Teach them, don't give them hand outs

There has been a bit of talk on a blog I follow about Michelle Obama's plan to feed 2 million children 3 meals a day, 365 days a year, on the governments tab.  There have been some extreme ideas of what this could lead to as well as talk of possible solutions.  The biggest topic being that as a parent it is YOUR responsibility to feed your kids.  Not the government.  There are people from older generations talking about raising their kids without assistance and how they made it work because it was their obligation to do so.  Now a days you don't actually have to do anything but wait for a hand out and most people never strive to get off the assistance.  They do just enough so they don't lose it.

I commend Mrs.Obama for wanting our Nation's children to be fed and healthy.  I think something should be done about the alarming rate of obese kids and the childhood rate of diabetes climbing. Clearly there is an issue. But telling parents who qualify for this what their kids are going to eat every day of the year?  Taking the responsibility from the parents hands?  Giving them a free ticket to not be responsible for the meals in their own home is not the answer.  It's going to play host to whole new world of issues.  Pretty soon it won't just be meals, it will be activities.  They will want to step in and tell you how to teach your kids morals. Hell, might as well get ready to hand your baby over at birth to your local government official so they can raise it too.

As a parent I just don't see how you let someone else take care of your basic responsibilities such as feeding your family.  I don't think there should be a golden ticket out of that.  Go google how important meal time is to a child, to the family. You can't just put a plastic tray of pre made food in front of them and walk off.  For the people that qualify for this program I say give them more food stamps. Require them to attend a food preparation and budget class once a month to keep getting their benefits.  TEACH them.  Empower these people with knowledge.  I don't think enough of us under the age of 30 are being taught the very basics of this.  I know I wasn't. I am just now learning to cook, how to shop. How to make my food dollar stretch.

Quit letting food stamp benefits buy garbage food. No soda, chips, sugar laden "juice". Make the benefits cover actual food.  Produce, dairy, grain.  Everything you need to cook from scratch.  Microwave dinner?  No.  Cheap food from a can? No.  It's just disgusting that food stamps cover garbage food. It's unreal they would just freely hand out that money and not teach people how to eat and how to shop with it.  That's like trying to drive a car and never having any formal instruction.

Maybe put Home Ec back in schools. Teach the kids what their parents don't know. Get all the soda and candy machines out.  Offer better school lunches.  The amount of money the government is going to have to fork out for this project is going to be out of control.  They have to hire nutritionists, cooks. people to deliver. There will be contracted buyers, accountants. People to over see the buyers, the cooks, the delivery drivers.  They will have to buy packaging for all this food.  Those totals are easily going to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.  Put that money into a more permanent  solution, because this isn't .

So that's my take on the Obama food program. It's a crappy, temporary solution.

Oreo gave me PTSD

I must say I am still feeling panicky toward owning a new dog.   Oreo made everything about owning a new dog impossible to enjoy.  She didn't pee for 3 days.  Didn't eat for 8 days and even then it was near two weeks before she was eager to eat.   She didn't come out.  Tired to bite Yoshi's face off.  She wouldn't look at me and didn't enjoy human interaction.  She never wagged her tail. She was lifeless.

I was seriously having fears about getting Bubbles.   When I brought her home and she and Yoshi didn't hit it off first thing I nearly panicked! But as the day went on and things started smoothing out I was feeling a bit better.  She's loving, she wags her nub and isn't totally trying to kill Yoshi, unless he is poking her too much.  She ate her first RAW meal like a champ.  She goes out and pees and comes back.  She's not hiding in a kennel.

I am still not a 100% feeling good about everything, but its only been 36 hours.  I know the household will smooth out and I will have 2 awesome adjusted dogs that I will just love.  I hope I never get another Oreo.

Hmm. 2 weeks out of work.

The past two weeks of being home have been really amazing.  The things I can get done now just blow my mind.  My house is in better shape, I've done more cooking and there has been a lot more time for Aiden and the dog.  I knew working full time and then coming home and taking care of everything took a lot of effort, but I don't think I realized just how much it was.  Poor Yoshi was spending so much time locked up every day.  I'd have so much to do after work that I wasn't really spending enough quality time with Aiden.  Getting 35+ hours back a week is just a huge thing.  I'm even getting enough sleep now!

I plan to start having some more meaningful blogs soon.  I am just making a lost of topics!

Happy 2011

A Happy New Year to my few readers(and I mean few) as well as anyone who has stumbled here by accident!

The first few months of this year are going to fly by in a rush.  I am no longer working for Claire & Harley's.  Instead I will be spending a small amount of time grooming for a handful of clients at home.  This is exciting for me because I will have much more time to take care of my home.  I am always struggling to find the time and energy to take care of things. Yoshi starts a new training class this month.  I am using some extra time to teach him some extra manners that I haven't been able to do.  In 6 weeks Skip will be home!  Then we will be rushing around here getting prepared to go to South Carolina.  I will be officially introduced to the family.

The biggest part of this year will be the wedding planning!   Yes I said wedding.  While we don't intend to have anything huge, it is getting done.  I am most excited about this.  I feel like I have been waiting forever.  So at some point expect to see it happen.

I am looking forward to my continuing path of femininity.  I feel like I have come a long way this past year, but I know I have just started.  With the ability to start staying home, I have a feeling I am in for more adventures than I know.

Enjoy a new year everyone.