The environmental cost of children

How my children are not eco-friendly:

From the uneaten food I throw out regularly, I think my kids must hate all living beings, farm animals in particular.

From the emptied out boxes of unused Kleenex strewn all over my house, I think my kids must really hate trees.

From the excessive water play and toilet flushing, I think my kids must really hate the notion of water conservation.

From the sand and grime my kids trek through the house, causing me to use the vacuum more than anyone ought to in one day, I think my kids must really LOVE hydro!

From the amount of colds and infections my kids have had in their few years on Earth, I think they must really love big pharma!

From the number of outings my kids insist on having on a daily basis, my children must really love Big Oil!

Don't take parenting advice from me

So, today the first food that passed my son's mouth was a cookie, soon to be followed by another cookie. Let's just say, by the time he sat down for his healthy breakfast of mini-wheats, well, he wasn't really hungry. Surprising, no.

He was of course, very hungry at snack time, which since we were at the doctor's was some other easily transportable food item (read: chock full of preservatives and most likely other things not really related to nutritional value).

Of course all this could be tempered if we actually went out and played outside in the fresh air. But, that didn't happen. No, instead, we hung out on the couch and watched TV! Oh yeah baby, the mother who wouldn't let her child watch the 'evil' box for his first 2 years and now wastes the afternoon away in front of the ol' box! In my defence, we're all sick! Ok, we could've read books or done a puzzle...but sometimes you just gotta say what the f#%k!!!

And it wouldn't really be right if I can't end a least a few of my posts with the tag: "maybe tomorrow I'll be a better mother"

OK, so that's my bad parenting confession for the day. Feels great already having it off my chest!

Secrets from the kitchen

I recently came across an article about Ellen Pompeo and her approach to motherhood. Or more accurately her approach to feeding her baby. It's lovely that Ms. Pompeo vows not to feed her daughter (Stella Luna) any junk food. I commend her. And really I felt the same. With my son, I even suffered through watching him throw countless meals on the floor, that I'd worked so hard to prepare. It really wasn't until I ran out of time. Really. Just plain ran out time and never managed to figure out how to get more of it. Sure it would be lovely to make home made meals with fresh, organic broccoli and organic meat. But there are two main problems.

1. The time issue. like I said, I ran out of it. If I were to prepare each of my children's meals from scratch, then I would never get to play with them, clean the house, go to the gym, get sleep, surf the net, update my blog, read a book, answer an email. Ok, that may be a slight exaggeration, I may be able to find the time to surf the net, in the name of finding healthy recipes.

2. The other problem is that my kids don't like my cooking. Well, they do sometimes, but it's really, really, really hard to compete with dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets and Mac & Cheese. I've made my own mac & cheese. Several times. Each time it was just thrown further and further away.

Now I still shudder when I see what I feed my children. But I also want them to grow. And if I don't offer them those Dino bites and mac & cheese at least once a week, I'm sure they'll fade away! I do however add a fresh vegetable on their plate and most nights it gets eaten.

PS. Ms Pompeo: Cheerios really aren't that bad. Coco Puffs, you might want to stay away from.

What do you feed your children?