Sensory Smart Starts

I have great parents.

I hope my kids can say that about me some day.

My parents gave me a great start to life.
They taught me the importance of eating right.
Veggies, meat, milk, fruit.
Oh sure, we were also fans of sweets but rarely do I remember eating from a package.
So rarely.

When we vacationed during the summer we would pack meals with us - probably partially for budgeting purposes, but also because eating food mom prepared was so much better for us.

Here's how good they were...
I can remember camping during the summer and my mom packing and freezing our meals for a long weekend.  She is an amazing cook and an even better planner.  I've literally watched the woman make gravy over a camp stove.  At the time it just seemed "normal" but now that I'm the mom and it's my place to think about those things I become exhausted just thinking about it!

The other thing that sticks out to me was that, when we did travel and eat at restaurants (going to N.D. or on long trips) dad always looked for the "mom & pop shop."  I never understood that as a kid.  I can remember him saying, "let's find a place with some good home cooked food!" and us kids would beg for McDonald's.  We were so silly!!  Now I see that, while McDonald's or other fast food would have been cheaper the home cooked food was better for us.  It prevented us from traveling with tummy aches (which you DIDN'T want when you were packed 3 strong in the back seat of a Ford Taurus!).  To us, McDonald's was a treat, not a norm.

I'm grateful for many values my folks instilled in me, but lately I'm so grateful for the good solid start they gave me in nutrition.  I'm glad (and proud) that my mother taught me to cook - not the "open a box" type of cooking but real cooking.  As I've gotten back to more "from scratch" cooking, the things I watched my mother do for years come rolling back.  Making the changes we've been making lately haven't been so difficult because hard work and thinking outside the box (literally & figuratively) are ingrained in me...

It also doesn't hurt that the support of my family is still strong and that they are being so great & understanding as we pave our own way!  Love you all!