Do the best you can, and what you feel is right!

I think one of the hardest things I have to do as an adult is make decisions and choices for my family.  Recently I have seen, heard, and read random blog post, articles, and listened to conversations that made me question whether I was making the right choices for my family for our health and for our well being.  Things about bad plastic, non organic foods, Immunizations….you know all those controversial topics!  Reading and hearing these things made me want to go home and throw away every plastic container, tube of tooth paste, bedding, pillow, clothes, and food that weren’t organic or natural, but then how could I ever afford the alternative. 

Whenever I read these posts, articles or Facebook updates I come away felling really frustrated inside.  I think to myself “I just went on facebook for a little down time, and so and so decided to post an article saying that if we aren’t eating organic foods we will all die” or “Your child is going to be autistic if you immunized them.”  I have tried to figure out why when people post this stuff I get so frustrated about it?  Why do I not like when people post things like “You shouldn’t immunize your kids” or “you shouldn’t have any sugar, or any processed foods” or “Don’t clean with Pine Sol or Ammonia” or “kids should be in bed by 7” or “You should make all your own cleaning products and laundry detergent” the list goes on…you all know what I’m talking about.  Right?

Ok these are a little far fetched, but when I read these things I felt like a bad mom.  Do I care about my kids and there health? Sure I do, I totally do.  But I found myself having thoughts like “Oh no, my kids had some light yogurt at my parents house over the weekend, they are going to die of cancer” or  “were those grapes cleaned off good enough”  Or “my son just ate an apple & strawberry out of the fridge and didn’t wash it” or “I just microwaved that plastic bowl…now I’m going to die” I felt crazy, seriously mental, and realized I didn’t like this feeling.  I feel like I do a pretty dang good job of feeding my kids for the budget we have as healthy as we feel good about.  And I stay mostly away from processed foods.  {but I do give in to those Tony’s Pizza and a little Yellow Death {Mac and Cheese} every so often.}  I’m not going to brag about what I do.  I just do the best I can.   🙂

When I was 18 and I met this guy (who is now my sisters husband) in our singles ward and he told me he didn’t/couldn’t eat sugar.   I thought he was crazy.  I mean seriously a day without sugar…really??  I remember kind of joking around with him and teasing him about it.  He would try to explain why and it would go in one ear and out the other.  When I got older I started to understand his circumstances a lot more and understood why he couldn’t have sugar.  It is bad for his body.  The thing that always impresses me with him is he doesn’t go about telling everyone sugar is bad for them, he doesn’t facebook about it, or post articles about it.  He doesn’t really even talk about it unless he is asked, and then he replies “It’s just not good for my body”.   If you asked why then he will explain more, but he doesn’t ever make you feel like you’re a bad person for eating sugar. 

About a year and a half ago I went completely off sugar {all sugars, even the so called healthy ones} My body felt great, I had energy, and a few minor health things went away for me, and I didn’t crave food as much.  I ate when I was hungry and felt really healthy.  Since then I have had sugar again {way more than I should}  I also use so called “healthy” sugars and do notice a difference.  But that’s me.  That’s my body.  I don’t hand out sugar candies all day to my kids, and I don’t bake daily with white sugar…but guess what.  I’m not going to freak out if they have a little too much candy.  I’m not going to turn into a stress case.  It’s not worth it. 

We drink tap water, we eat sugar sometimes, we immunize our kids, I bake my own bread, I like to make my own cleaning products,  I run barefoot, I go to bed late, I take vitamins supplements, I homeschool my kids, I store left overs in plastic containers,  We eat pretty healthy, but not every single day.  But I am not going to tell you you should or shouldn’t do the same as me.  If you want to chat about it one on one, then that’s fine. That’s the way I like it.

There is so much information at our fingertips.  Information saying this is good for you, and then the exact opposite.  At first it made me so mad and frustrated that I didn’t know the truth.  I discussed this with my husband and we both realized it’s all part of God plan.  It’s part of him teaching us how to make decisions and listen to the spirit.  It’s been interesting in my life when I feel like something needs to change, I get a strong feeling about it. A few years ago my boys started to have really funky dry marks on their legs and arms. The thought came to me to have them stop drinking cups of milk, so we did.  Within a few days the spots started to clear up.  We don’t drink milk anymore except in our cereal.  But I’m not going to tell you not to drink milk.  It’s just what we decided to do.

I guess the reason why I am writing this post is to say…Let’s be a little more gentle with the words we use, lets be kind and more understanding of peoples circumstances, and not judge them.  Sure it’s fine for people to post these things. We are free to speak, and write what we want.  That is such a blessing, but let’s try not to make people feel guilty!  People do things because they feel it is important for their family.  I homeschool my kids because I feel like it’s what our family should do, but I’m not going to tell all of you who don’t homeschool that your crazy for sending your kids to public school, or that you should all homeschool because it’s way better for your kids.  It’s probably not, and public school is just fine.  What I feel is right for us, might not be right for you.  I have come to realize that I need to do what is best for our family, and pray about it.  What’s best for us, really might not be best for you.  My motto now about this is to do the best I can, and what I feel is right for me and my family.  If I have that mind frame then I tend to not get so bugged by peoples comments, article or posts because I’m doing the best I can.
Have an awesome day!