Appealing to the taste of my son

October 17, 2008

One of my friend is concerned about how much his son eats. It seems that toddler eats very little and I read that it is normal for toddler to eat very little. At the age of 3, my son is not eating much either. It is very little compared to the diet of an adult.

I used to be worried about how much he eats, now I am used to the fact that he will eat only 3 pieces of chicken nuggets together with a handful of fruit loops for lunch and a small plate of macroni cheese for dinner. Sometimes he even skip a meal but he will ask for food at a later time. That's something good. At 3, he is able to tell me he is hungry and I will just feed him. Another friend of mine commented that his doctor advise that as long as children below 5 drink lots of milk, they are ok. A medical and parenting web site suggest giving enough milk at 16 oz per day. Normally, I just feed my son 2 cups of milk per day. And it's vitamin D milk. The web site suggest changing vitamin D milk to 2% reduced fat milk for kids turning 2 or 3. I discussed with my wife and we decided to stick to vitamin D milk as we are worried that my son is not taking enough fat. She says he needs the fat.

Other food that I feed my son per serving includes two lengths of sausage with a handful of rice ( I would boil the sausage to remove the sodium) or two pieces of egg white (he hates egg yolk) or one scrambled egg with handful of rice (he eats the egg yolk here) or a bowl of cut corn or a couple of oreos/biscuits or a bowl of cereals (fruit loops/frosted flakes/applejacks etc) with milk or a slice of pizza or a slice of bread with spread.

I am also concerned with the quality of the food that my son eats. Besides making sure that he has enough calcium for his bones (that's why he needs milk) , I am trying my best to make sure that he takes enough iron (important for making the red blood cells). He gets his iron from the bread. Sometimes from ice-cream. Some iron from the macaroni and cheese. Some from the cereals. The cereals and bread is nutritious with lots of vitamins and trace elements. He is getting the vitamin C from the orange juice and the chewable ascorbic acid tablet.

One of my friend's daughter is already eating meals together with the family and she eats what they eat. But my son does not. He is a picky eater. Maybe it is because he is not eating together with us ( We feed him before or after we eat) . I tried to introduce new food to him but as long as he does not like it, he doesn't eat. So the advice from one of our friends is true, appeal to his taste.

Maybe I am too worried. My mom who knew not too much about nutrition also raised me successfully. Except for my high cholesterol, I am quite healthy. I guess we live by faith. How much of the food that we eat gets broken down and assimilated and used in cell building as we know in microbiology is not within the control of any human being. We live by faith that what we eat is being used for the benefit of the body. Besides offering the best food that we have for our son, we live by faith that he will be healthy boy in days to come.

About the nature of man

September 26, 2008

What are your beliefs about the nature of man? Do you believe that some men are inherently good?

Some wealthy men are philanthropist, some men are involved in fighting world poverty, some men volunteer in social work, some women are good mothers, some people are excellent in upbringing and character and are good models for their society. Aren't these people good?

I bet you will say that these people are excellent human beings. You contrast their  goodness with the bad members of our society and say they have not committed any crimes and have contributed to society and should be good people. Yes, they are good people relatively but they are also sinful men absolutely.

I have encountered 2 acquaintances, non christians, who admitted that man is sinful. I would think that they came to that conclusion after observing themselves and others around them. They don't know Jesus, probably have not read the bible in detail, but came to the same conclusion as the bible.

The fact: Romans 3:23

23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

There is no one righteous according to the bible, including yourself and myself  and this is measured against God's standard.

So the question is what is so bad about the people that I have mentioned? Are these people so bad that they are considered sinful? By God's standard, yes. And we need an absolute measure if we want to the get the truth of human nature. God is holy and His presence is too much for us because of our sinfulness. The absolute standard brings out the absolute truth,  man is sinful.

Some people reject the truth of men's sinfulness because they are too proud of themselves or they are too comfortable in life to enable the truth to rock them or they just want to indulge in and continue in their sinful ways.

I will dare say that knowing this fact will help you in the following ways:

1) It enables you to understand the true absolute nature of men - fallen and sinful

2) It will help you to have a better world view

3) It humbles you

4) You will have better insight to yourself

5) It helps you in dealing with other people

6) It is the first step to gaining wisdom

So what is next after knowing man is sinful? What do you do with sin in others and sin in yourself? I encourage you to read the bible to find out more.

Self Esteem

Sept 12, 2008

When I was a non believer, I had a low self esteem. I was always complaining, whether it was about my studies or about my circumstances. Then I had no knowledge of God and I did not know who I was.  I was not a man of understanding. As I was a student, all I wanted to do was to pass the university exams, so I was very studious and studied for nights and days without end. The studies were consuming me. But thank God for my studiousness, I passed my exams. But I still did not feel good about myself. Even when I got second class honours for my efforts, I still felt inferior. No matter what I do, I did not feel good about myself. No matter what self improvement books I read, I could not feel good about myself.

Until the time when I went through the process of maturing in christ and reading the bible for myself,  until I came to know about God and the knowledge of self, I could eventually hold out on 'my own'. Fear is replaced by hope, uncertainty is replaced by security, poor self-esteem is replaced by assurance of my situation. Eventually, it's knowing God/Jesus and knowing myself. It's knowing where will I eventually go when I pass away from this earth. (John 14:3). It's knowing that God is in control of my circumstances regardless of how bad it is (Romans 8:28) . It's knowing that God loves me regardless of how inferior I feel (John 3:16) . It's knowing that God/Jesus is my savour and I have eternal life (1 John 5:11-12). It's knowing that I have understanding through reading the word of God (Job 32:8).  It's knowing that I am a sinner by nature (Romans 3:23). It's knowing that nothing I do/achieve makes me who I am (Ephesians 2:8-9). It's knowing that I am a quiet person and God made me that way (Psalms 139:13). It's knowing that there is no need to fear of anything if death has lost it's sting (Heb 2:14) . It's knowing that it's God who made the heavens and the earth and how great He is and how small I am (Psalms 19:1). It's knowing that God does not look at appearances but is interested in my heart (1 Sam 16:7). Thank you God/Jesus for making me who I am today.