Hot Dog Reform

AnnaG

Hall of Fame Member
Jul 5, 2009
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Teaching a kid to chew isn't that hard. You can start out by making faces as you chew then graduate to making a game out of chewing. If you don't teach a kid to chew they likely will end up with gum diseases. Gums need exercise just as much as the rest of you and chewing gives them exercise.
 

countryboy

Traditionally Progressive
Nov 30, 2009
3,686
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BC
Teaching a kid to chew isn't that hard. You can start out by making faces as you chew then graduate to making a game out of chewing. If you don't teach a kid to chew they likely will end up with gum diseases. Gums need exercise just as much as the rest of you and chewing gives them exercise.

That's a good point. Just make sure that Grandpa doesn't feed the kid a bit of chewing tobacco like he did to me when I wouldn't quit pestering him for a taste! I swore off chewing anything for a few days after that. :lol:
 

VanIsle

Always thinking
Nov 12, 2008
7,046
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Teaching a kid to chew isn't that hard. You can start out by making faces as you chew then graduate to making a game out of chewing. If you don't teach a kid to chew they likely will end up with gum diseases. Gums need exercise just as much as the rest of you and chewing gives them exercise.
I'm talking about a child that is 13 yrs. of age and has cerebral Palsy. I've talked about him frequently on here. He has a very high pallet and food gets stuck in it for one thing. He's a little too old for us to squish his food first for him. He enjoys biting into the grape. Sometimes though, he chokes. He was supposed to go onto just soft foods, almost blender/baby food style but we worked hard and we did teach better chewing. For the most part now he doesn't choke but the threat is always there. We are careful about how "big" a bite we put on his folk for example and we try to be sure he has swallowed because if he really likes something, he says "ready" and when given another bite, it's too much in his mouth and he gags which can lead to choking. We've had enough scary moments that we certainly don't need to add to them.
His jaw gets lots of exercise because he drinks everything through a staw. Drinking from a cup seems to be one of those things he just doesn't handle well. I assume it is to do with his high pallet and his teeth are a little "bucked" so it's difficult for him to drink. The straw works fine and he can do it himself rather than us doing it for him. He would never be able to handle an open cup. He is spastic and would simply end up spilling or throwing his drink all over the place.
 
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Risus

Genius
May 24, 2006
5,373
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Toronto
The problem with the foods mentioned is that parents allow their children to eat them while they play. If they were seated at a table with parents seated next to them, none of these foods would present a problem. Several children have choked on wieners over the years and they have died. They take too big a bite. Even a weiner cut in pieces and put on a plate may save the life of a child. Things like the tiny carrots now made (not grown but made into tiny carrots) should be treated the same. It may sound like something very silly but far too many children really have died as the result of choking on a wiener. The ingredients of the Canadian hotdog may not be all that great but they have nothing to do with the convenient way in which they can be handed to a child. If you are going to feed any hotdog to a child/grandchild, you should sit at a table with them and see that they eat it correctly or cut it up for them and still sit with them while they eat it so they don't (as kids usually do) stuff their mouth so full that they choke anyway.
Thats the whole point. Parents should spend more time parenting rather than doing what they are doing. Parents are to blame. When we were kids our parents did what was necessary. Now parents are too busy and non existant when they are needed. You can't blame the hotdog.
 

VanIsle

Always thinking
Nov 12, 2008
7,046
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48
Thats the whole point. Parents should spend more time parenting rather than doing what they are doing. Parents are to blame. When we were kids our parents did what was necessary. Now parents are too busy and non existant when they are needed. You can't blame the hotdog.
Sometimes Risus, people just stick their whole foot into their mouth! This child's Mother simply made a decision that her life was more important than any of her children's lives. She walked out a few months ago. Life is hard enough for him, let alone handling it without a mother. It's hard on his siblings but even though they are younger, they do handle it a tad better than him. Their Dad works an hour's drive out of town (and back of course) so my husband and myself look after the children 4 days a week. We both work also. We are doing the best we can here. She didn't just walk away from the children and their Dad, she walked away from any responsibilites she had in the way of mtg. payments and all other things. She has made one payment toward helping out in the past 8 months (or it may be 9 - I'm not sure anymore). The court has given her a no contact order in regard to our son. Even though she is not allowed to contact him and she is not allowed to contact us in regard to messages for him. She can call us in regard to the children to see if she can pick them up for a few hours or she can just ask to speak to them. I have looked after the kids every Monday and Tuesday for 7 years (now we have two more days added in and our other daugher-in-law does Friday's). We are now at around day 24 or more since she has made any effort to contact the kids or to see them at all. She breached her court orders by calling right after she went to court and called me to order me to tell my son he was to set up a 3rd party so they could communicate regarding the kids. She's the one with the problem so it's up to her to set up a 3rd party should she be so inclined. She doesn't really need one since as I said - she can call here and she can even come here if our son is not here. The kids do not ask if they can call her. If they did I would allow it. They actually no longer mention her. Sometimes it's best to know the whole story before you have something to say. These children are more loved and better cared for now then when she was a part of their lives.
 

ironsides

Executive Branch Member
Feb 13, 2009
8,583
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United States
And what is worse we have these nutbars who claim things are better now than in '59. :lol: Not only did we pack pocket knives but also our sling shots, which we used for all kinds of mischief. Late June early July were good times, climbing cherry trees in the neighbourhood and eating cherries until we sh*t our pants.

Did you see me?:lol: Things were much better back then for the kids than now. Today some just hang around the house playing Xbox al the time rather than going outside.
 

JLM

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 27, 2008
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Did you see me?:lol: Things were much better back then for the kids than now. Today some just hang around the house playing Xbox al the time rather than going outside.

Yep, and it sure shows. The health experts (in Canada) are getting very concerned about the obesity and being out of shape of the young generation, so much so that they predict if they don't change their ways soon, they will be the first generation to be outlived by their parents. To say nothing of the escalating cost of health care due to heart disease and strokes running rampant.
 

Bar Sinister

Executive Branch Member
Jan 17, 2010
8,252
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Edmonton
Perhaps we should all email god and complain about the fact that he located our esophagus to dammed close to our windpipe. Humans are capable of choking on anything including their own spit.
 

countryboy

Traditionally Progressive
Nov 30, 2009
3,686
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BC
Yep, and it sure shows. The health experts (in Canada) are getting very concerned about the obesity and being out of shape of the young generation, so much so that they predict if they don't change their ways soon, they will be the first generation to be outlived by their parents. To say nothing of the escalating cost of health care due to heart disease and strokes running rampant.

Yep. In fact, I don't watch a lot of mainline TV, but I understand there's a new program starting this week about the British chef, Jamie Oliver, bringing decent food to the U.S. - in schools, if I'm remembering the promo clip right.

He's the guy who took on the British school system when he discovered what his son would be fed when he started public school. "Not my kid", said Jamie, and undertook a huge effort to reintroduce good food into that system, and I understand he's been quite successful. My hat's off to him, and I hope he's successful in this new effort in the U.S.