The Editor’s Desk – From Beneath the Clutter

One of the fun things about having kids is throwing birthday parties.

Wait. Maybe that’s one of the crazy things. Exhausting things. What-was-I-thinking things.

Yes, we had my oldest daughter’s birthday party over the weekend. A bit late, but we were sick closer to it, and that’s just how things go. But if you ever need to tire out a large group of 7 year olds, water balloons are a great way to do it.

Feature Article

Grocery Store Shopping is a Lesson on What You Need to Teach Your Children

Summer is a great time for socializing, fun and great food. Unfortunately, we’ve had cookouts a few times this week at other homes and I just can’t feed my children another one of those hot dogs that have questionable ingredients. I decided it was time for a trip to Whole Foods.

Usually I head to Whole Foods by myself. Cruise the aisles, read all the ingredients and somehow actually find some relaxing moments when I find the perfect ingredients for a great dinner. With the whole family in the store, this trip was a bit different. My kids, brother and husband all found the “junk” that I somehow manage to avoid. Cookies, cakes, chips, flavored drinks and then of course the bakery. Relaxing in the store was not going to be option… or was it?

I decided that I wasn’t going to stress over the family choices. Within reason (in other words 1-2 treats each) I let them pick out whatever their little hearts desired (husband too!). Hey, everyone deserves a little fun, right? So here are some treats we now have at home: 2 boxes of cookies from the bakery, some cereal with sugar that will be snacked on and avoided at breakfast time, and gummy bunnies. Not too bad!

The best part is that the kiddos also choose fresh bulk carrots for juicing, raw broccoli for their lunches and spelt bread for their sandwiches. Of course, we did remember the grass-fed, all beef, organic, uncured hot dogs for our cookout too! Keeping my cart contents in perspective, I’m really proud of my family and the choices they were able to make in keeping the healthy food choices more plentiful than the desserts. This was a great test to let go and see what happens, knowing that even if they picked with worst of the worst treats in the store, they were still avoiding high fructose corn syrup, artificial dyes and toxic preservatives.

So Mom and Dad, as your on your mission in the grocery store next time and you have the children in tow, see what they choose when they have a little freedom and you’ll see where your nutrition education needs to be improved. My next nutrition lesson based on our cart will be learning how to find food other than snacks, in fact I think they’ll each be shopping for the ingredients of their favorite recipes.

Catherine Whitcher, M.Ed is founder of Mission: Clean Kids ™. After experiencing her daughter almost losing her life due to lead and mercury toxicity, Catherine is dedicated to helping other parents avoid toxins in their homes. You can learn more and join Mission: Clean Kids at http://www.missioncleankids.com Our team of parents is dedicated to the daily mission of raising our children clean.