It will take a lifetime to fix this mess we are in

I was having a thought process before coffee this morning. (I know, dangerous right?) It all started the other day when my daughter and I were discussing an injury she had at one of her million (exaggeration but it might as well be) athletic activities through the local high school. She was telling me how the trainer told her to do this exercise and that and then both hot and cold therapies. All I could do was sit there and listen to her recite the list of things she has to do to get "better." I was amazed at what she was telling me. Not because of what she had to do but because the injury was a twisted ankle. I don't want to negate that it could have been worse because the back-inside of her foot turned purple after about a week and it DID swell the first couple of days.  I am certain it was painful and a legitimate injury. I do believe that some of what the trainer told her helped it heal but lets be realistic here.


I remember being a kid, we fell down, "shook it off" and got back up. When I twisted my ankle as a track athlete in high school, the coach wrapped it up and told me to get back to running. My running may have been a bit slow during the first couple of days, but so long as I stayed off it as much as possible for the next week, I was fine. Mind you, this comes from someone who can fall off of something that is not there and nearly BREAK her ankle.  Anywhoo, the point is, they basically told her to baby the thing. Were it when I was an athlete, it would have turned purple within 24 hours and then began to heal and I would have been back to normal in a week. No hot and cold therapy, not exercises to ease back into using it. That stuff is for when you have surgery or a real break. Personally, I believe it delayed the healing process and it is nearly 2 weeks later and the purple is JUST starting to go away. Hrmm. Shaking it off made it heal faster folks. As Numba Ten would fondly blurt out "Jus Sayin!"


That led me to the next thing. The WHOLE reason the thought process occurred to me, in the kitchen, making coffee, at 5 a.m.  I began thinking about all of the people who have lawsuits against schools recently for the coaches and trainers not being sensitive to medical needs of their athletes. If you think about it, everyone has some sort of medical issue they are fighting these days. Is it all really necessary?  Yea, medical science is taking us into longer lives and such but at what cost?


It all starts with mother nature and this planet we live on. We have poisoned the very planet that is supposed to sustain us. Traditional methods of farming and growing food are not enough to sustain the insatiable (and wasteful) population that controls it. This means we have to grow more, faster, and bigger. Man has found that chemicals can do that. The food we grow is no longer "of the earth" the earth is just a petri dish where we grow the worlds largest squash to feed 100,000 people instead of a whole field of wholesome, flavorful, natural squash. No, we cant do the latter because it takes to long and we need to do this NOW. So, bring out the miracle grow and other chemicals and make it grow overnight. We fill our livestock with steroids and lock it up in tight little prisons so they cannot move and are destined a horrible death. Never mind that their life may be filled with pain and rage due to the chemicals we are forcing into it. This monster we are raising to eat is filled with chemicals that would kill a human being. We wear full body protective suits just to use the chemicals we are putting into our food. What happened to the habanero pepper being the only thing that would burn your skin when it came to food? Finally, let me get started on the water and sugars. We wastefully use so much water that we have to make it a chemical cocktail just so that we can drink it and hydrate our bodies. How much of that chemical remains when we ingest it is questionable at best. Sugar. Let me have the unrefined, nothing else added sugar. All this "high fructose corn syrup" is for the birds and it is FAKE PEOPLE!  If you want that, just eat the plastic container that your milk comes in. Its probably the same thing.


With all these chemicals and fake things we are putting into our bodies every day, (don't get me started on the highly processed stuff) it is no wonder there are so many people fighting illnesses and on medication for this or that every day. In another post, I talked about how the advent of electronics has created a whole generation of ADHD children (yea, small digression there, it was bound to happen.) This leads me to thinking about what it would take to eliminate society's need to rely so heavily on the pharmaceutical industry. A side note-pharmaceuticals are yet another round of chemicals we are putting into our bodies to fight the very chemicals that likely caused the issue in the first place. Ugh. Circular.


It would take a lifetime.


First, we have to get back to basics. Pay attention to the people who say grow your own food. Grow it with love and time. Use that garden to spend time with your family and get off the electronics. Sun is good for you. Work at home people will heartily agree. Use it to learn patience and caring and it will taste sooo good! No chemicals, just unadulterated (albeit a little smaller than the trend) wholesome FLAVORFUL goodness. You can garden year round. This will start something. You will spend less money at the store. The stores will rely less and less on the farmers and the farmers can go back to being what they should be. Farmers. They wont have to have a PHD in chemistry to poison the land with chemicals and sprays and will be able to grow a whole field of the good stuff and not the worlds largest squash. This will also prevent the farmer from feeding his livestock chemical ridden foods that ultimately end up on your table.


Next, livestock producers should raise their livestock the way it should be raised. Because their crops will be better and they wont have to spend so much on chemicals for their crops, they will not have to sell off their land and will be able to sustain their livestock on larger pieces of land and can sell the good stuff like they were supposed to do. Its all about give and take. This puts less chemicals in the meat that ends up on your table and the earth is beginning to heal. It is going to take a lifetime for the poisons we have put into this planet for food purposes to go away. It will reduce the freaks we see...two headed snakes, unusually HUGE bugs. Plants and trees will begin to grow again. Another thing that would help this planet heal is to use the land that already has development on it and relief it. Stop building on the farmers land and clear off that old building further into the city and build the same thing. Leave the farmer to what he should be doing well in the first place.


Another thing that you can do is build your own water filtration system. Honestly you only need 1x1 posts, plastic, buckets, rocks and soil. You filter your own water. So much better than the stuff coming out of your tap water. Getting used to non chemical water can take a couple of weeks of getting used to but with all these chemicals removed from your body, you will likely find that the medicines you are taking are no longer needed. You are eating, drinking and living healthier and due to the fact that you are spending less at the grocery store and less at the water payment center and less at the pharmacy, you find you have money for other things and can create memories instead of less gratifying images or words on a screen. You are LIVING.


So go forth. Live life. Do things the way mother nature has wanted us to do all along. Be tired of seeing "mother sick in bed." Help her heal. Be HUMAN. LIVE!


What do YOU think?


...And yes, my coffee is almost done.....**Micaa walks off to grab that first glorious cup.**

Explore with your children. Let them get dirty.

I love a teachable moment with the kiddos. Especially about life lessons and doing things the way they were done without electricity.  I can assure you that, if the world were to go to shit, my children could plant and grow their own food. They could raise farm animals, purify and store their own water and rig up the house to fend off anything short of a nuclear holocaust.  They can shoot and throw and clean with the best of them. 

They can also do their math homework without a calculator and they certainly know how to read.  They also know that if there were no power, they can use their imaginations to play and make their own toys.  We have also discussed how to survive should there be no houses left either.  No, we are no survivalists and there are no "bug out bags" randomly stored throughout the house.  It is nothing like that. What this means is that we are teaching our children the basics of being self sufficient.  They can also make their own cooker out of wood and aluminum foil and other things. Yes, they know all about technology and can fix a computer with the best of them and they have their electronic gadgets and know how to operate a computer and a calculator. We do not prohibit those things, but if there were ever to come a time for survival. I know that our children can survive without assistance or help from a stranger. I know that they can grow up and figure out things on their own.

We let them get dirty and dig holes and let them color and paint with melted crayons.  That is what children do.  They argue and fall down.  That is what baths and band aids are made for.  They are allowed to fix their own disagreements with each other to learn social graces and human skills.

This is all something that many kids do not know.  I cannot tell you how it makes me cringe for a mother to break out the hand sanitizer every time her kid touches something off the ground.  They do not have to get up off the ground at the playground rolling a ball back and forth because it is "dirty."  I am here to tell you if you stop treating them like porcelain dolls, there would be a lot less asthma, allergies, and other things that people spend their whole lives with.  Did you know a vaccination is an injection of the disease it is seeking to prevent you from getting? If you take your children outside on a regular basis and let them get dirty from time to time, they will be a lot less sick in the long run.  They will be exposed to the stuff that gives people asthma and allergies at an early age when there are no issues and they will not become allergic to them simply for a lack of exposure.  It will also give them room to grow because they will run and play and simply be children. 

Each of my children went on an exploration day in the yard with me  when they were crawlers.  I found a nice day, took the baby outside and we explored the REAL world around us.  We lifted our faces and felt the warmth of the sun. We felt the bark on the trees and watched the ants crawl in the cracks.  We felt the grass with our hands and our feet. We felt the warmth of the sidewalk in the sun and the cool of the driveway in the shade.  We twirled a leaf between our grubby little fingers and blew a dandelion weed and watched the seeds. We pointed at squirrels and birds and bugs.  We felt the wind in our hair.  We felt the difference in the feel of the shiny leaves from the trees and the roughness of the rocks in the ground. We let dirt sift through our fingers and felt the running water out of the hose from the side of the house.  We didn't die.  We didn't get sick.  We went inside, washed our hands and went back to playing with our things.  However, the baby learned about the world and learned more than anyone will ever know.  Further, there was a special time only you can share with your child.  For me an mine, it was a day of discovery.  A couple of our children hated the way the grass felt on their feet and one other loved rubbing his feet in it. You learn something about your children.  How their curiosity works as well as discovering things on your own about how they perceive the world.  One of ours shied away from the bugs we were looking at.  This helped me figure out what would give him the willies-he seen a bug and they make him spaz out because he is afraid of bugs. 

I exposed them to the REAL world and I let them get dirty a little bit. That is what children do. It is in their very nature to be curious. They want to play and jump and run and explore.  While it is up to you to keep them safe and be their parent, let them play and jump and run and explore.  Further, explore with them. It is one of the best things you can do. 

What have you done with your child today?

Shh! Your Children are Trying to Tell You Something!

NOTE: This was posted across my other social networks under different titles. Here, this title is fitting.

With this technology saturated world, it is quite easy to stop and admire the beauty we have around us every day.  Each time we have to go somewhere as a family, the children do not understand my reasoning for making them leave all their "devices" at the house.  I feel like a drill sergeant or a prison guard checking pockets for stuff as they go out the door. I want them to have to look up and see what is going on outside the car window.  Apparently it is too much to ask that they leave the phones, ipods, and gaming devices at the house for the ten minute ride to the store because the clouds in the sky or the tractor riding down the street is not that exciting. Or is it?

When they do see that cool car that has the Froot Loops logo on it they are all "oohhh  aaaahhh, woooowww."  That is what I want them to see. Preferably, I want them to see that clouds can make shapes and how the leaves turn toward the sky when it is about to rain (that was something I didn't notice until my late twenties.) Or to even notice the homeless man pushing his cart down the street so we can have a conversation about that. You know, stay in school, don't give up, or some other character builder like that. What about seeing the lady in the motorized wheelchair. We can talk about understanding that each of us is different and that does not mean it is a bad thing.  I love those moments. They make us communicate face to face and that is something that is lost in the modern world today.

I know what you are thinking. 'What in the world has gotten into this lady! She is normally so on it, so silly. What happened?'  A mothers love for her children and a wife's love for her spouse get in the way of the skewed version of my life sometimes and I have to remind myself that I am human and this is a living planet.  This planet is beautiful. I see so many times how parents refuse to let their kids get dirty. I mean from REAL dirt. You know, go dig a hole or make mud pies or find a worm and pick it up.  It is not going to kill you! The great benefit there is that they learn real life lessons, they have fun, and they build up immunities and NOT develop things like allergies and other illnesses that everyone seems to have now a days.

Further, active children that play outside and use their imaginations are quite fun to watch. You can see them observe the world around them and have their own inner teachable moments. It is a beautiful thing.  You are not going to catch some disease by rolling around in the grass chasing a ball. It is not the end all if they get a little bit of dirt on their clothes. Whatever happened to changing into your 'play clothes' and going outside!  It is beautiful out there! Trees, grass, dirt, fresh air, and fun. Oh yea, and flowers.  So what if it is a dandelion. Show them how it turns your chin yellow when you rub it there. Our boys bring me flowers for my desk every single day. Dandelions, and other such weed flowers are fine. They think they are pretty and are sweet enough to pick them for me then I am going to let them. Even the dandelions thay blow away when you pick them up, you know, the little snowball things. We blow them. Yes sir.  Look at your child's face as they marvel in the fact that the wind carries the seeds away.  It is beautiful.

I must admit I am guilty of the electronic addiction. We all are. Just remind yourself to step back sometimes. Your children are trying to teach you something that you have forgotten. They are trying to teach you that the world is a marvel and we need to be in awe of it. They are trying to teach you that it is a beautiful place and to enjoy it because life is simply too short. As my husband says, that phone will be there when you get done, those messages will not disappear simply because you are not tending to them.  That electronic gadget will operate the same when you get back and it will not get lonely.

Put it down, smell the roses for childs' sake!