Grrr... writer's block!

[logophile]

Once again, it's time to sit down and write and I'm all blocked up. I write a monthly parenting column for a local magazine and I'm on deadline. I can't even figure out what I want to write about! In the last several months, I've written about:

Not letting your baby cry it out
Taking road trips with children
Writing a holiday letter with your kids' involvement
Teaching tolerance
Children's fashion - cute not cool
The importance of the Nestle boycott
Siblings at birth
Helping your kids find religion when you don't have any

I'm supposed to balance heavy stuff with fluff and keep my column, "friendly, readable and under 700 words."

Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks in advance!

 

[impressive]

helping kids understand the tsunami/natural disasters ???

Edited to add:

child-led weaning

the family bed

thumb sucking

nurturing early readers

 

[logophile]

helping kids understand the tsunami/natural disasters ???

Edited to add:

child-led weaning

the family bed

thumb sucking

nurturing early readers

Now why didn't I think of that? Thanks Imp!

 

[impressive]

Thanks Imp!

de nada

 

[logophile]

helping kids understand the tsunami/natural disasters ???

Edited to add:

child-led weaning

the family bed

thumb sucking

nurturing early readers

Imp? Are we the same mother? My last (current) article was about not letting the baby cry it out, with a heavy slant towards family bed. I use my column frequently to discuss nursing my older-than-average child. We were a homeschooling family for years, so I've covered nurturing your learning child, and embrassing his/her style repeatedly. The only thing you have there that I haven't written about is thumb sucking. Please oh please tell me how you feel about thumb sucking!

Thanks!

 

[logophile]

OK, I'm rolling with Imp's tsunami idea, but I want to ask another question. I know what I've been telling my kids about it, but for the other parents out there... what have you been saying about it? What seems to scare your child the most about the situation? Have you been able to calm any fears grief with your words? Thanks again!

 

[impressive]

Imp? Are we the same mother? My last (current) article was about not letting the baby cry it out, with a heavy slant towards family bed. I use my column frequently to discuss nursing my older-than-average child. We were a homeschooling family for years, so I've covered nurturing your learning child, and embrassing his/her style repeatedly. The only thing you have there that I haven't written about is thumb sucking. Please oh please tell me how you feel about thumb sucking!

Thanks!

LOL. We may be. My "babies" are a bit older now, but I did the whole extended nursing, family bed thing (and loved it). Each of my 3 children weaned him-/herself (at 8 months, 26 months, and 22 months). Homeschooled one child for a couple years, too. (I'm not cut out for THAT!)

My subscription to "Mothering" (the only parenting mag I've ever bothered to read) ran out a year or so ago -- about the time I decided I wanted a bit of a life for myself, too.

I don't have a problem with thumb sucking (or pacifiers), personally.

 

[BlackShanglan]

If you would tell me what the Nestle boycott is, I might be persuaded?

 

[Guest]

OK, I'm rolling with Imp's tsunami idea, but I want to ask another question. I know what I've been telling my kids about it, but for the other parents out there... what have you been saying about it? What seems to scare your child the most about the situation? Have you been able to calm any fears grief with your words? Thanks again!

My girls have been full of questions and I've attempted to answer each and every one of them as they come up, and in a way they'll understand. I watch a lot of news on the telly and they watch it, too. I know some of the images have been harrowing, but I am here to answer any of their questions and allay any concerns.

Their immediate reaction was one of disbelief. They couldn't seem to grasp the enormity of what had happened, especially my six (very nearly seven) year old. My eight year old seemed to understand much better and she was more pragmatic about it. She asked how it happened, why it happened and why so many people were on the beach when the waves came. I explained the science and geology behind it - which she understood. She then went and found one of her science books and looked up tsunamis, then spent the rest of the day reading about earthquakes and so on. I think she now knows more than me on the subject.

My younger daughter's questions were more along the lines of personal concerns. We live just a couple of miles away from the sea and she asked if it could happen here. She certainly seemed fearful of going to the beach again. I then explained to her that, no, it wouldn't and couldn't happen here. I explained why, telling her about fault lines and so on, using the aid of pictures and diagrams in my older daughter's book.

Kids don't seem to grieve and get upset by such disasters as much as adults do. I mean, they do get sad, but they seem to focus on the whys and hows, not the ramifications. They have been very aware of the fact that aid is needed in the region and they, along with a couple of friends, have instigated a fund raising event at their school, to take place tomorrow.

When they asked why it had happened, I merely explained to them that that's nature. The Earth has been moving and shifting for millions and billions of years and it will never stop. I know they understood, and they definitely seem less fearful of things now.

I don't know if any of that helps!

Lou

 

[impressive]

OK, I'm rolling with Imp's tsunami idea, but I want to ask another question. I know what I've been telling my kids about it, but for the other parents out there... what have you been saying about it? What seems to scare your child the most about the situation? Have you been able to calm any fears grief with your words? Thanks again!

My kids are so incredibly different. The youngest (6) just seems to have a passing interest. The middle kid (9) is ultra sensitive. [He had nightmares for weeks after watching a Discovery Channel program about the sun going out -- even though that'll be gazillions of years in the future, long after he's dust.] The oldest (11) gets into all the fund raising efforts, but only 'cause he has his mother's altruistic/activist genes. He doesn't seem to have any grasp of the scope of the event.

So, for the middle child, we talk -- a LOT. His concern is not for the people currently affected, but instead that it might happen to him. Typical, I suppose, for a kid.

 

[English Lady]

My little girl at only 3 is not really aware of it. However we've watched a few fooball matches of late and they've all had a minute silence at the beginning for those effected by the tsunami and I've insisted on her staying quiet each time.

I've told her that it was to think about the poor people who had lost their friends and family and houses and everything in the big big wave. She seemed to accept that with little difficulty but otherwise she's not really aware of it.

 

[matriarch]

Once again, it's time to sit down and write and I'm all blocked up. I write a monthly parenting column for a local magazine and I'm on deadline. I can't even figure out what I want to write about! In the last several months, I've written about:

Not letting your baby cry it out
Taking road trips with children
Writing a holiday letter with your kids' involvement
Teaching tolerance
Children's fashion - cute not cool
The importance of the Nestle boycott
Siblings at birth
Helping your kids find religion when you don't have any

I'm supposed to balance heavy stuff with fluff and keep my column, "friendly, readable and under 700 words."

Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks in advance!

Diet, difficult and pernickity eaters. How to cope with it.

 

[logophile]

A big thanks to Imp, Mat, Lou, and EL for your help. I got booted last night and then spent the rest of the evening trying to clean up all the little nasties on my harddrive. In the process I lost about 200 words of my column that I hadn't saved. Grrr! What a night...

I'm about to finish writing my column now. I did decide to go with the theme of helping your child with natural disasters. I hope it's going to be OK. Of course, I usually hate everything I write until it's finish and then I hate it a little less.

For you, Shanglan... My article on the Nestle boycott... Remember, my columns have to be friendly and readable in 700 words or less (though this one went over). There is lots more to be said about this subject but I just didn't have room for it all!

----------

The Nestle boycott is (still) important.

I was eight years old when I first heard about the Nestlé boycott. My mom and I were buying chocolate chips to make cookies for school. As I grabbed a bag of Tollhouse, my mom made a concerned face, and then reluctantly said, “No, it’s okay, this is your project and you can buy those chips if you’d like.” I asked her why it mattered. She told me our church was part of an internationally organized Nestlé boycott. I picked another brand.
My mom’s very simple explanation of Nestlé’s transgressions went something like this: “Nestlé talks poor women in poor countries into feeding their babies formula instead of breast milk and it can make the babies really, really sick. Sometimes they even die.” In 1984, Nestlé agreed to curtail their marketing of artificial baby milk. As a result, INFACT (Infant Formula Action Coalition) suspended their seven-year boycott. I felt good about having helped make a change. I didn’t think about the boycott again for years.

No substitute.
When Lena was born in a hospital in 1995, I received the de rigueur gift of infant formula. When she was a week old, the milk hit the fan in our breastfeeding relationship. My nipples were infected and Lena lost interest in nursing. I called my doctor and was told to give her a bottle. There was that formula, sitting there, waiting. I cracked open a can and filled a bottle for my baby girl. I cried in frustration that I had given in so easily while I watched her drink it down.
Had I known that Nestlé was still perpetuating this scenario all over the world, I would have cried even harder. I didn’t realize that the formula I received was in direct violation of the World Health Organization (WHO) code prohibiting the direct marketing of artificial baby milk to consumers. The International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes (commonly known as the Code*) gives a long and compelling list of reasons why it is unethical to directly market artificial baby milk, bottles, nipples and early first foods to the public.

Pushers in white UNIFORMS.
In poor nations, the formula-feeding cycle starts with a free six-week supply of ready-to-feed artificial baby milk from a formula manufacturer (like Nestlé). It comes either from local health clinics or corporate representatives dressed in the white uniforms that public health nurses also wear. All mothers’ have to do is wash the bottles, open the can, pour and feed. Easy. Because of an economic need to return to work, many women use the formula. Others want to emulate their western counterparts.
When the free milk runs out, it’s time to figure out what to do next. For most women, the breastmilk supply is significantly reduced or completely gone by this time. Families with access to livestock can give the baby cow or goat’s milk. But medical experts agree babies shouldn’t have that kind of milk until they are at least a year old; it’s too hard to digest and can cause serious diarrheal illnesses.
For families with no livestock, formula-feeding is a must. But formula is expensive, and in most third world countries there are no government subsidy programs like our WIC program that provides free formula to needy families. And ready-to-feed formulas are hard to buy in third world countries because of their short shelf life. An alternative is powdered formula, which must be mixed with sterile water in sterile bottles, kept cold once prepared and used within 24 hours. In places where there are no reliable sources of clean water or refrigeration, this is a dangerous proposition – a bottle-fed baby is 25 times more likely to die from diarrhea than a breastfed one. Also, because formula is so expensive, many mothers use only half as much powder as they should, further compromising their babies’ health.

Nestlé… Good Start?
I am often asked about my ongoing boycott of Nestlé. Many people knew about the first boycott, which ended 20 years ago, but most (like me) didn’t realize that it was reinstated in 1988. Initially, At the time the ban was lifted, Nestlé promised to implement the Code in developing countries, and at first suspended some of its more blatant violations. But by 1987, Nestlé was flooding the market with free baby milk substitutes again. The WHO called on Nestlé to stop, but they didn’t.
Nestlé is certainly not the only manufacturer of formula, but they are the largest, and the most shameless violator of the Code. The other big guys at least pretend they’re trying to follow the guidelines, but not Nestlé. They even bring lawsuits against countries who try to implement the Code as law (20 countries have done this, and another 27 have provisions written into existing laws), under the auspices of free trade violation.

Nestlé is a huge conglomerate, and boycotting them is not easy. But a few years ago, we wrote the company letters, informing them of our decision (a key component), and started boycotting again.

I feel good when my kids voluntarily say, “No thank you, we don’t eat Nestlé candy at our house.”

*See the whole Code at www.ibfan.org/english/resource/who/fullcode.html