My daughter was in bed, asleep, at 8:15 last night.  I feel like this is what other people’s bedtimes are like.  It feels like there are two types of parents/families, those that are struggling with these similar issues, and those, that do not.  Those that do NOT, don’t get it.  Those that DO, think it’s normal.  But imagine if all these extremes were controllable with natural adjustments to lifestyle. 

In retrospect I do know how I came down this path.  A friend from elementary school posted on Facebook that her daughter couldn’t tolerate Red Dye #40.  At the time, I asked questions about it.  I thought maybe we had a similar issue.  But at the time her behavior wasn’t so extreme or consistent that I could ever be sure it was really a problem.  But last week, when I started searching out of pure desperation, I began there.  And without a doubt, it has been impacting our family.  I am not 100% confident that it is the sole perpetrator of havoc on my life, but it certainly is a major compenent.

So who is responsible for this?  As a society we are quick to jump up and point a finger at the big corporations.  As with anything, it’s easy to find SOMEONE to blame.  It’s far harder, to stand up and take responsibility.  It’s almost childlike.  Children always “blame” something, it was an accident, my brother did it, it wasn’t my fault.  We don’t want the behavior in our children, and yet as a society we exercise the same behavior when identifying who is to “blame” for the way things are in our society. 

How about this.  Did you ever take Economics?  We live in a market driven society, we don’t WANT government to run our businesses.  As is such, there is this thing, (maybe you didn’t take economics), it’s called Supply, and Demand.  If we demand it, they will supply it.  If we don’t demand it, they won’t supply it.  You see, we want every orange to be perfectly orange.  We want it to be easier to convince our children to brush their teeth.  We want everything to be visually appealing and bright colors.  Maybe we DON’T want the additives or artificial ingredients, but we send mixed signals, because we still BUY them.  If we BUY them, they will MAKE them, and they WILL SELL them.  Go back to the beginning of that sentence, if we BUY them.  That’s where it stops.  If we DIDN’T buy them, and there was no money made on the production of these unhealthy things, then the companies wouldn’t make them.  Period.  It’s easy to blame them.  But we have to take responsibility for our role in it.  Because we are market driven.  If there is no market for them, they will not exist. 

I don’t really think ANYONE wants to put these things into their children.  There are 3 kinds of people (as I am convinced) those who are aware, those who are unaware, and those who just don’t care.  So I hope that I can help reach those who are unaware, and at least get them to pick a side.  We have to understand that the future of our society isn’t in the hands of the major corporations.  It’s in our hands.  It’s under our control.  And if we take our $1 and use it wisely, the corporations will follow it.  Because they want it.

PS ->  Check your kids vitamins!