Archive for kids
Gettin’ kids to eat their greens
Posted by: | CommentsA recent release by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) – A Picture of Australia’s Children 2009 – shows that very few Aussie kids aged 4-13 ate the recommended daily requirement of vegies, and about half of them ate enough fruit.
Hmm, that awful age bracket, loaded with finicky, picky eaters, aside from all the other crap that they throw at you; obnoxiousness, rudeness, and general disgustingness.
Notwithstanding the issue of childhood obesity and the recently discussed and published contributing factors to this, eating their greens is vital to the overall health and wellbeing of kids. That fruit and veg is not positively promoted in a similar to vein to that of, say, a fat laden, and nutritionally-suspect Happy Meal is, of course, an issue in itself.
Alas, the job is left to us, The Parents, whoes responsibility and “fault” it is that our kids nag us to death so we’ll feed them crap, the only food they know about because the TV told them about it. And it must be of high nutritional value, because the TV told them it was and the TV would never lie.
(Just in case you missed it, that was a touch of sarcasm)
Anyhoo, kids aren’t eating enough vegies and we must see to it that they do. There have been many fabulous suggestions on how to achieve this seemingly impossible and insurmountable task.
Safeway/Woolworths are running a fabulous campaign on all these cool ideas for fruit and vegetables to increase their appeal and make them fun! In the process, kids, you can make a mess of your Mum’s kitchen and leave her to clean it up. Or, you can hassle her for hours, forcing her to assist you in these creations that you probably won’t eat, because they are, after all, fruit and vegetables. Hell, she has nothing better to do with her time than make baskets out of melons and necklaces from various bite sized pieces of fruit to be squished into the couch whilst you’re sitting on your bum watching a DVD.
(Again, sarcasm, people!)Others have come up with the idea of naming fruit and vegetables, in order to give them more appeal and make them exciting and interesting, and to encourage kids to eat them. Except that no matter what you call Brussels Sprouts, no one in their right mind will eat them. Even growed up people. Call them what you like, and smother them in a dark Belgian chocolate and you still won’t get me to eat them.
These suggestions are, of course, a step in a positive direction towards increasing the consumption of F&V by our kids – don’t get me wrong. However, for those of us who live in the real world, and the world of reality parenting – that world of conflicting information, stress and pressures, children who don’t behave like they do on the Fresh Food Kids and Johnson & Johnson commercials and finicky gourmands - there is the Real Mums Guide to Dealing with Picky Eaters Good luck!
Real Mums Review – “No Sweat” & “Parenting” in the same sentence?
Posted by: | CommentsAh, what a sweet, sweet suprise to arrive on our desk!
A book. With the words No Sweat Parenting in the title.
Sounding good so far. These words were followed immediately by the words Six Parenting Myths Debunked – we had to pick it up and read it.
Renee Mill, clinical physchologist, with over 30 years of experience and author of this fabulous time asks the question we all want to know; when did good parenting get so exhausting?, and when did it become crucual to be perfect?
The book had us nodding and “oh my goodnessing” we did was amazing. The relief we felt at being given back our power as parents, the greater understanding of how things work in the parent-child relationship was even better.
The personal stories and situations added the element of relatability which assisted in the rest of us nodding in agreement and feeling normal. Better still, it helped us to look at our own parenting and know that we could do this, rather than have an ‘expert’ spout what we ‘should’ be doing, with seemingly no idea of what the real world is like.
Best of all, we now realise that not only do we not have to be perfect, but it appears there is no ‘perfect’ way to parent, anyway. How could we ever be perfect when there are no hard and fast rules telling us what perfect is? Oh, and our kids are all inidividuals, so there’s no one-size-fits-all approach.
This book has taken a load off our shoulders and a load off our minds. Our kids still aren’t saints, but at least we can deal with it without beating ourselves up.
The only complaints – it wasn’t around five (or more) years ago, and we want to know more!
Get your copy of No Sweat Parenting for only $24.95 from ParentChildSelf
Real Mums Recommended
I’m not a SuperMum – I’m just lazy
Posted by: | CommentsIt’s nearing the end of school term. It is Winter. It is, quite frankly, bloody freezing!
(Yet I still have a child who insists on walking the half hour to school in shorts and t-shirt – brrr! Insane! What is wrong with children?!)
Walking in the school gate, I run into another Mum I see occasionally. Not often, but often enough to perform the perfunctory “Hi, how’s things?”
She passed comment about the (her) walk to school being hard work, and thank goodness she rarely does it. I admitted that I was unable to empathise as I walked, to and from school, daily. A good half hour each way.
I lie. It’s a half hour - very little good about it – with the kids, and about 17 minutes on my own. Technically, with the baby. In a pram.
“Wow, no wonder you’re so fit!”
Well, yes, walking that far daily does have an impact, but really the tracksuit pants and daggy top, the unkempt, sweaty looking hair and the shortness of breath are just an illusion. Really, I have no other clean clothes, and you seem to be able to get away with dirty trackies if you’re actually ‘excercising’ in them. The hair looks sweaty, because a) it is, or b) I haven’t washed it for a few days. The shortness of breath is because I’m not really as fit as I used to be, and pushing a bloody pram up a hill while yelling at two kids to “Hurry up!” every 3 steps takes it out of you.
“Thanks” I mumble.
“You are a SuperMum” she continues. “You’re just amazing, walking every day. And what a great thing to be teaching your kids. You’re amazing.”
Um, no. No, you’ve got it all wrong.
Yes, I’m aware of the benefits of walking dailly and doing some excercise and all the rest of it on my physical and mental health. I’m aware that these habits will rub off (hopefully) on my kids, and I’m getting them active before they start their day at school, and the whole childhood obesity thing etc etc blah blah blah.
But, really, I’m not a SuperMum. Nor am I particularly amazing.
The reality of it is, I’m just very lazy. Very, very lazy.
My pet hate – hate – is buckling the kids into the car. I’d much rather walk for half an hour, pushing a pram up a hill, with them in tow and urging them on with increasing levels of frustration than put them in the car.
I’ve even been know to get partway through the morning routine, look at the clock and think “Ah, fuck it! I’m going to have to drive today,” then get to 5 minutes past the time we absolutely must be out of the house to walk, and walk anyway.
I don’t have time to have a shower in the mornings. And it’s much easier to pull on yesterday’s trackies that are lying on the floor than attempt to locate a clean pair of jeans. As for shoes, I’ll trip over my runners or locate them in the freezer when I go searching for bread with which to make their lunches.
Besides, their complaints, fighting and boisterousness is much, much less painful on my brain than when performed inside a vehicle.
None of this is to discredit the benefits and “good” of what I am actually doing. Just don’t put me on a pedestal or compare your behaviours to mine, especially to undermine yourself … coz you’ve probably got it more than a little muddled.
A crummy fundraiser that’s great for your abs – but not the pelvic floor
Posted by: | CommentsHow cool is this?
OK, I’m not on the school parent committee dictatorship (my hair isn’t easy to manage enough, and I can’t stand the “we didn’t do that last year” crap) but if I was, I’d grab these chicks.
I have used them for fundraising efforts before (Mums’ Night Out! 2007 and 2009) just not in this format – and I think it is soooo cool! Wendy Little and Carolyn Chillura team up in Crummy Mummies – to put the “fun” back in “fundraising” …
Their flyer says:
Make your next fundraising event a night to remember with two of Melbourne’s favourite stand-up comedi-mums, Wendy Little and Carolyn Chillura. Providing a hilarious insight into parenthood and the journey getting there and beyond – Crummy Mummies are sure to provide a fun factor at your next trivia night or wine and cheese night or they can organise an entire comedy night for you.
Contact:
Crummy Mummies – enquiries@crummymummies.com.au
Visit their website – www.crummymummies.com.au
Unlike a chocolate drive (yes, yet another bloody one) I can vouch that these two are fantastic for your abs! They come fat-free and give you a work out.
I just can’t promise they’re any good for your pelvic floor. Except to let you know whether its working well or not.
Now … what event can I organise next …
Serious Flaws in the Evolution of Human Beings
Posted by: | CommentsThere seem to be numerous flaws that have occurred in the evolution of human beings.
I still can’t work out how certain things evolved like they did.
The pelvic floor, for example – or pelvic flaw as my darling husband always thought it was. Whos brilliant idea was it that it has 8 lb or more of baby ‘resting’ on it for several months, is then stretched fit to fit a semi-trailer through and is then expected to retain any superflous fluids within the body. Especially upon jumping on trampolines, chasing toddlers and sneezing.
Probably explains why mums don’t get sick. Their knickers get too wet.
Evolution, in my understanding, is soley focussed on the survival of the species – our bodies, brains and other bits all evolved and developed to ensure we are able to procreate and survive our changing environment.
Surival of the species. Plain and simple. Makes sense to me.
How is it then, that children, oh so capable of picking up on the emotional state of their mother, don’t behave in such a way that would ensure their survival?
Why is it that, when mummy has a sore throat and really wishes the world would disappear for then next 72 hours, do babies get distressed, refuse sleep (even more than normal) and cry a lot?
At which point is constantanly haranguing your tired, sick, stressed mother, in a vain attempt to make her smile and/or convince yourself that you really are loved by her good for your health?
Surely none of these behaviours are conducive to survival of the species?
I just don’t get that humans still haven’t developed the insight to pick up on the stress levels of other humans and just leave the country, go to sleep without your mother telling you, or just fixing yourself a bloody bowl of cereal for dinner and stop whinging about it!
The human race’s only chance of continued survival at the moment is if someone brings me a box of chocolate teddy bear biscuits, a chillled sauv blanc, someone to massage my feet and for children to stop talking at me!
Now, bugger off!
Wednesday’s W(h)ine – a Handcrafted Merlot
Posted by: | CommentsIt’s too bloody cold. It’s not technically Winter for another month, but good old Melbourne has lived up to its crazy weather systems.
Freezing! I hate the cold. Walking the kids to school in the freezing is fun – NOT. Especially when one of them refuses to wear anything longer than a pair of shorts a size too big. At least they reach below his knees. Just a little bit over the battle over him wearing a jumper. Usually, it ends in a “Fine, be cold then!” and an “I like being cold” and then he doens’t get cold.
Grrrr.
Luckily for us there’s a Geoff Hardy Hand Crafted Merlot we can get our hands on. A nice, smooth, soul warming red. And I like that it was “hand crafted”; sitting here under my TV blanket with my laptop, watching the baby eat the contents of the recycle bin, I like that someone else has worked hard for this glass – bottle – of wine for me. I can only describe it as “Mmmmmmmmm. Perfect.”
What the Wine Club people explain it as:
Although this wine is drinking superbly at present, if carefully cellared for then next 4-8 years it will develop complex savoury characters that will reward those who wait. In Australia the popularity of varietal Merlot is a relatively recent phenomenon. Often blended with Cabernet Sauvignon to soften the Cabernet’s firmer tannins. Merlot in the Adelaide Hills is often low cropping which results in a smooth full bodied wine with great colour.
Rate 92/100 Drink whenever possible!
Ha! And look at that. Only $13.27 a bottle instead of $29.99. This could see me through till the end of Winter. How about that?
Join the Real Mums Wine Club and you too can get your hands on some great deals like this. It’s free to join and there’s no obligation to buy.
Real Mums also recommend that you drink responsibly and sensibly and not through your nose with a straw. Enjoy!
Australia: the place to be for Mums
Posted by: | CommentsActually, technically it’s Sweden according to a news snippet I heard today on the radio - I’d search for a link, but quite frankly, I couldn’t be arsed.
Anyhoo, the gist of it was that Australia is ranked 4th in the world as the best place to be for Mums, but for kids, it ranked 27th. Interesting. I’m not really sure what this is based on (except, possibly for the fact that Australia has realmums.com.au 
), whether its support available to Mums, or just that we have some damned good cafes and beauty therapists? Not sure.
In the shower tonight, and I did think that we’re really not a community set up for mums.
Sure there’s whole new ranges of shampoo and more 24 hour makeups than you can poke a stick at, but lets look at this realisically. See, my shampoo bottle has this thing on it that says “lasts up to 48 hours”; I think referring to the fact it keeps your hair clean for this long. Which is why I bought it, because I’m averaging a shower once every second day. 48 hour shampoo is good.
Except its not. Because it doesn’t repell mashed pumpkin, snot, Vegemite covered fingers, snot covered fingers, mud, sand, and I don’t want to know what that is! Thus, leaving me with a need to wash my hair something closer to 48 seconds than 48 hours.
My stay on lipstick doesn’t. Well, actually it does. We’ve regrouted half the tiles in the bathroom and damned if Ican get it off. Or get the kids to finish the other half! It will come off my lips when I kiss them, but won’t come off my good sheets or my son’s face. After he’s attempted his own face paint, because he has the worst mother in the world who won’t let him do anything and it’s not fair!
Cars now come with 78 compartments, and any good mother knows you need at least double that.
I’m still struggling to find the perfect hand bag, let alone a suitable nappy bag.
Husbands still don’t come with empathy, sympathy or the ability to know that the same three jokes they repeat incessantly are not funny.
Tampons still sound like a lolly being unwrapped, and attempts to explain to a 3 year old boy why he can’t have one are still in vain. They still come in very brightly coloured packaging, despite this being highly attractive to children and highly visible when you open your handbag. Or when your child opens your handbag and empties it in the middle of a crowded restaurant.
Personally, I think its all in favour of the kids. Kid’s are “just being kids” if they have porridge in their hair and using tampons as paint brushes. Mums are considered lazy and “bad mothers” if they style their hair with WeetBix and bad wives if they roll their eyes at their hubby’s jokes.
Not fair.
Still, we do have a few things on our side … anyone fancy a Mums’ Night Out!?
Real Mum of the Year Finalist – Simone
Posted by: | Comments
Real Mum of the Year Award Finalist 2009
Simone lives in Victoria, is married and has two children, a girl aged7 and boy aged 5, both with disabilites.
Despite these challenges, she is determined to raise her kids as “normal” and won’t make excuses for them.
A recent whinge, however, had us concerned, when she expressed how frustrating her daughter was “She whines and answers back and yells at me. She still gets pot in the corner …” We’re pretty sure this is a typo, but she made us laugh.
Her greatest piece of advise to other mums would be to check labels on packaging, with the light on, prior to use. After using hairspray as a deodorant for several days, she was mildly suprised to find it works quite well.
And yet, with all she has on her plate, she still finds the time to make the breakfast of champions for herself and her kids each morning. Fairy bread, I believe, is now the order of the day …
Well done, Simone and best of luck!
Real Mum of the Year Finalist – Alexandra (Lex)
Posted by: | CommentsLex is a single mum to two boys, aged 4 and 6, living in Penrith, NSW.
Real Mum of the Year Award Finalist 2009
Despite the trials and tribulations of the dating scene, she is a remarkably real mum.
Sure, she’s done the odd “Gee, I wonder why that’s not working?” when attempting to cure a headache with a urinary tract support medication instead of panadiene. But haven’t we all?
Still, she’s incredibly resourceful, and let us in on the tip that when the house is devoid of bandaids (an essential when raising boys), simply use a panty liner and some sticky tape. She’s got loads more tips like this.
We’re just really impressed with her for getting it together enough, what with the incurable headaches and lack of panty liners, to registering her son’s birth. Just as he was about to turn 4.
(Yes, 4 years, not days)
Well done, Lex, on making it as a finalist and best of luck!
