funny how it seems like I actually have more time to write when the kids are sick (they’re a lot better now!) and when I am more exhausted. maybe having the outlet to write relieves me a little more than I know.
this post comes after a long week of trips to the A&E and looking after two whingey and clingy kids. again, I have come to discover that Ollie has been having some food items which I am not aware of and which I do not approve off after I come to learn about it.
it is tiring. this argument. it is old. but I wish. I really really really really wish people would stop doing that. When you do it, you ignore me, the main caregiver, whether it is in your best intentions or not.
“but I mean well.” I hear you say. I know you do. But let me tell you WHY this shits the hell out of me.
YOU are not the one who has to deal with the sick and cranky kids.
YOU are not the one queuing at the doctor’s with them for a few hours and then having to recount to the doctor what happened over the past couple of weeks, their diet, their temperature.
YOU are not the one who has to make sure that they eat something during the days of loss of appetite, keep them hydrated, going through 10 of their favourite food items and waiting for them to say “yes” to one of them.
YOU are not the one who has to sponge them down at 2am in the morning, hearing them cry because they don’t like it.
So what does that have to do with a well meaning offer of a non-Justine approved food item?
I do not know what it is.
I do not know if they are allergic to it.
I do not know if it will clash with the medication they are on, organic or not, health food or not, it can be the Pill of Immortality for all I care.
Information I do not have about, I cannot tell the doctor, and the doctor cannot make an informed decision and my child will not be able to get the best treatment suitable for him. Sounds dramatic? Yes, but it is real.
AND when YOU offer it to them and they fall sick, have an allergic reaction, YOU are not going to be the one who is going to be looking after them.
This applies to my parents. This will apply to ANYONE who offers my kids food, Chinese herbal or Western herbal or Indian herbal, organic or not. So please, I beg of you. Tolong tolong. Stop doing this.
Respect me as the main caregiver. Respect me as their mother. Let me decide what is best for my kids.