2018 | PulseonParenting

How to Approach the Sugar Epidemic

May 24 2018

It was ironic. And a little bit sick. Not nearly as sick as an airport television tuned in to a feature on plane crashes or that particular vendor in Pompeii selling snow globes of the doomed city. But still. As I was researching this article, a pop-up video advertised a delicious recipe using Reese’s peanut butter cups. SO not fair. But I’ll admit, at first the video didn’t seem out of the ordinary…so common and everyday is our exposure, in media or on the dinner table, to sugary nirvana. It may be the 21st century but humans still have cave person…

May 17 2018

It seemed like there was so much more of it than at other parties, in other years. Maybe it was because I was paying better attention. But I couldn’t believe all the junk food. It was as if the evil witch’s house from Hansel and Gretel had crash-landed in my son’s third grade classroom. I had the urge to start picking through the rubble looking for ruby slippers. (Wait, I’m confusing my fairy tales, aren’t I?) I know I was complicit in this edible crime, having brought something sweet and tasty for the kids to gobble up. Of…

May 14 2018

Whew! I hadn’t talked in front of a group in many years…so it was good to push my limits at the Durango Diaries event last week honoring mothers. A few days ago I published my story for what was hopefully your reading pleasure:). Please find below the link to the video version (The presentations are in reverse order…I got to be in the warm-up-the-crowd position and went first, so my story is the final one posted). I invite you to also watch the other four stories as well. These moms are amazing! Make sure you have tissues handy… https://durangoherald.com/durango-diaries…

May 10 2018

I haven’t spoken in public since my son disappeared from supper at Disney World. Then, I was calling his name across a couple hundred people enjoying a meal of their own. That was six years ago and I was pretty nervous. (Fortunately, our separation from our son at the Happiest Place on Earth was brief; he had taken himself to the bathroom and knew where he was the entire time….) I had the honor of speaking at one engagement in a series called Durango Diaries sponsored by our local newspaper. The topic was Mothers’ Day and speakers chosen to…

May 03 2018

My kids’ bathroom is a disaster. Wet towels carpet the floor, the wastebasket fills up daily (at least the trash is actually in the basket…), and I’m pretty sure the lavatory has gone MIA as it can’t be seen for all the soap bars, hair ties and dried crusts of toothpaste. I try to let this swamp be the kids’ responsibility, but on days the nesting instinct takes over, I can’t help myself. The other day I found a half-dozen gooey, gummy, squeezed-from-the-middle toothpaste tubes. Ick. I lined them all up on the counter and the bathroom was transformed into…

Apr 26 2018

Let it go, let it go Can’t hold it back anymore Let it go, let it go Idina Menzel owns this song. The only woman who owns it more is her Frozen alter-ego, Elsa, when she accepts her frigid powers and abilities. The power of letting go. What if we all did that? Maybe we can’t put the chill on global warming, or gift the desperately-needed snow to Colorado (but when you have any, please overnight it), but what if we let go of our fears and reservations? What if you told yourself 5-4-3-2-1-go!*** and asked your boss for that deserved…

Apr 12 2018

In the book The Mermaid of Brooklyn by Amy Shearn the rusalka admonishes Jenny: Why does something good happening to someone else bother you? I read that and the world stopped spinning. Because in just a few brief words, the mermaid spirit nailed it. She told Jenny, a mother of two languishing after her husband abandoned them, to stop comparing. Stop comparing. This is one tall order. Today’s world is submerged in a “sizing up” mentality. Advertisements promote this-or-that over the other, we scroll through albums of friends’ cherubic children and fabulous beach vacations on social media, and not go…

Mar 21 2018

That’s WAY more than you need, put half of it back in the serving bowl. You just ate, you can’t need a snack yet. Your brother can have two hamburgers…he is growing faster than you are right now. Ugh. These phrases are my dance around the weight issue. Trying not to mention that my child weighs too much, and the fear of fueling a body image problem or an eating disorder, this dialogue is the best I’ve come up with. Reading my rationale on my computer screen, I see how woefully inadequate and controlling I sound. Not overtly bad,…

Mar 15 2018

I entered the exam room with a paper chart (back in the olden days before the electronic medical record), the patient’s name and the patient’s concern, “discuss weight.” I was no stranger to addressing issues like this with my adult patients; it was a routine part of my day, treating and making treatment plans for a patient’s well-being and overall health. What I was not prepared for was, on entering the room, to see a mother and her preteen daughter…the latter, not the former, being the patient. At that point in my career I had little experience with…

Mar 01 2018

Our family likes to mix it up at meal time. Sometimes we offer a traditional grace, one of the two prayers my husband and I grew up with. Sometimes we get our Von Trapp on and sing “Johnny Appleseed” (Oh, the Lord is good to me, and so I thank the Lord…). At other times we recite the Philmont (boy scout camp in New Mexico) Grace. But our favorite is to go around the table and offer one thing we are thankful for in our day, something for which we are grateful. Gratitude seems to be implied; of course we are grateful…

Archive - 2018

How to Approach the Sugar Epidemic

Why We Need to Reduce Our Kids Sugar Intake Now

Durango Diaries: My Mothers’ Day Story

Happy Mothers’ Day to All Our Modern-Day Harriets (That’s All of You:))

Something You Should Know About Your Toothpaste

Step Four for an Extraordinary Life: Let Go

Step Three for an Extraordinary Life: Stop Comparing

How to Talk Body Weight With Your Child Without Talking Body Weight

All in the Family: Helping Your Overweight Child Make Healthy Choices

Step Two for an Extraordinary Life: Be Grateful