It’s 11:30 at night and instead of sleeping, I’m googling GFCF recipes. I realized tonite that none of Sean’s pants fit him anymore. He’s gotten a bit of a tummy. He’s a fairly active kid who doesn’t really eat a lot. But what he does eat… it’s terrible.
I’ve become lazy and complacent. Our diet is almost 100% processed. Actually, that’s not true. MY DIET consists of lots of salads and fresh foods. My KIDS’ diet is 99% processed (they have the occasional banana.) I haven’t been eating with my kids, not for a couple of years now. I eat my dinner at work, in a very controlled environment. I’d have the older kids take turns “fixing” dinner for the family (minus myself.) Since I wanted to ease their burden (and the complaining!) dinner making consisted of opening cans, nuking meals and baking pizza. And the occasional sandwich. And all too often cereal. Yep, cold cereal for dinner.
It’s embarrassing to admit that I let my kids’ diet get so out of control while at the same time focusing so much on protecting my own. Isn’t that the antithesis of what Motherhood is all about? Oh, my kids weren’t complaining. There were lots of frozen pizzas, Taco Bell, hot dogs, and frozen waffles. And the cereal nights. Those happened when I instructed them to fix pasta or maybe scrambled eggs and they gave me any sort of resistence or attitude and whined “can’t we just have cereal???!!!” And I’d cave. Then hop on my elliptical or head to the gym or even worse, sit on the computer blog-surfing.
Two of my kids are overweight. Only a bit, but still, they are not within their healthy guidelines. And worse, they’re self-conscious about it. And now Sean is heading that way. It’s time to stop. I need to seriously pull my head out! What am I doing to my kids?
And especially Sean! He’s so food sensitive, with all his allergies and intolerances. I should be the MOST careful with his diet. But I’ve found like 10 foods that are safe for him and that’s basically what he eats. All processed, prepackaged, nutritionally devoid CRAP. I’m feeding my poor autistic kid garbage when I KNOW that quality of food is crucial for him. And then I wonder why he hasn’t made any progress this school year. Maybe it’s all the Fritos, fruit snacks and Capri Suns he has DAILY.
My behavior has been criminal. Its abuse and neglect, pure and simple. I’m literally poisoning my kids. And it has to stop. Now. Today. And so it did.
I COOKED DINNER TONITE! Baked gluten free penne pasta with ground turkey in a tomato sauce. And sauteed italian veggies (ok, so it was a bag of frozen veggies, but I did saute them in GFCF margarine on the stove.) You’d have thought I’d introduced Brendan Fraser as their new dad – their excitement and gratitude was palpable! And we realized it was the first meal I’d prepared… this year.
And I will continue to actually COOK. I will put fruits and vegetables in my kids’ lunches. I will stop buying processed garbage and most importantly – I will be present and active in my kids’ diets and lives. Our futures depend on it!
Why yes, I believe I dated myself pretty well with that Seinfeld reference. I'm glad you got it!UGH – food is my nemesis. My issues are similar but different: we need to avoid the allergies, and yet with Michael's sensory issues ANY food he'll eat is encouraged. As for Laurel, she's almost 3 and weighs 22lbs. I'm obviously failing her. I never ever ever thought something as basic as food would be so challenging!Be kind to yourself – do what you can and don't beat yourself up over what you can't do. (Man – I should take my own advice!)