In this article from Today, researchers send out questionnaires to 26,000 mothers in an attempt to better understand parenting behavior. They found the following answers:
– 45% of moms would rather weigh 15 pounds less than add 15 points to their child’s IQ.
– 42% of moms would prefer a 50% raise at work than spend 50% more time with their kids.
– 23% of moms would choose a different spouse to raise a family with.
– 1 in 5 moms medicate their child with Benadryl or Tylenol before a long car or flight.
I think these statistics show us that children really are not always the problem. Parents just often want to think of themselves before their children, and often will not admit that. The need to medicate children just to cope really shows that there are very deep underlying issues involved in the practice of medicating children for the right reasons. The topic of losing weight instead of raising your child’s IQ is really a sad reality, since working out can easily cause any mother lose weight. These mothers just seem lazy, self centered and have their priorities mixed up. In regards to these statistics and the documentary about medicating children, I think there needs to be less of a focus on the problems caused by children, and more of a focus on dealing with parenting. Medication should never be the quick fix that it’s being used as. Tylenol and Benadryl might not cause that much harm, as opposed to anti-depressants, but they are being used as sedatives instead of their intended purpose. If a parent does not want to spend time with their children, and deal with the hardships of raising an active kid, they should seek therapy or an alternative to these medications.
It is a bit rushed attack on mothers. Where are other 58% that prefer to spend more time with children than get a raise. And we should take into account the reasons for those 42% percent who prefer the raise to do so. Maybe they can’t satisfy their children’s primary needs with their salary. Why is it that medicated kids for a long flight is a wrong reason. It may be in child’s best interest to make this unpleasant experience more comfortable. Is media trusted to set standards for good and bad parenting?
First off, we all know that surveys in general have a lot of problems that come along with them like, survey size, whether the survey was done on paper or face-to-face, biases in questions, etc. However, I believe these percentages as true to a certain extent. I think mothers today have become more reliant on medications and are quicker to give their children a quick fix of some Tylenol if they are acting out or simply as a precautionary measure. However, I cannot say I blame these mothers entirely. Mothers today most likely do not leave the doctors office without a prescription in their hand. As a mother of a 5 year old myself, I know how much pressure doctors exert on you to give your child medication. My daughter has reactive airway disease, which is a fancy way of saying a breathing problem that might develop into asthma and the doctor wanted me to give my daughter steroids through a nebulizer three times a day. I was not fond of the idea and took an alternative route.
Also, look at the amount of shots infants and children have to get growing up. Really, the swine flu…I believe that was created by the pharmaceutical companies. Anyhow, most of these drugs and vaccinations have not been tested for long-term side effects but are still given to children. I also believe mothers are uninformed and undereducated about these drugs. I think mothers are quick to give their children medications because of the wide acceptance of pharmaceutical drug use due to the power of the medical profession and also the trust these mothers have in their doctors because of that power. We are a society of a “quick fix” or “magical pill” that we believe will fix or solve all our problems. Unfortunately, most of these problems cannot be fixed with a pill.
Also, what does the spouse question have to do with anything? I’m sure most women feel that way about their husbands. When don’t you hear a woman complaining about her husband. Also, what about the single mothers who have no spouse. Does this make them horrible mothers?
The question about the weight and the IQ blows my mind. Why can’t women raise their child’s IQ and lose weight at the same time. Healthy, active mothers raise healthy, active children. Therefore, I believe women do need to put their priorities first in order to help their children accomplish anything.
Make more money or spend time with kids? I believe this a question and problem for every parent in America in the 21st century, especially in NYC. It has become so expensive to live in New York that you need to work and sacrifice spending time with your children. It is no longer the 1950’s where pa went to work and ma stood home with the kids and cooked and cleaned. Those days are long over; one income is no longer sufficient. There are many social factors that play into all of this, we cannot just blame these mothers.
Well we all know that surveys have a lot of problems that come along with them in general like sampling size/error, whether it was done on paper or face-to-face, biases in questions, etc. However, I do believe these percentages to be true to a certain extent. I think mothers today are quicker to give their child medications or Tylenol if their child is acting out or simply as a precautionary measure for flights and long car rides. I think this is due to the wide acceptance of pharmaceutical drug use due to the power of the medical profession as well as mothers trust in their doctors due to that power. Today, it is very unlikely if a mother leaves a doctor’s office without a prescription in her hand. The amount of pressure doctors exert on mothers to give their children prescription drugs is enormous. We live in a society of a “quick fix” or “magical pill” to solve all our problems. Unfortunately, there are just some problems in life that cannot be solved with a pill.
Also, about the women would said they would prefer to raise their children with someone other than their spouse is not that surprising. What woman doesn’t complain about her husband? What about the single mothers who have no spouse? Does this make them horrible mothers?
The one about the weight lose and raising their child’s IQ just blows my mind. Why can’t these women do both? Healthy, active mothers make healthy, active kids. I think a mother should put her priorities first in order to help her child accomplish anything.
Make more money or spend more time with the kids? I think this is a question and problem for every parent in America in the 21st century, especially in NYC. It has become so expensive to live in New York; parents are forced to work more. It is no longer the 1950’s where pa would go off to work and ma would stay home with the kids, cooking and cleaning. Those days are long over; one income is no longer sufficient. There are many social issues involved here; we cannot just blame these mothers.
I am happy you found an article that relates the issue of medicating children with that of the lifestyle of the family (in this case the mom). Medication and its belief system (in the sense that its builds an acceptance and expectation that is consistent in the social sense) we can agree has had a strong impact on our daily social relations. It offers an answer to many of the daily issues that may impede the modern life. The Medication industry has exploded to involve in all aspects of human life whether it be for enhancing sexual pleasure, curing baldness, or even help concentrate in school. The modern life is busy fast-paced, with free time getting farther and farther in between for parents (especially that of single homed or poorer parents). Though i agree with your assessment of self-serving parents, it is probably due to the increasing lifestyle and promotion of ideas that lead some to value oneself over their own children and using medication as a means to provide an immediate solution. Not only that we have private pharmaceutical companies that through advertising in conjunction with doctors, offer simple solutions to parents without enough knowledge to say whats the alternative. At least it seemed that way to me in the documentary we saw in class, the system seemed to be able to convince unsuspecting parents to use medications that could even kill or cause suicidal tendencies. Alternatives aren’t always apparent in a busy lifestyle, and increased stressors will surely increase the consumption medications “with simple answers”.