Week 35: ME & Fear
The media loves to feed us a steady diet of fear. I think advertising preys on us as parents especially, using fear to make money. If it's not a news report, it's an article, blog, book or video warning us of some new thing we need to protect our children from. The Zika virus, vaccinations, online predators, cyberbullying, harmful foods, too much screen time. I try not to get caught up in it, but it's so hard!
Am I feeding him enough fruits and vegetables? Is he drinking enough water? Is our water even safe? Am I messing up his hormones by using the wrong sunscreen? Are all the water bottle BPA free? Is one hour a day of Minecraft rotting his brain? Is he participating in too many activities? Not enough? The right ones? Is he seeing anything online that he shouldn't? Should I take him hiking in the woods or will he get Lyme disease again? Does he have the right group of friends? Am I teaching him how to use good manners and to be kind?
The bottom line is, some things deserve my thought, and some things don't. I have to follow my gut and my heart and try to ignore everyone else. So, I'm choosing to turn off the news and go hug my kid... and while I'm at it maybe I'll hand him a water bottle and an apple!