The First Lady can't leave it parents to properly feed our children at school...

The First Lady said that it can't be left up to just the parents to provide healthy food for their children at school. Yes that's true to a point. But on the other hand, if I want a certain type of food fed to my children, I would send lunch with them.

You know as a mother of 5 children, I think I am perfectly capable of knowing what diet is proper for my children and what isn't. Anyone who has ever seen my kids will tell you they are very fit, and yes they eat happy meals. Why are they fit if they eat some junk food? It's about exercise. My kids are non stop energy machines. They play and run almost all day from the moment they wake up, until they go to sleep at night. Getting them to sit still through lessons is challenging because their metabolism is so high, that they need to move around between lessons. So since I home school, I can let them go outside for about 15 min between lessons and run around.

When I was a little kid we played on monkey bars, merry-go-rounds, tag, football, dodge-ball (my personal favorite), and actually had P.E. more than once a week. You very rarely saw really obese kids on the playground. We played hard all day, until I could hear my dad's booming voice coming down from my house, (those of you who know where my house is in relation to the park know what I'm talking about). Either that or we kept an eye out for the street lights to come on. Most of us played competitive sports, where they actually kept score, and yes we ate fast food. Not every day, but maybe once a week, or every other week.

Growing up I had to work twice as hard to stay slim. I had always thought I needed to be a little thinner all throughout high school. Looking back at my high school prom picture now, man I would kill to be that size again! When I enlisted in the Army I weighed 150 pounds with 18% body fat, and the Army said I need to weigh 141. So over the next 10 weeks, I literally ran my butt off and lost 14 pounds, and got down to 12% body fat. My battle buddy gained 14 pounds.

Why is this important? It goes to the First Lady's comment that the military says this is a national security threat. I wanted to be fit enough to serve. It was difficult. I worked hard to fit the standards, no matter how hard and painful it was. My battle buddy on the other hand spent a great deal of time complaining of how much work it was. How much her knees hurt affected our performance in training. It slowed us down and frustrated me to no end. Don't get me wrong, I love her dearly, but sorry honey this wasn't Girl Scouts, it's the military. The military is a great group of men and women who give their all, but it's primary mission is defense, and finding the bad guys and killing them, before they can kill us. If you don't want to do what it takes to stay in, don't join thinking you'll be able to work it off in Basic, or that they will make exceptions for you. If you're not going to give it your all, find another career field.

I am aware there are some crappy parents out there who could care less about their children, but you don't denigrate all the others by saying that caring for their children's diet shouldn't be left up to the parents when our kids are at school. Ever heard of a lunch box, or brown paper bags? If your kids eat breakfast before school, and take their own lunch from home, where is the problem? If on the happen-chance I don't send lunch with my kids that day, I'd like to know that they are eating something they enjoy. If you take away all the food kids like to eat, and also take away the activities necessary for them to stay fit...they are still going to gain weight because they are not going to want to eat what's provided if they don't want what's there. It's a waste of money. Their bodies will go into starvation mode, and store what little food they eat as fat. You might as well give them a a variety of foods, and increase their P.E. requirements, and leave the rest of us alone. I propose that P.E. be extended by an extra 30 min, and they should have it at least three days a week. That gives the teacher a little more time to organize the activities, and more time for the kids to actually be moving around.

I joked yesterday on the radio, that if I wanted to give my kids Ho Hos and Twinkies, that that was my priority. That government intervention (again) is not the answer. In response, the guy who was next right after me, said that my kids would probably die from diabetes by the time they were fifty. One, don't talk about my kids like that. If someone wants to criticize me on something they disagree with fine, but leave my kids alone. Two, I have family members with diabetes, and my oldest has Sickle Cell Disease. I am not careless about my families health, and to make a harsh comment about children is unacceptable. Thankfully the show's host defended me.

Yes you are going to have some that aren't responsible, that goes for any walk of life, and any profession. That doesn't mean that the government is the solution. Most times they are the problem...