Category: School

Aloha Friday: The Santa Line

Aloha Friday, Holidays, Judaism, Parenting, Religion, School

As the holiday season draws near, certain challenges arise. As I ranted talked about before in Tis The Season For Bah Humbug, we don’t celebrate Christmas. Instead, we celebrate Chanukah. This means that we don’t need to put up a Christmas tree, stuff any stockings or tell our kids that Santa is going to come and visit. However, that last item does pose a tricky dilemma. Obviously, we don’t have any personal need for our children to think that Santa Claus is real. However, if we tell them that he isn’t (especially 6 year old NHL), then that story will be repeated to other kids. Kids whose parents have said that Santa would be stopping by soon.

We don’t wish any ill will towards other families’ beliefs and practices so this one has, for now, been relatively easy to circumvent. We haven’t told them about Santa’s reality one way or another. The boys understand that Santa relates to Christmas and we don’t celebrate Christmas. However, I wonder what will happen as they get older. Will they begin to ask for a better reason why Santa won’t visit us or whether we’re on the naughty list for not celebrating Christmas? Perhaps NHL will want to know how Santa gets to every house in the world in one night. Perhaps he will have other, not so easy to answer questions. (If there’s one thing I’ve learned is that kids have a tendancy to find and ask questions that are difficult to answer.)

The more I think about the questions they might ask, the more I wonder where the line is. At what point does our wishes not to burst any bubbles clash with our wishes to raise our children to believe certain things. To expand this past Santa Claus, what happens if NHL tells a classmate in Hebrew school that men evolved from primate ancestors when that child has been taught that mankind was created by God somewhere around 10,000 years ago. That could understandably cause a sticky situation. To go past my own children, what if an athiest couple’s child tells mine that God doesn’t exist?

My Aloha Friday question is: How do you reconcile teaching your child what you would want them to believe while not offending others’ beliefs?

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha Friday by Kailani at An Island Life

Aloha #16

Haircut Accomplished

JSL, NHL, Photos, School

Two days ago I wrote about our Horrendous Hair Cutting Controversy.  Well, yesterday we dropped NHL off at B’s parents’ house (his choice) and went off to get JSL’s hair cut.  On the way to the salon, JSL fell asleep in the car.  We walked inside, put our name on the waiting list (even though we were the next ones in line) and took a seat.

We were delighted to see that K was giving haircuts today.  She has done NHL’s hair many times and helped turn him from a nervous wreck during haircuts to a calm (well, nearly calm) big boy.  We got JSL out of his hat and coat and he reluctantly woke up.  He cuddled up to B as she sat in the chair and K prepared to cut JSL’s hair.  JSL quickly began calling for me, so B and I traded places.  She took the camera and I took the little one.  JSL shook his head a little bit but then he settled down and let K cut his hair.  He was very good and soon was sporting a new do.

NHL’s First Day With No Singulair = No Checks!

NHL, School

NHL has been off of Singulair for less than 24 hours now and what an improvement!  Yesterday, he had 5 checkmarks for bad behavior, including for drawing on his chair.  Normally, you can only get 3 per day so 2 of those would have transferred over to today.  Once NHL’s teacher heard about the Singulair theory, though, she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and start him off today with no checks.

Apparently, it was like night and day!  He listened, had body control, didn’t act out or yell.  He pinched a bit on the playground, but that was it.  B called me up after picking him up and put him on the phone.  He proudly told me that he got NO checks today and got a sticker for being so good!

Maybe it is too early to be so certain that it was the Singulair, but he hadn’t had a single no-check day while on it.  It seems a little too coincidental that the first day off of it would also just happen to be his first no-check day.  So I’m pretty certain now that all of his behavior problems were Singulair related.  Here’s hoping that his behavior improves even more as the days go on and the residual Singulair drains from his system.

Singulair The Source Of NHL’s Behavior Issues?

Medical, NHL, School

NHL had anohter bad day today.  Actually, bad doesn’t do it justice.  In addition to his normal bad behaviors, he was caught writing on his chair with crayon.  When told to clean it up (and given paper towels), he decided that the proper course of action would be to switch colors!

NHL has been on Singulair for awhile now to treat his seasonal allergies.  Some people report drastic behavior changes with Singulair use.  We’re not sure if this is the cause or not, but the doctor has ordered us to stop the Singulair for 3 weeks as a test to see if his behavior improves.  Here’s hoping it does.

While researching Singulair-related behavior issues, my wife pointed me at this site.  In it, I found the following post:

My 5 years old son has been on Singulair for 9 months. His allergy symptoms have completely gone away. He’s no longer has his night time cough, bloody nose, and frequent croup due to allergies.
My life has been a living HELL from the moment I started this medicine. Before he was on this medicine he was always a pleasant, smart, well-behaved child. Right after he started singulair he began having temper tantrums, becoming increasingly argumentative, not listening. He gets mood swings like you would not believe cry and/or yell at us over the silliest things, kicking, screaming, nightmares, and became very physically aggressive. We were unable to take him places because we never knew how he would behave in public .He was extremely unhappy little 5 year old boy. He also complained of upset stomach and fatigue. Even his school complained about his behavior and they said that he might have PDD. After consulting with doctors we got the assurance that he does not have PDD, but we end up changing his school anyway.
Being a first time mom I never thought it was the medication, I thought it was just a normal behavior. I thought as a parent I must be doing something wrong! I couldn’t believe that other parents have gone through the same nightmare.
Two weeks ago the doctor handed me a report about singulair and its suicidal side effect and ask me to stop using this medicine for a while. Since then I started to notice a dramatic change in our son’s behavior. He woke up singing, laughing. He wants to help with chores. He is doing great with his school lessons, and very patient with everyone. He is now a more stable and friendly 5 years old.
Wow, I have a completely different child, and thank God I took him off singulair.
As parents, please let’s do something to stop poisoning our children.

As I read this post, I had to double-check the poster to make sure that it wasn’t my wife posting it.  Up to the "physically aggressive" part, it fits NHL to a tee, though he never got nose bleeds.

So now NHL is off the Singulair.  We’re crossing our fingers that this is the cause and that he reverts back to Old NHL soon.

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