A few days ago a woman in our practice was getting checked to see if she needed an adjustment. While having her spinal analysis she spoke about her family and how difficult it was to relate to her teenage daughter. In learning some of what was going on in this woman\u2019s life, it reminded me about how being a parent is demanding \u2013 and it\u2019s not getting any easier. She was facing many of the same challenges we did when our kids were younger, but with advanced technology, and the complexities of today\u2019s world, it\u2019s getting ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.youneedchiro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/decisions-150x150.jpg\")
more and more difficult to be a parent. Kids may think that their parents have it easy because they wield all the power, but if they only knew the reality. The stakes are high, and parents often feel a bit helpless when trying to make the right decisions to give our children the opportunities they need to flourish.<\/p>\n
It occurs to me that one of the things that make it so difficult is that we care so very much. We care about their health, happiness, grades, friends, and the list goes on and on. Unfortunately deciding not to care isn\u2019t an option, so we do the best we can with what we know and have available to us.<\/p>\n
The difficulties confronting today\u2019s parents involve all facets of life, intersecting with education, cultural, economic, racial and even political overtones. It\u2019s become so complicated that we often find ourselves looking to experts for answers. We also live in an age where it\u2019s harder than ever to trust expert opinion, and upon closer examination we find that the experts don\u2019t seem to agree with each other. So just what are we supposed to do when the experts disagree?<\/p>\n
It seems as though people are finding many different ways to answer that question and we can see their impact on changes in our way of life. In some ways people are beginning to take control. Nowadays we find supermarkets offering organic foods that they laughed at a decade ago. Health foods didn\u2019t just happen, you demanded them and the economics of your demands changed what\u2019s on the shelves. Health care is also changing based on your demands. For example, you couldn\u2019t imagine hospital emergency rooms advertising for business ten years ago. Similarly, educators are having serious introspective conversations about goals, methods and outcomes; and home school families aren’t nearly as rare as they were a few years ago. These are but a few of the changes reflecting the power of informed people. All of this being said, getting the right information to make informed choices remains difficult for parents.<\/p>\n
Today a practice member asked me whether I thought it would be good for her family members to get flu shots. As a chiropractor it\u2019s not relevant to my practice, nor is it within my professional expertise to offer advice on the subject. After I told her that she asked me whether I was getting a flu shot. I\u2019m skeptical of anything where big money is involved, and as a consumer just like her, I have to look at the evidence before making that kind of decision. We\u2019ve all heard the argument in favor of getting the shots, yet we don\u2019t seem to hear or see much about the other side of this controversial matter. A January 8, 2018\u00a0 <\/sup>ABC News report by Mariam Alam, MD says that \u201c\u2026Concerns have been raised about this year’s vaccine after an editorial published in the New England Journal of Medicine<\/em> last Thursday said it was only 10 percent effective\u2026\u201d http:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Health\/years-flu-season-bad-flu-shot-effective\/story?id=52209578<\/a> Some other reports indicate that the vaccine\u2019s effectiveness might be higher than ten percent.<\/p>\n One has to wonder whether to put our faith and trust in experts with such outcomes, especially when we consider that the shots themselves pose a risk including serious known side effects like difficulty breathing, swelling around the eyes or lips, hives, racing heart, dizziness and high fever. Source: Live Science<\/em> https:\/\/www.livescience.com\/40279-flu-shot-information.html<\/a> (accessed January 15, 2018) and an article in Natural Health 365<\/em> suggests that persons having the flu shot for three to five consecutive years greatly increase their chances of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Source: https:\/\/www.naturalhealth365.com\/flu-shot-vaccine-dangers-1640.html<\/a> (accessed January 15, 2018).<\/p>\n This issue even seems to impact our pets. Last Thursday\u2019s Natural News<\/em> featured an article on the devastating side effects that dogs have experienced due to the toxicity of vaccines. https:\/\/www.naturalnews.com\/2018-01-11-pet-health-warning-veterinarians-overdosing-small-dogs-with-toxic-vaccines.html#<\/a><\/p>\n Yes it\u2019s true, the experts don\u2019t always agree, but the lesson in all of this is to question what\u2019s being marketed to us, look for both sides of the issues and most importantly, set a good example for your children by being a well-informed consumer. I\u2019m not recommending that we all drop out of the culture and not trust anything, but we do need to remain aware that not everything that comes down to us from those in authority is reliable.<\/p>\n Ultimately it\u2019s a good thing that we consumers are more demanding than ever because that\u2019s how things get changed. In the supermarket please read the labels. If you see ingredients listed that you would have to be a chemist to understand, then don\u2019t buy it! A few days ago a woman in our practice was getting checked to see if she needed an adjustment. While having her spinal analysis she spoke about her family and how difficult it was to relate to her teenage daughter. … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.youneedchiro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/money-150x150.png\")
But the information is out there for parents seeking it. I wrote an entry in this blog about the subject a couple of years ago called When the experts disagree\u2026<\/em> \u00a0At that time I was concerned about how controversial this subject is. Unfortunately the problem is getting worse and it\u2019s still shrouded in big money for big pharma. See the article: http:\/\/www.youneedchiro.com\/blog\/?p=752<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.youneedchiro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/label-150x150.jpg\")
This is powerful because we vote with our feet<\/em>, and if we stop buying things that are full of artificial chemicals, then manufacturers will eventually learn what we want, and what we don\u2019t want. If a physician offers a treatment we should know why he or she recommends it, what the potential benefit might be, and the risks of being harmed by it. Whether shopping for physicians, dentists, groceries or auto mechanics, we need to be discerning, willing to ask the hard questions, and demand sensible answers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"