Today, Moira had her 4 month immunizations. As I held my smiling, cooing, soon to be betrayed infant facing the evil nemisis in the form of a male Latino nurse with bright red scrubs, I had to wonder, as I have many times, with all our technology and scientific advances, why have we not found a nicer way to administer immunizations!?!
So I asked the kind, compentant, and accomodating male Latino nurse in bright red scrubs, why must we traumatize our wee ones with such barbaric practices? Don't get me wrong, I fully agree with and support mass immunization. We are much better off without polio, measles, mumps, rubella, etc., etc., etc. And I also think that those who refuse to immunize their children should be quarantined and given the afformentioned diseases. At best, I think they are ignorant, at worst, selfish and destructive.
But, I digress. Said nurse replied with some nonsense about immunity being in the blood stream and the immunizations being too fragile to be ingested. Ha! I just don't think anyone has tried hard enough to figure out a solution. Either that or it's just another way The Man is gettin' us down!
But what do you think?
Monday, August 29, 2005
Friday, August 26, 2005
Babies, Children, and Body Image
I'm just figuring out this whole blog thing, so things may be a bit rough for a while.
I wanted to title this posting "Babies, Children, and Body Image," but I don't have a place to put a title on this. Maybe it's the template I chose. Maybe I'm a little "Blog challenged."
Today at dinner, my six year old was eating a chicken breast and I noticed a bit of fat on the piece he was about to eat. I took it off and told him it was fat and he shouldn't eat it. He asked, "What is fat?"(Later on at dinner he asked what an Ice Age was and I realized I hadn't paid enough attention in science when I was in school.) I mumbled something about not burning all the calories you take in, but then I thought how nice it would be to not know what fat is. How different would I view my body if I didn't know what fat is. I wouldn't feel bad, I don't think, that I still have 12 pounds of baby fat to lose and a whole size to go before I fit into my prepregnancy clothes. I would buy the kind of ice cream that tastes the best. If I could just see me as a person and not a flabby, frumpy house frau, how would that change my self image?
Whenever I put her in front of a mirror, she grins like she's just seen the best thing since full breasts. She loves what she sees in the mirror--and her thighs look chunkier than mine! (It's true that she is the cutest darn thing I've seen since her brother was that age.) I want her to always smile when she looks in the mirror. I want to always smile when I look in the mirror. Can I change what I feel is important about the way I look. Can I accept a neat appearance and a bright countenance as a perfect reflection, blemishes, wrinkles, bags under the eyes and all?
My aunt lived in South Africa for a few years. She once met an old woman who had lived her life in a village away from "civilization." My aunt took a polaroid of her. When she saw what would be the first ever image of herself, she cried, "I like me!"
How wonderful is that! As a parent, I want my children to be able to look in the mirror with a smile and say, "I like me!" But I think I have to realize that for myself first.
I have decided to start the next time I look in the mirror, and every subsequent time, to smile and say, "I like me!"
I wanted to title this posting "Babies, Children, and Body Image," but I don't have a place to put a title on this. Maybe it's the template I chose. Maybe I'm a little "Blog challenged."
Today at dinner, my six year old was eating a chicken breast and I noticed a bit of fat on the piece he was about to eat. I took it off and told him it was fat and he shouldn't eat it. He asked, "What is fat?"(Later on at dinner he asked what an Ice Age was and I realized I hadn't paid enough attention in science when I was in school.) I mumbled something about not burning all the calories you take in, but then I thought how nice it would be to not know what fat is. How different would I view my body if I didn't know what fat is. I wouldn't feel bad, I don't think, that I still have 12 pounds of baby fat to lose and a whole size to go before I fit into my prepregnancy clothes. I would buy the kind of ice cream that tastes the best. If I could just see me as a person and not a flabby, frumpy house frau, how would that change my self image?
Whenever I put her in front of a mirror, she grins like she's just seen the best thing since full breasts. She loves what she sees in the mirror--and her thighs look chunkier than mine! (It's true that she is the cutest darn thing I've seen since her brother was that age.) I want her to always smile when she looks in the mirror. I want to always smile when I look in the mirror. Can I change what I feel is important about the way I look. Can I accept a neat appearance and a bright countenance as a perfect reflection, blemishes, wrinkles, bags under the eyes and all?
My aunt lived in South Africa for a few years. She once met an old woman who had lived her life in a village away from "civilization." My aunt took a polaroid of her. When she saw what would be the first ever image of herself, she cried, "I like me!"
How wonderful is that! As a parent, I want my children to be able to look in the mirror with a smile and say, "I like me!" But I think I have to realize that for myself first.
I have decided to start the next time I look in the mirror, and every subsequent time, to smile and say, "I like me!"
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