One of Canada's Top Parenting Blogs. As husband and working parent, everything IS possible...with occasional breakdowns, and frequent bags of potato chips. (with kids, there's no such thing as false labor.)
Speed Dating Your Spouse: So the two of you can't find any time alone with each other. That's no reason why you can't find an alternative, like speed dating each other.
Should Children Referee Themselves? Is this a solution which would prevent assaults on referees and umpires?
Is Your Child Too Young for That Show? At what age is it appropriate for a child to attend concerts, plays, and movies with more mature content?
"Here, hold this!" he said as he stomped back over small dunes of dried lake weed and neighborhood refuse. It was a fishing lure; its hooks rusted, dangerous, and congested with pieces of old small-gauge line. Despite its resemblance to Little Mermaid's Flounder, this treasure my 8-year-old had plucked from the St. Lawrence River only made be worry about the diseases we would all contract after bringing it home. But, to him, it was awesome.
"Mommy, you hold this. Make sure it doesn't fly awaaayy!" she said, her arms flapping in imitation of the Gull who had left his feather for her to find. My wife looked at this quill: grey and white and black; matted and dirty after days, or weeks, or months floating past the municipal shore lines of Montreal's southern shore. Gross to Mom and Dad, absolutely thrilling to their 6-year-old daughter.
It was 6:30 on a Friday night. We had just completed a family supper at a local pub (yes, they had a kids menu; yes, my kids each had a sip from my pint). After dinner, doggy bag in hand (I suppose, since we don't have a dog, it's really just a bag of leftovers), we walked down a side street to stand alongside the water at low tide. The dried remnants of what normally shifts and floats beneath the high tide was left behind for a few hours, to be picked up again once the cycle continued.
Our kids are at a great age. They are far enough removed from the pre-school stage of not being able to sit at a dinner table for ten minutes without throwing a spoon across the room, yet also years away from the cynical teenage years during which they will simply want us to leave them alone. For now, they hopped and skipped from their parents to the waterline and back, sharing observations, and dropping treasures at our feet. "As gross as this rusty fishing lure, and e-coli laden feather are, we should remind ourselves how lucky we are that they want to share this stuff with us at all." I said to my wife. "I know." she answered. "Soon, their allegiances will shift. We'll be out, their friends will be in."
We reminded ourselves that this period in our children's lives is fleeting - as are all stages of life - while we collected that evening's cache to return to the car: a rusty lure, leftover poutine in a brown paper bag, a dirty feather, and an orange rock. At some point, while skipping along the sidewalk, my daughter lost the stone. Despite backtracking with Mom in a serpentine search pattern, the rock was gone for good. Somehow, during the four minutes she was the stone's keeper, my daughter had become so emotionally attached to it, she was extremely distraught at the thought of leaving it behind. Her solution was to leave a note for Santa in front of the fire place at home. Sure, Santa usually only comes at Christmastime, but maybe he would make a special trip 'cause he knows I loved the rock, she argued. You can always try, I said - fighting my urge to quash the fantasy.
At home, we washed the lure (carefully. Boy, those hooks are sharp!); rinsed the feather, and parked the poutine next to the yogurt in the fridge. The kids were still in bed early enough for my wife and I to stick our feet under a blanket and treat ourselves to a movie. "She's gonna be really disappointed in the morning when Santa doesn't show up."
Yeah, but being disappointed because you believe in the impossible is what makes 6-years-old a beautiful thing. Reminding ourselves of all that is impossible is part of what makes getting older a little ugly. My wife and I show signs of rust, and occasional sharps edges after of years weathering the tide. Yet, we remind ourselves how lucky we are that, to our kids, time with their parents is still something to treasure.
In her post on My world had been very different before I had a baby. The freedom! Oh I could do absolutely anything I wanted at anytime. I worked really hard (sometimes too hard) and played really hard too. I didn’t have anyone else to think about except myself.
Now she's got one. As Bart Simpson would say: "Heh,heh."
Her newborn son was feverish, lethargic and irritable. Her doctor initially told her not to worry, but her instincts told her something was not right. She insisted on a further examination of her child, after all, at one week old, there was little margin for error. It was after a second exam that Furakh Mir's son, Sulayman, was diagnosed with bacterial Meningitis. The little boy recovered after receiving a course of aggressive antibiotics at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.
This was the story Ms. Mir told during the opening minutes of yesterday's webinar organized to help raise awareness of the dangers, signs, and preventative measures associated with meningitis. Today is World Meningitis Day.
Being a parent means being constantly vigilant. But it also means managing your attention - focusing on what's important, and prioritizing. Meningitis was not high on my priority list. Like so many parents, I keep a watchful eye when sitting by the local pool; make sure my kids eat don't eat too much junk food; and see to it they complete their homework. Why would I attend a webinar related to World Meningitis Day? The startling facts I learned yesterday about the disease answered that question. Before I relay that information, here's a video produced by Meningitis Relief which encapsulates the reasons our focus should shift to include Meningitis:
Hearing loss, brain damage, learning disability and possibly death within the first 24 to 48 hours.
We take such precautions to get the flu shot, and wear our bicycle helmets, yet we barely hear of Meningitis from our doctors or our children's schools. It is not yet part of the lexicon. Yet it presents a grave danger. While it first presents with flu-like symptoms: fever, nausea, headache, neck pain and vomiting; it can spiral quickly downwards. About 1 in 10 with the disease will not survive. These are some of the facts put forth by the World Health Organization on their information sheet.
Dr. David Greenberg suggested yesterday that one of the best ways of assuring your concern about your child's health is being taken seriously by your doctor is to point out changes in your child's behaviour. He points out, as many parents have experienced, that one child may have a fever of 40 degrees and still be energetic and active; another may register 38.2 and be grey and lethargic. Trust your instincts. You know your child, don't shy away from letting your doctor know you feel there is more going on.
Meningitis is spread through direct contact with an infected person through the droplet route by means of respiratory secretions when air or liquid secretions are shared. - Meningitis Research Foundation of Canada
It does not spread through casual contact. In other words, similar to flu prevention. Hygiene is key. No shared drinks, or lipsticks; cough into your sleeves, wash your hands.
While younger children may respond more easily to an adult warning them not to share a water bottle with their friends at the park, teenagers can be more of a challenge. Refusing a shared cigarette, or telling a friend: "No, you can't have a sip of my drink" may result in a teen being teased by their peers. This naturally discourages young adults from putting hygiene first.
During our one-on-one conversation after the webinar, Parenting Expert Alyson Schafer stressed that getting rid of this sort of stigma is exactly why meningitis prevention must become part our daily conversation. She pointed out how, at one time, proper hygiene - even after a visit to the washroom - wasn't something people focused on. Now, washing your hands before leaving the bathroom is (hopefully) routine. Ms. Schafer pointed out that meningitis awareness and prevention should become as much a part of routine conversations as flu vaccines, and washing your hands during cold season.
It's never too early to being that conversation. Talk about meningitis vaccines, and prevention with your family, your friends and your schools When it comes to meningitis - knowledge is power.
