Thursday, May 17, 2007

Obesity in Children

There have been many reports on how childhood obesity is on the rise in America, and I have discovered why. You may be saying that there have already been explanations given, such as children eating more fast food and playing video games. But I think it goes back much further than that. As many people I know either have small children, are pregnant, or want to get pregnant, I tend to notice children a lot more, and how they behave in public and what their parents are doing. So here are my observations.

Kids are lazy and their parents make them that way. And I'm not talking about the 12 year old that wants to stay in and play Mario Kart all day. I'm talking about the 3 year old that is sitting in the stroller when they could easily be walking. Or the 4 year old I saw being carried from the car into Toys R Us. I have a few general rules now. If the child is old enough to pull down the sun visor on the stroller by him/herself, they are too old for a stroller. If you have to get a stroller that seats more than one child, and you're not the mother or father of multiples, the oldest one gets to hoof it. If the child no longer needs a booster seat at restaurants, he/she no longer gets to boost a ride from mom or pop. If you have to spend $50 on a pair of children's shoes, they should be worn out before the kid grows out of them.

Just think about these things. If the child gets more exercise, then they are more likely to take a nap. And wonderfully magic things happen in our sleep. Our body's recharge, they grow, there's a significant amount of brain activity that's processing the day's events. And, the caregiver gets to take a nap too. Hell, they've been toting the kid around all day, why shouldn't they get a little break?

I think there should be a long-term medical study done that looks at the number of incidents of ADD in elementary school children that did not get regular naps as toddlers.

And, I know what all the parents out there are saying. "How would you know what it's like, you don't have kids. It's easier to push, pull, or carry the kid around because it takes less time/less whining/less catching them when they get away from me." What can I say? I'm mean. Mean Aunt Sara. The kid will have to keep up, not whine and if they get away from me? Well, when they are lost and scared, they will learn not to run off. That, and they can't get too far when I get a tracking device embedded in their shoulder blade. Beep..... Beep... Beep..Beep.BeepBeepBeep. Gotcha!

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Break time!

Take a break and watch this... Something to make you smile...

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Shoes!

Andrew and I had a discussion over dinner this evening and the topic was shoes. Andrew claims that I have "a lot" of shoes. I was able to count approximately 15-17 pairs of shoes, which, I don't think is "a lot". So, in order to put some parameters on the relative term, I'm calling all females to leave a comment stating how many pairs of shoes you own. Of course this count includes flip-flops, athletic shoes, dress shoes, sandals, etc. Help me out girls!

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

For your viewing pleasure...

No, no one is getting naked... not in my little piece of the internet. You'll have to go else where for that nonsense. I wanted to let everyone know that I have updated my online album. It's the first link to the left, that's in German and you've never clicked on because either a) You didn't know where it would go and you didn't want to see nakedness or b) You are afraid of Wiener schnitzel. At any rate, there are new pictures including the not so recent trip down south and house pictures.

Enjoy!