Playgroups are NOT for men! And a Long Rant

My husband works in retail so his schedule is always different. This means that he is home during the morning every so often when playgroup is going on... Or like today he is off during our "Girls and Babes Dinner" that is going on tonight, and he's not invited. This spurred a conversation about how he isn't invited to playgroup, ever. I had to explain to him that he is odd man out, literally, in a playgroup setting. His jokes don't go over well- they don't go over that great in general- but it is especially pronounced when he is surrounded by women and he makes a crude joke or makes fun of our jobs as stay at home moms. 

Playgroups are just not for men- unless it's a stay at 
home dad and he can jump in on a discussion about constipation or some such other topic that a working dad wouldn't truly understand the way a stay at home parent would. Maybe we should have a daddy playgroup so they don't feel left out anymore. Daddies take the babies, mommies go out for lunch, maybe shop or get a manicure and remember what it's like to be able to relax without a screaming child sitting on your lap. Don't worry dads, we usually have sweets and coffee- oh, but you will have to share that cookie with the kids, maybe the whole cookie depending on baby's mood. Raise your hand if you think Dad would rather go golfing!

I would like to talk for a moment about my most hated TV commercial...... Dun Dun DUUUUH

I can not stand(!) the high fructose corn syrup commercials!!!!!! Yea, the calorie aspect may be similar to table sugar...But who thinks table sugar is healthy anyway!? Let's think for a second, corn refiners are making these commercials, I mean, they have a lot at stake with HFCS- if America wises up and stops eating it they will loose A LOT of money. So they have a brilliant idea! Make a commercial telling them "Like sugar, it's fine in moderation!" Sugar is not healthy, artificial sweeteners are definitely not healthy and let's not pretend corn turned into sweet goo is healthy. Natural sugar is found in fruit and honey..... HFCS is processed until it's a clear sticky liquid that goes directly  to your liver and your body turns it into fat. I'm not saying you should eat processed white sugar over HFCS exactly, but between the two I would choose the white sugar and whenever possible I would go with unprocessed cane sugar- and reduce your sugar (any kind of sugar/sweetener) intake as much as possible. I am a sweet addict, I love sugar, I tried to leave it out of my tea and coffee but I can't so I cut way down. The easiest way I can see to cut a large chunk of sugar out of your diet is to ditch the soda and juice. And your kids do NOT need juice as a staple of their diet. Next time you pull out the apple juice look at the ingredients, the fewer the better. Kids have tiny tummies that need to be filled up with healthy fruits and veggies. Treat juice as just that, a treat. Water is essential to a healthy body, get your child in the habit of drinking a lot of water and it will stick with them. Read the labels, avoid any product with High Fructose Corn Syrup in the ingredients. 

 Don't get me wrong, Lola gets candy, she eats chocolate chip pancakes, last
night was a hectic dinner and she hit away everything but french fries..... Look at the big picture, offer as many healthy foods in a day as possible and remember that you are teaching your child the building blocks for healthy eating. Make sure they eat their growing food and have an understanding of how their diet affects their body.