The Unusual Advice
I’ve been lucky. Knock on wood. I’ve been lucky because generally speaking, none of the people in my life gave me insane advice about my children’s health.
Mainly because I’ve embraced most of it myself.
The unusual advice, I mean. The stuff I laughed at before I had kids. The stuff that once I had kids I thought, “huh. Maybe there’s something to it, after all.”
For example, when I was growing up, my Russian-born parents warned me against sitting on the ground.
“If you sit on the ground,” they’d warn, “you will not be able to have children when you’re older.”
“Because I sat on the ground?” I would ask.
“Because you sat on the cold ground,” they would respond. “It will freeze your female organs.”
For years, the thought that I’d accidentally sterilized myself haunted me, and I was semi-shocked to find out that my uterus had defrosted enough to sustain a pregnancy.
And yet I remember when my toddler daughter sat criss-cross apple sauce on the ground, or, OMG, on a rock, I’d flinch.
“Do you think it’s dangerous?” I’d ask my American-born husband.
“Because..it’s..dirty?” he would try. He had no clue why sitting on the ground would present a health hazard.
But I couldn’t shake it.
I didn’t want her sitting on the ground. I discouraged it. Not constantly, but nevertheless.
I also never bought into the fact that being cold doesn’t make you sick.
Please don’t try to confuse me with the facts. I grew up with that old wives’ tale and I bundle my kids up to keep them from getting sick. The fact that it doesn’t work doesn’t deter me. I’m doing the best I can, after all.
“You know numerous studies have disproven this, don’t you?” my husband would tell me. And of course I knew.
My pediatrician had told me as much– study after study of people standing outside in the cold rain, and not getting sick. Cold weather doesn’t make children sick. I get it.
But as a mom, I want that extra layer of clothing on my children.
A protective layer of fleece and of old wives’ tales.
Children’s health is at the top of every mother’s mind. What’s your favorite tip for raising a healthy baby? By replying, you will be entered to win an exclusive Million Moms Challenge Gift Pack, which includes an iPad2, a custom-made Million Moms Challenge pendant and a $50 donation in your name to Global Giving.
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This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Million Moms Challenge. The opinions and text are all mine. Contest runs November 14 to December 18, 2011. A random winner will be announced by December 20, 2011.