I'm on a diet. It's a good diet and for the most part I consider and refer to it as a healthy eating plan as opposed to a diet because the truth of the matter is, when I reach my goal, the only way I will keep my weight there is to continue to eat healthy.
When I'm on a diet, my whole family is on a diet because I just don't have what it takes to watch the rest of the family pig out on all that good stuff like cookies and chips and chocolate (oh yummm) while I eat carrot sticks and celery.
Nothing against carrot sticks and celery, I quite like the bunny food but I also really like cookies and chips and chocolate!
The upside of this new healthy eating plan is that the whole family is becoming more healthy. The Dad has lost almost as much weight as I have! This is entirely not fair since I'm the one doing all the trying and he's still getting to eat whatever he wants whenever he wants but just the change of what I cook at home has made a huge difference for him.
The younger kids, those intense ones don't and didn't need to loose any weight, I think the pure surging intensity running through their veins is enough to keep them slim and trim, but the pie worries me.
The Pie went from being a "stick" (The Dad used to call him 'stick man') to being a bit of a chub.
I'm hoping it's mostly a phase that 11 year old boys go through - I have seen most of his friends do a little chubby stint and then miraculously return to their former trim selves after a huge growth spurt around the time they turn 12.
The Pie has not grown more than a fraction of an inch in about 8 months and considering he's 5'6 already, he's due for a major grow any time.
In the mean time, I'm not just sitting idle waiting for him to grow into his weight.
According to this article on Overweight Children, 15% of U.S. children and teenagers are considered to be overweight. The article, which can be found at Online Diet Advice goes on to discuss the possible reasons for the weight problem in children and some suggestions for dealing with overweight children.
My biggest concern is to deal with it effectively without making Pie feel bad about himself! That is a major challenge because the last thing I want to do is make him feel bad about himself - or equally as bad, make him think that I feel badly about him.
I just want healthy kids, healthy minds, heathy spirits and healthy bodies. Hopefully in changing my attitude towards food - I will help them with heathy bodies.
The Dad and I disagree on the use of herbal remedies. He would prefer that I not use herbal medications to treat our children and I would prefer to use natural sources when possible.
This is not to say that I don't go to the doctor, I do and I do immunize and they get traditional treatment for things that need treatment but I have no qualms about giving The Pie Cranberry suppliments to help prevent bladder infections that he has been prone to - or for that matter, giving him a pile of cranberry juice or concentrated cranberry if he starts to get an infection on the weekend when it's hard to see a doctor. Many times it has enabled us to forget the doctor all together if we get it soon enough.
I like to use melatonin to help the kids get their internal clocks set or sometimes just to help them get to sleep.
Now most information sources I've seen do not recommend giving melatonin to children as there have not been sufficient studies to verify it's safety so please don't take what I say as medical advice or direction because I am not an expert.
What I have done for myself is to read about melatonin and about the few studies that have been done with children and determined that I feel it is safe to use moderately and occasionally.
I also did some reading on herbal medicines in general and feel much more comfortable using an herbal remedy when possible and feasable than to use over the counter or prescription drugs. In an article about alternative medicine I found at this online health guide the authors, practitioners of Chinese medicine and as medical herbalists, discuss why herbal medications can work with less side effects and more efficiently than their synthetic counterparts.
When my intense children go from just being normally intense children to being abnormally difficult and challenging children, I have used New Era homeopathic remedy "Biochemic Tissue Salt 6" "Kali. Phos." which was suggested at the health food store. It is recommended for tension and insomnia brought on by stress and it seems to help when things, or children become a little too tightly wound. They feel better and I feel better - that's a good thing.
I think that anyone who is looking to use homeopathic or herbal medicines should do their own research. As I said, I'm not an expert and I have no medical background - this is just my own experience and what has worked for me. Each parent should make their own decisions.
Comments
Thu, 29.04.2010 08:12
THANK YOU! My son is 5 and has been a pretty emotional child. My father-in-law passed away about a year and half ago and [...]
Thu, 11.03.2010 14:08
EVERYONE PLEASE LISTEN. Now that I have your attention. My 2nd grader is currently being bullied by his teacher. [...]
Wed, 17.02.2010 09:05
I know you posted this forever ago, but if you're still out there I would love to here how things turned out, if the [...]
Wed, 10.02.2010 18:47
if teachers were paid an appropriate salary for the level of education and effort required, you could get rid of these [...]
Wed, 16.12.2009 07:53
I have a 7 yr old step daughter that comes from a mother who has alot a mental health issues, tho my daughter seems to [...]
Tue, 27.10.2009 10:48
Child Behavior Modification is so tough. There are moments that yelling at them is not enough. Tantrums in toddlers [...]
Thu, 17.09.2009 16:26
I appreciate your sharing of this situation and applaud your directness with the principle that your goal is to remove [...]
Sat, 29.08.2009 17:03
Hi there, I am totally with you with the no spanking. I was telling my mum the other day about my 2.4yr old son hitting [...]
Mon, 06.04.2009 20:06
My seven year old son cries alot. I can completly relate with the parent. It is something you worry about when [...]
Tue, 24.02.2009 16:31
This is great stuff! My husband and I were wondering what was happenig to our son who just turned 7. He was very tough [...]
Sat, 03.01.2009 23:49
Thanks for the article, It was important to hear the part about not bottling up emotions otherwise later in life, that [...]
Wed, 24.12.2008 00:11
my two year old daughter cries all the time and i don't know what is wrong.she gets up at night and scamming and then [...]
Wed, 12.11.2008 21:10
I did this one time, my kids had slept over at a friend's house and were up 'til all hours and super crabby the next [...]
Sat, 04.10.2008 18:55
We are in a similar situation. I am curious what the outcome was?
Fri, 11.07.2008 11:54
Parenting Advice: Find Parenting Resources on Websites All parents want to be the best parent we can be for our [...]