Even if you pack your kids’ lunch in an insulated bag with ice packs, the food is likely at an unsafe temperature by the time they eat them.
A new study of preschoolers’ lunches found that most of the food sent from home was not safe to eat by lunchtime.
“The main finding of our study is that more than 90 percent of perishable items were at an unacceptable temperature – according to USDA guidelines – an hour and a half before lunch,” said study author Fawaz Almansour, a doctoral candidate in the department of nutritional sciences at the University of Texas at Austin.
“This was an eye opener. As a parent, when my child comes home with a stomach ache or vomiting, I usually think it’s a virus. I don’t think the food I serve is the problem,” he said.
When food isn’t kept at less than 40 degrees fahrenheit (4.44 celsius), bacteria can multiply rapidly, which makes foodborne illness more likely, especially for kids under the age of five.
The researchers tested 706 lunches 1.5 hours before the kids’ scheduled lunch time. About 39 percent of the lunches had no ice packs, while 45 percent had just one ice pack. Only 1.6 percent of perishable items were kept in the safe temperature zone recommended by the USDA.
Even when multiple ice packs were used, food often wasn’t at a safe temperature. Results of the study will appear in the September issue of Pediatrics
So what do we pack our kids lunch? Fruit, dried fruit bread, crackers are some options. Packing a hot lunch in a thermos will hopefully keep food hot enough until lunch – or will it?
Schools that have cafeterias don’t all offer healthy choices either. Some schools offer hot lunches delivered to the school.
Stay-at-home parents can drop off fresh lunches at school just in time to eat. But working parents may face more of a challenge.
Jennifer Hudson has lost 80 pounds and is now a size zero. Has she gone too far?
The star transformed herself by becoming a spokesperson for Weight Watchers in April 2010, eight months after giving birth to her son, David Jr.
She initially dropped from a size 16 to a size four through diet and working out for regular workout sessions with personal trainer, Harley Pasternak.
But now, Joy Behar on The View revealed that on a recent shopping trip, she bumped into the actress and overheard a salesperson tell the Dreamgirls star she was a size zero.
Joy Behar said that she saw the singer out shopping and eavesdropped on her conversation with a sales clerk, who remarked that Jennifer could fit into a size zero dress.
Joy recalled she asked Jennifer how it felt to be the much coveted but controversially small size.
‘I feel like they’re talking to someone else,’ she replied.
This past January, 5’9” singer said she felt like a different person.
“Instead of saying I lost this or that, I [say I] feel like I gained 10 years of my youth back,” she told USAToday. “I look 10 years younger.”
She also recently said: “Being skinny, it’s a job. It’s not easy…I feel this responsibility to the world now – people are watching, so I have to keep going in the right direction in terms of my weight loss.”
Sleepless In The Suburbs by Laurel A. Crossley-Byers
You put the children to bed, you settle in for a little self-indulgent me time and out of nowhere come Thing 1 and Thing 2 saying, “we can’t sleep Mom”, or “we need you Mom!” or words to that effect – cue the Mom Guilt. So, you patiently trundle them off to bed again with a hope and a prayer, repeat this 7, 583 times more until everyone’s so exhausted they just sleep where they fall! And you vow, that will never happen again! Sound familiar or like I’m living in your house??
Have you ever noticed what weird things you say and do when sleep-deprived? Things like putting your wallet in the fridge, calling your pets your children’s names or forgetting everything?!? So you can just imagine what it does to your kiddo’s behaviour if they are NOT sleeping! Sleep is one of THE most important things that we need to do to support overall health and well-being! So here are Auntie Laurel’s tips on getting those wee ‘uns to Nodsville without the drama!
DNA “Drag”
Yep it’s true! Some of us are genetically predisposed to sleeplessness and when I work with my clients’ parents, and do a bit of digging, sleeplessness often runs in families. One of my clients is the third generation of non-sleepers and he’s six! These “Cats” have crazy-busy minds that just won’t shut off! So, what does Auntie Laurel recommend – distraction! Find some lovely relaxation music played softly to assist in relaxing your kids – repeat the same song over and over until they fall asleep from boredom. Establish a bedtime routine and include music as the background – start playing it while the children are getting ready for bed and during story time.
Turn Off and Tune Out!
Bedrooms are notoriously “exciting” filled rooms of pleasure for kids – tons of toys, oodles of electronic devices, lots of light. Now I am not talking completely redecorate the bedroom for the sake of sleep BUT I am saying out of sight, out of mind so move the LOUD noise providers to another room, space or put them in the closet. And absolutely, never, EVER have a television or computer in your Kiddo’s bedroom. Bedrooms are a place to induce sleep not entertain.
Strength In Numbers – Rally The Troops!
Why oh why and how do the kiddos know how to form armies complete with arsenals of weaponry to “take down” the Parental Units? Because they CAN and because they have warfare like no other – they use GUILT! So, time to retaliate Parental Units!! Establish your weakest link (you know the one, the Lingerer who cannot bear to leave that kiddo’s 999th question unanswered 😉 That Parent is hereby on Kitchen Duty and must leave the nighttime routine to the strongest link. Mr. or Mrs. Tough Nut will be the one to establish and enforce the bedtime rules.
RULES?!?! – WE don’t need no Stinkin’ Rules!!
Oh YES “WE” DO!! Bedtime rituals and rules are just like household rules. Bedtime routines NEED to be consistent and pleasant – inducing relaxation. No frolicking, no tickling, no 8 million glasses of water, no screaming, no tantrums. All kid behaviour is learned so the more frustrated you are, the worse the bedtime situation will be – it’s as simple as that! Ever noticed when you are calm how well behaved your Children are – hmmmmm! So, behave parents! Now tiptoe down the stairs and high five your co-parent QUIETLY and celebrate your Sleeping Success!
P.S. If those Kiddos are still giving you trouble, I have a few more “tricks” up my sleeve!
Love, Hugs and Sweet Dreams!
xxxooo Auntie Laurel
Laurel A. Crossley-Byers, B. A., is a Life Coach, Parent Educator, Founder of Opti-Mom and Opti-MomTV and TV Host for MomU! To date, she has spoken to tens of thousands of people on her philosophy of Living a Balanced Life mind, body and spirit. Her workshops, seminars and speaking have enlightened, motivated and inspired Women to make tremendous personal and professional shifts. Laurel has recently begun Coaching Children with Sleep, Anxiety and Self-Esteem. Visit her website or follow her on Twitter.
What am I supposed to be doing with my life? I sit here, questioning the choices I’ve made, the opportunities I’ve missed, the path I could have walked upon. My future lies before me yet in it, I cannot see what I am doing.
This year has been such a standstill. No movement it seems… unless there is a greater movement going on. The calm before the storm. Perhaps all the preparations are being made for what is to come. All is being put in proper place for what is about to happen. I feel like I’ve worked so hard but I’m still waiting for something to happen.
That “waiting for something to happen” is stopping me from living my life now. And yet I cannot help but fast forward my mind to think about the future and what lies ahead.
I feel like I need to have a purpose, a reason for being. Now I’m talking about my professional life. My children give me the greatest joy and my job is to be a good mother to them. My husband relies on me for strength and support. But what about “me”? What is my purpose? I know it is not only to support my family. There has to be more.
Or is there? Is this my role… the only role that I was born to do? To be a good mother and the perfect wife?
I may sound negative but in the past, it seems everything I had tried, ended in failure. I’m finally starting to see a glimpse of hope. All I know is that I have no choice but to embrace that feeling and believe that I’m moving the in the right direction.
Do you ever feel this way? That there is more that you crave other than being a mom?
After the passionate discussion this month, I was asked by readers how we manage to eat out with our young kids. We do go to Starbucks and eat out twice a month. It is a meal-off for me and creates a memory for our kids.
Often managers or customers complement our two and four year old girls on how lovely they are. The truth is it’s not always a ‘picnic’. It is careful calculation and practice for them on social situations.
After some trial and errors here are our tips:
1. Have a bag of tricks with books, coloring, favorite snacks if needed or if they are old enough an electronic device. Have the device not be played with for a day or so before so it will be a treat. My four-year-old and I read eBooks or play games on the ipad.
2. At first fuss, remind your child that if they continue the fun will stop. When I mention about going home, they usually stop fussing.
3. Depending on your kid, go just before or after a nap. depending on if its lunch or dinner. We just don’t go out for dinner as our kids have stopped napping. It just is not worth having tired kids to juggle.
4. I also make sure that there are no snacks two hours before the meal. Don’t starve them but make sure they will be hungry.
5. If it is a truly cranky day, we bail. It is not worth it to neither the child nor the other customers along for the meal. There is always next time to try.
Also, if there is no kids menu, I recommend trying somewhere else. As written before, it is the parents’ responsibility to show by example. Explore a few local dining spots to give it a try. You might be surprised. We all deserve a meal we didn’t cook or have to clean up after.
What are your tips? Feel free to share with others in the comment section below. Any great/bad experiences?
Danielle Christopher is a stay-at-home mom of two daughters, ages one and three. She blogs for The Momoir Project and writes book reviews for Women’s Post. Her teen story is in the collection “Parent/Teen Stories: Without Judgement”. She lives with her husband of seventeen years and her girls in Langley, B.C.. Follow her on Twitter.
You’ve been with your partner for a relatively long time.
Maybe you have kids.
You work, come home, make dinner, clean up and are exhausted by 9pm. After a while, when the sizzle fizzles, things become… comfortable.
So comfortable that you both use the bathroom in front of each other. Pick a zit off his back. Pluck a grey hair from your chin.
How do you keep the romance alive and kicking when your husband’s favourite hobby is to curl his legs up and hold a lighter to his ass when he farts? Not to say that it isn’t hilarious and you don’t find his silly antics amusing. But his creative gas-releasing talents can only take him so far.
Perhaps you’re not a romantic-comedy heroine either. Imagine your husband walking in to find you bending over naked, eight months pregnant, attempting to shave your stubbly, swollen cankles. Not the prettiest sight, one that will forever be etched in his memory.
A lot of men out there might have this insane ideal of the perfect woman: one who can work, take care of the house and kids, cook a gourmet meal for dinner and then at 10:00 pm, turn into a porn star. You know the saying, “cook in the kitchen, maid in the living room, whore in the bedroom.” Whoever said that was a woman hater. Is there even any realism to that expectation?
After a long day of screaming kids, snotty noses, wiping bums (no matter how cute), you are just dying to squeeze your body into that bustier after a big dinner and your tired, swollen feet into those stilettos so that you can perform a strip-dance for your hot husband, aren’t you? I know you are.
I guess women think the same – the perfect man is the “hands-on” dad, one who can multi-task, meaning juggle five different things at the same time, take care of the kids, cook, clean and have the charm, wit and good looks of George Clooney, sweeping you off your feet with a mere “hello”.
The only difference between us and them is that while they want you to be a porn star, we want them to turn into that charming gentleman on the cover of our favourite Harlequin novel.
Don’t you think the ladies of The Real Housewives of New York City will ever grow up?
Season 4 and the reunions are wrapped and now the question is – will these ridonkulous reality stars return for another season?
After Monday’s epic showdown on “The Real Housewives of New York Reunion Part 2”, everyone is wondering – which of the ladies would be invited back for another season and who would be shown the door?
Jill Zarin likely won’t return. “The damage is done,” Jill Zarin told PEOPLE. “I don’t know if I can film with these girls.”
But if that’s true, why would she tweet out this yesterday?
No one’s in or out; no decisions yet.RT: @hazel4ever1 @SimonvanKempen is @McCordAlex out for Season 5? why????? how sad, she will be missed!
Zarin talked about her feud with costar Ramona Singer and the allegations of alcoholism among the women.
“During the reunion, [Ramona was] hitting below the belt. I tried to be a friend to Ramona. And I thought that she was acting a little bit erratic, more so than before. I was trying to help her and point it out,” Zarin said.
“A lot of times people who have problems don’t see it themselves. That’s why there are interventions … I really wanted to try to help her. And instead she tried to turn it around on me.”
Both on and off the screen, these women just don’t stop bickering. But we must remember that these women are being paid to be on this show – drama comes at a high cost!
McDonald’s announced recently that they are changing their classic Happy Meal to include apple slices, less French fries and fat-free chocolate milk or 1% milk.
Healthier happy meals is just the first step in McDonald’s latest strategy. The company invited Mom bloggers to participate in their new program, designed specifically for moms who are interested in finding out the truth behind the rumours at McDonald’s.
The McDonald’s All-Access Moms program selected three Canadian “mommy bloggers” (as they wrote in their email) to go on four trips across the country. Together, they visited supplier facilities and restaurants and they had the chance to ask all the tough questions about what is really in McDonald’s food. At the same time, they asked these bloggers to write openly about the experience.
I was invited to submit an application to go but I’ll be honest – I was conflicted in doing so. In any event, I didn’t apply.
From reading various threads on Twitter, it seems the mom bloggers chosen made the trip last week. Since then, it’s been a bit of McDonald’s fury on Twitter.
Many were in an uproar that McDonald’s was doing this program in the first place. Others were slamming the women who were chosen to participate. Some were disgusted to learn others were feeding their kids McDonald’s. And others said it’s the parents choice on what to feed their kids.
Here are some tweets just to give you an example:
I myself tried to avoid commenting on anything – I simply wrote “Quite a bit of controversy on the #Mcd_moms stream…”
And the response was:
@HealthyIZ replied: “ It’s all of the MSG! 🙂 RT @kellidaisy: gives me a headache RT @amotherworld: Quite a bit of controversy on the #Mcd_moms stream… “
@nyshepa Tweeted:
“@mommydoing @FeistyFrugal: You guys are fooling yourselves if you think that the #McD_Moms initiative is not about marketing McDonald’s.”
@ToniPatton tweeted:
“The whole #mcd_moms thing is reminding me of the #nestlefamily event and all the fiasco and rudeness that came w/ it.”
@Katsiroumpas Tweeted:
“@mommydoing I don’t agree with the whole #McD_Moms but I would never stop following you over it. I would never harass them over it either.”
@mommydoing tweeted:
“How many followers do you think I might lose defending the #McD_Moms?? Give these women a break they want to learn something about it all!”
@lisaborden Tweeted
“Here is a document the USDA doesn’t want you to see –> http://owl.li/5QjtN by @tomphilpott
@FeistyFrugal tweeted:
#McD_Moms (or anyone else for that matter) do not tell you how to feed your kids. That’s *your* job, mom.”
What do you make of McDonald’s social media outreach to moms and the reaction on Twitter?
Sitting Ducks – An Unbridled Rant by an Anonymous Mom
I’m at a family restaurant with my 18-month-old and my husband. The loud clink of the cutlery and booming voice of the chef is exciting for her and for us too. We love our family date nights. Sadly, other people don’t.
Sometimes if I am planning a special occasion for my little family, I’ll call over to the restaurant and ask if they have a high-chair. The answer pretty much settles it for me. Usually I’ll get an “of course!” or “we don’t, but we have boosters” or “we’re stroller friendly”. If I get a flat-out NO followed by the type of hollow silence that suggests I’ve dialed into a non-kid-friendly zone, I say my thank-yous and make a mental note to go back sans-bebe, or on a rare girls night out.
I’m not someone who gets easily offended by policy. I understand the value of atmosphere, and if my toddler starts screaming blue murder because it’s time to ‘GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO’, well then, I deal with the situation as swiftly and gracefully as I can. Usually this means one of us does a rapid ‘exit stage left’ with my kid, while whoever is paying settles up and leaves a generous tip for all the food that has been thrown (half chewed) on to the ground.
As I said before we only frequent ‘family restaurants’ on our dates so generally we get knowing, tolerant smiles sent our way, and sometimes even an encouraging ‘this too shall pass’ comment from someone who lived through it already.
But tonight that’s not the case. Apparently even when you think your 19 month old has better table-manners then most, you can be proven wrong.
“Would you be offended if we moved your table to a more removed area?”
“Um…why? Was this table reserved?”
“No.. well…It’s not your kid, it’s just the volume is distracting the other diners.”
I glance at the empty tables around us. We are already in the ‘family zone’ – smack dab in between the kitchen and the bussing station.
“I’m assuming you’re referring to the other diner – singular.” I say, still smiling.
In this empty, early-bird special window only one other person is sitting and scowling. And yet, he wins. Following my frosty comment there is an awkward pause reminiscent of a staring contest. I play out a few scenarios in my head.
1. I go Goodfellas on this guy’s ass.
2. I start to cry and leverage his discomfort.
3. I throw my food in his face.
As I weigh my options, my inner diatribe rages on.
My kid? Too loud? In an empty restaurant? Give me a break. The waiter’s ‘I’m trying to be oh-so quiet’ FART was louder than my kid crying.
And what about their policies on everyone else’s “volume”? What about old people? What about drunk people?
Don’t tell me that it’s ok to drink a bottle of wine, and start loudly discussing anything I want when you’re going to slam my kid for crying.
And what about a senior without their hearing aid? I’m just saying, that there are some people out there that can simply not help but use their outside voices. If they were asked to leave there would be Zoomer outrage and it would become a human rights issue in a flash.
And what about people with disabilities? What about those people who face daily challenges with communication, and with control of their faculties and their bodies? If a business asked them to leave because they were considered ‘disruptive’ for their natural expression it would be a federal human rights case, and I’m pretty darn sure there would be some exceptionally harsh words flying around. ‘Nazis’ would likely be one of them.
Family Friendly restaurant not so friendly
At this point the steam whistling through my ears has everyone taking deliberate steps away from me, but in the end I disappoint them, and mumbling noncommittally I start to pull our gear together, hating myself just a little bit for not unleashing Joe Pesci fury.
On our bill I notice my kid’s apple juice is comped. I know they thought they were doing something nice, but they basically just valued my kid’s right to exist at $1.75.
“What do you mean I’m funny?!”
I guess I could have said “Actually, could you please ask that man over there to leave the premises? He’s making my kid uncomfortable with his discrimination and judgment and he’s also ruining my dinner.” But it felt stacked against us from the get-go.
Apparently the cranky, middle-class, male, 45-55 target demographic wins in spades over the young family of 3. Huh. Who knew.
That’s 3-to-1, restaurant-owner. Now I’m no expert, but when you look at numbers at the end of the night, I’m pretty sure your ‘Kids Are Loud’ policy is costing you quite a bit.
Also – and please consider this as I take my cold doggy-bag home with me – maybe my kid was screaming because your ‘family-friendly’ eatery with 3 high-chairs and a stack of booster seats somehow, miraculously, has no change tables anywhere in the bathrooms.
