Finally. Some good news.

I read a lot of newspapers online everyday, and the headlines have not been pretty lately. “US Diplomats Attacked in Zimbabwe” “Continental Airlines to Cut Jobs” “Boy Drowns While Napping in Carolina” Don’t even get me started on the local crime report. Or OMG! Gas prices! And then I stumbled upon this: “Risky Behavior Declines Among Teens.”

As the mother of a boy who will be 15 this summer, this comes as very welcome news. The report, which comes from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), says that fewer adolescents are drinking, smoking and having sex than their counterparts did in 1991. The report actually said that TEENS ARE STARTING TO ACT MORE REPSONSIBLY. Which I’m pretty sure is one of the first signs of the apocalypse. Read the rest of this entry »

You’d think I’d be getting use to it by now: The lurch in our lives that happens at the end of each school year, when schedules change and books get put away. Here’s my take on the end of third grade. What’s the most difficult for you as you look at the end of your kid’s school year? What has gotten easier?

There’s a new pill on the market. It was created especially for kids. For when they need a little more than a kiss to make their owie go away. It’s called “Obecalp.” That’s “placebo” spelled backwards.

I think I took these once. They came in my Fisher Price doctors set.  I downed the entire bottle immediately upon opening the packaging. Was that dangerous? I don’t think so. No one promised me anything with my sugar-pill prescription. I knew it was really just candy.

The mom who created Obecalp says that she cares about our children and the future of children around our world. Which seems a bit grandiose considering we’re talking about sugar pills. She’s not exactly curing cancer here. And anyway, is it possible she’s doing more harm than good?

I have to wonder, is it ever ethical to use a placebo? Isn’t that kind of like…LYING? Or is it one of those innocent lies we tell kids – like Santa Claus? Does the end justify the means as long as everyone just STOPS CRYING OMG WOULD YOU JUST STOP CRYING!!!!

Is sending kids the message that a pill can cure all that ails them a good message in today’s world? (Let’s not forget, someone once thought it was a good idea to sell candy cigarettes to kids, too.) Call me crazy, but I think it’s important for kids to learn that some hurts do actually heal all on their own.

“I don’t buy the argument that a placebo pill is just like putting a ‘Band-Aid on a boo-boo,’” says Douglas Kamerow, a family physician and former Assistant Surgeon General. ”We know it doesn’t make any difference, but we tell the kids that it does. Sure, there are kids who end up wanting a Band-Aid for every possible problem, but I have never seen an adult Band-Aid addict.”

What say you? A good idea or a disaster in the making? Would you give them to your child?

I saw the strangest thing the other morning.

I was driving on Walnut Grove Road, east of Germantown Parkway. In the mirror, I saw an SUV with what I thought was their dog hanging its head out the back window. As the truck got closer, I realized it wasn’t a dog at all; it was their PRESCHOOL CHILD. A 3- or 4-year-old boy, standing up in the back seat, hanging out the window up to his chest.

I let the truck pull up next to me and I see that the mom is just chatting away on her cell phone. So I honk at her, and start pointing to her son. Then she ends up behind me in line at Starbucks! And she acts all put out that I honked at her! And she says, “Is there a reason you were honking at me?” And I said, “Well I wasn’t sure you realized THAT YOUR CHILD WAS HANGING OUT THE WINDOW WHILE YOU WERE DRIVING.” She was all, “Well I didn’t know why you were honking.” And I couldn’t help myself. I said, “Doesn’t he ride in a carseat?” And she said, “Yeah, I already told him about 10 times to get his head in the window.”

Now look, I try not to be judgemental of other mothers. I have a friend who has a special-needs child who doesn’t appear special-needs to the casual observer. So people are always judging my friend by her daughter’s behavior. They don’t understand just by looking at her that there’s a problem.  

But is there EVER an excuse for allowing your child to ride with his head out the window? Or even outside of a carseat? I know I’m a bit of a seatbelt nazi (I would never have ridden in a car with my child out of buckles unless perhaps he was not breathing AND gushing blood and I needed to perform CPR on him enroute to the emergency room), but I just can’t think of one simple reason why a parent would allow such a thing.

Did I overreact? What would you have done? (Other than, you know…outing them on the internet.)

Just like every other mom who is trying to juggle multiple lives and still keep track of what the heck is going on with the last days of school, I am getting inundated this week with notes and pleas for help, hot dog buns and special things needed at school each day. I try to keep track, I really do. Though today feels like a big fat failure. (Warning: Whining ahead.)

Not only did I wake up in a cold sweat, having forgotten to do something I said I would for a neighbor before work, but I flogged Tomas all morning, hurrying him into his school’s “dress uniform,” which involves a button-down shirt and coat and tie. No, I wasn’t very patient. I guess I was such a shrew that on his way down stairs he apologized for having to ask for help. Gawd.

And to top it off, we get to school, and the day for the dress-up, coat/tie uniform thing is TOMORROW.

Anyone else having this kind of day? How do you stop beating yourself up and just move on? Advice welcome.