Kellevision

Is Stranger Danger Real?

The media constantly bombards us with stories about "stranger danger" and warns parents to take precautions.  But how valid are these concerns?

What to Do if You Were Sexually Molested as a Child

Someone sent me a link to the story of Brigitte Harris who accidentally killed her father after she found out he was intended to molest other children as he had molested her.  Unfortunately, her story is not rare.  But she said something which deeply saddened me.

Mothers on the Sex Offender Registry

Can a mother end up on the Sex Offender Registry if she was not the molester? 

Are Foster Children Over-Medicated?

A two year investigation by the Government Accountability Office has shown that foster children are prescribed psychiatric durgs 2.7 to 4.5 times more than non-foster children and at much higher doses. 

Are We Overmedicating Our Children?

 Today Moms has an interesting article asking just that question. 

Some excerpts from the article:

“I give my younger daughter Benadryl and Tylenol almost every night – she loves the taste and begs for it.”

“I gave my child Benadryl to go to sleep – years later now, I am still embarrassed to admit it.”

“I gave my child Benadryl when he was mildly congested to guarantee he would fall asleep on time so I could get to bed at a decent hour.”

But turning to medication just to get your kid to sleep indicates a deeper problem.  According to Dr. Nancy Snyderman, medicating your children “every day is not OK. Drugs are never an OK substitute for parenting.” “If a mother is drugging a kid that much, it’s a parenting issue.”

And Today's Moms contributor Wendy Mogel states, “Moms are so nervous – what if she doesn’t get to sleep, then she’ll be tired and she has a math test tomorrow and then after the math test we have to go right to soccer practice…” Mogel told TODAY.com, her voice trailing off to indicate the never-ending to-do list that lives in every mom’s mind. “We’re taking shortcuts because parents are desperate.”

 

 

Emotions as Weapons: Anger and Bullying and Family Violence

A while back I wrote about emotions as weapons.  Unfortunately, I have witnessed a great deal of anger as a form of bullying in the past several months. 

Please, please, please let my child have a mental illness?

The mother grinned broadly and triumphantly when she announced that the psychiatrist had diagnosed her child with ADHD.  "I knew it!"  "No one would listen to me, but I knew it, and I was right!"

Generation RX - The Effects of Capitalism on the Practice of Medicine

"To call normal children diseased, abnormal, chemically imbalanced.  To make patients out of them for profit.  This is not only anti-scientific, it is contrary to our Hippocratic oath.  It is immoral, and it should be exposed and stopped."

Dr. Fred A. Baughman, MD
Neurologist and Author
As quoted from the movie, "Generation RX"

What a Difference a Year Makes!

Hello loyal readers.  I apologize for my absence, but I had to get some things straight in my own life.  So I quit my job working for an abusive boss and asked myself what kind of counseling I would do if I could any kind at all.  I've seen a lot of violence and I've learned that there is only so much I can do to stop it.  Though I can't change the entire world, I can create a safe place in my little corner of it.  And if there are two things I want most in this world, it is to save children and animals from violence.  So I created a nonprofit organization which rescues animals, rehabilitates them and works with them to provide animal assisted therapy to children who have experienced violence.  We are small, but growing and you can visit the website for my new organization, TherapyWorks.

As for this blog, I shall now take up my "pen" and try to return to regular posts.  I am reading all of your comments during this past year (I'll try to catch up on responding to them) and appreciate your patience. 

"If you don't live what you sing about your mirror is going to find out." 
Ani DiFranco,  "The Million You Never Made"

 

 

Children, Psychotropic Medications and Death

Jung at Heart writes about "Things to Worry About" on his blog.  His worries?  Overmedicated children.