1 RETWEET = 1 REDPILL ON _PARENTING_

Some may be mundane yet mildly interesting, others may be insightful.

1. Let's start with a fun one.

When light hits the iris at birth, it starts producing melanin. Of course genes predetermine eye color, much like skin, but environment still plays a role. Lessening exposure to light during infancy will make your baby's eyes lighter in shade.

2. IQ levels in the US had mysteriously dropped following the creation of "low fat milk" in the 1900s... Grey & white matter in the brain are composed of fat. By 1 y.o, a baby's brain will have doubled in size. By 3 y.o, a child's brain has reached 80% of its adult volume.

3. The younger a baby is, the higher percentage their calories must be from fat; their brain is rapidly developing. Do not feel your baby empty carbs like pasta, pancakes, or bread to "fill them up". Feed them actual food, like cooked vegetables and particularly animal products.

4. Studies show that lack of breast feeding has a correlation with Autism, ADHD, Depression, etc... Perhaps it's a combination of its impact on the gut microbiome (breast milk is a probiotic, the gut produces neurotransmitters) and the lack of fatty acid intake during infancy.

5. All of this is why so many mothers opt to breast feed until their baby is is 3 or 4 or even 5. It aids in calorie intake, brain development

Some women cannot breast feed, so they should look into "milk banks". All lactating women should also consider donating to them.

6. Vitamin D is a precursor to Calcium uptake in the bones. In white people, Vitamin D is hardly absorbed via ingestion. Do not buy Vitamin D supplements, just have your child go outside in the sun for at least 20 minutes a day.

7. Calcium is important in many chemical reactions in the body; for instance, it is a neurotransmitter. If your vitamin D levels are too low to allow calcium uptake, your body will begin chipping away at the calcium reserves in the bones.

8. For darker skinned people, incorporating vitamin D into the diet is more important because the melanin in their skin prevents the absorption of sunlight and therefore inhibits production of vitamin D.

However, vitamin D supplements do not aid any of these chemical processes.

9. Vitamin D is also a precursor for Estrogen and Testosterone production.

Do you want your child to have enough of this vitamin? Then go outside and play with them. When they get older, enroll them in a club or sports team. Of course, one that THEY demonstrate interest in.

10. You should take actions as a parent that encourage your child's confidence. Little things like allowing your toddler to pick out their outfits, regardless of how ridiculous they are.

If your child wants to wear this in public, let them.

11. Making your child's furniture at their level is also very important. This is a Montessori philosophy.

Have their wardrobe/dresser, bookshelf, wall art, and everything else at their height and within easy reach. This will actually encourage your child to gain independence.

12. Additionally, DO NOT FALL FOR THE CRIB MEME. Have you ever witnessed the frustration and sadness in an infant or toddler confined to a crib?

Get them a mattress and put it on the floor. No, they will not die. Witness: A baby who fell out of its bed... Still sleeping!

13. If your child needs to sleep, they will sleep. Why would you force a baby to stay in a cage until it sleeps? Keeping the bed unrestricted allows your child to gain the independence to explore, play, and learn in their own free time.

14. I forgot to mention this earlier. Modern rice, due to it being grown in stagnant water, is very high in arsenic from acid rain and runoff. Do not feed your child rice.

Rice porridge is marketed a lot to parents as "easy ". Not only is it empty calories, but also poisonous.

15. You may have noticed the rooms I've posted have mirrors at the child's level. They cannot recognize themselves until 1.5 years old, so this is like TV for a baby. Over time, they begin to recognize cause & effect, depth perception, and gross motor movements.

16. Their own mirror encourages empathy from staring at their face. Once a child recognizes their reflection, they can gain the independence to take care of themselves. Now teach them how to brush their hair, clean their face, and check their outfit for essentials in the mirror.

17. You should get your children toys that don't contain plastic or strange paints. They will put anything and everything in their mouth, so be safe. For infants, get toys that focus on strengthening fine motor movements, exploring textures & senses, and learning cause & effect.

18. Keep toys within reach in your child's room. If they're not napping, they'll be playing, so give them options to tire themselves with. Here are examples of Montessori toy shelves. Notice no toy chest? Everything is visible and on display so the child remembers what they have.

19. Having your children share bedrooms pre-puberty is perfectly okay. They will stay up late at night talking to one another and grow close. Eventually they may ask for their own rooms, and you should respect that.

20. Children are sponges. If they see you and your partner constantly fighting, they will mimic this behavior with their siblings and you. Lead by example, and get into the habit of never raising your voice with your partner and your children

21. Tantrums are impossible to prevent, but how you handle tantrums is very important. Don't let yourself become abusive. The first step is to kneel on their level, then label their feelings verbally by showing you empathize with why they're upset in a kind and understanding way.

22. "You seem really sad that you didn't get that toy." - This shows you empathize. Redirect their attention from the topic of why they're upset to something else. "You have lots of toys to play with when we get home! Remember your favorite one?"

23. Give them some physical affirmation, some tickles and hugs, and reaffirm you love them. When a child doesn't get their way, it can feel like you hate them and that's why you aren't giving in. Make sure your child does not feel this way.

24. Make sure you encourage your child to express why they are upset when they are upset. This is something you must lead by example. If your child throws a toy at you, you should get on their level and explain to them in a calm way what happened and how it made you feel.

25. "You threw your toy, and it hit Daddy in the leg. It really hurt, so could you please not do that again?" Then thank them for responding and give them physical positive affirmation. Do the same thing if they do this to anyone else. Start this when they are toddlers.

26. Additionally, if you want your child to say sorry to you and others, you need to lead by example. If you snapped at them, you need to make them know what you did is not okay, or else they will think it's okay for them to do this. Never have an ego about apologizing to kids.

27. Psychologists often point out that faking mental illness still is a sign of mental illness...

Crocodile tears are your child's cry for attention. This is their way of expressing how upset they are to you so you take them seriously. Treat fake crying and real crying the same.

28. If your child constantly fake cries so you take them seriously, this may show that you aren't doing a very good job at being empathetic. The feelings underlying this are real, and they want comfort. Try to pick up on the warning signs they are upset preceding the fake crying.

29. Don't expect your child to apologize immediately after their actions unless you do. Too many parents apologize a day later, after the child has had to self-soothe. Get into the habit of identifying your poor actions and apologizing immediately after to everybody.

30. Back to rice being a poison bomb, here are some alternatives for rice to use in your family meals. I don't condone feeding babies carb bombs however.

Bonus: Buckwheat and millet are high in potassium, which most modern people are deficient in.

31. On terms of diet, I believe that girls should have less meat than boys should. Animals for slaughter are almost always male, and in the US only poultry cannot be given growth hormones. Meat consumption raises Testosterone levels, so why would girls eat meat excessively?

32. That being said, processed red meat actually lowers testosterone. Avoid feeding this to your sons.

33. Plenty of traditional cultures, including tribes still existing in Africa today, only allow women to eat the organs of animals. Coincidentally, this lowers Testosterone... Livers and kidneys are also high in iron, which women are prone to deficiencies in and help with periods

34. I frequently see men discussing avoiding foods rich in estrogens, so why aren't women discussing this? Feed your daughters (and wives for that matter) plants rich in estrogen. Perhaps this is why vegetarian & asian women who eat lots of soy have such good skin...

35. Boys should consume vegetables that are rich in magnesium. Meat pretty much already has zinc covered.

36. In case it is not clear: BOYS AND GIRLS SHOULD NOT BE EATING THE SAME FOODS. Be willing to adapt what you make for the different genders of your children. Give the boys more meat. Give the girls less muscle meat, more organs, and more vegetables.

37. Glucose is a "bad sugar"; studies in rats show that it makes them gain weight. These same studies show that fructose, however, made them eat more and burn more calories...

38. Don't feed your children high fructose corn syrup drinks. The name is deceiving, as it is around 50% fructose and 50% glucose.

39. What we think of as white sugar (from refined sugar beets) and cane sugar is just sucrose. Sucrose is 50% glucose, 50% fructose... The difference between table sugar and HFCS is that the body has to break the sucrose in half, while HFCS has free glucose and fructose.

40. So do not be one of the parents who believes that 100% fruit juice is "just as bad as soda"; this is a lie, as fruit juice with no added sugar has more fructose. This should always be preferred over drinks with added sugar, even if your child is active.

41. Still, be selective with your fruit choices. Do not buy juice from concentrate (which most are) because it lacks any fiber that the natural plant matter would provide. Perhaps even try making your own juices or fruit smoothies; children find this extremely fun.

42. Of course, fructose is still a sugar and modern fruits have been developed to be as sweet as possible. Invest in one of these pitchers with a spout to place in your fridge, and dilute your juice with water just enough so it's still sweet, but not too sweet. Ikea has them.

43. Most honey and maple syrup you find at the supermarket contains high fructose corn syrup. Check the label.

Raw honey has some amazing effects but is extremely overpriced at the store. Contribute to your local bee farmers and buy a gallon of honey; it will last a long time.

44. Raw honey generally means it has not been pasteurized or processed. It's antibacterial and antifungal, which is apparent with how honey can keep without ever going "bad". After a long time on the shelf, it may crystallize, but this can be undone with a little heat.

45. Raw honey, much like raw milk, should not be given to babies because their immune system has not completely developed.

Even pasteurized honey cannot be given to babies less than 1 year old. This can trigger infant botulism, and it can kill them.

46. If your child has a canker sore in their mouth, simply rub raw honey on it throughout the day, and, in my experience, it will disappear the next day. Canker sores are generally caused by heightened citric acid intake, such as drinking too much lemonade.

47. Raw honey is a great sugar substitute, as it has a low glycemic index, and should definitely be embraced as a sugar substitute. The composition of honey is much more complex, varying by what plants the bees were given, and this contributes to honey's varying unique flavors.

48. Bottled water, for the most part, is bad.

It is notorious for containing BPA (a hormone disrupter, more on that later), and most bottled water is "purified", meaning it is not from a natural spring. It also has an acidic pH, so it must be treated with Sodium Carbonate.

49. "Purified" water is from water wastes that have been cleaned via reverse osmosis and do not contain minerals. It's what is in both tap and most bottled water. Both have been treated with chlorine, and tap has been treated with fluoride. More on fluoride later.

50. BPA, or bisphenol A, is known to be a hormone disrupter. When plastic is heated, including the Tupperware and TV dinners you microwave, this is released into the substance on the plastic. This includes bottled water that is heated in the backs of trucks during transportation.

51. "But some plastic is BPA free, so that's okay, right?" - Wrong.

Studies show BPA-free plastic contain BPS, which acts exactly the same as BPA. There are probably more chemicals we don't know about yet, so your best bet is to avoid all plastics.

52. What should you do to avoid hormone disrupters in plastic? Use reuseable metal or glass cups and bottles for your drinks. For bottles, don't get bottles that have plastic straws or mouthpieces. This defeats the purpose.

Also, paper cartons still are lined with plastic.

53. If you live in a city with shitty tap water, try buying bottled water that's packaged in metal or glass. Wholesale stores like Costco have the best deals on these. And like I mentioned earlier, check the label. Try to buy water that is from a natural spring source.

54. Glass bottles can be cut and reused to make drinking glasses. Kids find this activity fun, and it prevents guilt from breaking glasses.

55. Another reason to ditch purified water in favor for spring water is that spring water actually curbs appetite cravings because it is rich with vitamins and minerals.

At home, you should also install a filter for your tap water for when you do need to use it.

56. Why do so many countries ban fluoridation of water? Israel banned it in 2014. Why does the US still fluoridate their water?

https://www.actionpa.org/fluoride/countries.pdf

57. Fluoride kills brain cells, and it WILL lower the IQ of your child. This is NOT a conspiracy theory; even Harvard agrees.

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/fluoride-childrens-health-grandjean-choi/

As of Sept. 2019, there are 65 studies supporting this claim.

http://fluoridealert.org/studies/brain01/

58. Fluoride is added to your "purified" water and all tap water contains fluoride. Filters like Brita, Pur and other common filters will NOT remove fluoride.

You can buy filters to remove reduce fluoride intake, and these should be considered.

https://purewaterfreedom.com/filter-fluoride 

59. If you are pregnant or have a child, you need to take fluoridated water seriously. It's just as harmful letting your child eat lead paint chips off the wall.

Harvard notes that IQs drop 7 points on average from drinking fluoridated water, and it's also linked to cancer.

60. It's common parenting advice to not let your children have fluoridated toothpaste until they're 3 because that's when they develop the ability to spit.

Given what know about fluoride now, why would you even bother switching? All people should use fluoride-free toothpaste.

61. Over-fluoridation of water has become so rampant that a CDC survey from 2011-2016 found that 71.5% of children 6-19 years old have some degree of dental fluorosis.

It was 36.6% in 1999-2004.
https://wwwn.cdc.gov/Nchs/Nhanes/2011-2012/FLXCLN_G.htm

See this website for more info:
http://fluoridealert.org/issues/