Meds for Kids
I was watching the news last night and a story came on about American Academy of Pediatrics urging children 2 and older to have their cholesterol tested. This combined with a news article in Monday’s Rocky Mountain News that reads, “For the first time, an influential doctors group is recommending that some children as young as 8 be given cholesterol-fighting drugs to ward off future heart problems,” really concerns me. I’m not sure how familiar any of you are with the “frog in the boiling water” concept, but it basically states that if you were to place a frog in room temperature water and then slowly heat it to a boil, the frog would not jump out. Instead it would wait until it was too late, and then death would ensue. I honestly don’t know how this was tested, but it’s a good example of what is going on in our country. We have become so accustomed to the status quo that even testing 2 year olds for cholesterol problems doesn’t set off any red flags for the average person. It’s more of a sign to me of how little the “man on the street” knows about the dangers of the Standard American Diet (SAD).
I just finished reading Consuming Kids by Susan Linn and it opened my eyes to the almost inhumanity and callousness of many corporations that market to children despite knowing how detrimental their products are to childrens’ health. I highly recommend it — my children no longer watch TV of any kind and I promise you, they do not suffer. In fact, I can tell you that just today my 3 and 5 year olds have been playing together with Legos and tiny cars for the past five hours with just a break for lunch. So TV is not a necessity, and it can actually lead to behavioral issues, not to mention obesity. Taking away TV is one of the best things I have ever done. I felt so proud when, after watching a news program about children recognizing Ronald McDonald more than our president, my daughter saw a picture of Ronald McDonald and said, “oh, Mommy, look — a clown!”