Parental Plunge

Iowa city of Washington gets it right

2005-09-30T13:37:00.000-04:00

Washington Evening Journal: " In Indiana, parents are suing a school district over TeenScreen. They claim their daughter's school, Penn High School in Mishawaka, Ind., violated their constitutional rights by not informing them their daughter would be subjected to such a screening process which, according to court papers, consisted of 'yes' and 'no' questions. The questions gave no opportunity for students to explain answers or offer alternative responses, yet determined that many students were suffering from 'disorders.' In the Indiana case, Chelsea Rhoades, 15, the daughter of Michael and Teresa Rhoades, was informed, after the yes-no test, that she suffered from at least two mental disorders: obsessive compulsive disorder and anxiety disorder. Chelsea's parents, who were never asked to fill out a consent form for the test, were outraged, and with the help of a civil liberties organization, filed suit. According to Chelsea Rhoades, a majority of the students who were subjected to the TeenScreen exam were told that they were suffering from some sort of mental 'disorder.' Such a case wouldn't happen here, said Schmitt."

The Truth About Teenscreen

2005-09-25T16:44:00.000-04:00

Pharma-backed psychology: coming to a school near you. Your child is the target of a mental health test which could stigmatize him or her for life. If this concerns you, find out more about this controversial program called Teenscreen. Hurry before your child is labeled and recommended for drugging.

Non-Pharmaceutical Induction

2005-04-04T11:11:00.000-04:00

Non-Pharmaceutical Induction Here's one thing we are doing to move the labor along. Noting it for all you prego moms out there and just for general interest.

Bark like a dog!

2005-03-18T09:18:00.000-05:00

http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/03/17/fda.crawford.ap/index.html Perfect. Bush nominated Lester Crawford to head the FDA. He's got a doctorate in veterinary medicine and a PhD in pharmacology. So basically he's going to make sure the pharmacorporations keep having their way with our children until we're all a nation of mindless animals.

Technique for babies who are breech

2005-03-16T14:56:00.000-05:00

International Chiropractic Pediatric Association - I.C.P.A. We have heard great things about this method and are going to give it a go. Keep your finger's crossed! Aidan is currently breech and we want this boy turned so he can come out "exit the building" without having to be plucked out by C-section.

Another psychiatrist thinking she's above the law

2005-03-16T09:38:00.000-05:00

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/local/11137681.htm

Your little man can stand and be counted!

2005-03-01T15:32:00.000-05:00

Visionaire Products Inc. As a proud father of a boy-to-be (well he is, but he's not born yet), I think this is great!

Why Hyperactivity Can Be Good

2005-02-15T10:00:00.000-05:00

The New York Times > New York Region > Public Lives: Handling the Nuts and Bolts of Colossal Art Imagine you are this man's parent. Would you be proud and glad that you helped him find a way to channel his energies, or would you wish you had put him on a chemical straight-jacket like Ritalin when he was fidgeting in school?

Expert: Zoloft spurred boy to murder his grandparents with shotgun - Courttv.com - Trials

2005-02-10T11:01:00.000-05:00

Expert: Zoloft spurred boy to murder his grandparents with shotgun - Courttv.com - Trials Of course it was the Zoloft! The first article I read on this issue asked whether it was the Zoloft and Paxil this kid was on, or that he was "already violent" because he had stabbed a bull with a dart when he was a child. Stabbed a bull with a dart? Well on that basis, what boy is not a candidate for shotgunning his family? I just did an informal survey of some others in the office and even the girls had some heinous crime against the animal world to confess. One of them (the girl) admitted to feeding seagulls alka-seltzer because they can't burp and so they...well, you do the math. It was the drugs folks. Every one of these wanton acts of violence has that in common, from Columbine to this shotgunning case. They were either on drugs or seeing a psychiatrist. This soapbox is really for talking about things we've done with our kids that have worked and helped us as parents and them as kids. But I just can't sit by without a comment on this Zoloft issue.

Yahoo! News - Prenatal Screening for Parasite Urged

2005-02-09T08:47:00.000-05:00

Yahoo! News - Prenatal Screening for Parasite Urged Fortunately we don't have a cat, my wife doesn't eat raw foods and I do all the gardening!

Watch out for this program--bad news, but it might already be in your state!

2005-02-02T22:52:00.000-05:00

http://www.psychsearch.net/teenscreen.html This is madness. Drug company front groups want the name of your kid so they can rubber stamp them "suicidal" with a perfunctory suicide/depression quiz. To quote a friend of mine, "who ever said kids were supposed to be happy all the time?" So if they catch your kid on an a day he/she isn't thrilled about going to public school, you might find out they want him to see a psych for more of what can only lead to drugging. Check out the link, folks. Your kids have a big red set of crosshairs on them and it's the big pharmaceuticals on the other end of the gun.

Herald.com | 01/30/2005 | The power to embarrass

2005-01-31T12:08:00.000-05:00

Herald.com | 01/30/2005 | The power to embarrass Dave Barry is, in my opinion, one of the funniest men alive.

Never Underestimate The Power Of Marketing

2005-01-29T13:41:00.000-05:00

If our kids only knew the "lemonade" they have been getting is just plain ole water and stevia. We started this tradition back when they began using sippy cups, to avoid some of the more sugary drinks out there today. With child diabetes reaching epidemic proportions, we had to really ask ourselves what we were going to do to steer clear of some of the known causes of the disease, namely the refined sugar that has found its way into just about every processed food product out there today--most of all kids' foods. Stevia is great because it is something like 50,000 times sweeter than sugar, so you only need a drop or two per 4 oz drink and the kids get a nice, sweet taste out of it. Plus, it's from an all natural source and not chlorinated sugar or some other chemistry experiment. Best of all, unlike sugared products our kids eat, stevia doesn't cause crankiness, spikes (and then crashes) in energy or other episodes that can drive parents out of their minds. It's pretty hard to compete with Mother Nature if you're trying to make a product that has no side-effects.

FlyLady.net

2005-01-27T21:40:00.000-05:00

Your personal online coach to help you gain control of your house and home One of the greatest challenges we have had since having kids is keeping our house in order. Not that we were all that great at it before, but having a major event like two kids in less than a year definitely opened the door to some major wrench into having that perfect Cleaver household. Okay, we don't want a Cleaver home, but you get what I mean. My wife's friend Ally turned her on to this FlyLady website. She loves it and is excited about replacing the chaos in our home with order. Best of all she feels like we have a chance at making it happen now and THAT is something to record for humanity!

Sleep, The Final Frontier

2005-01-15T12:00:00.000-05:00

That title probably doesn't make a lot of sense but it's meant to say: without sleep, the rest of life is pretty hard to navigate. Anyone can take a day or two of having ill slept the night before. That's nothing. I know some parents, though, who have been limping along on 2, 3, maybe 5 hours per night for two years. That's not parenting. That's insanity. And it's not just the parents who suffer. What about the children? They look to us for guidance--for someone to mimic and duplicate. What do they see but a tired and cranky adult? And so from there the spiral winds it's way down until finally someone blows a major gasket and/or feels medication has to be resorted to in some way, heaven forbid. I'd be willing to wager that the simple fact of missing sleep over long periods could even contribute to the fabric of an entire family and marriage eventually deteriorating. We avoided all of it. By 8 weeks both our girls were sleeping through the night. Period. That's right, you new parents. I said "through the night". One of the best books we were ever given was called "On Becoming Babywise" by a guy named Gary Ezzo, I believe. There are two version of the book, as I recall: one with a pretty strong Christian bend to it and the other written for people of any walk of life. In any case, he proposes that parents adjust the child's schedule slightly and, in so doing, the child will sleep through the night after about eight weeks. All I know is this: IT WORKED and on both children. We used the schedule he provided (and that's about it--even though he gets into a lot more about discipline as the child grows up, etc.--we tossed that part of his book out and just used the schedule). I don't think I really need to stress how wonderful it is to consistently get sleep when you have two kids running around the house all day, challenging you for every bit of your energy, both physically and mentally. Precious stuff, sleep. So we can't say enough about this book. It has apparently helped over 500,000 other kids get a full night's sleep early on, as well. One thing you do have to do is learn to tell the difference between your kid's crying for an actual need (wet diapy usually), or just because she/he wants you to come back into the room. (There's a point where they cry themselves to sleep for up to 20 minutes. It can be a little trying but it all turned out fine in the end.) You can actually tell the difference after a bit of listening. It's not hard and an ability you'll probably use through your many days as a parent. And all the things negative naysayers said happen never happened. Our kids are incredibly loving and know they are loved back. Letting them cry to sleep a little caused absolutely no harm. And even if it did for the first few weeks, their getting consistent sleep for the years following far outweighed it. As with anything, if what he says in the book isn't true for you, toss it out. After all, you may as well start learning to evaluate information for yourself early in the parenting game. The volume of information out there on how to be and do the work of a parent is monumental. You don't actually think it all works, do you? ;-) (Thanks for those initial comments, readers. It's great to know someone is reading, even if there are only two of you so far!)

2005-01-15T11:27:00.000-05:00

This is Aubrey. She's three and a ham for the camera.