Healthy and Kind Life Lessons Missed

Some parents in the Orlando, Florida’s Edgewater school district are blowing a great opportunity to teach good manners and empathy.

The Golden rule is, treat other as you would like to be treated. One should try to put others first. Empathy, I believe is a taught skill, not a cognitive skill. Many of the parents in this school district are ignoring these two basic life skills and teaching their children the mantra “me first, me first, I do not care what you need, I want what I want.” This appears to me to be a good foundation for developing a bullying point of view in their children, how darn right selfish.

For those of you that have missed the story, a little girl with severe peanut allergies needs and requires a peanut free environment, and the school district had been requiring her classmates to rinse their mouths twice a day with water and to wash their hands and faces at school to avoid introducing nut residue into the classrooms. It is a life and death situation, not about hurt feelings. If it were your child, what would you want?

This child has the same rights as every child that has a disability. A child that needs a working dog; a child that needs wheelchair accessibility; a child that needs special education; a child that needs an interpreter. These are their rights because they belong to the community where it is law.

We as a society do alter our lives for others that require it because it is the right thing to do. We live in communities that should help and enrich all our lives not just the vocal unfeeling individuals.

Remember Hilary Clinton’s book, “It Takes a Village”? Why don’t these uncaring parents read it? Remember the old proverb, what go around, comes around? I wish no one, child or adult, harm and hardship but I do say have a kind heart.

Are these parents even thinking about the good that these simple requests will give their own children? It is healthy to wash your hand before and after eating; after using the powder room and several times during the day at random.

I would like to see every child be required to brush their teeth after lunch but since this will not happen in the schools around the country, learning to regularly rinse their mouth with water will add to their dental hygiene.

Both of these are healthy, personal habits to get into and will become lifelong habits that will serve them well. Moreover, empathy is a skill that will enrich their lives as they enter adulthood. To be able to teach two healthy physical habits and to teach some emotional growth seems like a winning combination to me.

See what happens when children do not know how to care for their teeth: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/163856/child_dies_for_lack_of_dental_care.html

Can you imagine the guilt these parents would carry around for the rest of their lives if this child died because they did not want their child to have rise their mouth and wash their hands; and when their children get older and realizes that they were part of this problem, they could be crippled emotionally for life. There is nothing as punishing as a guilty conscience.

This is one time that people must be marvelously well-mannered. It is not just a social issue but a life and death issue for a living, breathing human being who deserves the best that people can offer.

Let this community be the cream of the crop. Let it be marvelously kind and generous and they will all reap the reward of a clean conscience. They have the chance to make their community special and if they do not, no one else will.

LEARNING TO EAT CORRECTLY

“Let food be your medicine and your medicine be food.” Hippocrates

Let’s follow his advice and learn to eat correctly.

Had we followed his advice from the beginning we wouldn’t need to retrain our taste buds: when they (taste buds) have not been given the chance to cultivate the taste for salt and sugar the taste buds adjust and appreciate the taste of what is natural. If only we had extended this concept to foods made with white flour – our taste buds would not crave white bread, bagels, pasta, rolls and the like.

At least we can help our little ones to learn how to eat properly from the start. Their lives will be enhanced. They will be healthier and use food for what it is intended for, to provide energy to live.

Children should not be taught to live to eat but to eat to live. They will be able to enjoy the physical side of life by being able to participate in sports, dance, etc. and not being always on the side lines because their bodies cannot “do.” Let us teach our children to participate in life by enjoying the feeling of their bodies by enjoying physical activities and to be able to continue this physical living well into adulthood, let say 110 years old!

Do not cultivate tastes (develop cravings) for things that do not provide “what the body” needs.

Eating correctly is also beneficial to one’s emotional life.

Our goals in life regarding our families and friends never change but only get better with the new information and ideas that are given to us. We have a huge amount of scientific and emotional growth data available to us, And all of it hinges on each other.

Let us lead marvelously healthy lives by feeding our bodies as well as the soul. When a health body has a health mind, things do not get better than this.

Let us all contribute to a marvelously happy life for all.

T'IS THE SEASON ... FLU, COLDS & GERMS

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In addition to getting your flu shot and taking care of yourself, it is marvelously well-mannered to be considerate of others during "sick" season.  Do not go to work when you are sick - believe you me, you are not scoring any points with anyone.  Wash your hands often.   Carry sanitizer to help out in a pinch.  Do not sneeze into your hands - the proper place is in a clean and pressed linen or cotton handkerchief.  You should always carry one.  Or you could carry two.  As a friend's father used to tell to him, "carry two; one for you and one for your girl."   If you inexplicably find yourself without one, sneeze into your elbow.  

And we have all been there.  What do you do when you know someone is sick and they try to shake your hand anyway?   Some people shake the hand and then try to remember not to touch anything else until they wash their hands or sanitize.  Or you could do what I do, smile and apologetically say, "I am sorry, I have a bit of a cold and don't want to get you sick by shaking hands but it is so nice to meet you (or nice to see you) etc."   Keep smiling but keep your hand firmly at your side.  It seems to work rather well.  What do you think?  Do you have any other tips for getting through cold & flu season with grace?

Manners: A Return On Investment ... Priceless

Here are my top picks for the biggest return on investments; to teach your children manners so they are able to have a happy, health, and productive life - is this not what we all want for those we love?

How about taking brisk walks – this is easy to do and the rewards are great – this is a fine time to talk about what are the important things to learn in life.

Let us teach and demonstrate the correct way to eat. This will include the proper foods one needs for a healthy body but also the correct way to eat the food. We are teaching how to keep the waist-line lean – do not over eat. We are also the etiquette of dining. And the children are learning the correct way from the get-go.

Eating all the colors of the rainbow, variety of fruits and vegetables – this is just good common sense – has been from the very beginning of time. It also will allow individuals to enjoy eating foods from different cultures, to make new friends, to help us understand different cultures which will enrich one’s life. What a happy life!

We teach the rules of games so our children can play and have positive emotional interaction while keeping their bodies strong; to be included is a wonderful thing. We all know how miserable it feels to be excluded, but without manners – we are excluded.

We teach physical development so the bones and muscles are strong – a good fun physical game (basketball, track) or skill (tennis, skiing, ice skating – anyone?) and it is fun too – keeps one laughing and happy; we can have these social activities well into adult hood. Good manners will serve us our entire life regardless of age. Marvelously well-mannered people are always welcomed because they know the rules of the road and are a pleasure to have around.

We all need enough sleep – children need their rest to develop properly (both physical and emotional) and it carries over into adulthood. This is a lesson to be used for their entire lives (most adult people need 7 or 8 hours nightly). Tired people are not very pleasant to be around; they are grumpy, irritable and sometimes mean; they generally demonstrate bad behavior. One might not think of sleeping as being well-mannered but anything that interferes with making life unpleasant is called “lack of manners”. So let us ensure that we and our children are well-rested so we can go about having a wonderful life! We will be held in high regarded for being pleasant, nice people.

All people have stress; it is the way of life – give your child “handles” (correct words, actions, and feelings to deal with one's own conduct/reaction/behavior) so they can manage the inevitable stresses of every-day life. All people have stress; but if you teach your child how to manage it, you will set them on an emotionally happy road. Emotionally happy people are well-mannered, they know the rules of the game – they are confident in their life, they go in search of life's adventures.

We should teach and demonstrate how to keep a positive outlook – positiveness produces happy results – being negative just produces more negativity. Let us have a half full glass of milk rather than half empty glass of milk – attitude is everything.

Being marvelously well-mannered is the foundation of being well rounded, emotionally healthy and having a wonderful life. It opens all types of doors that we do not even know exit until we are invited in. Being marvelously well-mannered allows you to be ready for any and all opportunities that may come your way. Marvelous manners allow us to be ready when good fortune comes knowing at the door. Being marvelously well-mannered allows an individual to be happy, pure and simple.