I personally wasn’t a very attentive parent. I was thrilled (in the 80s and early 90s) if my kids were away doing something and leaving me alone. I didn’t ask TOO many questions. I didn’t nag about homework – took too much energy. I didn’t think much about what they ate – too frustrating. I didn’t hassle them about grades – that was their business. I didn’t wait at the bus stop with them – I wanted to drink coffe and read the paper.

They seemed to grow up just fine. They have their complaints about me – you didn’t give me a good work ethic, you didn’t make me get enough sleep, you should have paid me for every A, yada yada yada. But they are gainfully employed and not in jail.

I did make them clean up their rooms. I hated the argument that it was their space to do with what they wanted. We all have our limits.

I personally wasn’t a very attentive parent. I was thrilled (in the 80s and early 90s) if my kids were away doing something and leaving me alone. I didn’t ask TOO many questions. I didn’t nag about homework – took too much energy. I didn’t think much about what they ate – too frustrating. I didn’t hassle them about grades – that was their business. I didn’t wait at the bus stop with them – I wanted to drink coffe and read the paper.

They seemed to grow up just fine. They have their complaints about me – you didn’t give me a good work ethic, you didn’t make me get enough sleep, you should have paid me for every A, yada yada yada. But they are gainfully employed and not in jail.

I did make them clean up their rooms. I hated the argument that it was their space to do with what they wanted. We all have our limits.

I’ve read that the media and news reports of crimes and abductions are completely overblown and don’t represent real levels of risk out there. This instills so much fear, perhaps completely unwarranted. Yet none of us can prove how safe the world is, so we err on the cautious side.

When I was a kid, we rode our bikes everywhere and had to find our own way back when we got lost (no cell phones to call for rescue). I’m proud of these experiences I had, when I look back on them. I’d love to encourage my child to ride bikes and explore aimlessly, but it would be alone: I never see other kids even riding bikes in the neighborhood or even walking to the store by themselves. This really saddens me.

Now for the veggies: hiding them is a bad idea. Often kids don’t like a certain food for a very valid reason. “It tastes yucky” is a good reason in my book. Adults don’t like to eat things that taste gross to them — why should kids?

Instead of food trickery, parents should be open to conversations with their kids about likes and dislikes. That way, parents learn more about their own kids, kids can find veggies they truly like, and there is no bond of trust broken. Win-win!

Like on the Web, an authentic, transparent conversation is the way to go.

Did I mention that I really like your post?

I’ve read that the media and news reports of crimes and abductions are completely overblown and don’t represent real levels of risk out there. This instills so much fear, perhaps completely unwarranted. Yet none of us can prove how safe the world is, so we err on the cautious side.

When I was a kid, we rode our bikes everywhere and had to find our own way back when we got lost (no cell phones to call for rescue). I’m proud of these experiences I had, when I look back on them. I’d love to encourage my child to ride bikes and explore aimlessly, but it would be alone: I never see other kids even riding bikes in the neighborhood or even walking to the store by themselves. This really saddens me.

Now for the veggies: hiding them is a bad idea. Often kids don’t like a certain food for a very valid reason. “It tastes yucky” is a good reason in my book. Adults don’t like to eat things that taste gross to them — why should kids?

Instead of food trickery, parents should be open to conversations with their kids about likes and dislikes. That way, parents learn more about their own kids, kids can find veggies they truly like, and there is no bond of trust broken. Win-win!

Like on the Web, an authentic, transparent conversation is the way to go.

Did I mention that I really like your post?

I eat them now. I’m not overweight or with serious health problems.

I don’t think making your kid sit at the dinner table for an hour chewing up and spitting out peas for an hour after everyone else has finished makes you a better Mom than the Mom that takes the seemingly easy way out.

The truth is forcing your kids to sit and eat food they don’t want to eat is keeping them infantalized as well. Don’t you want your child to make the right choices even when you aren’t there? If you keep the junkfood out of your home they will have no choice but to either eat the food or not.

The real problem is the family that offers healthy food for dinner, doesn’t ‘make’ the child eat it, but allows a bag of chips two hours afterward because the child is hungry. That’s a bigger no-no than hiding veggies in the food.

Or if you really want to concern yourself with America’s Fat problems…Why don’t we first battle the reason why America has become this way in the first place…And I don’t think that reason is hidden.

I eat them now. I’m not overweight or with serious health problems.

I don’t think making your kid sit at the dinner table for an hour chewing up and spitting out peas for an hour after everyone else has finished makes you a better Mom than the Mom that takes the seemingly easy way out.

The truth is forcing your kids to sit and eat food they don’t want to eat is keeping them infantalized as well. Don’t you want your child to make the right choices even when you aren’t there? If you keep the junkfood out of your home they will have no choice but to either eat the food or not.

The real problem is the family that offers healthy food for dinner, doesn’t ‘make’ the child eat it, but allows a bag of chips two hours afterward because the child is hungry. That’s a bigger no-no than hiding veggies in the food.

Or if you really want to concern yourself with America’s Fat problems…Why don’t we first battle the reason why America has become this way in the first place…And I don’t think that reason is hidden.

I often wonder about how my overprotective parenting tendencies will affect Kinsey as an adult. But then I remember one of my favorite quotes: “Have I been a bad mother? After all, my children CAN afford their own therapy.”

I often wonder about how my overprotective parenting tendencies will affect Kinsey as an adult. But then I remember one of my favorite quotes: “Have I been a bad mother? After all, my children CAN afford their own therapy.”