My George Herbert Walker Bush Story

On food, parenting, TV, and presidents

Whenever I hear the name, George Herbert Walker Bush, Sr. I immediately think of broccoli. Allow me to explain…

When he was president I was a full-time stay at home mom with a four-year-old girl living in Oregon. I was very, very serious about mothering and raising a happy, healthy, smart, creative, and well-adjusted girl. I fed her healthy, wholesome food hoping that would become a habit for her. I read thousands of books to her hoping she would develop a love for books. (We went to the library at least twice a week.) I took her to the park and on nature walks every day hoping to nurture in her a love for nature and physical fitness. I colored with her and played Legos with her and made flower arrangements with her hoping to spark her creativity. I took her to zoos and farms hoping to induce a love for animals. And I seriously limited her exposure to TV.

When I first married my wife I had been living without TV for many years. For the first couple of months of our marriage she seemed okay living without TV but finally she broke down and said that she was going crazy without TV. Well, I would do anything for her so I bought a small TV.

But when it came to our daughter I tried to limit her to no more than one hour of TV a day; one half-hour of…