Straighten Up, America!

First and foremost, if we are to compete with the rest of the world, we have to pay attention to:

EDUCATION

We are falling behind, people! European education is superior to ours. The school hours are longer, homework more extensive, and more is required to keep up than in the U.S.

Most of us have ourselves to blame. Parents are mostly absent when the child gets home, and usually this is because they have no choice and have to work. However, this is no excuse for not monitoring your child's homework and keeping up with his or her teachers at meetings.

It is up to you to teach them that reading is vitally important to succeed in anything of value in life...simply put, reading all the classics at a young age and teaching them to speak, read and write EXCELLENT English is the minimum requirement of each and every parent who lives in America! It is appalling that most kids today cannot spell correctly, nor are they learning about the rest of the world. Ask any child where Afganistan is on a map and most will look at you blankly...however, ask a European child the same and they will point right to it. Obviously, our educational standards are just not on par. As a parent you will have to fill in the blanks in your child's lack of education, particularly if they are attending a school that is not in one of the "top ten" in America. Although I was very fortunate to be able to send my daughter to one of those schools, I can still remember the gaps in learning, particularly in history and geography. I filled in these gaps by reading to her, taking her on field trips to museums and overseas, buying educational games and toys that taught her about the rest of the world, and started teaching her another language (AFTER she spoke, read and wrote perfectly in English). College was spoken of frequently as if there was no option of not attending, so she assumed she would try to get in to the best school she could.

And a word about television...monitor, monitor, monitor! I see young kids (mostly siblings of older children) watching totally unappropriate shows. Their parents seem to use the TV as a free babysitter. Be a role model...if you are watching reality shows what are you saying to your children? Most of the shows are utter garbage. Children are little sponges, and pick up every nuance of what we say, watch and do. If you must watch questionable shows at least do it when the kids are in bed! My daughter only watched videos that were age-appropriate, and many were also educational. In this way, she could recite the alphabet before she turned two, and started writing at an early age. Any parent can accomplish this, even if you spend only 15 minutes each day.

I was very upset when our school district voted not to make a second language mandatory in the elementary schools (they have since changed their minds). Children learn languages much more easily when they are young, and there are excellent learning tools you can get (every library should also be able to get these for you).

The best thing to do is to make up a weekly schedule for you and your child, and then FOLLOW it. The child will learn a valuable lesson about time management as well as goal-setting, and your life will be that much more organized and easier to manage...

VOLUNTEER

Every able-bodied person in America should be volunteering. Yes, even extremely driven, "I can't fit another thing in" types! Even if you can only spare one hour once a month, can you imagine what we as a nation could accomplish if each of us volunteered even once a month?

We could tutor a child in need and teach him to love reading. We could be a mentor to a needy child whose parents are not there for him. We could help with the sick and elderly (and we'll all be one of these in the future). How sad it is when people become elderly and have to live in a nursing home; most have very few visitors, and spend the end of their lives in loneliness. A regular visit would brighten up their days and give them something to live for. Volunteer at a local animal shelter; these poor animals are forced to live the rest of their days in cages without the love and nurturing they crave. Many have been cruelly abused and have lost hope in mankind, and it's up to kind-hearted people to help them overcome their distrust and fear. If you absolutely can't volunteer, at least call your local shelter and ask them what they need...many will love your donation of warm blankets, pet toys and food, beds and the like.

Soup kitchens need your help too. Many have short shifts you can take on easily. It is wonderful to see the look in a homeless man's eyes as you hand him some home-made cookies or simply sit and listen to his story. Many of us could be them if circumstances were changed somewhat.

If you don't know where to begin, look on-line for volunteer needs in your community. There are so, so many. Whether you are good at baking, sewing, crafts, knitting, cooking, reading, helping with homework or anything else, there is bound to be an interest of yours that someone else desperately wants and needs. Let's gather all of our resources and give back to those who need help. Let's turn our country around so that we can once again be strong and vital so that we can help other countries!

A word to volunteer organizations: When you receive a call offering help, please, please call that person right back! And, when they come to help, please, please take the time to orientate them and show your appreciation for their volunteerism!

PARENTING

Why is it that there no requirement or license needed for being a parent? We need a license for just about everything else....driving a car, purchasing a gun, obtaining a hunting permit to kill and/or maim an innocent animal...but the most important job we will ever do in our lives is to be a parent. It is up to each and every one of us to bring into this world a well-balanced, educated child that will ADD to society and not BURDEN it.

So, how can a parent, who might have had very abusive/ignorant/poor parents themselves, know how to parent properly? Most just don't ever learn, and the poor parenting skills just get passed down through generations. We can't afford that...we already have hundreds of thousands of teens on drugs, alcohol, and many headed to prison already. So, why can't we have a mandatory CLASS ON PARENTING SKILLS? Give it to every teen in high school in America with a "no pass, no graduate" clause.
This course could cover every aspect about being a parent, from pregnancy, diet, health (both mental and physical), love, discipline, education, safety...and thus save countless suffering of a generation of children. It is long overdue...hopefully our country will be the first in the world to implement a course that is so vitally important. If we carefully take care of the future generations, our country will start to become strong once again.

FOOD

I could have used the word "diet", but that has negative connotations. Diets only work temporarily; to be healthy and vital means to eat fresh produce, fruits, starches and protein every day in proportion to our workload, exercise, sleep and other factors.

Why is it that Americans, one of the most prosperous of all the world's people, are one of the sickest in the world?

Money. We fall prey to advertisements by the big food companies that want your dollars to purchase their additive and preservative-laden "foods" that can sit on the shelf for months without spoiling. How long will it take Americans to realize that if it has a long shelf life IT ISN"T GOOD FOR YOU? More than half our country is now overweight or obese...this does not make for a strong, vital country! Overweight people are straining our health systems and insurance premiums are soaring to cover them. Diabetes, heart disease, and hundreds of other illnesses are all food-related. Most of these can be avoided, and many reversed, with a healthy diet. But, sadly, many of us are too lazy to bother to cook anymore. McDonald's and others of their ilk are such an easy fix for way too many people, and this is literally destroying America. Read "Fast Food Nation" and see how you feel after this.

There is nothing like a home-cooked meal (and I dine out frequently, but can count on one hand the times I've eaten at McDonald's). When I eat out it's never at a chain restaurant. I go to great seafood places, for fresh sushi, Greek, Turkish, Indian or other interesting cuisines that use a variety of healthy ingredients. Fried food is a NEVER.

Who doesn't have 15 minutes a day to make a fresh salad, vegetable and piece of fish?
That's all it takes to prepare a great-tasting meal that's nutritionally sound. I'm in my fifties, and still wear the same size (3-5 or small) as I did in my teens. Do I eat sweets? Yes, unfortunately I do. But, at the same time, I look at a complete 24 hour day and make sure I have at least two fruits, two veggies, many cups of tea (both green and black), bread (whole grain, never white), a fresh organic egg, fish or a vegetarian dinner, and liberally use fresh herbs that I grow in pots outside the kitchen, ground flax seed that I sprinkle over literally everything, and lots of cinnamon to counteract some of the sweets in my diet. I never, every deprive myself of anything I want, and I have small snacks all day long. It's all about BALANCING each day's meals. Yes, you can have two slices of pizza, but HAVE A BIG SALAD AND VEGETABLE with it. Must have meat? Just realize that you're consuming something that will take 4 full days to exit your system fully...and the longer anything remains in your colon, the unhealthier you will be (the countries with the highest colon cancer just happen to be the US, England and Germany, three of the highest meat-consuming nations in the world). So, eat meat very sparingly, or, as the Japanese do, use it in a stir-fry dish that contains mostly vegetables. Treat meat as you would a rich dessert...sparingly. You'll not only have more vibrant health, which will literally change the way you feel very quickly, but you'll be doing the right thing for the planet and the animals too.

Another rule I follow: every day starts with a piece of fresh fruit, and the last thing I eat before bedtime is another piece of fruit. My biggest meal is always at lunch time, with a smaller, snack-like meal at night when digestion slows down. I never feel hungry, and I also don't exercise regularly (something I plan to change this year!)

I also believe we have to eat more LOCALLY GROWN PRODUCE. I always go once a week to the local farm, and try to get to the farmer's markets once a week too. We all have to SUPPORT OUR FARMERS...they work way too hard and are paid way too low, and we need them to supply our fresh produce. I only eat what is in season...asparagus and strawberries in the spring/summer, cabbage/brussel sprouts in the winter, etc. I check what seafood I should be eating (there are websites devoted to watching which species are dangerously close to disappearing due to over-fishing, which fish are endangering other species like turtles, dolphins, whales and others) and which are just bad for our health based on where they swim. I read labels when I do buy canned/boxed foods, which is rarely. I never purchase any product that contains MSG (disguised as many different ingredients; Google it) trans-fats, artificial sweeteners or corn syrup.

I do know one thing: I grew up as a child on the typical foods of the 50s, which meant white bread, peanut butter and jelly, rice crispies and other horrible sugary cereals, whole milk (it took me years to discover I was lactose-intolerant), TV dinners, artificially-yellow mac and cheese, canned vegetables with all the good nutrients cooked out of them, little to no fresh salad, and lots of packaged sugary snacks. Little wonder that I always thought it was natural to feel tired, bloated, headachy, and had the inability to concentrate?

I am totally free of all of these symptoms, and it's all because of my changed eating habits. Yes, I still have chocolate (dark, not milk), still have cake when I feel like it, and still eat cookies (albeit not the grocery variety). I make my own, and make sure I take out most of the white flour and white sugar (I use a lot of ground oats, ground flax seed and wheat germ instead for high fiber). White flour is actually bleached with BLEACH..quite revolting thought to be eating something that has absolutely no nutrients in it as well!

I also found out that I am wheat-sensitive, and I grew up eating at least three pieces of bread every day. No wonder I had all those headaches! I now know that if I have just one bagel (which is equal to about two slices of bread) I will almost instantly get a headache. I've learned...I switched to purchasing oat, spelt, or other whole-grain breads...headaches solved.

However, there is something else that causes really bad headaches, and that is GUM. Yes, almost all gum today contains a dangerous ingredient that can cause headaches and worse.

I love pasta, but truly it puts on too much weight if you have it a few times a week. I've changed to having it once every three weeks, and if I know I'm having pasta that day I won't have any other starch. It works. And please, don't use canned or jarred tomato sauce. You don't have a few minutes to throw some fresh garlic, olive oil and cut-up tomatoes in a pot and cook them for 5 minutes...REALLY?

If you work the best thing I can tell you to do is purchase a crock pot. They make easy, amazingly delicious meals. Just prepare whatever veggies/chicken/meat you have, saute a chopped onion and some garlic cloves in the pot, add the ingredients and some water, cover and put in the fridge. When you get up in the morning plug it in on low, and you'll come home to a fragrent, yummy hot stew or soup all ready for dinner.

we have to fix ourselves first!

America, America...you are in bad shape, and have been in a downward turn for quite a few decades now.

Drug use and alcohol are rampant, teenage pregnancies, cheating and lying politicians, scandals, foreign wars, uncontrollable spending and deep debt to foreign countries, outsourcing of thousands of U.S. jobs to India and China, a government that has not yet outlawed the dubiousness of lobbying...it's all on the news, and we're becoming so numbed to all of it that it has almost lost its shock value...

I've been thinking about all of this for quite a while. We're a nation under one flag and government, yet Americans are a mixed bunch of people that originated from hundreds of different countries, have different religions and beliefs...and there is a huge divide at the moment. The saying "Divided we Fall" may be very true...

So, what can we do to help our country back to the way it was?