Three interesting things I learned tonight while eating a bowl of organic flax flakes with almond milk and reading the New York Times:
1. The "crack baby" scare proved unfounded. Turns out that pregnant women smoking crack doesn't really do permanent damage to the kids. Resilient devils, I've always said. While crack babies tend to be born smaller, they catch up in a few years. But research results on permanent effects are inconclusive. It should be noted that despite the lack of hard evidence against crack smoking while pregnant, no one appears to be recommending the practice, with the possible exception of crack dealers.
2. Although teen pregnancies have increased in recent years, teen sex is actually on the decline. According to the National Youth Risk Behavior Study, 48% of high school students have had sex, compared with 54% in 1991. And the improvement gets more pronounced with younger teens, although the data is not regularly updated. This is in sharp contrast to public perceptions, sensationalized by popular media, that there is a teen sex epidemic raging out of control. Now 48% is still a pretty high number, but the trend is certainly worth noting. And now I'm very curious as to why.
3. Babies instinctively put stuff in their mouths because it's good for them. It turns out that one of the best things for kids is to eat a little dirt, which strengthens the immune system and decreases the chances of future diseases. Dirt contains millions of organism and, most important, tiny worms. I know it sounds crazy, but scientists are attributing the elimination of intestinal worms in developed countries to increases in diabetes, asthma, allergies, Crohn's disease and multiple sclerosis. Three small fixes: Encourage your kids to play in the dirt, don't scold them when they stick yukky stuff in their mouths, and don't make them wash their hands before they eat.
Actually, I learned a few other things as well, but they didn't seem as profound. For instance, four-legged animals walk left rear foot first, then left front, right rear and right front, but about half the illustrations in books, manuals, etc. show this incorrectly. Not really sure what to do with that. Or this one: Tanzania's government recently banned traditional healers (witch doctors) in an attempt to stop the killing of albinos for medicine. To help combat common myths and prejudices, the prime minister has nominated an albino woman for parliament and adopted an albino child.
All the news that's fit to print.
I don't feel so bad now about not making MJ wash his hands before he eats. He hates to have it done, and I hate to do it... so we'll just keep it to after going potty.
ReplyDelete1. And to think that I could have been smoking crack this whole time...
ReplyDelete2. Did they give a standard deviation or margin for error on the studies? Depending on the sample size a 6% change might not say much.
3. I am an excellent mother! My kids play in dirt all the time, and, outside of fresh excrement, I don't much care what they put in their mouths. And I never make them wash their hands before dinner.
I wonder what you would have learned if you had eaten the New York Times and read the organic flax flakes...
I think I would have choked on the albino medicine story.
ReplyDeleteI always forget what I was going to say after I read Angelica's comments because I'm laughing too hard.
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