It’s relatively straightforward for us parents to deal with a product recall, like the one that recently occurred with McNeil Consumer Healthcare, which pulled products such as children’s versions of Tylenol, Tylenol Plus, Motrin, Zyrtec, and Benadryl because of “quality” issues (such as a higher concentration of an active ingredient). What freaks most of us out is a situation in which kids engage in destructive behaviors without significant warning signs. I really try not to be an alarmist, but the recent story of a child who died while playing the “choking game” hit hard. The game involves hanging from a rope or otherwise strangling in order to get the high that occurs from losing brain cells while suffocation is in process. The trick is to stop the choking before reaching the point of no return, yet that didn’t happen with this one boy. His age? 12…
What packs an even bigger punch is that many kids who play this game do so because they don’t want to do such forbidden things as drugs or alcohol. They are often high-achieving young people who go for a “natural” high. They still want to be good kids by not polluting their bodies. Well, there’s nothing natural about this and it points out fundamental issues. We must keep communicating with our children about their lives and stay involved in their world. Know their friends and be supportive. Talk to them about things like this choking game. It’s real. Even if your kid is a bit more sensitive, at least broach the subject of staying safe and calling you or stepping away from dangerous situations, despite the social acceptance issues.
What are your thoughts? How can we keep our kids safe when they think they’re still being good?
This is an important safety alert because of the number of cribs and the severity of the possible accident. Stork Craft Manufacturing Inc. is recalling 2.1 million drop-side cribs, 147,000 of which have the Fisher-Price logo on them. Prompting this is the death of four infants who became trapped and suffocated when a space was created between the drop-side door and the mattress due to faulty parts. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) urges “parents and caregivers to immediately stop using the recalled cribs, wait for the free repair kit, and do not attempt to fix the cribs without the kit. They should find an alternative, safe sleeping environment for their baby. Consumers should contact Stork Craft to receive a free repair kit that converts the drop-side on these cribs to a fixed side.” Go to the CPSC site for more information.
As a parent, I’m trying not to give in to the panic that could result from reading and watching too many updates on the increasing number of people affected by the swine flu. The good thing is that plenty of experts and leaders are taking a serious but calm approach to be as cautious and safe as possible. Parenting magazine has a thorough rundown of how to approach the situation in its article, “Swine Flu: A Guide for Parents.” The number one suggestion is more frequent hand washing to prevent the spread of germs.
A study done in England suggests that 21st century kids are losing out on the health benefits of nature and space because they do not get out enough. The report’s author, Dr. William Bird (nice last name for a nature lover), “has compiled evidence that people are healthier and better adjusted if they get out into the countryside, parks or gardens. Stress levels fall within minutes of seeing green spaces, he says. Even filling a home with flowers and plants can improve concentration and lower stress.”
The study is all the more interesting because it shows that Americans are not the only ones to be so concerned about their children’s safety that they keep the kids indoors and in cars too much. I still struggle with easing the restrictions, even though I’ve written about loosening up as recently as last week and, more in depth, a couple of year’s ago. However, as winter vacation looms, it’d be great for families to try to go outside as much as possible, even if it’s just for long walks (if it’s not prohibitively cold!).
It was one thing when my mother-in-law phoned to tell us that she would be coming by to take the Aqua Dots toy she had given our middle son for his birthday. But when my nine-year-old’s buddy Alex called our house to let us know that Aqua Dot toys had been recalled (http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/08/toy.recall/index.html)because they put two kids in a coma, I hit the floor and scoured the house for all those little balls that managed to get loose. Over the course of the day, news spread around the world that two U.S. children fell unconscious after swallowing the Aqua Dot beads. Both boys have recovered fully from their comas. Reports say the reason for the children’s severe reaction is that the craft toy — which my kids loved — is made with a chemical coating that, once metabolized, converts into GHB, commonly referred to as the “date rape” drug.
It’s terrifying to think that our children could be victims of their playthings and it makes me and any sane parent angry that manufacturers can be so clueless or purposely ignorant to the potential harms of chemicals used to produce toys. The fact that Aqua Dots are made in China, making it the latest Chinese-made toy to be recalled, is worrysome. Still, the reality is that countless toys are made in China, and have been manufactured there for decades, so we should not assume that all Chinese-made toys are unsafe. Yet we must demand that our own government apply pressure to ensure the products are checked in China AND checked again in the U.S. The safety of our kids simply must trump the burdens of expense and political discomfort.
I hate for any of us to live in fear, but this trend forces us to be vigilant, especially as the holiday toy season arrives. You can read the government’s toy hazard list at http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/category/toy.html .
The manuafacturers of cold medications, such as decongestants and cough suppressants from brands that include Dimetapp, Robitussin, and Tylenol, have been taken out of circulation due to concerns for children under two should they be given an improper dosage (http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/10/11/infant.drugs/index.html). The problem arises from the fact that most medications do not give dose recommendations for children two and under, opting to direct care givers to get specific details from a physician. Unfortunately, some parents make guesses on the doses and risk complications that can include child fatality. Following decades of review by the FDA, the agency found 54 child deaths linked to “over-the-counter decongestant medications.” Other negative effects brought on by improper doses of these medications to infants and toddlers (under two) include irritability, drowsiness, and heart abnormalities. The medicine makers will take time to decide if and when they will return the medications to the shelves, though it likely will not happen without changes to the warning labels.
Dr. Kenneth Keer (my dad, who writes a regular feature for us) has long said that the bottom line with cough suppressants and decongestants is that they do not have worthwhile medicinal benefits for children. He believes that the best remedies for kids with congestion are plenty of fluids to prevent dehydration and humidifiers.
Since May, Madeleine McCann has been missing from a Portuguese hotel room. Following months of searching, an international plea for help, and the recent evidence of blood traces in the parents’ rental car, the McCanns headed home, today, to England, their remaining twin children in tow (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6985454.stm).
The discussions around the world have been red hot. Should the parents leave the country in which their daughter was lost, though the authorities say they are free to go? Are police unfairly accusing the parents of having killed their daughter? Has there been an offer of a plea agreement if one of the parents will confess to the accidental death of Madeleine? What were the parents doing at a restaurant while their children slept in the hotel room, unsupervised?
Ultimately, we must all hope that Madeleine will be found, alive. Realistically, the situation is accutely painful for parents who live in fear, whatever the degree, that something horrible could happen to their children. One thing seems clear, based on my limited knowledge of the facts — the parents should not have left their children unattended. I know it’s judgmental, but parents just have to accept the restrictions placed upon us when we have kids. If we really need a break, then we should hire a referenced babysitter, or have one parent go out while the other one watches, or take the kids to the movies and chill out that way while the children are engaged in watching the film.
Truly, no one is perfect, and most of us have left our kids unattended for short periods under seemingly safe circumstances. It’s hard to drag unhappy kids everywhere, I know. But we have to bite that bullet and haul them around, nonetheless.
Another note is about fear. We must not cave in to worst-case worries for our own health and we should not scare our children to the point of making them think the world is out to get them. This is such a fine line, yet one lesson is that we need to depend on each other for moral support and even for child care help. It is a frightening world in a lot of ways, but we need to spend our time teaching and building rather than scolding and worrying.
It is very difficult to keep up with all the recalls that affect our families, so I try not be an alarmist. However, the questionable safety of nearly one million units of Fisher-Price toys warrants this notice ( http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml07/07257.html). Due to excessive amounts of lead in the paint of toys that include playthings based on Nickelodeon and Sesame Street characters — sold between May and August 2007 — Fisher-Price parent company Mattel is ordering a voluntary recall.
The frank answer to the above question is no. We live in a world in which horrible things happen, even when we are on constant watch to prevent them. This is why we cannot let our fears of what might happen prevent us or our children from living dynamic and full lives. Should we tell our kids that bad stuff happens and that we must be mindful of dangers? Yes. But we must also tell them that we will protect them when they’re young and prepare them when they’re older to take in all the life they can.
You can read more about my suggestions for explaining disasters at http://www.familymanonline.com/moms_and_dads.php?id=89. But I also want to say that, while horrific events like this will happen again, I have thoughts on how we can react in a proactive way. First, we must address the root of the problem with the young man in Virginia. He was mentally ill, showed signs of violent thoughts (even writing about them in plays), and was a loner. We need to ask about our approach to the mentally ill. Was he getting the care and attention he needed, not just for his sake but for the safety of others? Isolation is also a major issue. As our world expands, we seem to be drifting further from our neighbors, our co-workers, even our families (especially extended families). What are we doing to connect? We should be reaching out, with basic greetings and moments in which we stop and talk to each other whether it’s for the one minute we thought we didn’t have for the person in the check-out line or the three-hour dinner with a cousin with whom we lost touch. When we do things like this, we model for our children, showing them how to bridge social gaps.
We will spend weeks going over the details of this tragedy, laying a lot of blame on the campus police for not locking down the school after the first shooting. My current thought is that the security response was lacking and that we should demand that the schools and institutions where our kids spend time be prepared for disasters, scary as it is to imagine. For superb ideas on how parents can make schools safer, read Michele Borba’s recommendations at http://www.micheleborba.com/Pages/ArtBMI01.htm .
However, focusing on the security issue alone would diminish the larger concerns mentioned above. We must come together, not break apart or hide behind walls, in the face of this event. We must find ways to help each other with the hope that we can minimize the disaster of isolation with the benefits of connection.
Tomorrow morning at 11:20am (PST)/2:20pm (EST), you can catch me on FOX News Live on the FOX News Channel discussing the practice of parents putting Web cams in their child’s hospital room. A Boston Herald article (http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=190314) talks about the case in which parents did not inform the medical staff of the Web cam they installed in their kid’s room.
It may be a well-founded perception that, to get quality health care, a patient or a patient’s family must maintain eagle-eye vigilance during a hospital stay. However, bringing Web cams into a hospital room opens up a can of worms that may be counter-productive to assuring good care. Among many questions I have, one is about privacy. Web cams should not be in hospital rooms without prior consent from the facility. If consent is given, will the camera actually improve the health care? Would the clear thinking of a doctor or nurse be compromised more or less by being digitally recorded? What would happen if the recording got out on YouTube? What if there are other patients in the room? How do you get consent from them and their families?
There may be situations where the Web cam could be useful, such as if a single parent must be away from their child, during a brief period of time, for other pressing responsibilities. However, this leads to my biggest concern with Web cams, which is whether they are intended to replace a parent or guardian’s presence in the room with a sick child. When a child is in the hospital, he or she needs a care giver’s soothing voice and calming touch. I worry that, as with many of the important things we used to do in-person, there may be a tendency to rely on the cameras rather than be present in the room.
My other major worry is worry itself — wouldn’t the opportunity to watch every move and hear every word remotely via a camera cause greater stress to a parent? It seems there would be a decent chance that indecipherable activity or a beeping monitor could be miscontrued as a problem, making the parent call into the hospital in a panic even if the issue is nothing to worry about? How is this healthy for anyone? And, has anybody tried calling a hospital recently to talk to someone attending to a patient? It’s not easy to get through or get straight answers. Again, the best practice is to have a caring adult in the room with the child.
There are other issues to consider, such as whether a Web cam, once approved by a hospital, should be used in the room of a patient in a long-term coma. This is a whole other track in the conversation, though my initial thought is that it might be an acceptable situation for a camera since it seems unfair to expect family members to be in the room at all times.
Since this is a new topic to me, I’m hoping to get conversation going with readers. What are your thoughts? What points am I missing? What are good ways to ultimately be more confident that our children are getting good hospital care?
