Michelle Obama is on a mission to get our kids moving and eating more healthfully.  She wants to end childhood obesity in a generation.  Which means what she is really saying is that she wants YOU and all the other moms out there to step it up and start changing what you feed your kids in addition to getting them off the couch and into the backyard to play, each and every day.

It Starts With Food

Everyone in health care, the government, the media and even the First Lady seem to agree that what we are feeding our kids is making them fat.  From sugary sodas and juices, snacks filled with trans-fats, salt and sugar to fast food, it seems like mothers across the country are getting the blame for feeding their kids all the wrong things.  So the government recommends swapping unhealthy choices for lots of vegetables and fruits (with the emphasis on vegetables), water and low fat milk to drink and home cooked meals that start with fresh ingredients from the grocery store.

So Mom, how are you doing with these recommendations?  Do you give in and let your kids eat the “bad stuff” to avoid fights at the dinner table?  Are you too tired after a long day of working either in or out of the home to cook dinner?  Will your kids actually eat vegetables?

Then You Need To Get Moving

The second area the experts say needs improving is getting our kids moving.  Among the recommendations at the LetsMove.gov website is limiting television time to ONE TO TWO HOURS a day. Which means, Mom, that you have to set a good example and limit your TV time to two hours a day too.  That also means putting your thinking cap on and coming up with alternative activities for your children to do, like hobbies, games and participating in sports, to name a few.

So, is this realistic and doable?  Or is television not just entertainment but a way to keep your kids occupied so you can get other things done around the house?  Can your family really survive on just one to two hours of TV a day?

From Recommendations to Real Life

So we want to know what you are doing to prevent your kids from getting fat.  Leave a comment and let us know if these recommendations from the experts really work in your real life.  We want to know what obstacles you face it trying to keep your kids healthy and active.  For example, instead of all the advice, what could the government be doing to really make a difference and turn the childhood obesity epidemic around?

Don’t forget to take your questions and reactions over to the Chatty Exchange and touch base with other mothers trying to keep their kids from getting fat too.

I know I am not the only mother that has ever been in this position — where a Dr or nurse is telling you something and you want to believe them, but something is telling you what they are saying is not right and you need to speak up. Either you speak up then or never at all. With me, it is usually then. I try to be nice about it; if that doesn’t work, I start to get mean. This has happened to me twice in my life.

The first time was when my son who is now almost 3, was a little over 6 months old. He was learning to crawl when we moved from a house with carpet to a house without carpet. Of course he wasn’t used to this no carpet thing. One day he was crawling on our bed and trying to crawl off of it (our bed wasn’t that high off of the ground since we had our mattress and box spring on the floor) and he ended up falling and hitting his head. I thought nothing of it until the next day when he woke up and he was hot. I thought he was teething so I took him to the tub to cool him off and noticed this giant egg on his head! I was so scared. I called my husband into the bathroom and said we need to take him to the ER now!

When we got to the ER most of the nurses and doctors were telling me that was just his soft spot, blah, blah, blah. They did an x-ray and said they didn’t see anything. They said there was no need for an MRI. I told them either they were doing the MRI or I was doing it… “Take your pick!” Needless to say, they did the MRI. We were told to go to his pediatrician later that day.

When we went to the Dr he said that I was right with demanding an MRI. He couldn’t believe that they weren’t going to do the MRI because that is the best way to tell on a baby if something is wrong. So, mommy was right — he fractured his skull!

The second time was this past week. My daughter who is 6 years old, came down from her bedroom complaining that her foot hurt. I told her to sit down and prop it up. She seems to complain over any little thing, so I wasn’t sure anything was wrong. After a while, she wouldn’t walk on it or let anyone touch it. I called my husband who was at work and asked him what he thought. He ended up coming home and said children that young can’t “fake” a limp… so I called her doctor and got her in.

When I got to the doctor, he said something was wrong with her foot and ordered an x-ray. We went and had the x-ray done and came home. The doctor’s office called about 2 hours later and said it was broken and scheduled an appointment with an orthopedic doctor the following day.

The ortho was “pretty sure” her ankle wasn’t broken and that it was possibly a sprain or a hairline fracture. He put a cloth brace on it and told us to go home and come back in 5-6 weeks. Needless to say, I wasn’t too happy about this. The more I thought about it and the more I researched it online, the more I knew we wouldn’t be waiting 5-6 weeks to return. I called back and told them that her foot needs to be in a cast because this brace they put on it isn’t helping and provides virtually no support!

After a good bit of arguing back and forth and another visit to the ortho, turns out Mama was right — and now she has a pretty purple cast.

Have YOU ever had a similar experience?

My protector.

Abuser.

Enemy of happiness.

Stolen childhood.

Confusion.

Aging too soon.

Teenage Rebellion.

Bruised.

Broken deep inside.

Grown Woman.

Marriage.

Refusing to trust.

New Protector.

Safety.

Falling in love.

Taking back.

Healing.

No longer afraid.

You won’t hurt me anymore.

If you or someone you know is being abused in any way
please reach out.  You don’t have to suffer in silence.
Verbal or Mental/Emotional abuse is abuse all the same.
Talk to someone you trust…then get out.
If someone you know is being abused, it is okay to speak out.
It’s better to be hated for outing an abuser
than to learn of a death because you didn’t…

According to the Associated Press, there has been a recent spike in the number of heat-related child deaths resulting from children being locked in vehicles. I’m normally very understanding and compassionate when tragedies happen because I know accidents don’t discriminate - they can happen to any of us. Children fall into pools and can drown within seconds. Children run out into the street and all it takes is a split second and bad timing for a child to be hit by a car. A parent can turn his/her head for one second in a busy store and turn around to find their child has completely vanished.

Accidents like this happen every day, unfortunately. What do all of these scenarios have in common? Seconds. Very… little… time… Conversely, when your child is out of ANY type of adult supervision for the time it takes them to wander outside, climb into a vehicle, shut themselves in, and suffocate… someone needs to be asking the question: You didn’t notice your child wasn’t around for the last 15-20 minutes? In one case, a set of two year old twins were found in the car TWO HOURS later. Two hours. Two… h.o.u.r.s! And that doesn’t even address the issues I have with a parent who simply FORGETS that they put their child in the car, thus getting out and leaving them inside.

Where I begin to question the motives – or at very least, the priorities - of a parent is at the point that their practice to “remind” themselves that their child is in the car with them involves placing their cell phone beside the carseat so that when they get out of the car, they go to retrieve their cell phone and notice that their child is present. Hey, I’m all for any tactic that keeps babies safe, but no one snuck your baby into your car. You KNEW your child was in the car. HOW can you forget your kid??? This is an excerpt from the article published by the Associated Press:

“Safety groups such as Kids and Cars and Safe Kids USA urge parents to check the back seat every time they exit the vehicle and to create a reminder system for themselves. Some parents leave their cell phone or purse on the floor near the car seat to ensure they retrieve it along with the child.”

*dumbfounded look*

You will remember your CELL PHONE but forget your KID? Really? I will accept the charge of being judgmental in this case because I admittedly am. When a parent can forget what should be the most precious thing to them in the entire world but remember a communication device, I think someone NEEDS to be judging. Someone needs to be asking the tough questions. SOMEONE needs to be holding SOMEONE accountable for the fact that 18 children have DIED from hyperthermia as a result of this tragic type of negligence.

I’m sure I could post an article on the importance of child safety… I’m sure it would include a list of highly useful tips to ensure that your children make it through the summer, but there comes a time when we have to realize that in the hustle and bustle of everyday life, parents aren’t trying to remember safety tips. Most of them (apparently) are in such a hurry for whatever is coming next that no one thinks twice about compromising their child’s life by overlooking simple strategies to maintain the security of their environment.

What’s my point?

Slow down! Most of these children are being placed in harms way simply because parents aren’t being alert and diligent in their roles as caregivers to their children. There are so many other things capturing their attention that when their child is quiet, it’s a relief rather than an alarm. Granted, parents have a lot to do, often have very little breathing time, and we have to give careful consideration to every detail of the lives that depend on our managerial expertise… but if it gets too much for you to handle – so much that you can’t keep track of – or even remember - your own child, something has to give. Either something needs to go or you need to get some help!

I can relate to those whose chaos overwhelms their life. Trust me! Between taking care of a husband and five children, running a somewhat thriving web design business, contributing articles to five websites and maintaining several others, being a Theology student while studying to take the Law School Admissions Test, with the summer in full effect meaning there is no break from the insanity of my life, AND having Fibromyalgia which actually gives me a medical excuse for the absentmindedness and lack of concentration I suffer from regularly, if anyone should be forgetting a kid or two here and there, it should be me. However, I can’t for the life of me understand how ANYONE could not recognize that one of their children have gone M.I.A.

What’s the solution?

I can’t definitively answer that because I can’t really even wrap my head around the fact that this is even a problem. Let’s just give a nice, friendly reminder that in 90 degree heat, the worst place for your kids to be able to climb into is your car. Lock it. Problem solved. Oh, and just for good measure, you should probably know where your children are… I mean, seriously, even if they are playing outside with friends in the yard (which is how one little two year old boy gained entry to the family vehicle before he suffocated inside) it’s not difficult to check on them and account for each of your kids every few minutes. For those who forget them in the back seat, I don’t even know what to say to you. There just really is no excuse. That makes absolutely no sense to me. I mean, you put the kid in, you drive to your destination, and somewhere along the way you just FORGOT they were there?

*dumbfounded look*

Parents, what is more important to you:
your cell phone, or your kid?

By now, we all know how devastating the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is becoming. Just turn on the evening news or switch on news radio and you’ll hear the updates about the latest attempt to stop the oiling leaking from the damaged Deepwater Horizon oil rig.  According to NPR, the best case scenario is that only a little over 60 million gallons of oil will be spilled into the Gulf of Mexico daily; in the worst case scenario, over 140 million gallons a day.  It seems the news only gets worse as the days pass.

By now, you are probably asking yourself, “How can my family help and make a difference?”  Well here are some ideas how you and your family can do good and help with the oil spill cleanup efforts:

Volunteer

Several organizations around the the Gulf Coast are recruiting volunteers to help with locating distressed and oiled birds and other wildlife on area beaches, assisting with efforts to clean oiled wildlife and cleaning up oil on beaches.  CNN has comprised a list of these local organizations on their website.  Included in the list are The Audubon Society, The National Wildlife Federation, the Alabama Coastal Foundation and Save Our Seabirds.  For the complete list, click here.

Donate

Monday night CNN and Larry King Live hosted a Disaster in the Gulf telethon.  When asked why funds are being raise when BP has been told that it is their responsible for reimbursing the costs of oil spill clean up and business losses in the gulf region, Ryan Seacrest responded:

“The aim was to raise money that could go to helping people straight away, because it can take a long time to cut through bureaucracy to get money to the people who need it.”

Another celebrity getting in on the act is Steven Colbert.  Through The Colbert Nation, he created The Colbert Nation The Gulf of America Fund.  The goal of this fund is to raise money to create a general fund from which grants will be made to nonprofit organizations that work with the people and wildlife affected by the oil spill.  Click here to make a donation to The Gulf of America Fund.

Send Them Your Hair & Pet Fur

Did you know that hair, pet fur and other natural fibers soak up oil?  Of course you do … that’s why you need to wash your hair.  What you might not know is that you can donate your clean hair, pet fur and old clean nylons to Matter of Trust who turns these items into oil absorbing booms to sop up petroleum in the water.

This is the perfect opportunity to recycle and reuse all the hair, fur and nylons you have in your home.  And if you are like most moms and cut your kids hair yourself, this is a great way to help and get your kids involved in the process. Groom your pets at home to save money?  You can send Fido’s fur along too.

In addition, consider spreading the word about this unique charity to your own hairdresser or pet groomer.  Visit the Matter of Trust programs page here for even more ideas. Print out a Hair Program flyer to distribute to local businesses and your church congregation or access the Teacher Demo Page for educational materials to share with your kids.

With so many different ways to do good, finding a way to help that fits best with what you and your family have to offer is easy.

PLEASE NOTE:

Oiled wildlife should not be captured but instead reported to the Deep Water Horizon response team at 1-866-557-1401. Please report areas with oil ashore at 1-866-448-5816.

1. Anablephobia - Fear of looking up
2. Arachibutyrophobia – The fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth
3. Atelophobia - Fear of imperfection
4. Barophobia- Fear of gravity
5. Caligynephobia - Fear of beautiful women
6. Cibophobia - Fear of food
7. Clinophobia - Fear of going to bed
8. Epistemophobia- Fear of knowledge
9. Euphobia - Fear of hearing good news
10. Geniophobia – Fear of chins
11. Genuphobia - Fear of knees
12. Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia - Fear of long words
13. Kathisophobia – Fear of sitting down
14. Lachanophobia – Fear of vegetables
15. Levophobia - Fear of things to the left side of the body
16. Logophobia – Fear of words
17. Pantophobia - Fear of everything
18. Peladophobia – Fear of bald people
19. Phobophobia – Fear of fear
20. Phronemophobia – Fear of thinking
21. Pteronophobia - Fear of being tickled by feathers
22. Somniphobia - Fear of sleep
23. Tremophobia - Fear of trembling
24. Trichophobia - Fear of hair
25. Xanthophobia - Fear of the color yellow or the word yellow

Do any of you have any of these fears?
Do you have any fear at all?

I have:

• Claustrophobia: fear of enclosed spaces
• Hypochondria: sort of a “health” phobia
• Fear of insects (entomophobia), snakes (ophidiophobia), rodents (musophobia), etc.

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. As such, you may see a plethora of pink from pinned-on ribbons to new webpage graphics to ties and other attire… all of this is in attempts to honor those who have battled with breast cancer as well as to raise public awareness of the issue. While October is the power-promo month, the NBCAM website is available every day of the year to provide information and references to those interested in learning more about the fight against breast cancer – and, according to the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month website, the fight to encourage the “practice of regular self-breast exams to identify any changes, scheduling regular visits and annual mammograms, adhering to prescribed treatment, and knowing the facts about the recurrence” of breast cancer.

This month, in respect of Breast Cancer Awareness, Colloquy Moms is featuring our readers – have you or has someone you love fought this battle? Send your story to team@colloquymoms.com along with a short bio, a link to your blog (if applicable), and a photograph (if available). Submissions will be accepted through October 25th as celebration of the NBCAM’s 25 years of awareness, education, and empowerment. All acceptable submissions will be featured between October 17 and October 31st! Our purpose is to inspire, to inform, and to enlighten others about the seriousness of breast cancer and the necessity of getting involved in the fight to continue to move forward in research and public awareness.

Spread the word – save a life!

As many of you may already know, last Saturday my sister in law was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Hearing the news of her diagnosis, I could suddenly relate to the feeling Wile E Coyote had every time he was crushed by the anvil, bringing him back to the harsh reality that his plans just weren’t good enough; that no matter what he did, he would always be inferior to the Roadrunner. Life is like that. Try as we may, there’s always going to be something we missed in the blueprint… some kink in the chain of events which forces us to realize that we’re just not in control. All the planning in the world can’t prepare us for certain things. The biggest issue when we meet circumstances like this is whether we bounce back or remain stuck under the anvil. There’s a lesson to be learned from that boneheaded, stubborn coyote we all came to know as Wile E: no matter how badly it hurts, you just gotta get back up and try again.

Approximately 200 people are diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) each week in the United States alone. It is estimated that anywhere from 250K – 350K people are living with MS in this nation right now. To give you an idea of what these indivuduals, including my sister in law, are facing… here is an excerpt taken from Wikipedia:

MS affects the ability of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord to communicate with each other. Nerve cells communicate by sending electrical signals called action potentials down long fibers called axons, which are wrapped in an insulating substance called myelin. In MS, the body’s own immune system attacks and damages the myelin. When myelin is lost, the axons can no longer effectively conduct signals. The name multiple sclerosis refers to scars (scleroses—better known as plaques or lesions) in the white matter of the brain and spinal cord, which is mainly composed of myelin. Almost any neurological symptom can appear with the disease, and often progresses to physical and cognitive disability and neuropsychiatric disorder.

MS takes several forms, with new symptoms occurring either in discrete attacks (relapsing forms) or slowly accumulating over time (progressive forms). Between attacks, symptoms may go away completely, but permanent neurological problems often occur, especially as the disease advances. There is no known cure for MS. Treatments attempt to return function after an attack, prevent new attacks, and prevent disability. MS medications can have adverse effects or be poorly tolerated, and many patients pursue alternative treatments, despite the lack of supporting scientific study. The prognosis is difficult to predict; it depends on the subtype of the disease, the individual patient’s disease characteristics, the initial symptoms and the degree of disability the person experiences as time advances. Life expectancy of patients is nearly the same as that of the unaffected population.

The truth behind this disease is that it will bring out a fighter in you that you never knew was there… and will create the necessity to strengthen the fighter you already knew existed. My sister in law has always been a fighter. {Those who know her are laughing right now thinking of just how much of a fighter she has always been!} She’s a strong woman and is lucky to have a husband who is a strong man… a loving man… a man who has been – and will be – there for her through thick and thin. But just think of all the people struggling with this illness on their own. It hurts my heart just thinking of San going through this even knowing she has the support of our family. When I think of the bigger picture – the thousands of people who are going through it alone, that makes my spirit cry.

Honestly, until now I had never given much thought to MS sufferers. For so many of us, until we have a experience with a certain thing, it never becomes much more than a mere blip on our radar. But now, it’s personal. It’s close to home. It’s on my mind. Do you know someone who has MS? Have YOU been diagnosed with this disease? I encourage everyone to reach out – educate yourself. Just like the fight against cancer, HIV/AIDS, and other autoimmune disorders, the fight against Multiple Sclerosis deserves our attention, our efforts, our resources… and our prayers. When you’re healthy, it’s so easy to take that for granted; to consider yourself lucky and to turn a blind eye to the issues others are facing. But ask yourself this question: What if tomorrow, it were YOU dealing with these things. Would you find it unfair that no one cared about your inner battle? … that no one rushed to your aid or found it worthwhile to provide you with support?

Support the cause! Join the fight!
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