Welcome FlowerChild

My children are extraordinarily pretty. All mothers and fathers will probably say that about their children, luckily. When our eldest daughter Faye-Linn was born she had already gorgeous eyebrows. It was as if I had taken her to a beauty parlour to depilate her brows on her first day alive. Now 6 years later she often gets compliments about her looks, and especially about her eyebrows. Last week I found her crying in the bathroom because she thought her brows were not pretty anymore. She thought they were too dark and too thick. I was stunned. Even at six you can develop a fixation on something that is not at all a problem. A lot of older girls suffer from inferiority complexes about their teeth, nose, weight, hair, etc… I remember my young niece of 16 wanting a breast enlargement, while her body was perfect. I explained Faye-Linn that her brows as well as the rest of her appearance are just perfect and that people judge you for your radiance, kindness and spontaneity. She seemed satisfied with this explanation. For now.

Everybody knows how important it is to eat healthy and workout your body. Everybody knows this is crucial for a healthy and therefore happier life. It is a mystery to me why so many people do not live up to this advice.

I am reading figures on diabetes and I am shocked. In the US there are 15.8 million people with diabetes. European figures are not much better; 31 million (8,6 %) people with diabetes. Among these patients there are more and more children and teens. The biggest growth is not in the Type 1 diabetes, which is due to genetic problems. There are more and more kids with Type 2 diabetes, caused by bad eating habits and lack of body training. Why do parents get children, raise children, but are unable to control or teach their kids to be healthy. These facts are an extra stimulation to push the Junior Sportsmarketing division within our company, that stimulates children to workout more in motivating and creative ways. 

No worries and enough time to play and discover. Not many children have this opportunity nowadays. They act like little grown-ups at a very young age. They go to school at the age of 4 and are immediately exposed to the commercial side of society. In the classroom they have to adapt to what the teacher wants them to do. They have hardly any time to discover what their talents are or where their passions lie. They just have to learn as quickly and as good as possible according to set schedules. The pressure on them is high and children sometimes show symptoms of stress. Let’s give our children a break and let them simply enjoy, play, laugh, be creative and be happy without any pressure, time limits or electronic devices.  

By accident my daughters Faye-Linn (6) and Bijou (5) discovered yesterday that YouTube can be really fun. They have seen me search on google and did the same typing in ‘Barbie’. And indeed they found some nice video’s with Barbie clips and films. All innocent. Their computer is in my office, so I can monitor quite well what they do. Tonight I decided to search for Barbie on Youtube myself, just as a test. And yes! Video’s with titles as ‘Barbie Slut’ pop up quite easily. No more online video fun unfortunately for these little explorers. The kids browser has been installed!

Interesting campaign to make children aware of the dangers of Internet.