Should Your 9 Year Old Be Allowed to Breastfeed?

Really!? I am sitting here trying to figure out why this is so disturbing to me and I realize because it is making my daughter focus on something that honestly is mentally difficult for ME to comprehend. Hey I did the boob juice thing – and let me tell you friends, I went to the extreme to get it done. I INDUCED LACTATION FOR GOD’S SAKES with pills, I pumped for months on end when my kids were in NICUs….you want dedication!? I WAS DEDICATED. Hell I could have been the POSTER girl for La Leche…the sisters over there worshiped me. They wanted to make molds of my breasts to worship and then go on a book tour. Okay Okay maybe not but still…fact is I am a firm believer in breastfeeding….

That being said. I am also a huge fan of sex, sipping wine, gambling and all other kinds of activities that we adults like to do. I would argue that for consenting adults sex is just as natural as breastfeeding but I am not buying my sons an  inflatable doll so they can practice now. JUST BECAUSE THERE ARE THINGS WE DO AS ADULTS, DOES NOT MEAN OUR CHILDREN SHOULD BE EMULATING A BEHAVIOR THAT IS NATURAL FOR AN ADULT AS A CHILD. Look I am sure my daughter will be having cocktails with us when she is of age – am I giving her pretend little vodka and martini sets to start practicing how to mix mama a mai thai?!! (Oh…note to self ..not a bad idea to have the KIDS mix the drinks to save time  so I can do my makeup…I kid I kid.)

Honestly, just take a look at that picture with that little girl. Feeling a little awkward? Wanna look away? Doesn’t something inside just make you feel like…”oh thats not right.” Yeah…I thought so.

Bottom line: Don’t try THIS at home kids.

Are Your Children TV Addicts?

Some days I wish my daughter WOULD WATCH TV all day!!! Does that make me a bad mother???? I try to FORCE her to watch TV – but no luck??? Am I the only one who has a child who won’t watch tv??? Even when I absolutely need her to?  I should be embarrassed to admit this but if you knew my daughter, you would understand. She epitomizes the energizer bunny.  She just doesn’t ever stop.  Most days I cant even cook her breakfast without witnessing the terror attacks on our cat with the laundry hamper (she traps the cat underneath it like a cage and tries to be “nice”),  the stampede on our 13 year old pitbull (Most days she tries to see how long she can stand on the poor dog while she flips around on the swivel chair–thank god our dog is docile), the destruction of every piece of furniture and wall in the house and soooo much more!!! She is out of control.

I feel like I have to pick my battles most days. If I dont, I end up SCREAMING at her all day and my vocabulary consitsts of  — NO, dont do that. DOnt do this! Stop it!!! Im warning You!!! Come here!!! NO NO NO!!! We dont eat crayons!!! NO NO NO, we dont take off our diapers!!! And so on and so on!!!

There are times I BEG her to watch TV!!! Just for 30 minutes! Doesn’t work! Go figure!

Anyway, this new study by the Seattle Children’s Hospital Research Institute, indicates that television may reduce speech in the home and, in turn, could hinder a young child’s language development.

Researchers at attached a small, business-card-size devices to 329 children from 2 months to 4 years old on random days each month during a two-year period to capture everything a child heard and said. They found that while the average adult speaks about 1,000 words an hour, that number goes down by 25 percent to 50 percent when a television set is on.

“This builds a pretty strong argument that television delays language development,” said Dr. Dimitri A. Christakis, director of the Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development at Seattle Children’s Hospital Research Institute and professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine. “And the effects of learning words is not just about language development but also cognitive development.”

Christakis suggests eliminating TV for children under 2 years and limiting television time to two hours a day for older kids. He also said parents should keep the television off during meals, avoid using TV as a reward, keep TV out of the bedrooms and turn off the tube when a chosen program ends.

Now, this is coming from just one mother of a two year old, but I have not noticed any delay in her speech development from watching TV. In fact, I’ve noticed she picks up new words and songs. She can even sing her ABC’s now, count to 10 and sing the Barney Song. She knows a lot of other songs also that we didn’t teach her that she picked up from the Sprout channel – The Happy Birthday Song, Twinkle Twinkle and a bunch more! And she is 22 months old. She knows a lot of colors and other things they include in the shows and when we play together, her Dad an I reinforce those things as well. We read books, sing songs, count to 10, do puzzles, and pretend play but COME ON — how much of that can you do in a day???

Obviously, if you left your child in front of the TV all day and didnt interact with him/her at all, OBVIOUSLY, that would impair social skills and cognitive development. They learn from copying others around them and speech is best learned through real human interaction.

Have you ever tried to learn to speak another language through DVD’s and books??? Not so good right??? But what if you moved to that country and actually interacted with the natives??? Language skills and fluency jumped through the roof, right?? You pick up the meanings of sooo many more words and expression simply through observing and communicating with a human being. Things like that you can’t pick up from TV, a book or a class.  However, they can reinforce what you’ve learned through repetition and further practice on your own.

Children are the same way. They learn from actual real life communications with their parents and TV, books, etc. can reinforce that k nowledge. Leave them in front of the TV all day and you only get half the recipe.

I am not sure how these researchers came to the conclusion that children should not watch ANY TV at all.  In my humble opinion, everything in moderation can be useful, healthy and even further your child’s development.  But don’t take my word for it. I’m no certified scientist or child development researcher.

What do you do during the day with your children?? What kind of activies do you participate in? Do you let them watch TV??

Oobi…WTF Award Winner

And the WTF award of the day goes to…………………Oobi Read more