Thoughts... And a story

Yodel-o, folks, I'm sorry it's been such a long time.

I've had all manner of work to be getting on with, including a nice piece of coursework (which took quite a long time and I'm proud of it so no regrets there). I've also finished lectures for the year and am revising at the moment, for around five hours a day, and doing tons of other stuff like sleeping and playing guitar and spending time with others. I only finished the coursework less than two days ago so I'm still feeling the work-shock.

How are you? I hope you're all well and keeping yourselves busy. There's a lot for me to do before exams so I'm not really bored unless I'm ignoring the work I should be doing and in that case it's completely my fault.

Anyway, I had a story for you from WAY BACK WHEN (...Christmas. I have a story from Christmas time).

So, I was in a supermarket feeling pretty hungry. I was looking at the sandwiches and the sushi and this family of three comes in (I'm near the door). I don't notice them until the little boy (probably about eight, best guess) reaches in front of me and grabs a muffin quite hard, squishing it in the packet a bit. I think, 'that's kind of... uncoordinated'.

I then realise he is quite overweight. In fact, all three of these people are overweight. Very noticeably. I am trying to put this nicely.

He puts the muffin down elsewhere on the shelf and grabs a cookie. He turns to his (I assume) mum, and says "can I have this?"

And she doesn't even hesitate at all, she just says, "yeah, you've been good today so you can."

Incoming thoughts- 'look at your child! If he's been so good, reward him with something else, not a cookie. Not a sugary or fatty food or drink at all, actually.'

Quite frankly, the only reward this child needed was a diet. Judging his size he was probably four, maybe four and a half feet tall, and weighed either the same or not much less than me. I'm about nine and a half stone (60.3 kilos-ish).

So then that got me thinking. How we eat is most definitely learnt from the people around us when we are children, at least in part. My mum eats healthily but doesn't eat often. I try to eat regularly but particularly when I'm busy I'll accidentally forego breakfast and lunch in a day. I don't even realise I've forgotten until my stomach starts making these awful rumbles (like an Empty-Bellystorm, tehe).

Surely, if your child has done something right, if you ARE going to reward them with something tangible (which, I'm told, is a bad habit as it leads to materialistic views), better it be something interesting and/or something that promotes health (whether that be mental or physical)...

What are your views on this, though? I'm not sure how strict my parents were compared to others when I was growing up- maximum one fast food meal a week and one or two chocolate bars. All I can remember is that I would think something along the lines of (a more childish version of) "Aw yiss - muthafuckin Twily Whirly Day" on the chocolate bar days. I loved those Twirly Whirlies. They were the greatest thing. Pity I can't eat them any more.

Back to the point. What do you think? If you were/are a parent, what would be your policy or reward of choice? How did your parents reward you? Do you think giving children food when they behave "well" perpetuates bad habits? Views would be greatly appreciated. You can email me at victoriaandthewolf@gmail.com if you've got something to say, or comment below :)

Happy reading folks, and sorry for not posting more often! Life is busy.

PS I'm hoping to do more posts during the summer months, but we'll see how that goes.

Victoria Jane