Prescription for Play

In the evenings after the children go to bed, often my husband and I sit in our chairs and read.  He reads articles about cattle while I peruse the parenting genre.  We then share the highlights of interesting articles with each other.  

One article that really stood out to me pertained to playtime in children.  It would seem that many children do not spend enough time playing outside and therefore their pediatricians are writing them 'prescriptions for play'.  I'm fairly certain that we won't be needing such a prescription any time soon.  

I took these photos a few weeks ago during a quiet, cloudy Saturday afternoon.  We packed sandwiches and a bag of grapes for lunch and let the kids play near a spring.  The water was incredibly cold but no one seemed to mind - least of all Kathryn.  I purposefully did not pack her a swimming suit, knowing very well that the water would be too cold for her liking.  On the contrary, she was the bravest kid that never ever wanted to leave! 

 

Kenyon loved drinking out of the natural spring.

Musings of a Mother

Today was one of those days, which happens to top off one of those weeks, which is slowly rounding out one of those months. 

New and expecting mothers out there, please take note: we seem to deal with a great deal more bodily fluids than I ever anticipated.  I don't remember ever reading this in the parenting books.

I've hit the trifecta with bodily fluids this week, and all with the same kid.  Earlier this week the two year old fell off a forklift and gashed the back of his head open.  A nice lady at church summed it up perfectly.  "In your house, that sentence doesn't even sound weird at all." Consequently, he and I both had a lovely amount of blood on us. 

Next, I pulled a pull-up off the aforementioned child while he was standing up.  I realized a little too late that the diaper contained a hefty package of poop that fell out of the diaper and was headed for the floor.  My instincts to catch falling objects kicked in thanks to 12 years of being a catcher in softball and next thing I knew, I had a steaming pile of shit in my hand.  I've been having a field day all week with this at my own expense.

Do you have any shit on hand?  No, but I have shit IN my hand.  

Did you get mad - did shit hit the fan?  No, but shit hit my hand.  

You get my drift.  Don't judge.  I get my laughs where I can. 

And finally, today I was on my knees in the bathroom while my little cherub practiced his potty training skills.  Fun fact - did you know that if your child pushes on a fat pad in his pelvic region that he can suddenly change the trajectory of his urine stream more than 90 degrees and cover an unintended target with potty in less than 1.6 seconds?  (Okay, so I'm guessing on the timing.  It was not my biggest priority at the time.  Obviously.) 

As an added bonus, the five year old decided yesterday to start trying out different accents because "I've had this same voice for FOREVER, MOM."  (Insert dramatic eye roll and flopping arms by his sides.)  For the record, he finally decided he could stick it out with his normal voice after robot, pirate, British and redneck accents weren't really cutting it for him. 

This, folks, is why I always look like a hot mess and appear to never have my shit together.  (Sorry, I couldn't resist.) 

My grandma/neighbor loves to tell a story about her daughter surviving raising two kids a few decades ago.  Her dad would always tell her, "Don't worry, things will get better."  One day she turned and looked at her father, put her hands on her hips and said, "Just tell me when things will start to get better!"  That story hit pretty close to home today.  Someday I'll look back on these times and laugh, but not so much today.  Unless it's a shitty joke.  I can't seem to get enough of those. 

I Have a Favor to Ask

I feel bombarded these days by buzzwords and catchphrases: clean eating, organic, non-GMO, hormone free.  The list goes on and on.  Companies, restaurants and consumers seem to feel more powerful and self-righteous when they throw out these phrases regarding their food choices.  I understand that much of this stems from a need to feel in control of what you're eating.  I'm a parent.  Trust me, I understand the battle for control in some aspect of life.

Much of the time I, as part of the 2% of the nation's population that produces food, in turn feel vilified.  How dare I use a chemical like dihydrogen monoxide in the production of beef and crops?  (Did any of you catch that?  You may know this potentially lethal chemical by it's more common name: water.)  I wonder if I am a monster for judiciously providing sick animals with antibiotics because the ominous commercials on television indicate that I am.

My plea to advertisers, to companies, to consumers, is to stop with the fear mongering.  Please don't encourage anyone to feel morally superior because they paid more money for a product that is equally nutritious and safe as its conventionally grown counterpart.  Please don't assume that wikipedia or google nutrition statistics hold themselves to the same standards as hundreds of peer reviewed journal articles and countless studies regarding food quality and safety.

Please don't misunderstand; I don't mind if you choose an alternative path when feeding your family.  I've nothing against vegans, vegetarians, pescetarians, pollotarians or any other alternative diet choice.  I do; however, draw the line when 'facts' are presented to justify this choice.

I don't like hormones in my meat.
Hormones are found in all living things - both plants and animals.

I only eat organic because I don't want any chemicals from pesticides.
Pesticides can still be sprayed on organic produce.

I don't want antibiotics in my meat.
There are withdrawal periods for all medicines administered.  There are never antibiotics in your meat, or milk.  Ever.

I hear these types of phrases all too often, and I hear advertisements that cater to these exact misconceptions.  It is shameful.  I do believe it is possible to promote your chosen food or lifestyle without cutting down another.

For example, I do not like ice cream.  I don't skew data on nutritional studies to suggest that it causes cancer, nor do I write bitter diatribes against the ice cream industry and those who support it.  Do I feel morally superior to those that eat ice cream?  Certainly not.  Do I create a fictional narrative that supports my agenda against ice cream?  Again, no.  This all sounds ludicrous, and yet it happens every single day against those of us in conventional agriculture.

It is my hope that the tide will soon turn and it will become passe to think that 'food with a conscious' or 'food as it should be' or any of these other elitist type phrases are acceptable.  Myself, I look forward to the day when it becomes commonplace for everyone to simply say 'safe food for all' and 'enough food for all'.