Compassion and Gratitude – The Pre-School Version

Ever since the birth of my first child, gift-giving holidays tend to fill me with anxiety and trepidation as I look around my house and wonder where in the world I am going to put all of the things my child(ren) will soon receive. There are several influences at play here: I don’t like to feel overrun by “stuff”; I want my children to feel a sense of gratitude for what they have, which I think gets more difficult as the mountains of gifts pile up; and I really just don’t know where to store it all.

These feelings, in conjunction with a desire to “give back” and to put my unwanted items to good use, have led me to cull through our existing toys prior to each birthday and Christmas looking for those that are outgrown, unpopular, or that I just never liked in the first place. This year I decided that my 3yo was old enough to understand and participate in the process.

I began just after Christmas by initiating a conversation about all of the friends and relatives who had given her gifts. We talked about how nice it was to have so many people who cared about her and wanted to get her gifts. Then I brought up the idea that some kids don’t have a lot of other people who can give them gifts (besides the gifts that Santa brings to EVERY kid, of course). I asked if she thought we could pick out some of her older toys to give to kids who had not received so many nice new presents, and she readily agreed.

We spent the next hour or so rooting through every toybox, bookshelf, nook, and cranny and choosing toys she was willing to part with. I respected her decisions, even when she insisted on keeping toys that I know she never plays with, so that she would feel a sense of control and ownership of the process and not think I was taking her toys away from her.

She only wanted to donate 1 out of every 8 or 9 toys we looked at, but in the end we loaded 4 shopping bags into my trunk and dropped them off at a local women’s shelter. It was only about half of what I would have given away had I done it myself, but my daughter learned about compassion and generosity, my home is a bit less cluttered, and the shelter has new toys for their playroom, so it really was win-win for everyone. I plan to make this a semi-annual tradition and will be looking for more ways to develop my daughters’ sense of gratitude and compassion for others as time goes on. Any good suggestions?

Managing Symptoms

Getting ready for the holidays was hectic, so this is actually the first chance I’ve had to write since early December. To follow up on my last post, I had an appointment with an endocrinologist at the beginning of December. She went over the basics of Reactive Hypoglycemia, most of which I had already gleaned from the Internet, and we discussed my specific symptoms and trouble-spots. My primary care doctor had already suggested I eat something every 2-3 hours, and that practice was making a difference during the week, but on less-structured weekends I was still crashing frequently. I was also having symptoms – shakiness and queasiness – every time I went running, although if I ate immediately afterwards I could avoid crashing. But feeling sick after every workout was not helping me stay motivated to exercise, so I was hoping to find a way to prevent this.

The main outcome I was hoping for from this appointment was a referral to a nutritionist, which the doctor actually suggested right in the beginning. She also sent me home with a glucometer so that I could do some sporadic testing of my blood sugar levels. She asked for a few fasting levels (first thing in the morning) and a few levels when I was experiencing symptoms. My follow-up appointment is scheduled for February, so look for an update sometime mid-month about that.

In the meantime, the pre-Christmas frenzy prompted me to stop working out altogether in favor of running holiday errands. Either coincidentally or as a direct result, I’m not sure which yet, my sugar hasn’t crashed since the beginning of December. This easing of symptoms has led to a lack of motivation to contact the nutritionist, but I plan to make an appointment in the next few weeks. For diet management, I now pay much more attention to the protein content of the meals that I eat – no more large bowls of pasta unless I pile on the meatballs, too – and I have stocked up on protein-rich snacks, as well. I buy trail mix in large bags, then immediately split it up into several snack-size bags which I store in a container by the back door so I can’t grab my car keys without seeing them. I also bought cheese sticks (I hate the bland mozzarella ones, but the sharp cheddar sticks are a tasty treat!), yogurt cups, and trail mix Kashi bars, all of which are easy to grab between meals or throw into my lunch bag to eat during the work day.

Goals for January – ease back into running while still successfully managing my symptoms; and make that appointment with the nutritionist that I’ve been putting off.