Why we are slowly poisoning our Children (Part II)

Why we are slowly poisoning our Children (Part II)

The Junk and the Body

I have on occasion paid keen attention (whenever I go to a restaurant) on what adults, including parents order for the children accompanying them. Most of the time I see kids eating potato chips (French fries -with no vegetables) , a sausage(s) and lots of time soda. While the adult’s menu will have vegetable in most cases and less dangerous foods such as soups. I have also witnessed many times kids being pacified with sweets, cake and all things sugary. At such times, I want to scream.

Foods rich in sugar and fat have a high calorie content and continuous eating of such foods can lead to obesity and hence health related problems.

Fighting Child obesity (The food)

1.      Buy and serve more fruit, vegetables, beans and other legumes. These foods are low in calories, have high fibre content and they suppress hunger, hence tend to prevent over eating.

2.      When introducing new healthy foods, start with small servings. If they child is still hungry, let them ask for more. Don’t force them to eat, they’ll detest the food. If possible, pack a fruit in their lunch box as they go to school. An orange or apple will do. They are sweet and are good detoxifiers

3.      Avoid soft drinks and snacks if possible. When you have to, buy few and do not stock them up in the fridge. Today’s children prefer Cola drinks than milk! Explain the health benefits of milk (rich in calcium), and at the same time the health hazards of colas. For snacks, give your child peanuts or raw carrots to chew if they must have something when watching TV

4.      Instead of fruit juices, offer the child water more often. Water flushes out toxins and has no sugar therefore it’s a healthy drink.

5.      Involve the kids in planning healthy meals. This makes them know that it is their responsibility to eat healthily.

6.      Do not give up. Sometimes children don’t want to eat a new kind of food. Explain to them the health benefits of the food. Do not force it on them, give them time.

7.      LEAD BY EXAMPLE. Eat healthy if you want the kids to.

In our third and last series we will talk about the importance of exercise and creative and fun ways to make your kids exercise!

HAPPY PARENTING!!!

WHY WE ARE SLOWLY POISONING OUR CHILDREN (PART I)

The London Olympic Games are almost coming to a close. And like any competitions, I have had my favorites in these games. Apart from the usual Usain Bolt and David Rudisha (for now obvious reasons), I have loved to watch the US teenage gymnast and gold medalist Gabrielle Douglas. Every step she takes during her performances she does with such ease, you’d be forgiven to think that you can actually rise up from your seat and join her. But mostly, Gabrielle reminds me of my childhood. We had gymnastics way back in school, growing. Not Gabrielle’s “advanced” type, but we’d do the somersaults, “cut wheel”, “ head stand”, “hand walk”, “crab walking”, and other simple moves (well to Gabrielle’s standards!)

I remember when I was in lower primary I couldn’t wait to get to the upper classes because only then would I be allowed to join the gymnastics team. But the time I was in class four (the first of the upper classes), I had practiced most of the common moves ready to join the team.

We currently do not have gymnastics as part of extra-curricular activities in our school system any more. I do not know why they decided to remove them.

Play back then was much more “active”. We’d practice our high jump in rivers using bamboo, as poles. We’d use sand for “soft landing”. Play time involved a lot of running, sweat and of course bruises! We were healthy. I do not remember any time, ever seeing an overweight friend or class mate. We were healthy, lean kids. We needed not to worry about junk foods, there was no junk! If we ever had junk, we’d burn it all up in the play field - without knowing

Am surprised at how nowadays in a group of kids you won’t miss an obese kid. Some parents even show off their overweight children (they think that it’s a sign of good health!)

We don’t let our kids play, sweat it all out. We keep them indoors, and when they go out to play it’s restricted; not enough space, and the all “be-careful-don’t-hurt-yourself-honey” kind of adult supervised play. There’s such a thing as kid safety (what with the perverted world we live in), but we truly can minimize the “overprotection” and let kids be…

(to be continued..)

I FAULT OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM

When I was in class one after preschool, we used to carry wet clay soil to school for molding pots, cars, houses and every exciting thing we thought of. This would be done during our art and craft class. It was fun.

I remember a long time ago when I was in class six we were supposed to make a music drum with tins and animal hide. It wasn’t easy but we had fun, lots of fun when we all after one month displayed our drums, and competed to see whose drum was the best “cooked” (i.e. the one with the highest pitch). I remember I had to “book” the skin of the lamb we ate over Easter in that year so that I can use it for the art and crafts project.

In class seven we were required to sew pajama suits as our year project in home science. After several false starts and pricks with a needle on my index finger, I had my first pajama suit.

In class eight for our national examination assessment we made tin lamps. I remember us moving all over the neighborhood trying to get old tins that we may use for our project…it was challenging, but again it was fun

One of the exams I remember we did in music involved singing a song while dancing to it, then the teacher would award marks according to your performance. I was in the school choir and I can say that’s where I learned about melody, soprano, modulation, keys, tones etc…things I still I apply whenever I sing.

Then we left primary school and went to high school. In form one and two I did power mechanics, yes, power mechanics. I still remember two stroke engine, four stroke and one stroke engines. I remember types of nuts, pistons, threads….

Some of my friends did music in high school, others pursued woodwork and others art.

Weekends were days for play. We would go to villages far off, just to be with other kids and play with them. We would make wooden cars and push each other in turns. We would go to the river to swim, we would run, play catch and do all kiddies stuff..

We had light school bags, very light school bugs, with only a pencil, eraser and one or two books. It was fun being young.

Not any more. In primary school, currently there’s no such thing as art and crafts. There is no more home science, and kids won’t sew up buttons if their life depended on it. We have children; teenagers who cannot make a simple meal, who cannot wash a house or feed a baby. Those things are not mandatory lessons in primary school.

The syllabus has been chipped, with only five examinable subjects, none of which is practical.

My six year old kid leaves me in house every morning at seven to go to school. His bag is heavier than my hand bag, which by no means is light. I arrive home at four in the evening to find that he hasn’t arrived, he’s at school Saturday till two when am in the house having a quiet weekend. .

 I feel bad that my son is being short changed. That school is robbing him of his childhood. He can’t have enough time to play; he has tons of homework to do after school. He can’t watch Ben 10 his favorite cartoon character.

My son can’t enjoy his childhood, and yes, I fault our education system, I fault our education system, yes I fault our education system, did I say I fault our education system?

JAIL FOR MUMMY

I came from school and found them arguing,

Mummy had climbed on top of her bed and daddy was on the doorway,

He was shouting to mummy to serve him with food,

My mummy could not have any of it,

She held a big stick on her hand.

Although mummy looked like she wanted to beat daddy, she had tears in her eyes,

I was hungry, because mummy had said in the morning that there’s no food,

And there’s no money to buy lunch and bring to school.

I was feeling weak, and I was wondering why both mummy and daddy could not see that I had not eaten

I went to sit outside the big tree behind our house,

The noise was still loud, but somehow I managed to doze off,

Then I woke up when I heard noises as if people had come to our home,

It was true.

At first it was a small crowd, then more and more people streamed into our home.

I saw the police van take away my mummy and daddy,

Daddy was bleeding and uncle held his hand and led him into the waiting police van,

There was a lot of noise, and I think I heard someone say, “Let’s first take him to hospital”

That’s when I knew daddy was injured

Then one by one the neighbours left our home,

I was happy, because it was quiet now,

The sun was then setting, I went to the house and looked around for something to eat,

I only found an old orange, hard and with moulds all over,

I crashed it and ate the “good parts”

I heard voice whisper right into my ear.

She said something about jail for mummy,

But I was happy grandma came, I was hungry, and she was holding a cup of porridge.

MARRIED, BUT SINGLE!

This post has been motivated by the recent slashing of men by their wives with machetes in Central Kenya, specifically Nyeri county.

Just the other day I was talking to a lady who is a domestic help. She is married, and has three children aged between twelve and five years. He husband has been jobless for more than ten years, during time which she has provided for the family most of the time. Am talking about food, clothing for her children, school fees and every financial need.

Her husband on the other hand, though having no monthly salary has been doing casual jobs, for which he earns a daily wage. In spite of the fact that he does get some money, he has been of no support to his family. Drinking away the money or spending it to buy drinks for his friends, buying phones and credit for the phones. Whenever she’d ask for money, the husband would spank her in front of their children.

Then recently I realized that she looks happier, healthier and actually had acquired a glow. Sometimes am a meddler so I asked her what’s going on. She told me how the husband got a job far away, and how a burden has been lifted off her shoulder. So I go “hey, congrats, now you don’t have to do everything by yourself”. To my surprise she says that she isn’t expecting him to support them any more than he has in the past, so I go “huh?”

The burden, it turns out, is the husband! She goes on to explain how she’s had to feed five mouths, and now she’ll feed one “big mouth” less. How she can sleep peacefully after a day’s work, how her children won’t have to witness the nasty exchanges they’ve been having, how there’ll be no one constantly going through her phone trying to see who calls her and whom she calls, how she will have peace knowing her kids can live in peace. So I go “wow”!

Women talk, about everything. About how our kids are doing, about our jobs, husbands, church, our in-laws, parents, and about everything that the mouth can pronounce. In my interaction with women, I realize most have been left to the sole care of the children. Have they eaten, are their clothes clean, what’s with the cough, have they brushed their teeth, do they have enough books, pens... The men have reduced themselves to by standers. Reduced themselves because it’s a choice they have made..

How else would you explain why a man, upon getting some cash, would forget he has a wife and children looking up to him, and goes about spending this money on alcohol? She (the wife) wakes up, prepares breakfast, prepares the kids for school, sets his breakfast, cleans the house, gets what’s to be taken for lunch, dinner… and all this time the man is bumming around, doing nothing.. A lot of men have abandoned their divine role of being the head of the family to their wives. The women double up as mothers and heads of the family. They, however married have become single mothers, more like “double mothers” because they do double of the work; they are the mothers as well as the fathers.

I do not blame so much our sisters from Nyeri whom everyone is castigating on facebook. One male lawyer said recently on TV that when you see a woman feeling so aggrieved as to slash with a machete her own husband and the father of her children, then it’s the man who has a problem. He couldn’t have been more right. When men do not take their rightful place in the family and society; that of guidance, provision and love, then they are setting a bad example to their own children, and are tearing the family fabric right in the middle.

What father/husband are you? Are you proud of the things you do, to an extend you can tell your children to follow in your footsteps?

Let’s cut the Nyeri women some slack, I do not support violence of any nature, but what would you do?

COUNTING MY BLESSINGS

Yesterday I did something that I have never done in my life – shopping for teenage boys. My son is not yet seven, and therefore I still get kiddies stuff whenever I shop for him.

You see, we have decided to bring together all the orphaned students in our school to form a group. This way, we make sure we know them all; we can identify their collective needs and create a platform for them to share their experiences. This way we believe that they’ll encourage one another, as each will feel that their challenges are not unique to them only. We had collected a few coins from fellow teachers and some students, and we told the orphans to write down some of material needs they have. The list included toothpaste, toilet paper, soap, petroleum jelly, pens, and other small essentials.

At first I thought the money we had wouldn’t be enough (we had 1,500 KES, an equivalent of about 18 US dollars).

Here’s what happened at the super market where we went to purchase the items from.

I will compare yesterday’s shopping experience with the one I do for myself or my house.

At the toilet paper aisle, we picked the cheapest tissue papers (22 KES, about 25 US cents). Normally, when am buying tissue paper, I look at quality. I want to buy the smoothest, and mostly it’s the most expensive. Color is also very important. I buy gentle pink or pure white. I will mostly buy a certain brand, and if I don’t get it in the shop am in, I will move to a new one. I hate green or blue tissue. Yesterday, it was about the price.

When we went to pick shoe polish, we picked the cheapest- what we could get as a large container at a good bargain. When shopping for my shoe polish, I prefer shoe cream, from a certain brand, which is the most expensive among all brands.

Then I had to pick petroleum jelly. I didn’t realize that you could actually buy petroleum jelly at such cheap prices. When I want some lotion to apply to my skin, there are lots of things I put into consideration. One is the ingredients…does it for example have vitamin E, what’s the consistency of the lotion. Is it too thick or does it run too easily. It’s sometimes about the smell, the brand. There are brands I believe are more superior to others, meaning, they are more expensive compared to others. In fact sometimes if I don’t like the smell of a certain lotion after using it for a while, I will stop using it, mid-way and buy the one I prefer.

Then we had to buy the pens. We looked around for the cheapest. When buying a pen for myself, I like to look at the point... Does it write thin, sharp letters?

So there I was, yesterday, after a long time, looking first at the prices of items before buying. We had limited cash, and we needed to buy several things for several boys. I learned that the economy isn’t so bad after all. When you first look at the price, actually things can be managed.

We bought bar soap, long bars, so that the boys can divide among themselves for use to bathe and for washing clothes. Amazingly, we only used about three quarters of the money we’d initially thought wouldn’t be enough. The boys were happy, they couldn’t hide their joy. I was touched, and I realized that you don’t have to be Bill and Belinda Gates to help someone in need. People who don’t have plenty appreciate the little they get.

I learned that I take a lot thing for granted, I like to complain and yet God has been so merciful and gracious. He has supplied. That I can afford soap. That am blessed, and I will thank the Lord for the good things He has given me.

I AM BLESSED!!

I AM TEACHING DOCTORS AND ENGINEERS

Last week we admitted new students in Form One. The boys look so young; you almost wonder whether they have really been through Primary School.

Normally, when I have new students, I like to ask them to say their name and their dreams (what they aspire to be after their education)

A large majority said doctors (about 30%), 20% said engineers. The rest wanted to be teachers, lawyers, pilots, politicians, accountants, nurses, policemen, one wanted to be a driver, another one was not sure.

They look confident, and you could see the sparkle in their eyes when talking about their future careers.

My son has always wanted to be a pilot. So much so that he has this book on different types of planes that he has to look at every night before he goes to bed. Then he saw in a movie a plane that was blown off mid air. He said he no longer wants to be a pilot because planes get blown off. I had to assure him that it was all fake, but then again it could happen... I know I kind of had him confused especially on that it could happen. I believe when he can fully understand it, he will be able to know what I meant.

Every phase in education offers the student a new hope, a new life, a new chance/opportunity to shape their life. For young people, it goes deeper than that. When they talk about what they like to become, it’s because they are most certainly sure, and nothing stands in their way. Unfortunately a good number do not make it to pursue their dream career.

A lot happens between the time a student joins school and the time they leave for their chosen careers. Along the way are many issues they come across, some good, some quite challenging and others downright difficult. As a parent, it’s up to you to become the firm foundation on which a child can put their hope, on which they can always glance back in times of despair and get the much needed nudge to press on. It may just be a nod, that this will pass, or words of encouragement, or just a listening ear.

Here are a few tips, from my personal experience and what I have seen with others, on how to make sure your kid stays focused to pursue their dreams

1. Ask. A good number of parents have never taken the time to really ask their children what they would like to become when they grow up. Mostly, we assume they will follow in our footsteps. But do you really want your child to follow in your footsteps? Before you answer this question, take time to mentally retrace your footsteps and see whether that is what you want for your child.
2. Why. Let your child explain to you why they have chosen this career and not the other. The purpose of this is to be able to know your kid’s exact interests, and then you can be able to properly assist them towards that goal.
3. Research, research, research. When your child expresses interest in a certain career, take time to research, preferably with them on what the career entails. Have the facts at hand. Talk to an expert in the field the child is interested in. have them ask all questions they have about their career interest.
4. Follow up. Sometimes due to peer influence a child may change their mind on what they really want to be. Find out why, listen, and ask if it’s their choice or because their friend says so. Make them understand that one time they will be all grown up and their friends will not be around any more, then they will live their own lives.
5. Give them support. If you come across material that may assist them in creating more interest, give it to them.
6. For “highly academic” careers (ones that need specialization in certain academic areas), assist them to choose the right subjects. If you are not sure, consult their teacher, or someone already in that career.
7. Most importantly, look out for special talents that your child possesses, get an expert if you have to. There are many out there. That way, you can know how as a parent you can complement their interests with the special capabilities they have, and you can give the right career guidance.

I am teaching young boys, but am looking at DOCTORS, ENGINEERS, PILOTS, TEACHERS, LAWYERS, BUSINESS PEOPLE AND OTHER GREAT PERSONS!