September 28, 2020

by drplasticpicker

Life is full of contradictions. As a pediatrician I worry about children being exposed to too much screen time, as this has been shown to disrupt sleep and has replaced some of the time children are interacting with real people or moving their bodies. Social Media has been a conduit for child exploitation as well, as adults who are evil-doers have made contact with children through the different platforms. Yet at the same time, Dr. Plastic Picker is a social media Instagram creature. I exist because of social media, Facebook and Instgram, although I think my heart belongs on this blog and in clinic. How can your social media semi-savy pediatrician advise you to limit your social media?

Dr. Plastic Picker still studies, even into my mid 40s, and I encountered a question on my exam questions about social media. The answer said, “The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends a number of strategies for parents: being familiar with social media sites and apps used by their children and adolescents; creating house rules for timing of media use to avoid negative consequences like undone homework or poor sleep; and an appropriate degree of monitoring the children’s or adolescent’s use of social media (eg, reviewing posts on a regular basis, requiring the son or daughter to “friend” the parent on the sites they use, and keeping computers in a public part of the home).“

Honestly the best advice Dr. Plastic Picker has received about social media is from my own tween/teen children who are not on social media. They both do not have iPhones, one of the best parenting decisions I ever made. We have an emergency backup phone they take if they need an iPhone. The oldest has an emergency flip phones. Our high school son is a computer programmer and mostly video-game designing and active on Reddit. Our daughter is the Communications Commissioner for her ASB. They are much more wise and savy than I am. They tell me, “Mommy, turn it off!” especially when it is affecting our family life. And my advice? Use it only if your parents allow you to, and honestly I would prefer you did not. I use the platform both Instagram and Facebook in order to outcompete the bad “influencers” out there. If you do chose to be on social media with your parents’ permission and hopefully their oversign, use is actively and be an active creator on social media. Don’t just respond to others. Engage in a positive way. But remember there is a real world out there and engage in the real world as well. I post a picture a day of the litter I pick up which takes 1 minute. I also spend an hour picking up trash and walking along the beach. That one instagram post is a relfection of something real.

What else is real? Your family. Your pediatrician who sees you in the office. Gardening. Fruits and vegetables. And the planet. Engage in the real world and let social media be just a glimpse into the beautiful life that you can create for yourself. Above is a picture of one of our beginning gardeninig projects. My mother gifted us two ceramic containers she no longer needed. We replanted two store-bought basil plants. The basil plants have to be watered in the mornings relatively deeply and put in full sun for 6-8 hours during the day. We plan to harvest them for pizza toppings and to make pesto sauce. This is part of our family’s efforts to reduce the plastic in our house and to eat more plant-based. The teapot was gifted to me by our HMO and it’s actually a horrible teapot for tea. I’m using it for compost tea. There are coffee grounds soaking in water that I will use to fertilize the plants sparingly. We are so excited about home-made pesto sauce in a reused container.

Okay just saving this for later from the website Once Upon A Chef https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/basil-walnut-pesto.html

The Best Basic Pesto

By Jennifer Segal

This is my go-to pesto recipe — and it’s delicious on just about everything, from pasta to sandwiches to salads.Servings: Makes about 1-1/4 cups (about 10 servings)Total Time: 15 Minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 1/3 cup walnuts
• 2 large garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 2 cups gently packed fresh basil leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, best quality such as Lucini or Colavita
• 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Place the walnuts and garlic in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Process until coarsely chopped, about 10 seconds. Add the basil leaves, salt, and pepper and process until mixture resembles a paste, about 1 minute. With the processor running, slowly pour the olive oil through the feed tube and process until the pesto is thoroughly blended. Add the Parmesan and process a minute more. Use pesto immediately or store in a tightly sealed jar or air-tight plastic container, covered with a thin layer of olive oil (this seals out the air and prevents the pesto from oxidizing, which would turn it an ugly brown color). It will keep in the refrigerator for about a week.
2. Freezer-Friendly Instructions: Pesto can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 6 months. You can also divide your prepared pesto into the compartments of an ice cube tray and freeze. Once it’s frozen, remove the pesto cubes from the tray and put in a sealable plastic bag or airtight container. You can add the defrosted pesto cubes to soups, pasta dishes, eggs, sandwiches, and potatoes.

Please click on the original link from the original author https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/basil-walnut-pesto.html. I’m just putting it here for reference for myself later on to refer to.