Anyway, I'm getting off topic. What I want to talk about is how my husband and I plan to keep our daughter from ingesting the junk that the restaurant (I hate even calling it a restaurant - I think that term should be reserved for places that serve "real" food!) serves, especially the food they market to children. This is a choice we've made mainly in regards to the food, but also in regards to money - when we decided (in December of 2009) that I would be a SAHM, we knew that our finances would change somewhat. It wasn't a drastic change - I have actually never worked full-time (usually part-time to 3/4 time) because of continuing my education, so while we saw a dip in our income, it wasn't too substantial. Also, even with driving to playdates and spreading out errands a little more (doing just one a day instead of several in order to have a reason to get out of the house every day!), we really DO spend less with me being home with Abby all day.
But - we still do not have quite as much money coming in as we used to. That's just a hard, cold fact. So we always look for ways to save - and things like not taking our daughter to McDonald's just seems like a no-brainer. We rarely go out to eat as it is (something which was the same pre-baby), so why would we change that with Abby and spend more money and give her unhealthy food? I'm not completely unrealistic - I understand that there may be times when we're on vacation and it may be really difficult to prepare a home-cooked meal (staying at a hotel, for example) or a time when a very special treat is in order, but that's what fast food should be - a very special treat given very sparingly.
I know that Abby is not going to eat perfectly 100% of the time, but Max and I are going to try our hardest to help her form the mindset that healthy eating is and should be the norm for her growing body (though it's okay to have a treat once in a while). I think, for so many people, it has become the norm to eat highly-processed, cheap, easy to make (quick to make) food because it's easier - and I won't deny that it really IS a million times easier! - and so people may think we're weird for wanting our child to eat as organically as possible (within reason - organic = expensive, so we won't be able to give her EVERYTHING organic, unfortunately), and to not have dessert every night, or keep a lot of junk food (if any) in the house, etc., etc.
I hope that we can raise Abby with a healthy, positive attitude toward food, one that allows her to see that we should eat to live, NOT live to eat. I hope she's never made fun of by other kids if she brings a healthy lunch to school or never has Kool-Aid as a child (I never did!). I hope she never feels as though we were keeping her from enjoying something when we don't buy her a Happy Meal (or at least not every time she asks). I hope we can keep the overwhelming direct-to-kids advertising from flooding her little mind by keeping the TV OFF.
All in all, I guess I just really hope that we never get any flack from the choices we make about how to raise our child. Max and I are kind of all over the board, in terms of the fact that we don't subscribe to any one particular parenting style - although, if I had to label it, I would put us in the attachment parenting category. But it's OUR parenting style, and OUR child, and although I'm always open to suggestions and advice and always willing to listen, I will never let anyone else decide how we will parent - even if DOES mean we take some heat for our decisions.
My little Abby isn't even 8 months old yet - let's see how much of this Max and I can make stick in the coming years. :)
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Be prepared for people to tell you, "Oh, you'll change your minds once _[you have another kid]/[Abby gets a little older]/[you loosen up a little]!_" It's ridiculous. I'm about as far from attachment parenting as it gets, but, other than organic foods, we have the same ideas in this regard. And it's just not that hard to keep it up. Honestly! Grace watches some TV (only on Netflix, so no ads), maybe half an hour every two days, and when we do spring for convenience foods, we try to go semi-healthy. So don't get discouraged when people tell you this stuff. It is totally doable (this from one of the laziest people on Earth).
ReplyDeleteI am so proud of you!
ReplyDeleteI applaud your no-fast-food stance! I occasionally eat at Culver's (normally for the custard), but haven't eaten at McDonalds, BK, Wendy's, Taco Bell, etc. for years. This can cause issues when I am with other people who want to eat at the above places, and I refuse to do so. Even when on vacation I can still find places to eat (like Subway), that are fast AND healthy. I have also found out the hard way, that if you stop eating fast-food for awhile, and then go back to it, it makes you sick. Physically sick. That alone tells you something about fast-food!
ReplyDeleteSo don't listen to the nay-sayers. We are an unhealthy nation for a reason, and we need more parents like you! :)
P.S. I rarely watched TV as a kid. I was outside ALL the time. Way too much fun to be had! Oh and no video games either. My parent's wouldn't get any for me.