While eating my breakfast (a selection of fresh fruit, walnuts and ground linseeds – I only mention the contents given this week’s subject matter), I decided to switch on Ireland AM to catch the news. I was too late but I managed to catch a very disturbing interview with Temple Street Hospital’s Dr. Grace O’Malley who had some very unsettling statistics regarding the state of our children’s health. Dr. O’Malley, a director at the hospital, shockingly revealed that babies “as young as 15 months are being treated for obesity” at her clinic. In fact, so concerned is the good doc, she’s calling for obesity to be a focus of the new national children’s hospital.
Now look folks, I’m going to sound like a judgemental aul wagon. but based on this expert’s statistics, my humble opinion is this…if your toddler is dangerously overweight and there’s no underlying medical problem at the root of it (I’m not talking about children who’re living with a genetic, hormonal or medical condition, nor am I referring to cute curvy kiddies; rather I’m alluding to detrimentally obese babies – so no letters please), then I’m afraid that you, as their parent, should hang your head in shame. To be blunt, you’re failing them! How dare anyone call himself or herself a responsible, caring and loving mother/father/guardian and then feed their small child an over-abundance of fizzy drinks, biscuits and crappy junk food to the point of reaching morbid obesity! How dare any parent be so dense as to neglect their tiny toddler to such an extent they fail to realise they’re piling on unhealthy pounds. As parents, we know we must teach our children to form healthy eating habits and that means making healthy choices, yet it’s clear this is not happening given Dr. O’Malley’s findings that “around 90,000 children are obese across the country.”
As a mother, I know it’s difficult for parents. We can’t just steam a bit of broccoli, pop it in front of a 10-month-old and expect them to love it. I raised two fussy divas who hated vegetables. But we must make that little green broccoli tree and those carrot sticks exciting for them to eat and importantly, between meals, we must not fill them up with ice cream or chicken McNuggets because if we do, then we’re big Mc-Dopes who are sowing the precarious seeds of such dangerous and deadly medical conditions as heart disease, diabetes, the risk of getting cancer and the menace of becoming an ailing adult with serious long-term health problems.
We all unquestionably deserve a treat. I’m not saying don’t treat your toddlers/children, but normalising junk food as their staple diet is not just detrimental to both their physical and mental health, it’s creating a debilitating food-related crisis that’ll follow them into adulthood. Remember, as parents, their life and their future is in our hands! Time to step up and take control.
The fresh prince of Pyongyang v the toxic tweeter!
Kim Jong-Un, North Korea’s little dude with the kick-ass fresh fade hair-do, is threatening the US with all-out war! Yes readers, the hobbit who isn’t tall enough to go on any of the rides at Tayto Park has the entire world on edge, leading Donald Trump, the man who feverishly draws red lines like a toddler let loose with a box of markers in playschool (he told the world he was sending a powerful ‘armada’ to the Korean peninsula while it was er, really heading in the opposite direction), to retaliate last week, telling the trendsetting tyrant that America’s ready to rumble with weapons that are “locked and loaded.” And while Beavis and Butthead continue the hair-pulling, our own government’s advice in the event of a nuclear emergency abroad is this…“Go in, Stay in, Tune in.” And er wha? Wait for the TV licence inspector to call? Don’t believe me? Log onto emergencyplanning.ie/nuclear-incidents.
One thing’s for certain: as a paranoid, despotic little smurf and a narcissistic, attention-seeking bully brings us all to the brink of war, Ireland remains totally unprepared!
RIP Gentleman Jason
Attacked while he lay helpless, Irishman Jason Corbett was brutally and callously murdered by his second wife Molly Martens and her father Thomas Martens. The Martens’ were found guilty of second degree murder and sentenced to 20-25 years on 9th of August. And, while this conviction is not a cause for celebration, at least we can say justice has been done.
Of course the verdict won’t bring Jason back to his family, to his now orphaned children, nor can we ever wipe from our minds the disturbing details regarding the condition in which Mr. Corbett’s body was found; of the injuries he sustained as a result of a murder so brutal, it will likely haunt his entire family for the rest of their lives.
And for what? Why did the Martens’ wipe out this gentleman’s life? What was going through their unimaginably deranged minds as they made those beautiful kids orphans? Unequivocal hatred…that’s what! May the Martens’ rot in prison, may Jason and his first wife Mags rest in peace and may their family be able to work through their pain with the same dignity they showed throughout this painful trial, move through their great loss and honour Jason’s memory for as long as they all live.
