I got sent one of those emails today that do the rounds periodically… the ones that list a whole lot of things that make sense only to people older than 30. This one actually pressed one of my “hot” buttons, you know when one of those things are mentioned that immediately makes you foam at the mouth and causes your friends to politely look away and pretend that they’ve never heard it before.
I loved a lot of the points mentioned and some of the things listed made me feel a little relieved that we’ve wisened up.
“According to today’s regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 60’s, 70’s and early 80’s probably shouldn’t have survived, because our baby cots were covered with brightly coloured lead-based paint which was promptly chewed and licked.
I apparently got hold of a couple of Valiums when I was 2 and the doctor told my parents to let me sleep it off:
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, or latches on doors or cabinets and it was fine to play with pans. When we rode our bikes, we wore no helmets, just flip-flops and fluorescent ’spokey dokey’s’ on our wheels.”
And so forth, I think you get the gist, but the hot button issue for me was the following:
We ate chips, bread and butter pudding and drank fizzy juice with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing.
It’s not so much the fizzy juice and fatty foods etc., we don’t eat that kind of stuff anyway. But what really gets me het up is, if I have to hear another thing about Omega oils and multivitamin supplements… I refuse to be held responsible for my actions.
The threat hanging over my head, that if I don’t give my son Fish oil supplements, he’ll turn out to have ADD, be a disruption in the class and have an IQ of at least 20 points lower than the class average, is making me fume. I’ve already messed hime up for life since I didn’t take Omega supplements when I was pregnant.
Mothers just cannot, according to scientists/nutritionists and the media who keeps reporting on this, do a good job of bringing up their children.
I grew up in the 70’s and 80’s without supplements and balanced meals (sorry mom, not ALL the time) and I did very well at school and I would like to think I’m still doing quite well. Maybe I do have ADD/ADHD because I never seem to finish a project (great starter though), before getting bored and moving on to a new challenge.
I have put my career on hold (I think I had one) to stay at home full-time until my kids are both in school, and though I don’t expect a sainthood from this, it would be nice if moms were cut some slack. It’s not the recommendations that bug me, it’s the way it’s done – so prescriptive, so full of doom and gloom.
