A Tiny Soap Box

I'd say one of the hardest parts of being a parent is the requirement to suddenly know everything. I need to be a nutritionist, a lactation consultant, a dermatologist, an environmental geologist, fluent in sign language, an allergy specialist, a nurse, an insomniac (for extra study time), a psychiatrist, a sleep therapist...the list goes on. (And then they want us to be "yummy mummies" too, give me a break!) Sometimes I wish I lived in "the olden days" where a person was allowed to know very little. If you were a corn farmer than you knew all the ins and outs of corn and that was your field but no one expected you to also know about cotton or tobacco or global economics or allergies or the price of tea on China.

But I live in today. And in the Age of Information if I DON'T educate myself then I'm a sitting duck for blindly following all of the latest fads and fashions...right over the next cliff. There are a plethora of experts out there vying for my undying allegiance and I am unwilling to sit at their feet and swallow each word they spoon feed me.

I don't like being told what to do, I never have. If someone says jump all I want to do is sit and this hasn't changed now that I'm a mother. Now when I get my embossed list of "2010 new rules for raising your child" I have to look everything up for myself because I know that the 2011 list will be entirely different and this makes me feel responsible for figuring out my own way for my own family. You know what I'm talking about: bottle feeding is best/ breastfeeding is best, sleep on their tummies/ sleep on their backs, feed 5 minutes on each side/ oops that doesn't work, this drug is safe/ this drug causes cancer... It's frustrating to stay on top of the latest scientific finds, even doctors can't stay on top of ALL of it.

So on this note and at the risk of stepping on a toe or two, I'm recommending some books. If you're a person who is concerned about the vaccination controversy I'd recommend that part of your reading and research include these two books.

I am hardly an extremist, I don't have an agenda, I do not hate doctors, and I'm not going to picket or chain myself to a tree; I just found these books to be informative and if there is anyone reading this blog who is looking for information, you may benefit from these books.

Lots of the vaccination information on both sides is radical and hysterical and I'm not interested in the 'foaming at the mouth' opinions. These books aren't necessarily for or against vaccination but both encourage a common sense approach. Jenny McCarthy has also written her personal story called Louder Than Words which is my next read. And the best thing about these books is that you can get them for free at your local library.



And one quick photo of the little miss eating her Easter treats. And no, I didn't feed her chocolate. I'm a nutritionist/dietitian/allergy specialist, remember?