Parenting school

I wanted to talk to you all today about parenting. I know I have said many times before that there is no "right way" to parent and we all have moments in time where we are very unhappy with the way we are operating. There are however many "wrong ways" to parent and it is extremely frustrating when someone elses poor parenting impacts on you and your children. Let me fill you in...

I have a family relation, we'll call her Mrs Precious, who has one child who we will call Miss M. To set the scene, Miss M was having chup-a-chup lolly pops before she had even turned one and I have never heard her ask for a drink of water, only ever "juice". In fact I don't think I have even seen her drink water before...? On top of that, Miss M slept in a cot until she was 3 years old and is only now being toilet trained (poorly) at nearly three and a half years old! Every time I see Miss M she is eating junk food or drinking juice and soft drink, which is where the challenge is. You see, for my children, these things are treat foods that can only be had sometimes (as in, on special occasions). Don't get me wrong, I am not one of these whaky Mums that gives her child nothing but organic produce and pure rain water. I am however one of those normal Mums that makes sure my children are given healthy food and drinks day in and day out. Junk food is just that, junk, and is something that they get very infrequently as a special treat.

Anyway, as I mentioned, Miss M's consumption of endless amounts of junk food is beginning to impact on my children because I am always having to say "No" to them. They see Miss M having these treat foods and of course, in the eyes of a child, they want to have it as well. I am always having to say no, particularly to Sophie, and I know she feels sad and left out because of it. I am at the point now where I am simply going to say to her that no she can't have the junk food because it makes people fat, unhealthy and makes their teeth rot out of their heads. I don't care if she repeats this to Miss M because good grief, someone needs to teach that poor child about healthy food choices!

The other part of my frustration stems from Mrs Precious allowing, and obviously encouraging, Miss M to consume junk food in front of other kids. Everyone with half a brain knows that if you are going somewhere that there are other children and you are allowing your child to take a juice or a sweet treat, you have to make sure you take enough for every child. Seriously, it is just common sense!

Anyway, I will end my rant there because if I get going on Mrs Precious, I may never stop! From here, what I am going to do is take my own advice on dealing with negative people in my life. She is family so I cannot rid her from my life completely so I will instead tolerate her and only see her when I have too. I have come to this decision because her negativity is impacting on my children and that is where I draw the line. As you can imagine, there is a whole lot more to it than food choices, but I am not going to give the issue of Mrs Precious any more energy than I already have.

Moving on, I feel a change in the air. Not just the obvious change in weather but a change in how the Ford family live their lives. Stay tuned...I will talk more about this tomorrow xox