In September I had the honor and privilege of speaking to pediatricians at the Annual Meeting of The Irish and American Paediatric Society in Charleston, SC. The meeting was great, so great that Dr. Jan Van Eyes, Emeritus Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at Vandy and I volunteered to host the 2015 meeting. I am sure I will have more to say about the wisdom of that decision in later posts.
But, even greater than the meeting meeting with old friends and enjoying the beautiful, ocean town of Charleston. At the left is a picture of the restaurant that over-fed us Friday night. In the picture to the right Mary is standing by what is said to be the oldest tulip tree in Charleston. We
love to eat outdoors and do so whenever we get the chance. That night was special! The sun was hidden by soft clouds and the gentle breeze swept the hot, humid air out to sea. The food was outstanding and the staff were gracious. It was a dinner out of the Southern Living Magazine!
On the right is the entrance to the garden which houses the indoor and outdoor dining rooms. The buildings in Charleston are close together and most of them have gardens in the narrow spaces between. Shade from the houses protects delicate plants from the hot, hot sun and allows Charlestonians to have some of the most beautiful gardens in the country.
As a side note, Alaska, strangely enough, also has some very beautiful gardens. The long growing season combined with the long, cool, summer days provides just the right climate to produce sensational flowers, and unbelievably large vegs. Mary and I went to the Alaska State Fair some years and saw heads of cabbage bigger than bushel baskets. Some were three feet in diameter. They showed carrots three feet long and 6-8 inches across at the crown. But I digress!
I want to talk a bit about the meeting. There are many department heads and seasoned research physicians who are members of the Society. They and the pediatric residents from both Ireland and the USA presented many interesting papers. I always learn so much at these meetings. There were four or five papers on breast feeding telling of the advantages of breast milk, how to get more moms to nurse and the like. Ireland, they said, has the lowest percentage of nursing mothers in the western world.
I, of course, talked about parenting. This year for the first time there was one other paper on parenting. I felt a strong bond with Dr. Ian MacDonald who presented it. Ian is the author of A Pediatrician’s Blueprint. After my talk he told me all he was going to say was, “Ditto, Par.” But his call, like mine, was to ask pediatricians to spend more time helping parents do a better job.
Now don’t get me wrong, there are many great parents who have raised or are raising super-great kids, but there so many parent who have no idea of what they are doing, as proven by the high number of high school dropouts and the ever burgeoning problem of juvenile delinquency. I suggested that we were failing our families and their children. We spend hours talking about breast feeding, which I agree is important, but as far as I know no baby died in the US in the past couple of years from not being breast fed.
Meantime, every day 1,825 US kids are found to be abused or neglected. Everyday 208 children are arrested for violent crimes, 467 for drug crimes and 914 babies are born to single teen mothers. Accidental injury, murder and suicide are the number 1, 2, and 3 causes of teen deaths in the US.
Both Dr MacDonald and I talked about how Sunday mornings now find kids on the soccer fields instead of in the churches. How churches are being closed and boarded up, how public schools are being penalized for allowing student to pray! The Ten Commandments are banned from the public buildings, an employees are forbidden from even saying Merry Christmas”. It’s not a pretty picture!
“If we are to succeed as a country and perhaps as a world,” Dr MacDonald noted. “We need to shake loose from the “politically correct” police and return our country to God.” And I agree!
I concluded by saying, “Pediatricians may have been a small part of the problem, but we can and must be a large part of the solution.”
Parenting is not an easy job, but parenting books and pediatricians who read them can be helpful. If you are having problems with your kids talk to your pediatrician about the problem. Or, what the heck, get your self a copy of Tools for Effective Parenting, A Pediatrician’s Blueprint, or some other good parenting book and make a difference in your kids lives.