Letters to the Editor
Bollinl
Published Letters: 16 Editor's Choice: 5
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Invisible disabilities
[Read the article: Lost in space]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]There are a whole host of problems that manifest differently from Ms Crosley's spatial disability, but are still "invisible" to the world at large. It's nice to see a public discussion of a person who is evidently "twice exceptional"--that is, gifted but with special needs. It's a difficult path, and too many people--including teachers!--seem to think that you can only be one or the other: gifted, or learning disabled. Not so. Yet both sides of that equation need identified and accommodated. Who but a mom (well, okay, a committed parent) is likely to have the patience and drive to pursue both halves of a conflicting pattern of strengths and weaknesses? Sadly enough, even many parents haven't the least idea that such a pattern exists. Articles like this one may be most helpful in that they help to raise people's awareness that perfectly bright, able people may not be able to "just try harder and they'll be fine." I've got two kids with profiles like this one (the article talks about a 50pt discrepancy; my older child has a 45 pt one), and I can't tell you the number of times I've had to deal with doubt or unwillingness to help. The kids are bright enough to compensate, but it's so exhausting for them. Maybe if more people knew what these problems felt like, they'd be more willing to help!
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Diapers = women's freedom, too
[Read the article: Diaper-free nation]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]at least from the need to be 100% tied to the needs of their babies.
In Africa or Asia, in rural areas where families are outdoors most of the time, perhaps a toddler squatting off nearby isn't a problem, if mom misses the signals. In urban areas where babies spend most of their days indoors, what is asked for is hypervigilence on the part of the parent--usually the mom. Her life then must revolve around the needs of the baby, because baby running off to squat under the dining room table (a favorite place of my diapered eldest!) would be a real problem.
For attachment parents and some at-home moms, this plan may work. My great-grandmother claimed my grandmother was trained by 6 weeks, and had the lacy little baby undies to prove it.
For me, as a working mother, I'm sorry but--diapers are a useful convenience I would not have been willing to do without.
Now, when it comes closer to actual potty learning, then definitely parents need to undergo a bit more inconvenience and let the child feel she's wet--at least, my eldest, quite an economist, decided that diapers were made for peeing in and there was no point in choosing otherwise. Once she felt wet a few times because we moved away from diapers before she reliably dry, she decided potties were fine. I worked with the book Toilet Training in Less than a Day for my second child, and while it actually took most of a week, it was overall a positive experience for us both. But he was 2, not an infant.
Fewer lifetime diapers, yes. No diapers at all? No thank you.
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The problem is disease formation, not behavior per se
[Read the article: Staph infections: The right call]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Folks, the really scary thing about MRSA is how we are contributing to its increased strength with overprescription of antibiotics. MRSA is a normal, usually-pretty-harmless type of bacteria that has been morphed into a superbug by genetic swapping with other bacteria--other bacteria that "know" how to dodge our usual arsenal of antibiotics.
The more people (and farm animals) that use antibiotics unnecessarily, the more opportunities we give staph. and other formerly-harmless bacteria to develop similar resistance. MRSA is just an early instance of a whole array of bacteria that are now or may in the future become equally threatening unless we radically rethink our relation to microbes. Many microbes are actually our "friends"--we evolved in relation with those microbes, and we need them if we are to function effectively (digestion, vitamin K production, immune system development, etc.). We need to figure out how to keep the ecosystem of our bodies in better shape, not just target bad guy germs with our research dollars.
As for the specific people getting MRSA--canaries in the coal mine. And we're all in the coal mine with them.
(There are lots of good books out there on these issues if you're interested; Callahan, Infection or Sachs, Good Germs, Bad Germs are good places to start.)