Addiction

Every six months to a year I have a talk with my son about using drugs, smoking or drinking.  We started talking to him at a young age about these things because in our little town kids seem to start with these things early.  So I’ve had one of these talks with my son within the last six months, but about a month ago I realized I needed to have a different kind of talk with him.  One about addiction.

See I grew up with an alcoholic as a father & as with most alcoholic’s he’s gotten worse over the years.  When I was at home the addiction hadn’t taken over his life like it has now.  He had two older brothers & both of them where alcoholic’s also.  Before one of them passed away he was a recovering alcoholic, yet still an alcoholic.  Their father was also an alcoholic, he passed away when my father was a teenager.  So I don’t know anything about my Great grandfather on this side of my family.  I suppose he probably had some type of addiction also. 

Addiction to me is something that is inherited & you have to do everything you can to keep from becoming an addict also. I’m sure there are those that say no way addiction is not something you inherit, but I can tell you one thing.  There are so many things that a person does inherit, that the scientific community says in not possible.  I believe addiction is one of those things that every person in their blood line is going to have a real problem with.

Addiction is something my husband grew up with also.  His was some the same as mine & some different.  See his mother is addicted to pain pills/prescription pills, of course like my father this has just gotten worse as the years have gone by.  The part that is the same as my exposure to addiction is that he has a couple of brothers & a sister that are also alcoholic’s.  Some of his sibling’s are addicts in other ways.  Of course my husband has his own addiction, not as bad as most cause it’s caffeine.   So that’s much better than cigarettes, alcohol or drugs.

Now that you see some of the back story about addiction in the family, you can see why I needed to have a different kind of conversation with my son about cigarettes, alcohol & drugs.  So the conversation went something like this:  I know we’ve talked about cigarettes, alcohol & drugs.  But I think we need to have a talk about the family history & what you will be in for if you try any of these things just one time.  See with your family history of addiction on my side of the family & your dad’s side of the family you have it worse than most people.  So if you ever try anything just one time you are going to be more likely to be addicted than what most people will be. 

We talked about what his grandpa is like & if he wants to be like that when he grows up.  We also talked about what his granny is like & would he want to be like that either.  Plus we talked about the rest of the addition in the family, he said he didn’t want to be addicted to anything like how any of the family is. I’m like okay then, but you’re going to have to work at it.  If you try it one time, that is all it takes to get ahold of you & not let you go, to become an addicition.  That it will take a miracle to be able to get out from under whatever addiction wither it be alcohol, cigarettes or drugs.  So the best thing is to never ever try in the first place.  My son seems to have got it & completely understood.

I hope that he will follow his dad & his only addiction will be caffeine or video games.  Right now my son’s addiction is video games, he likes a soda pop ever now & then but he’s just fine without also.  So if video games is his only addiction in his life time I can deal with that.

I just hope that when he has kids he will remember to have this same kind of talk with them.  Maybe in a few generations of no addictions it won’t be has hard on my great great great grandkids.  I don’t really know how long it would take of non addict’s in the family to get rid of the additive personality.

So if you’re reading this & you’ve had the drugs, alcohol & cigarettes are bad for you talk.  Don’t forget to talk about addiction & how hard it is to give something up once you’re addicted to it.

Peanut Butter & Crackers

How do you Peanut Butter & Crackers?  I remember my Grandpa eating Peanut Butter & Honey on crackers.  My Mom eats her crackers like Grandpa does with Peanut Butter & Honey.  Now every once in a while I’ll eat Peanut Butter & Crackers, but my son well he eats Peanut Butter & Crackers for dinner.

Now I’m not talking about every once in a while eating Peanut Butter & Crackers for dinner.  I’m talking about eating Peanut Butter & Crackers for dinner every night.  You have to understand something though, my son is what you call an extremely picky eater.  My husband & I figured he would get tired of eating Peanut Butter & Crackers for dinner every night, but he’s now 13 years old & is still eating Peanut Butter & Crackers for dinner every night.  He likes his Peanut Butter & Crackers made like this:  Saltine Cracker on bottom, Peanut Butter then another Cracker on top.  So he eats 5 Peanut Butter & Crackers Sandwiches every night for dinner.

Of course now that he’s older his appetite is growing, so on top of eating his Peanut Butter & Crackers Sandwiches, he also wants other things to eat.  We are figure now that he is in his teenage years he will start eating other things, but I guess there are worse things to eat than to eat Peanut Butter & Crackers for dinner every night.

Of course I’m not worried about him not eating meat, cause Peanut Butter is a great source of protein.  I do buy the Natural Peanut also, so that helps even more.

Eating just Peanut Butter & Crackers has NOT stunted his growth.  At the beginning of Jan 2014 he was shorter than me.  At the time I’m writing this Blog its March 2014 & he has already passed me in height.   

So my words of advice for today are.  If your child doesn’t want to eat anything more than Peanut Butter & Crackers don’t worry about it.   They might sooner or later grow out of it, but if not Peanut Butter & Crackers are better than eating junk food/sweets every night.

Reading

Reading books seems like a thing of the past.  With all the electronics we have now, we can read a book on our Kindle or Nook even read a book online.  I remember when I was in middle school I read all the time, I loved to read.  Of course I had a certain group of books that I liked the most.  This group of books was anything to do with an animal. 

The school library had several animal books to choose from & I also had my own little library at home.  I was able to add even more books to my personal library, because I knew the school librarian really well & she needed to get rid of some of the Black Stallion books.  Of course the books she was getting rid of where falling apart & they had second copies of all of them.  I felt so special being able to take books home from the school library to keep.  

When I went to high school of course the books I was reading changed, but I still loved reading.  I meet my future husband in high school our senior year, he didn’t like to read.  For me this seemed strange since I liked reading so very much.  But they do say opposites attract.

So fast ward to now we have a son in middle school & he’s a lot like his father in many ways.  One thing he got from me & we are both glad of this, is he loves reading.  Now we don’t have a Kindle or a Nook so he reads the kind of books I grew up reading.  Hardback or paperback books, I think being able to hold a book in your hands & carry it around with you & not have to worry about the battery running down is a good thing.

When I say that my son loves reading I mean he really loves it.  His teachers are even noticing this & it’s actually affecting his school work.  So maybe he loves reading a little too much, is that possible?  I guess it is because he’s not finishing his homework in class, instead he is reading when he should be doing his homework.  But he’s not bringing home the homework to do either so his grades have suffered a little from this love of reading.

I had yet another talk with him last night about reading is a good thing, but when you’re not finishing your work first before reading.  Reading is no longer a good thing.  That he has to get his work done first & then read afterwards.  We’ve had this conversation before, I hope this time it sticks.  They have a little over a month left in school so hopefully he can get those grades back up & start bringing home the books he wants to read.

Reading is agood thing as long as you don’t let it interfere with the important thing you have to do.  So make sure you keep a good balance:)