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Dr. Woodlief’s Hypocritic Oath
September 5th, 2008 Posted in Snapshots of LifeThe very night after I wrote my little rant about how we need to quit being so selfish and let children suffer a little, Eli woke me at one in the morning with growing pains in his legs. He had complained to his mother before bedtime, and she gave him arnica, which is a homeopathic remedy. She is barely five feet tall. She doesn’t know from growing pains. Needless to say, her magic pellets didn’t work.
And so there he was by my bedside at 1 a.m. All I could focus on was how I had only just fallen asleep, and how I needed to be up at 5:30, and how it usually takes me at least half an hour to go back to sleep once I am awakened by a child needing attention, or a wife who is convinced that a team of terrorists has infiltrated the house.
What wasn’t on my mind was my self-righteous little bit about sitting up with one’s kids and helping them face their discomfort. No sir. It was straight to the children’s Tylenol. If I’d been more awake, I probably would have given him a shot of Johnny Walker too.
Which is all just to say that you should do as I say, not as I do. But I suppose those of you who really know me already knew that.
One Response to “Dr. Woodlief’s Hypocritic Oath”
By Donna B.
on Sep 6, 2008
hah… my mother always gave me a choice of suffering. I could either put up with whatever was ailing me (and suffer from those growing pains, I did! I feel for your poor kid.) or, I could get a dose of Ipecac.
I’d like to think, that had Tylenol been available, she’d have given it to me