Really Being Real

By MaryAlford-Carman

It's all over the news: Woman gives her eight-year-old Botox. I can't fathom it. I question whatever happened to growing older gracefully and now here's a new dilemma. Let's have our eight-year-olds look like infants…ever look at a newborn? The last time I checked they were pretty wrinkled. What's next? Giving Botox in utero? What on earth has happened to our society? We have an obesity percentage that beats all in our nation, and yet the media and magazines force size zero models down our throats. Cher looks like she's in her late thirties, Madonna has the arms of a twenty something swimmer, and Demi Moore, well, she's just hot (dang it). But do the rest of us have what the celebrities have to maintain that kind of figure and face? What's wrong with being real?

In Forty-fied, an essay in www.4gaby.com by Rachel McClary, the age of 40 is compared to Eeyore with his stuffing falling out. I can only speak for myself, but my forties rocked, and nothing fell out. People couldn't guess my age and I could flat out keep up with my very energetic daughter. At the mere age of forty-eight, our son Jack was born (unexpected and totally fantastic). At fifty, I may be a little slower, but I keep my children alive, fed, and on time to all their events. (Their social calendar is fuller than mine.) All of this is without the help of a personal trainer and a boat load of Botox. Would I like to turn back the clock when I see the new wrinkles appear? You betcha, but not at the risk of my health.

Having something done to make you feel better is fine with me. Lift it, tuck it, smooth it or hike it up, but don't expect me to believe for one moment that an eight-year-old child has the mental capacity to make a decision to have Botox injected into her face. The mom in question was asked why she did this to her child, and her response was that it would benefit her child in beauty contests and that many were doing it. I heard my Daddy's voice at that point saying, "If your friends jumped off a cliff, would you?" Yes, everyone seems to be "doing it" with Botox, face-lifts, and implants, but what is the reasoning? I don't want to look like everyone else; I want to look like me. When I smile, I want to actually smile, not merely wonder if I am. What is the message we're sending to our children? What happened to unique? What happened to being real? I'd really like to know.

Our Schools are Cooking

By Dawn Tolson

Whilst I was writing my review of the children’s cookbook in our latest 4Gaby issue ("Williams-Sonoma, The Kid's Cookbook"), it occurred to me that there is something missing in our schools. In England we were taught to cook, yes I said it, we WERE taught to cook. Boys and girls alike, we all took basic cookery lessons. It was compulsory in the lower grades and then when you came to choosing your options (in the UK you chose your exam options in Year 9 which is equivalent to our 8^th grade), cookery or as it was called, Domestic Science, was a curriculum option. I wonder whether the obesity problem here in the U.S. could be reduced if we taught our children the art of cooking.

At present it seems easier to visit McDonald’s or Burger King for dinner and even fool ourselves that having apple pieces with a fried burger full of cheese and mayo is a healthier option. Jaime Oliver, world-renowned English Chef, started a foundation in the UK whose mission is to raise awareness of the importance of nutritious food and cooking to children and vulnerable groups. He changed the school’s meal system and has started this process in the U.S. I for one hope that he makes it to North Carolina!

What do you think? Do you teach your kids to cook?

Do you think a cooking option at school is a good idea?

How did you learn to cook? Maybe you were taught at school and it is just our ever-evolving school system that has changed; if so, what do you think of that?