Raising a Mets Fan
Recent reports indicate McDonalds is making efforts to make their Happy Meals healthier by eliminating both cheeseburgers and chocolate milk as menu options. In reaching this decision, McDonalds said it will “reinforce responsible marketing to children.” (CNN Money).
In a ridiculous move, the American Heart Association championed the move and encouraged other fast food restaurants to follow McDonalds lead.
Upon reading all of this, my first reaction was, “Do they all realize this is McDonalds we are talking about?”
My next reaction was all of this hullabaloo over a piece of cheese?
If you go to McDonalds’ Nutritional Page, you will see the slice of cheese adds 50 calories and three grams of fat. Conversely, it also reduces the amount of Vitamin A and calcium in the meal.
Now, the cheeseburger does have 100 more calories than the McNuggets but just one fewer gram of fat. By the way, McNuggets are an absolute zero nutritionally as they have no Vitamin A or calcium and just two grams a piece of Vitamin C and iron. Those McNuggets may not be made of pink slime, but given their lack of anything of nutritional value, it is hard to imagine they are made out of anything resembling chicken.
By the way, that is the nutritional information before you consider using a sugar laced dipping sauce. Seeing the combination of the two, it makes you question what the hysteria is over a slice of cheese.
The disparity between the chocolate milk and the juice box leads to the same shrug as to why you are making an issue over fewer calories and nutrients.
More to the point, this is a Happy Meal. No parent is under any delusions this is remotely healthy. That is the case even with the apple slices that never brown or the yogurt which is really nothing more than creamed sugar with a slightly sour taste to it. Seriously, have you ever seen an apple not brown? Why would anything think it’s healthy?
Overall, McDonalds is supposed to be nothing more than an occasional treat and not the basis of a daily diet. We all know this. That includes McDonalds and the American Heart Association who are all grandstanding on a slice of cheese.
It’s idiotic, and it’s a falsehood.
Really, if you are that concerned over a slice of cheese or chocolate milk, you would not be going to McDonalds in the first place.
When your children are newborn, the only way they can truly communicate is crying.
Full diaper? Cry
Hungry? Cry
Want attention? Cry
Bored, upset, angry, happy? Cry, cry, cry cry.
Point is there are many reasons why a baby cries. As parents, there are just so many things you can do to help.
Change the baby. Feed the baby. Give the baby a pacifier. Bounce the baby on your knee. Hold the baby. Rock the baby.
Sometimes it helps. Sometimes it doesn’t.
And when it doesn’t, you find yourself running through the gamut as the baby gets more and more upset. That’s when the cries grow louder and louder and seemingly more and more pained.
To avoid all of that, I have one suggestion. When your baby begins crying or looks to get to that point, quickly put on some music. At a minimum, the hope is that it soothes the baby. Maybe, it will even be exactly what your baby wanted all along.
The easiest way to handle the situation is to have a song ready to go on your phone. Whether it is itunes or You Tube, be ready to quickly turn the song on.
If you are looking for a song to pick, I will say Lou Christie’s Lightnin Strikes worked for both of my sons. Hopefully, it will for you as well:
Like many Mets fans, I was irritated about how last offseason was handled.
They brought back a team who was not good enough to win the Wild Card Game expecting them to both stay healthy and win a World Series.
As we know, it all fell apart. That’s what happens when Jacob deGrom and Jerry Blevins were the only two players to last the full season on the roster without hitting the Disabled List.
The Mets postseason chances ended in injuries culminating in a 70-92 record.
Even better, Sandy Alderson completely botched the fire sale. The Mets traded Jay Bruce, Lucas Duda, Curtis Granderson, Addison Reed, and Neil Walker for a group of Minor League right-handed relieves. Oh, and sweet, sweet salary relief.
The plan of action would’ve been acceptable had the team opted to reinvest that money in the team. Well, not only did the Mets opt not to reinvest that money, they decided to hold onto more of it.
That’s right. Despite a good core that includes Noah Syndergaard, Michael Conforto, and Amed Rosario, the Mets are refusing to spend what is needed to get this team to .500 let alone the postseason.
How do I respond to this?
Yup, I got a knit Mets hat for my newborn son. Apparently, despite everything, I want him to be a Mets fan just like my entire family.
I know why. It’s because if the shared experiences. I want to be able to enjoy the rare times the Mets are relevant with my sons.
I want to go to games with them and tell them I got to see players like Mike Piazza, David Wright, and Carlos Beltran. I want to celebrate the Mets next World Series title with them.
Hell, I’d love to do that with my Dad as well. However, with the way this team is being operated from a financial and personnel standpoint, it seems like that’s becoming less and less of a possibility.
Sadly, the Wilpons don’t care about my story or other fans stories. They don’t have to because they’re making money anyway. They don’t have to because fans like me keep coming back for more, and even worse, we begin the process of indoctrinating our children at a young age.
So yes, I’m to blame why the Wilpons get away with operating the Mets this way. However, only the Wilpons themselves are to blame for choosing to operate the team this way.
Each and every year, we all set forth New Year’s Resolutions, and they all fail miserably. In fact, according to Business Insider, 80% of resolutions fail by February.
There are a multitude of reasons why, but for the most part, they fail because we all know we are biting off more than we can chew in making these resolutions. It’s difficult to take a bad habit or something wrong and put all that pressure on ourselves and change it overnight.
So instead of making the same resolutions you use each year and watch them fail, we should all look to make an easier resolution. That resolution should be to take a photo of your children each and every day.
Look, we are always on our phones and those phones have cameras on them. Why not take an opportunity and just take a picture of your child?
On a personal front, I have taken at least one photo of my son everyday since he was born. He’s now four. As Christmas comes along, I go on Snapfish, and I create a photo calendar of just pictures of him. Each and every day is literally a snapshot of my son from that particular day.
It’s not all set pictures. I wait for moments. Working hard trying to write – Take a picture. Reading a book – Take a picture. Soccer or ice skating – Take a picture. Cute expression watching TV or sleeping – Take a picture.
Point is there is something our kids do each and every day that is more than worthy of capturing for posterity’s sake.
Personally, I get the joy of scrolling through a year’s worth of pictures. I get to see how he’s grown, and how much he has changed over the past year. With that, I’m able to create a gift for my family that everyone loves.
If you’re reading this, you’re likely doing it from your phone. If so, just take a quick picture of your kid. Make it a habit. Save the photos. Load it to Snapfish. Enjoy it forever.
In the end, you’ll have a New Year’s Resolution well worth keeping, and one that is fairly easy to keep.
While looking for things to do with my son this New Year’s Eve, I came across a concept I was previously unfamiliar – Noon Year’s Eve.
The concept is a fairly simple one – instead of counting down to 12 at midnight, you countdown to 12 at noon. By doing this, you permit you and your family to celebrate New Year’s Eve with your children.
This does alleviate come problems. First and foremost, depending on your child’s age, you no longer need to keep them up or wake them up from their sleep to get them to celebrate. Second, if you are not inclined to keep them up or wake them up, it allows you to celebrate with them. Third, it will allow you a little peace of mind celebrating on your own while your child rests comfortably.
If you contact your local zoos, museums, or towns, they are likely to have a number of events set up for the family to celebrate.
In the event they don’t, or you don’t want to go out on what may be a cold day, you could always set something up at your home.
If you subscribe to Netflix, they will have a number of themed New Year’s Eve countdowns that can set up and watch with your child. If you are so inclined, have a little New Year’s Eve party with your children’s friends. It would be fun to have some cupcakes and sparking apple or grape juice.
Overall, Noon Years Eve is a great concept for parents with small children. It allows you to include them in the celebration. It gives you the opportunity to have a family celebration. It also affords you to have a guilt free adult celebration.
Happy Noon Years!
In previous years, I complied holiday shopping guides for when my son was two and when he was three. Before creating this next list, I looked back, and I believe many of those items are still relevant, especially the Thomas table which my son periodically still uses to this day.
However, he’s older now, and his wants have changed. Gone are the days of Thomas and now we have ushered in the days of Lightning McQueen. With that in mind, and with other considerations, here is a list of items I do recommend for a four year for Christmas:
- Balance Bike with Helmet
- Boogie Board – not for the beach, one to write with
- Slot Cars
- Cars 3 Service Station or Mack’s Mobile Play Set
- Remote Control Car
- Thomasville Speedway Portable Set (bonus points for also being storage)
- Florida 500 Speedway
- Lego Juniors Sets
- Lego Table or Folding Table
- Board Games
- Baseball Mitt
- Knee Hockey Set
- Portable Soccer Net and Soccer Ball
- Football Uniform Set and Nerf Football
- Paw Patrol Air Patroller
- Paw Patrol Sea Patroller
- Pig & Elephant Books
- Pete the Cat Books
- Pigeon Books
- Amed Rosario (or other player) Shirsey
For many of the aforementioned items, I included the Amazon link for ease of use. I did this for two reasons: (1) everyone has access to Amazon; and (2) this late in the process, you have a better chance of getting something off the internet instead of at a store. If you haven’t purchased the items yet, comparison shop to the best of your ability.
While I hope this list is helpful, we should always to remember to tailor what we buy for your child’s interests. This is a large reason why I have only relisted one item from this year’s Top 25 Christmas Toys.
As always, please remember while you’re shopping, pick up a toy, no matter how small and donate it.
On Sunday December 17th, the Brooklyn Cyclones are hosting a Breakfast With Santa at MCU Park. For $10 per person or just $30 for a family of four, this is an absolute steal.
If you are not sold, consider your typical Christmas picture with Santa. You park only God knows where in a crowded mall parking lot. After that, you have to wait in a long line with your children. As we know the mall is hot, and your children are going to be cranky. That crankiness goes up a level if you have them in a nice Christmas outfit.
This leaves you collecting winter jackets or imploring them to leave them on. It’s a nightmare. You then have to rally them when they get to the front of the line to stop being cranky, smile, and take a nice picture. Depending on the age of your child, that may be a Herculean task because your child may be scared or intimidated.
For all that effort? Well you get to take one picture which may or may not be good. Even better, using the Short Hills Mall as an example, the whole exasperating experience will cost you $26 and up.
Instead of doing that, you could go to MCU Park and have an IHOP pancake breakfast. You then get to do picture with Santa and the mascots. Instead of standing in an interminable line, you child gets to do arts and crafts, have a story time, sing-a-longs, and have giveaways.
With this being 2017, the camera on your phone is more than good enough to take the picture yourself. You can then order that picture through Walgreens, Snapfish, or Shutterfly for less than a buck. Better yet, you can make that your Christmas card for the year.
Really, the question is why you would consider braving the malls this time of year instead of having Santa be a fun experience for your children. It makes no sense whatsoever, and that is why you should elect to do Breakfast with Santa instead of the staged photo.
Even if you can’t make it to MCU Park, you should still seek out Breakfast with Santa options. I did it once again this year, and I was thrilled with the result.
Even though the one I went to was more money than the one at MCU Park, it was still cheaper than a digital photo package from the mall. On top of that, I had breakfast with the family and an overall fun day.
EDITOR’S NOTE: this was not a paid advertisement. Rather, this is just strong advice based upon my experiences.
Can’t believe it’s been four years.
I’m more proud of you than you’ll ever know.
Happy Birthday.