youth and encourage them to make healthy decisions.
That being said, I am grateful that something is finally being done. I'm on the petite side, and I kind of just never grew out of the girls department. I still fit quite comfortably in sizes 14/16 or XLs. Well, within the past year, I've started to see 16/18 sizes. The other day I had to return a 14/16 shirt because it was too big. I'm pretty sure that I didn't shrink over the past year (not counting the whole pregnant and none pregnant thing), so it's safe to say that the sizes now accompany bigger clothing. You know it's a problem when companies are making bigger clothing to fit bigger kids.
I'm also very grateful for the many different health food choices out there. When I was a kid, no one seemed to care about nutritious values or organic foods, and you were hard pressed to find anything of the sort in your regular supermarket. That's not saying it was impossible, but now that health foods have been "mainstreamed", it's just that much more easier and convenient.
A lot of this "mainstreamed-ness" also stems from the fact that it is now considerably easier to obtain information these days, thanks to the world wide web. There are countless websites out there offering tips on how to live a healthy lifestyle, where to look for nutritious values, and even support groups. On a general scale, people have much more information now and are able to make informed decisions about their life choices. I am so grateful that it's so much easier these days to get access to information!
You might think me to be an evil and irresponsible person, but when my little princess gets to be old enough, we're still baking birthday cupcakes. And if her school won't let her take them, well...I'm sure her playgroup or her peewee soccer team or her cousins won't mind eating them. It's a family tradition that both my husband and I enjoyed, and one that we definately want to share with our kids.
And if any mom attempts to inspect my pantry before a playdate, I'm calling it off and taking my little princess to Chuck E. Cheese.
Please feel free to join in the Sunday Sound-off by making a post on your own blog and leaving a link with Mr. Linky, or you can also join in through the comments. You can sound-off on anything at all, just be sure that you're grateful for 3 things within the same category. Give it a try...it's very liberating to get something off your chest!
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