Today’s trip to the doctor went well and teaches an important lesson about how important it is to fulfill the duties of parenting to ensure the health of your child. Since none of the tests so far have shown any conclusive problems, and in fact, show everything to be “normal”, the only explanation that the doctors have is that it’s a combination of lack of exercise — too much time in front of the TV and too little time at the park — and unhealthy food (frozen TV dinners and greasy cafeteria junk) and dietary habits (like eating too close to bed time and unhealthy snacks). I can’t control the things that happen when my daughter is in the States, but here we eat very healthy food together on an appropriate schedule, and spend plenty of times at the park (which unfortunately she doesn’t get to do in the States, and for some deranged reason her school has all but eliminated physical activity), so I’m quite hopeful that at least while she’s here her health will be remain solid, and hopefully it’s a valuable lesson learned. It’s just unfortunate that so much school was missed and so much money was spent over something that seems to be so easy to fix with decent food and activity… After all, we are hunter gatherers “designed” to collect our plant food after hours of foraging, and our lean meat after as much as days of stalking our wild prey.
Anyway, in more fun news, after yesterday building a smaller sand castle over a short log, today we spent an hour or so moving a ton of dirt and building a monstrous sand castle over top of a boulder that sits in the playground. First we covered the whole thing with a thick layer of sand, and then started building up castles on the “mountain”.
Nonetheless, I’m quite certain that the megacastle will be gone the next time we go to the park. It’s amazing how quickly things are destroyed the instant you aren’t actively protecting them. Even when you actually are sitting and working on a sandcastle, it’s shockingly common for a kid to come over and stomp on it, with their parent standing right next to them. Oh, they might say “oh, don’t wreck that girl’s castle” softly to their so-called precious snowflake, but they won’t raise their voice let alone lift a finger to teach their kid some manners. If their child wants to break the stuff that some other child is working on, of course they should!!! Well, perhaps when they kick at our giant castle, they will at least learn a lesson when they stub their precious toes on a boulder. Sort of like building a snowman over a fire hydrant in the hope that some jackass will smash into it with their car!
Tomorrow I’ve got a tattoo appointment, which was originally made in the hope that it would be done before my daughter got back, but she enjoys tagging along so it’s not too bad (long-time readers will recall that she got to tattoo me once there)… We’ll be very close to done I hope at that point, and I’ll post some updated photos.
6 Comments
Funny, that.
Gym class is a joke here in the states, the main focus was typically to do the least physical things they could come up with- softball being #1, but that meant most of the players spent most of their time doing nothing. So now there is even less exercise, worse food and an obesity epidemic- go figure! In our own defense as Americans we are too busy fighting abstract objects elsewhere (drugs, terror, etc.) to pay real attention to bettering ourselves because Jesus supports whatever we do, and forgives all our trespasses against others, so we have the ‘god’ given right to fix everyone except ourselves because ‘god’ loves only America unconditionally, and for that everything we think and feel means so much more than facts- GOD HATES FACTS!
In the USA parents stopped parenting and have chosen to be their children’s friend over actually raising the child; this is now considered normal. Amazingly there is a trend to blame the teachers for everything the parents and children failed to do, and this is escalating the game they’ve been at for a while by pretending to improve education while actually watering it down, and covering it up by changing how the children are graded. Private schools are better because unlike public schools private schools can reject the disruptive and poor performing students where public schools are mandated to cater to them at a very real cost to all other students; it takes only one out of place student to ruin class for all.
I’m sure the sandcastle attacks were just intellectual property disputes, that or the lack of parenting is undermining Canadian culture too!
What really gets to me is how many 20 something year olds are willing to travel somewhere to end up penniless with no way home, call them human garbage because someone else is always responsible for clearing them away.
I am not surprised – that sort of diet and lack of exercise isn’t good for children.
After following your blog for many years, I was amazed to see Ari’s weight gain in recent photos compared to the past.
All the best for the future…
So relieved that Nefarious’ health problems are so easily treatable, sad and disappointed for you all though that she must’ve been so scared. Having two of her parents with big health challenges no doubt had her clever mind working on some frightening thoughts. Thank goodness for a superior health system (expensive tests aren’t what breeds the superiority, obviously…)
I’ve been an avid follower of your blog for sometime and don’t usually post. However I do feel compelled to post this time.
Mabye I am not considered the “norm” anymore, but I DO parent my children, I say no, hold my children to a standard of ethics, teach them to treat others as they want to be treated and kick them outside as often as possible.
I expect them to have manners and treat other people’s belongings/creations respectfully.
We have a garden which all 3 of my kids help tend (begrudgingly sometimes) and eat from.
My kids also attend public schools and our phys ed programs are very good, they focus on activity and they actually have teams that *gasp* win AND lose. Sportsmanship is taught and encouraged.
My oldest just finished 6th grade and made the roll of excellence all 4 quarters of school. All three take pride in their grades, however my son had some troubles this last year but my husband and I delt with his issues BECAUSE we are his parents and it is our JOB to help him become the best person he can be.
I do agree that it is sad that some parents feel it is more important to be their child’s friend above a parent, and to clean up every mess that child makes. I don’t think this does the child any favors as they don’t know how to cope for themselves and have serious entitlement issues.
Another thing we have taught our children is to face the consequences of your actions, be it good or bad. If you create the situation, you have to deal with the aftermath.
I didn’t mean this to be a rant, I just hate seeing people lumped together due to their geographical location.
On an end note, I am glad your daughter’s health issues have a simple fix. I know how hard it is to have something wrong and not know what it is, the feeling of helplessness is pure agony.
Hopefully Ari gets better quickly! I also love the idea of boulder castles and hydrant-men, if we get snow this winter I will have to build one.
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