What the HELL are we doing to our kids?

When I write about the critical hits being done to our planet’s ecology, people say “What can I do about it?”  Or they think I’m being alarmist, fanatical.  Or they just push it out of their minds and hope it will go away.  What happens Over There somewhere is easy to ignore.  Can you still ignore it when it’s happening in your very own home, in your very own children and grandchildren?

Two separate articles from two entirely different publications came out two days apart — from two different parts of the world.  The Minnesota Public Radio website ran a story about girls’ breasts budding, universally accepted as the beginning of puberty, at a much younger age.  Halfway around the world, Washington Post reported that the boy’s choir in Leipzig, Germany has to worry about essentially the same thing — that boys’ voices are changing earlier.  Stefan Altner, manager of the St. Thomas Boys Choir reports that when he started working at the choir in 1993, most voices broke when boys were 14 or 15, but the average is now closer to 13.

The problems don’t start and stop with how long the boys can continue to sing in sweet soprano, nor with girls needing a training bra earlier.  These girls are having other issues from it, physical and psychological burdens that can be quite serious medical concerns.   The article noted that “development at an earlier age can lead to depression and eating disorders, as well as stress for their families and peers.”

This isn’t entirely a new phenomenon.  In the mid 1700′s, boys’ voices changed between 17 and 18 there in Leipzig.  When the stresses of the War of Austrian Succession began in 1740, the age “spiked,” and some began questioning diet and stress as causes back then.

Another related article from the New York Times tells the story of a little girl in Fort Collins, Colorado, who began growing pubic hair at six years old!  The article goes on to point out that this is widespread.  Rather than address the issue, though, doctors are simply revising their definition of “Normal.”  Six year old girls have no business entering puberty.  Ten year old girls have no business needing a bra.  Wake up, people!  Things are going VERY, VERY wrong!

I saw the first two separate articles and recognized the correlation.  The causes are plain enough to see.  What we’re eating, the meat and milk so full of growth hormones, combined with the stresses of the way we’ve let our lives go haywire, have taken their toll across the board, with people of all ages.  So what will it take for us to recognize the pattern, see the writing on the wall and start DOING something about it?

What to do?  Start with what you feed yourselves and your families.  It wasn’t that long ago that we took raw food sources, fruits, vegetables and grains, and made food at home.   Junk food has not been with us all that long.  It wasn’t all that long ago that we ate healthy meals most of the time.  In a time when fast food is neither quick nor inexpensive, it makes less and less sense to grab grub at the drive-through.  Start there.  Dump the fast and frozen foods.  Then:

• Eat real food, made from raw ingredients at home.
• Switch to a largely vegetarian or vegan diet.  There’s ample evidence to prove that meat is not essential, that we’re actually healthier without it.
• Push for organic and non-GMO food sources on your table.
• Stop using plastic that is not specifically sold as BPA-free. BPA is decidedly affecting us and our hormone levels.
• Start eating meals at home together, slowing down the pace, lowering the stress.

Source: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2012/04/09/daily-circuit-puberty-young-girls/
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/01/magazine/puberty-before-age-10-a-new-normal.html?_r=3&pagewanted=all