Your kid is fat!

[Booko]

Both my children have speech difficulties. I didn't realize it because I was with them all the time; I knew what they were saying (which no doubt I'll now be called a lousy parent for not knowing they had a problem). Until it was otherwise pointed out to me how severe it was, I thought if I didn't make a big deal out of it they would just grow out of it too.

:yes: My other best friend's son had delayed speech. She didn't realize it for quite a while. She was so worried it meant her son was stupid. My aunt was a retired speech therapist, so when I was visiting Mom a week later I made a point of meeting my aunt and asking about this. She said it was really common 1 in 50, most common in boys, and that he would catch up to everyone else, but did need some intervention.

My friend was thinking about starting her son in school when he was still 4 (birthday in November). With this information and input from me about my brother's experience with that, she changed her mind and decided another year at home would get him started in schooling a lot better -- emotionally, socially, and with more time to work on the speech.

Most parents do the best they can. But you know, we are NOT experts in every facet of child development!

My son especially is teased for his speech. He is teased even more because he has to leave the regular class and go do speech therapy twice a week.

Same thing with my friend's son. She managed to get the semi-private therapy for a year, but really couldn't sustain the expense.

Should I instead insist he stay in class and not get the special attention he needs so that he is not teased even more, even though his speech therapist says if his speech is not corrected soon, it may never be? Should I just ignore his speech and *hope* he figures it out on his own?

Of course not.

The difference is, schools *do* have speech therapists.

They don't have anyone who can do nutritional counseling.

They teach so many wrong things about nutrition as it is, and certainly the behaviour they model by allowing soda machines in school, the foods available at lunch, and letting junk food marketers in the door with trinkets does NOT impress me with their ability to do nutritional counseling.

 

[Booko]

Cobblers. Show me a country with government health care that doesn't have a Maccas. Or a pub.

Yeah, if they shut down the pubs in Australia, there would be riots in the streets.

 

[Booko]

history is a point of view

Not entirely. Some things in history are objective.

Is this statement true or false?

"Columbus discovered America."

Q.E.D.

 

[Booko]

Why is cereal junk food?

Go into the cereal aisle in your grocery store and read the labels.

Take note of all the following:

- sugar sources
- chemical additives (including worthless sprayed on vitamins)
- refined as opposed to whole grains
- trans fats

Just for starters.

Especially compare the grams of sugars as the percentage of total calories to, say, a box of Triscuits or some cookies. See what you come up with.

There are very few cereals that are worth eating. Look in the health food aisle for them. Even they will be mostly sweetened, but with brown sugar or honey instead of corn syrup. Big deal. It's still sugar.

On the rare occasion I eat cereal, I eat Shredded Wheat, shredded wheat and shredded wheat. Whole grains. No sugar.

Since some plain yogurt or cheese is not an option for me, I scramble an egg or two to go along with it for some protein.

The cereal industry would have you believe that eating a bowl of cereal and milk is sufficient for breakfast. :biglaugh:

 

[Booko]

A lot of cereals, healthy or not, will add high-fructose corn syrup, or cane juice, or just plain sugar............some will even proudly print organic cane juice - as if that's soooo much better.

Yup! And whole wheat breads aren't a lot better.

How nice of the bakeries to decide for me that if it's whole wheat, obviously I want my bread to taste sweet!

That takes it right off my menu...and Danisty's too I'd bet.

There's one kind of *unsweetened* bread from the farmer's market near me that I can eat. It doesn't have any corn either, which is a real rarity.

When I'm at my Mom's I'll have to make my own bread. The only other option is whole wheat pita bread, if I can find it.

 

[Booko]

It isn't as nearly as bad as a bag of potato chips. I still wouldn't qualify it as junk food.

Yes, it is just as bad as a bag of potato chips.

Read your labels.

I'm not kidding.

 

[UnTheist]

Yes, it is just as bad as a bag of potato chips.

Read your labels.

I'm not kidding.

I was talking about whole grain cereal. With no added sugar. Mostly raisin bran and sredded wheat.

 

[Booko]

I was talking about whole grain cereal. With no added sugar. Mostly raisin bran and sredded wheat.

Shredded wheat is the exception of cereals. But you still have to have more protein with it than a glass of milk. At 34g per cup (and do you only eat a cup, or do you eat more than that?) that's way beyond my 15-20g limit for carbs. But then I'm insulin resistant and many people aren't, so they can afford to eat more than that.

Check out raisin bran more carefully. You'll see they roll the raisins in sugar (uh...raisins aren't sweet enough on their own?) and I think they still sweeten the flakes as well.

I can get a health food brand of bran flakes that has no sugar added and toss in my own MUCH fresher unsugared raisins, and I'm better off. I toss in some pecans as well. Yummy.

More than 1/2 or 2/3 a cup is too many carbs for most people (unless you dig ditches for a living or something).

Also compare the serving size they list to the portion size people *really* eat. That's another way labels are used to trick you.

 

[standing_alone]

Hm...we might start a new thread over in the Health or Cooking section on surviving through college on a limited budget. I did a lot on a very little while in college to get food that wouldn't make me feel downright ill. We could all trade some tips I'm sure, but I don't want to derail this thread even more...

Ooh, I'd very much like that. Perhaps I shall go start one.

 

[Mike182]

Ooh, I'd very much like that. Perhaps I shall go start one.

Booko, why not just add to my "help! i'm a student!" thread? (that might not have been the exact name of it though... i'm feeding myself off £40 a week at the moment, plus my diabetes and some days i can feel just rotten. not often, but some.

 

[standing_alone]

Booko, why not just add to my "help! i'm a student!" thread? (that might not have been the exact name of it though... i'm feeding myself off £40 a week at the moment, plus my diabetes and some days i can feel just rotten. not often, but some.

Oh, but I just made a thread.

 

[Mike182]

Oh, but I just made a thread.

then we shall use your lovely thread! mine got quite derailed more into "what alcoholic drink can i get for cheap...?" lol

 

[Booko]

Booko, why not just add to my "help! i'm a student!" thread? (that might not have been the exact name of it though... i'm feeding myself off £40 a week at the moment, plus my diabetes and some days i can feel just rotten. not often, but some.

Seyorni will be able to give a lot of good practical advice on eating healthy and cheap as well.

 

[standing_alone]

mine got quite derailed more into "what alcoholic drink can i get for cheap...?" lol

Ah, the other important thing for a college student on a budget.

 

[Mike182]

Ah, the other important thing for a college student on a budget.

the general consensus was "beg, borrow or steal"

Edit: Alyssa! look, we just derailed this thread as well!

 

[Green Gaia]

:yes: My other best friend's son had delayed speech. She didn't realize it for quite a while. She was so worried it meant her son was stupid. My aunt was a retired speech therapist, so when I was visiting Mom a week later I made a point of meeting my aunt and asking about this. She said it was really common 1 in 50, most common in boys, and that he would catch up to everyone else, but did need some intervention.

With my kids it's not that their speech was delayed. They both talk all the time and did so from a very early age. Both of them even have an advanced vocabulary and comprehension for their age. In fact, when my daughter was tested, the therapist ran out of tests to give her. At the time she was a 3 year old with a vocabulary and comprehension of at least a 3rd grader, that's as high as the tests went that the therapist had prepared to give her that day.

With both of my kids it is their pronunciation of most sounds. I would try to correct them, they would try to say it right, but it wasn't working. We needed help. I am thankful everyday we have their speech therapist. She has made both of them so much better. So much so, that when my daughter starts kindergarten next fall, she shouldn't need anymore sessions once she starts school. So she won't have to go through the teasing her brother has. Which is good for everyone else's sake. He takes it all in stride and has even said he feels sorry for the kids who tease him, (he reckons they don't have any real friends). My daughter would just end up punching someone. :cover:

They don't have anyone who can do nutritional counseling.

But why can't they? That's what I would like to see happen.

 

[jamaesi]

Maize, have they ever had their hearing tested? And not just that quick "nope, your kids aren't completely deaf!" test, a very indepth test for hearing disabilities?

I wasn't diagnosed until I was late in middle school, but I have Auditory Processing Disorder- at that age there was nothing they could do for it. I had an above average IQ all through school and tested at levels grades above me but I still was in speech therapy. I still, to this day, do not sound like a native English speaker (even though I am) but getting them tested now means that if there is a problem like this, it could be fixed. It's little things like I roll/flap the letter R and make sounds like "T" and "D" as dentals instead of alveolars, but it's those little things that make you sound like a native speaker.

It's sort of funny, because I have an absolute perfect Arabic accent that I've never had to work at because... that's how those sounds are made in Arabic.

Of course, when people hear me and look at my facial features and headscarf they just assume I'm a foreigner. I can't tell you how many times a day I get complemented for my "good English skills." And, haha, like your daughter, I just wanted to punch this girl in the face who asked if I was from Saudi. (Touchy subject, I'm PAKI, not Saudi! Calling me Saudi... well, them's fighting words.)

 

[Booko]

With both of my kids it is their pronunciation of most sounds. I would try to correct them, they would try to say it right, but it wasn't working. We needed help. I am thankful everyday we have their speech therapist. She has made both of them so much better. So much so, that when my daughter starts kindergarten next fall, she shouldn't need anymore sessions once she starts school. So she won't have to go through the teasing her brother has. Which is good for everyone else's sake. He takes it all in stride and has even said he feels sorry for the kids who tease him, (he reckons they don't have any real friends). My daughter would just end up punching someone. :cover:

I was initially concerned about my son, who didn't pronounce his "r" correctly, but he was on the edge and as it turns out we didn't need any intervention.

I'm glad to hear your daughter will be able to miss on the pull out programme. I still remember the kids who went to speech therapy in elementary school -- they were teased mercilessly for that. Some things haven't changed at all.

Hm...your daughter's temperament sounds rather similar to mine.

But why can't they? That's what I would like to see happen.

Oh, they certainly *could*! The question is, can a school whose nutrition curriculum has been bought and paid for by big agriculture be expected to provide *real* nutritional counseling for kids? Or will the nutritional counseling just provide them with more disinformation and a greater opportunity for certain agribusinesses to hawk their wares?

When the school's poster on "nutrition" and the "food pyramid" hsa tiny print saying it was produced by the Dairy Council, I'm not inclined to look at those as sources of objective information on diet.

Also, if there were nutritional counseling, as a parent I would want my permission *required* before they even talked to my child. First off, whoever's doing the counseling needs to know whatever relevant health background they're dealing with. If the doctor's saying "there are limits on exercise" I don't need a *school* employee telling the kid something completely different.

There are already plenty of conflicting messages out there. Just turn on any teevee or read a magazine ad. blech.

 

[Green Gaia]

Maize, have they ever had their hearing tested? And not just that quick "nope, your kids aren't completely deaf!" test, a very indepth test for hearing disabilities?

Yes, they have. That's how we found out my son needed ear tubes, which his pediatrician missed. :sarcastic My daughter's hearing is perfect and my son's is now too that the tubes are in place.

 

[Radio Frequency X]

You have no idea how happy I'd be if they banned high fructose corn syrup. I might even be able to buy a bloody bottle of ketchup or a jar of pickles again. As it is, I have to make all of that from scratch myself now. You'd think I was living in 1900, the way I cook.

That aside, I hereby predict that high fructose corn syrup will be the next "fad" to remove from foods.

My wife and I shy away from buying anything with High Fructose Corn Syrup as well. But just look at it - you, my wife, and I all avoid this substance without the government forcing us to.