I don’t know about you but I sure get tired of being told what to do. Last week, I felt like “the world” was bossing me around. I took two boys to the doctor for physicals. The doctor thinks they are borderline overweight. He ‘suggested’ that they talk to their nutrition and dietary specialist. I said “No thank you”. Yet the doctor’s office still called and e-mailed repeatedly, ‘encouraging’ me that I need to do this.
Later that same day, the car dealership called to inform me that my car was due for scheduled maintenance. They called the house, the cell phone and emailed TWICE!
Combine that with being told twice a year to go to the dentist, when to take the dogs to the vet, when to get the kids eyes checked, and when to pick up prescriptions– you might see why I am feeling bossed around.
I am seriously worried as I read/hear about other ways the government/society is trying to control our lives. McDonalds will soon put apples in every Happy Meal to make it more healthy. There is also discussion that soda will no longer be offered with Happy Meals. Uh don’t we go to McDonalds to eat hamburgers with french fries and soda? In New York restaurants are now required to show you the caloric intake of your meal . There is proposed legislation to consider children who are obese to be treated as abused and to prosecute the parents for child abuse.
Is it just me or do the rest of you think this is cause for concern? If I want to eat Twinkies and french fries, then I should be able to. My logical consequence is that I will be fat! I do not need the government or the doctor to tell me that. Thanks anyway. If I don’t take my car in for maintenance, it will stop working! I know that, I get it, I don’t need to be told.
I guess I should make some great leap here….somehow apply this to my own life. My children also have the ability to make choices for themselves. I guess I need to make sure they are not feeling like I am controlling them, too.
Ha, Lynn! You’re a crack up. Sorry that you’re feeling bossed around.
The nice thing is that it is easy to start eating better. A friend once hassled me for not eating salads. She said something like, “Yeah, you’re all about fiber” (I was making my own whole wheat bread at the time), “but you don’t eat salad!?” Well, I was bugged! But, I started making salad more often. (“See, I can make salads I’d tell her silently.”) Little changes here and there build on themselves after a while. Fruit is sweet. It is simple to add fruit for a snack, or substitute low fat milk for whole; whole wheat bread for white. A little substitution here, a more nutritious alternative there. It is easy once you get the ball rolling. It’s not like you have to buy the whole organic farm on the first day.
Be careful, though. You just might like it.