Mission Mondays: It's for the Good of the Children

Welcome back to Mission Mondays! If you're just joining us, this is a special feature of the blog where you get to take a peek into the method behind my madness and find out why I love what I do! If you were one of the twenty people who read my post last week and *still* came back for more, I commend you. And I would probably suggest a psychological evaluation, as well. But thanks for sticking with me anyway.

This week's topic: I work "for the good of the children." And I don't mean that in the way like fighting couples who want to wait until the last kid leaves the nest until they separate do. Nothing emotionally devastating like that. And I don't mean it like some ditzy Miss America contestant would say it, when she lists off her stereotypical goals of world peace and ending hunger. No, I mean I love what I do and I do what I do because I think kids deserve to grow up healthy, and I think Moms deserve to play an active role in their well-being.

Here's an experiment for your day-after-Mother's-Day amusement: Take three kids, preferably your own, if you have that many. Now pick your least favorite (you know who it is...), buy them a Happy Meal, then blindfold them, and tell them not to use one appendage for the day.  After you've completed the experiment and paid the shrink bills for little Johnny, who has now confirmed what he has always suspected--that Susie really *is* your favorite--come back and read this post.

Did you know that the odds of today's kids developing diabetes are 1-in-3? And did you know that, while you may have gotten to *choose* to afflict your least favorite child in this experiment, diabetes can strike your *favorite* kiddo and leave them with a lifetime of health problems that could eventually result in blindness and amputations???? While my experiment may have been off-the-wall and you may be a completely unbiased parent resentful of my assuming you had an obvious favorite like my grandmother does, I hope you let the point of it sink in. Our kids are at risk of being the first Americans to live shorter lives than their parents because of the food culture we've created for them. Couple that with less play time and more PlayStations, and we have a recipe for an unprecedented health crisis in our nation.

As a woman, I believe I have been entrusted with one of the most sacred responsibilities known to man: cooking dinner. I don't know where you fall on the women's lib spectrum, but I tend to enjoy the traditional female role of being the family chef. In this way, I can achieve two main goals: 1) look like wife-of-the-year every night I make a quality meal, and 2) avoid eating the monotonously bland menu of unseasoned chicken breasts and pre-packaged lettuce that I would be subject to if the Hubs were in charge of mealtimes. I believe that women have a HUGE influence over the health of their family just by choosing what meals and snacks will be served in the home and sent in the Justin Bieber lunchbox. 

Personally, when we have a family of our own, I want those little guys and girls to think of ground turkey meatballs as normal, and Goldfish crackers as a snack for bad kids who don't get to eat Mommy's air-popped popcorn with her while she watches Survivor. One of the coolest things I ever saw was a 5-year-old ask her Mom what a Snickers bar was, because she honestly had no idea what delightfully dangerous goodness lay underneath that pretty packaging. That's the type of Mom I want to be (sort of--I think my kids will be able to pick out a Snickers bar in a line-up), and I have the privilege of helping other Moms make healthy the new norm for their families, too. I get to show them how simple it is to cook a healthy meal, how capable they are of providing their kids with the nutrition their little bodies need to thrive and grow, and how much fun it is to have family races and bike rides that don't involve Mario Kart.

Aside from changing family meal times, one of my greatest passions is to give Moms more time with their children. One of the main reasons I chose my career is for the flexibility and power it gave me to earn an income without missing out on the big moments and the little moments that I want to enjoy with my kids. I really don't want to miss a thing. (You can thank me for having a continuous loop of that Aerosmith song in your head later...)   Now, I realize that some Moms are way happier with an eight-hour-a-day break from domestic life, and I totally respect that. But it absolutely breaks my heart to see a Mom who wants to stay at home go back to the office, or a stay-at-home Mom go without, just because neither of them realize that you don't have to sacrifice time for money or money for time. 

I personally choose not to subscribe to the faulty theory that bread-winning and baby-snuggling are mutually exclusive. I don't even have kids yet, and I can't imagine being forced to leave them just to take in a paycheck. Could I choose to leave them for a time? If it's shoe shopping or a Snickers sale, heck yes. No, in all seriousness, I believe that women should decide what's best for their families, instead of letting circumstances dictate their actions. One of my biggest dreams for my business is to have a team of amazingly gratified women who pay for their kids' braces, ballet, and baseball and *still* get to watch every game and recital because their career choice gave them the opportunity to do both.

It's almost as good as having your cake and eating it, too. If you follow the link to this easy, healthy cake, you can do both AND be a dinner goddess tonight.


Bonus Quote: The future destiny of a child is always the work of the mother.  
- Napoleon Bonaparte
Um.....I wonder where his Mom went wrong? Probably too much French bread.