Yesterday I took Romy to an open gym in our park district (and now whenever I do anything within our park district, I can't but help think of the people on Parks and Recreation planning it for me. I just power-watched the first two seasons), and she loved it. I overheard some parents talking about lunch, and the convo went something like this:
"We're not having McDonald's today because we just had it."
"I always say that they just have to get the apples this time instead of the fries."
Then they decided on Wendy's. And I was all high and mighty in my mind and like, wow, I will never take my child to a fast-food restaurant and buy her processed meat crap and choose between a lesser evil over a greater one. I mean, never say never, but I haven't eaten at McDonald's in a hundred years (Shamrock Shakes excluded, naturally). Part of that is because we don't eat red meat in our house, Romy included (that does not mean that some day I will not allow her to eat if if she wants to, but it also does not mean I will ever take her for a burger at McDonald's. That stuff is like crack). But the other part is that fast food is a hard habit to break. Just, as I've sadly learned, is television. Now that we allow Romy to watch TV, she always wants to watch. With the neverending Chicago winter, I feel like I've become a lazier parent. It's so much easier to put on the TV, which depresses me and makes me feel like shit and that I suck as a parent. Some TV is okay, but it's still just sitting in front of something and not being very creative. And like an idiot, I let her choose Shrek from our DVD collection. Not having watched it since its release, I had no recollection of the negativity and obnoxious language in the film. I don't care if kids say "shut up;" I don't need my two year-old saying it. I also don't need her seeing a woman abusing a donkey or a gingerbread man being tortured. The problem is, now she wants to watch Shrek all the time. So I hid it. I'm not an idiot; I know kids talk like that and she will be exposed to it eventually. But she is two. She has plenty of time to turn into a little shit, and I'd rather not be the one to have that influence on her. Mr. Noodle would never tell anyone to shut up. Perhaps because he does not talk.
When did this turn into a parenting blog? I don't even know if anyone's reading, and this is what's on my mind. So, parenting it is today!
In actual book news, Into the Wild Nerd Yonder is a nominee for the Oklahoma Sequoyah Book Award! That's so cool! Oklahoma is OK! More than ok. Okay? Am I supposed to spell it out? Oh! And I also just found out I'll be on a YA panel at the Printer's Row Bookfair in Chicago this summer! Summer. It's so much easier to be a parent in the summer.
PS (added a few hours later)
I hope I didn't read like a nasty beyotch about eating fast food. I understand that it's cheap, and tastes delish, but I also know how bad it is for us (ALL of us). So, I don't think less of you for eating it, but I don't want it in my or my daughter's body. Make sense?
"We're not having McDonald's today because we just had it."
"I always say that they just have to get the apples this time instead of the fries."
Then they decided on Wendy's. And I was all high and mighty in my mind and like, wow, I will never take my child to a fast-food restaurant and buy her processed meat crap and choose between a lesser evil over a greater one. I mean, never say never, but I haven't eaten at McDonald's in a hundred years (Shamrock Shakes excluded, naturally). Part of that is because we don't eat red meat in our house, Romy included (that does not mean that some day I will not allow her to eat if if she wants to, but it also does not mean I will ever take her for a burger at McDonald's. That stuff is like crack). But the other part is that fast food is a hard habit to break. Just, as I've sadly learned, is television. Now that we allow Romy to watch TV, she always wants to watch. With the neverending Chicago winter, I feel like I've become a lazier parent. It's so much easier to put on the TV, which depresses me and makes me feel like shit and that I suck as a parent. Some TV is okay, but it's still just sitting in front of something and not being very creative. And like an idiot, I let her choose Shrek from our DVD collection. Not having watched it since its release, I had no recollection of the negativity and obnoxious language in the film. I don't care if kids say "shut up;" I don't need my two year-old saying it. I also don't need her seeing a woman abusing a donkey or a gingerbread man being tortured. The problem is, now she wants to watch Shrek all the time. So I hid it. I'm not an idiot; I know kids talk like that and she will be exposed to it eventually. But she is two. She has plenty of time to turn into a little shit, and I'd rather not be the one to have that influence on her. Mr. Noodle would never tell anyone to shut up. Perhaps because he does not talk.
When did this turn into a parenting blog? I don't even know if anyone's reading, and this is what's on my mind. So, parenting it is today!
In actual book news, Into the Wild Nerd Yonder is a nominee for the Oklahoma Sequoyah Book Award! That's so cool! Oklahoma is OK! More than ok. Okay? Am I supposed to spell it out? Oh! And I also just found out I'll be on a YA panel at the Printer's Row Bookfair in Chicago this summer! Summer. It's so much easier to be a parent in the summer.
PS (added a few hours later)
I hope I didn't read like a nasty beyotch about eating fast food. I understand that it's cheap, and tastes delish, but I also know how bad it is for us (ALL of us). So, I don't think less of you for eating it, but I don't want it in my or my daughter's body. Make sense?
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5 comments:
My niece is two and obsessed with Dispicable Me. You're right-they'll be exposed to stuff later that they don't need at two! It's so easy to say you'll do one thing and then that totally changes when you have kids.
i teach preschool, and every time another cgi sassy animals cartoon comes out, i cringe, because i know i'm in for months of kids quoting the sassy animals' lines at me and at each other.
and yay printers row!
Glad to hear I'm right :) Romy repeats and memorizes everything already, so I'd much rather we play "Queen of the trampoline" on the bed (from Olivia) than something snotty from a movie.
I won't allow my kids to watch Cartoon Network. They repeat a lot of rude things they learn from there. Sometimes I feel like I let them watch too much tv in the afternoon but they need to decompress from being at school all day and at least it is PBS Kids.
It's crazy how there are so many cartoons out there now that aren't kid appropriate. Harder to choose what they can watch! So thankful for PBS.
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