PANIC SWINE OF 09

The full blog of the H1N1 swine flu panic is on a separate blog listed on my profile. Here I will only list the highlights of the longer blog.

Pigs, birds, and humans are each susceptible to many flu viruses. Typically, these viruses infect only one species. However, sometimes these viruses swap genes and create new viruses that can infect more than one species. Even then, new viruses that are capable of infecting two species typically are very difficult to transmit from human to human. Sometimes, however, further recombinations or mutations of genes create a virus that can spread rapidly among humans – thus creating a global pandemic. The worst global pandemic in modern times was the flu pandemic of 1918-1919. It affected about a third of the human race and killed at least 40 million people in roughly 1 year.

Simultaneous Appearance in Humans and Swine (1918)

Before 1918, influenza in humans was well known, but the disease had never been described in pigs. For pig farmers in Iowa, everything changed after the Cedar Rapids Swine Show, which was held in September of that year. Just as the 1918 pandemic spread the human influenza A (H1N1) virus worldwide and killed 40 million to 50 million people, herds of swine were hit with a respiratory illness that closely resembled the clinical syndrome affecting humans. Similarities in the clinical presentations and pathologic features of influenza in humans and swine suggested that pandemic human influenza in 1918 was actually adapted to the pig, and the search for the causative agent began.

The breakthrough came in 1931 when Robert Shope, a veterinarian, transmitted the infectious agent of swine influenza from sick pigs, by filtering their virus containing secretions, to healthy animals.

CNN March 2009

Doctors: No definitive answers on flu deaths among young

For most, the flu is a winter inconvenience -- stuffy nose, fever, body aches and a few days of bed rest. But what seems fairly routine also can become life-threatening. The virus causes inflammation throughout the body and disturbs the functions of the body, including breathing. Typically half of the flu deaths occur in children who have degenerative heart or lung disease or immune risk factors, but the other half are seemingly healthy.

"There isn't a good understanding of why that happens," said Dr. John Treanor, professor of medicine and of microbiology and immunology at the University of Rochester School of Medicine.

"There's speculation that these children, for genetic reasons, had unusual immune response to the flu, resulting in deaths."

August 26, 2009

CDC Confirms Ties to Virus First Discovered in U.S. Pig Factories

Starting in the early 1990s, the U.S. pig industry restructured itself after Tyson's profitable chicken model of massive industrial-sized units. As a headline in the trade journal National Hog Farmer announced, "Overcrowding Pigs Pays—If It's Managed Properly."

The majority of U.S. pig farms now confine more than 5,000 animals each.

Researchers also found that when farms were packed close together, as is increasingly the case in high pig-density areas of North America and Europe, pigs appeared to have up to 16.7 times the odds of testing positive for swine flu. "Close location enhances the possibility for windborne, personnel, and fomites disease transmission from one farm to another." The "spread of pig slurry [urine and feces]" on nearby land may also play a role.

JealousBrother.com

August 10th, 2009

What does the CDC consider a confirmed case of Swine Flu?

The CDC uses the following guidelines: A confirmed case of novel influenza A (H1 N1 ) virus infection is defined as a person with an

Influenza-like illness (ILI is defined as fever (temperature of 100°F [37.8°C] or greater) and a cough and/or a sore throat in the absence of a KNOWN cause other than influenza.) with laboratory confirmed novel influenza A (H1 N1 ) virus infection by one or more of the following tests:

1. real-time RT-PCR

2. viral culture

The CDC has this to say about the real-time RT-PCR test, “If reactivty of real-time RT-PCR for influenza A is strong it is more suggestive of a novel influenza A (H1 N1 ) virus. Confirmation as novel influenza A (H1 N1 ) virus by real-time RT-PCR was originally performed only at CDC, but at this time may be available in your state public health laboratory ."

The CDC has this to say about Viral Cultures: “Isolation of novel influenza A (H1 N1 ) virus is diagnostic of infection, but may not yield timely results for clinical management. A negative viral culture does not exclude infection with novel influenza A (H1 N1 ) virus.”

So what exactly am I getting at? There is no way for a physician or health organization to definitively tell a patient whether they have H1 N1 , H3 N2 , or any other Influenza A sub-type (Which includes seasonal flu) when using readily available RIDT’s. The only diagnostic results come from the lengthy process of laboratory analyzed cultures and rRt-PCR swine flu panels.

2008 Oct

Influenza vaccine effectiveness among children 6 to 59 months of age during 2 influenza seasons

Strong Memorial Hospital, Rochester, NY

OBJECTIVE: To measure vaccine effectiveness (VE) in preventing influenza-related health care

visits among children aged 6 to 59 months during 2 consecutive influenza seasons.

CONCLUSION: In 2 seasons with suboptimal antigenic match between vaccines and circulating

strains, we could not demonstrate VE in preventing influenzarelated

inpatient/ED or outpatient visits in children younger than

5 years.

“Surprisingly little information exists regarding influenza vaccine effectiveness among young children receiving vaccine in routine health care settings.”

Oct. 21, 2009

Swine Flu Cases Overestimated?

Study Of State Results Finds H1N1 Not As Prevalent As Feared

If you've been diagnosed "probable" or "presumed" 2009 H1N1 or "swine flu" in recent months, you may be surprised to know this: odds are you didn’t have H1N1 flu. In fact, you probably didn’t have flu at all. That's according to state-by-state test results obtained in a three-month-long CBS News investigation.

The ramifications of this finding are important. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Britain's National Health Service, once you have H1N1 flu, you're immune from future outbreaks of the same virus. Those who think they've had H1N1 flu -- but haven't -- might mistakenly presume they're immune. As a result, they might skip taking a vaccine that could help them, and expose themselves to others with H1N1 flu under the mistaken belief they won't catch it. Parents might not keep sick children home from school, mistakenly believing they've already had H1N1 flu.

NOVEMBER 2009 ATLANTIC

Does the Vaccine Matter?

More than 200 known viruses and other pathogens can cause the suite of symptoms known as “influenza-like illness”; respiratory syncytial virus, bocavirus, coronavirus, and rhinovirus are just a few of the bugs that can make a person feel rotten. And depending on the season, in up to two-thirds of the cases of flu-like illness, no cause at all can be found.

. The only way to know if someone has the flu—as opposed to influenza-like illness—is by putting a Q-tip into the patient’s throat or nose and running a test, which simply isn’t done that often. Likewise, nobody really has a handle on how many of the deaths that are blamed on flu were actually caused by a flu virus, because few are confirmed by a laboratory. “I used to be a family physician,” says Jefferson. “I’ve never seen a patient come to my office with H1N1 written on his forehead. When an old person dies of respiratory failure after an influenza-like illness, they nearly always get coded as influenza.”

“Launched early enough and continued long enough, social distancing can blunt the impact of a pandemic,” says Howard Markel, a pediatrician and historian of medicine at the University of Michigan.

Washing hands diligently, avoiding public places during an outbreak,

and having a supply of canned goods and water on hand are sound

defenses, he says. Such steps could be highly effective in helping to slow the spread of the virus.

Fear of Flu: Shifting the Goalposts

KAISER HEALTH NEWS

NOV 2009

Is the 2009 H1N1 more dangerous than garden variety seasonal flu, for healthy kids compared to kids with underlying illnesses? According to a paper published last month in the New England Journal of Medicine, probably not. The authors found that 60 percent of children who were hospitalized with swine flu had underlying illnesses. In years past, only 31 to 43 percent of children who were hospitalized with seasonal flu had similar underlying illnesses – meaning that the rate at which 2009 H1N1 causes serious illness in healthy children is lower than with seasonal flu.

As of August 31, however, the CDC said that anyone 18 years or older who dies with a syndrome known as influenza-like illness, or ILI, can be included in the count. The CDC has no requirement for uniform reporting of flu deaths by the states. Twenty-eight states, according to the agency, report only laboratory-confirmed flu deaths, while the others are now reporting deaths that look to doctors like they might be the result of flu.

That decision could dramatically inflate the numbers of reported flu deaths this year. By the CDC's weekly estimate, when doctors think a patient has the flu, they are wrong between 46 and 82 percent of the time.

Why should any of this matter? In part, because statistics, when filtered by the popular media, can scare the daylights out of the public and feed pandemic worries that may not be justified. The numbers also matter to public policy. As reported deaths rise, the CDC tends to enlarge its recommendation for who should be vaccinated, and who should receive anti-viral drugs. For example, based on rising pediatric deaths, the CDC issued new recommendations in 2009 that all children from 6 months to 18 years should get the flu vaccine each year. Previously, the vaccine was recommended only for high-risk children.

Pandemic preparedness for swine flu influenza in the United States.

In March and early April 2009, Mexico experienced outbreaks of influenza caused by the H1N1

virus, which has spread throughout the world. With the pandemic of H1N1 infections, we have

discussed in this scientific article strategies that should limit the spread of the influenza A (H1N1)

virus in our country. Specific vaccines against the influenza H1N1 virus are being manufactured,

and a licensed vaccine is expected to be available in the United States by mid-October 2009.

However, some health-care workers may be hesitant to take a vaccine because it contains a

mercury preservative-thimerosal-which can be harmful to their health. When caring for patients

with respiratory infections, the health-care worker should be wearing a facial respirator. In a report

from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it was indicated that each healthcare

professional should be required to do a respiratory fit testing to identify the ideal model.

Because it has been well documented that a vitamin D deficiency can

precipitate the influenza virus, we strongly recommend that all health-care

workers and patients be tested and treated for vitamin D deficiency to

prevent exacerbation of a respiratory infection.

11/20/2009

By Sen. Joseph Lieberman

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman

While this new flu strain is affecting most people mildly, it has affected a small percentage

severely, and vaccine production problems have meant that some identified by the Department of

Health and Human Services as high risks for infection have not been able to get inoculated.

HHS promises national delivery of millions vaccine doses a week for the next few months.

But it does not ease my own concerns about HHS' miscalculations….Furthermore, unlike traditional seasonal flu that disproportionally affects the elderly, the H1N1 virus is impacting young people, with over 50 percent of hospitalizations and a quarter of all deaths occurring in people under the age of 25. Alarmingly, young children are at very serious risk, with about 540 pediatric deaths tallied so far.

I LIKE JOE LIEBERMAN, BUT SENATORS SHOULD USE ACCURATE NUMBERS WHICH ARE MORE AVAILABLE TO THEM THAN ANY CITIZEN IN ORDER NOT TO FRIGHTEN THEIR CONSTITUENTS. THE NUMBERS FROM THE CDC ON NOV 21, 2009 RECORD 243 PEDIATRIC DEATHS.

WHO’S TELLING THE TRUTH? – A BIG PROBLEM DURING THE SWINE PANIC

December 10, 2009, 1:00 p.m.

THOMAS FRIEDEN, DIRECTOR OF THE CDC

Thomas Frieden: Good afternoon, everybody. Today we're releasing new estimates as we said we would. The bottom line is that by November 14th, the day up to which those estimates include, many times more children and younger adults, unfortunately, have been hospitalized or killed by H1N1 influenza than occurs during a regular flu season.

What we have seen so far reiterates that people under the age of 65 are most heavily impacted by influenza. By November 14th, many times more children and younger adults, unfortunately, have been hospitalized or killed by H1N1 influenza than happens in a usual flu season. Specifically, there have been, we estimate there have been nearly 50 million cases, mostly in younger adults and children. More than 200,000 hospitalizations which is about the same number that there is in a usual flu season for the entire year. And, sadly, nearly 10,000 deaths, including 1,100 among children and 7,500 among younger adults. That.s much higher than in a usual flu season.,,, The estimate we have – the estimate that we're releasing here is not done in the same way that gives us the 36,000 estimate. That estimate is a different methodology. And will give a slightly larger number than this number would give. But if you were to compare, even though it's not a directly applicable comparison, under 50 in that estimate, there are less than 1,000 deaths a year in age under 50. We didn't break out in this —we’re not able to at this time, the 50 to 64 versus 50. But a large portion of those adults are under 50. So it is really many times more severe in terms of severe illness and hospitalizations are several times higher for children and young adults as well in H1N1 than in a usual flu season.

REALLY?????

THE CDC DIRECTOR’S FIGURE DOESN’T QUITE JIVE WITH THE CDC REPORT OF MARCH 2010 WHICH RECORDS 331 PEDIATRIC DEATHS.

Science

December 2009:

VIRUS OF THE YEAR: The Novel H1N1 Influenza

For years, scientists have been warning about the potential for an influenza pandemic on the order of the 1918 Spanish flu. They imagined the culprit would surface in Asia--and, since 2003, have worried that the avian influenza strain H5N1 might be it. Health officials worldwide drafted one preparedness plan after another. But the pandemic that erupted last spring looks nothing like the one in the plans. Not only did it begin in North America, but the swine virus behind it is a novel form of an H1N1 strain already circulating in humans. And although the new H1N1 is unusually dangerous for the young and for pregnant women, in most otherwise healthy people it causes a disease no more severe than seasonal flu. Scientists have repeatedly warned that this relatively mild virus could mutate or swap genes with cousins and become deadlier. But for now, it looks as if this H1N1 will go down in history more for causing confusion than catastrophe.

THE CDC HAS CONTINUED TO PUT OUT PERIODIC ESTIMATES OF PEDIATRIC DEATHS WHICH ARE EXAGGERATED BY 2-3 TIMES. THEY CONTINUE TO HAVE ADDS ON TV RECOMMENDING VACCINATION AGAINST THE H1N1 FLU EVEN THOUGH THE H1N1 HAS ESSENTIALLY LEFT THE U.S. THE LAST ARTICLE ON THE PANIC SWINE 09 BLOG IS ABOUT THE SUSPICIAN THAT MUCH ABOUT THE SWINE FLU PANDEMIC MAY HAVE BEEN DRIVEN BY MONEY!

THE STRESS OF THE SWINE FLU

TIRING LESSON IN MISINFORMATION

Only as the last few days of 2009 draw to a close have I been able to not think about the H1N1 Novel Swine (or whatever other name you want to call it) Flu. It has occupied my every waking hour much of the past four months, as you can tell by the fact that I had to suspend one of my favorite passtimes, my blogging.

Much has been learned in these past four months, mostly about how hard it is to get to the truth and to know who can and can't be trusted to be telling the truth. I will summarize what I have learned about influenza in a subsequent blog and try to tell the truth as I can decipher it.

To me the most important revelation of the H1N1 Flu was for me to learn that probably more than 2/3 - 3/4 of Americans are deficient in Vitamin D. This came to me in the way of literature about the influenza preventative effects of really good levels of Vitamin D3 and I was amazed to

find that there is a wealth of information about the importance of Vitamin D in an increasing number of human illnesses, including cancer, heart disease, arthritis, pain, and mental illnesses.

I will also soon into the new year of 2010 add a blog about Vitamin D and it's many benefits.

Once I am done talking about the Swine Flu and Vitamin D we can continue with the long list of things I have learned in practice and outside the box.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

MINDFUL PARENTING

In my mind this is the most important topic that I have added to this blog thus far. Mindfulness is the parenting buzz word of the future and if carefully practiced in parenting and our personal lives will lead to more functional families and children and young adults who don't already have "issues". This is a long read but worth the time.

"Mindful parenting is the hardest job on the planet, but it's also one that has the potential for the deepest kinds of satisfactions over the life span, and the greatest feelings of interconnectedness and community and belonging." Jon Kabat-Zinn

YES! Magazine Spring 1998:

Millennium Survival Guide

Mindful Parenting

by Jon and Myla Kabat-Zinn

Sarah van Gelder talks with Jon and Myla Kabat-Zinn about how the Buddhist concept of mindfulness can help us to see the wholeness and beauty of our children in each moment.

Jon and Myla Kabat-Zinn, the authors of Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting, were married in a Zen ceremony in which their wedding vows were to help each other “attain ‘big mind' for the sake of all beings.” Jon Kabat-Zinn is founder and former director of the

Stress Reduction Clinic. He is also the author of Full Catastrophe Living and Wherever You Go, There You Are. Myla Kabat-Zinn has worked as a childbirth educator, birthing assistant, and environmental advocate. The Kabat-Zinns are the parents of three children aged 22, 18, and 14.

Sarah van Gelder recently met with them to learn more about the art of mindful parenting.

SARAH: What do you mean by “mindful parenting?”

JON: Mindfulness, which lies at the heart of Buddhist meditation, means moment-to-moment, non-judgmental awareness. It's cultivated by refining our capacity to pay attention, intentionally, in the present moment, and then sustaining that attention over time. It means

becoming more in touch with our life as it is unfolding. Parenting through mindfulness has the potential to penetrate past surface appearances and behaviors and allow us to see our children as they truly are, so we can act with some degree of wisdom and compassion. The more we are able to keep in mind the intrinsic wholeness and

beauty of our children – especially when it's difficult to see – the more our ability to be mindful deepens.

SARAH: You mentioned in your book that “unconscious parenting” – dealing only with your child's surface behaviors and not looking at the feelings beneath – can have long-term consequences.

JON: In my work in the Stress Reduction Clinic, I see people all the time whose feelings were not respected when they were children. For many people, childhood was a time of betrayal, when one or both parents were out of control to some degree, raining down terror out of their own addictions, deep unhappiness, or ignorance – even when they loved their children. One woman, whom I describe in the book, attended a five-day mindfulness retreat with me. After a meditation session, she said she felt there were pieces of her missing, as if she were

“Swiss cheese.” She realized she'd given parts of herself as a child to feed her parents – who had gone into a deep, lifelong depression after her sister died – and now she felt she couldn't get them back.

This is a chilling image, but it shows that the consequences of unconscious parenting can reverberate throughout the lives of the children.

MYLA: These days we're pushing our children to be independent so early that they're really ending up being incredibly dependent. The whole cycle of addictive behaviors – of children reaching for alcohol, drugs, sex, or whatever – is a symptom of this dependency. Many young

people use addictive behaviors to try to take the place of their deep need for love, nurturance, and for feeling as if they're a part of something.

SARAH: Kids, as you point out in the book, know how to push our buttons. So we may be reacting as parents in ways that are much more based on the way we were raised than on our truest values.

MYLA: Right. And half of the work of mindful parenting is being aware of those old patterns that so often rule our behavior as parents. Those patterns come from deep wounds in our past, and they don't have anything to do with what's really happening in the moment. The wonderful gift of mindfulness is that we can stop ourselves and ask: What am I feeling? What is it like from my child's point of view? When you can do that, you often see things that you didn't let yourself see before because you were so caught up in the reactive mode, which

is very limiting.

SARAH: I think the “Aha!” for me in your book was the notion that a spiritual practice isn't just something you do in isolation, or in retreat centers; it's part of parenting, which is one of the grittiest parts of life. Could you talk a little about how that works?

JON: Well, I believe that spiritual practice is about life, not about retreat from life. The real work of spiritual practice in any tradition is to come to a deep understanding about what it means to be human. Sometimes it's wonderful to just be very, very still for long periods of time, but for most of us, that can only happen occasionally. The real meditative practice is to open up to the full range of what happens in life. And parenting is a fantastic arena for doing that kind of spiritual training. It's as much a potential door into enlightenment as anything else. It's interesting to look at your children as live-in Zen masters who can put their finger on

places where you're resistant, or thinking narrowly, in ways no one else can. You can either lose your mind and your authenticity in the process of reacting to all of that stuff, or you can use it as the perfect opportunity to grow and nourish your children by attending to what is deepest and best in them and in yourself. We're not trying to erase conflict and send messages like, “Only harmony allowed in this family. Let's all behave like little Buddhas.” That kind of requirement imprisons the family.

SARAH: There is this image of people who have a spiritual practice as being extremely eventempered. Particularly that a good parent is one whose emotional life – except for a vague affection – may not be expressed a lot around the children.

MYLA: Having everybody be nice all the time may mean that people don't get to be who they are. Certainly in our family, we really value authenticity. It's important to give children some latitude for trying out different behaviors. If they always have to be in a very constricted framework of what's acceptable, they don't get to explore different aspects of themselves. And they also don't feel the amazing transformational power of our acceptance. This doesn't mean we have no restrictions – we'll say, “You can't run into the street. No, you can't hit Johnny.” We might also say, “We're having a hard time with the way you're acting, but we love you.” We're able to look beneath the surface at what's going on. Often our children have lots going on, and we don't get to see it because we're so quick to label them, judge them, and see them within just the framework of our own expectations, which can be kind of a straitjacket.

SARAH: Can you share a story that helps to capture the kind of complexity and the vulnerability that you're asking of parents?

JON: One time, a friend of ours had taken her son to visit her mother, who hadn't seen him more than two or three times in his life. The grandmother had invited one of her friends over at the same time and proceeded to ignore her nine-year-old grandson as she chatted with her friend. Meanwhile, the child became bored and restless, and he proceeded to run around the room and knock into furniture.

Embarrassed by her inability to control her son's unruly behavior, the mother angrily dragged him out and took him home. She was furious and admonished him for behaving rudely and not listening when she told him to stop. He looked at her pleadingly and said, “But Mom, Grandma didn't even talk to me!”

Suddenly, a veil fell from her eyes. Here her mother had not made any effort to reach out to her grandson, to engage him, to think about what would be fun for him; yet when he reacted in a totally normal way for an active, energetic child, he was blamed. Her son could see that his grandmother was ignoring him, but his mother had been unable to see it until he pointed it out. Another example of how our children can teach us, if we are open to listening and learning. In thinking about this later, the woman said she felt that it would be unrealistic to expect her

mother to change, but that the next time they visited, she would bring some things for her son to do, or meet her in a park, or insist that her mother come to her house. She also did something that was very important in rebuilding trust. She acknowledged that she was wrong and apologized to her son for getting angry at him for having a difficult time in a difficult situation. No matter how hard we try to be mindful and present, there are inevitably many times when automatic behavior simply takes over. When that happens, we can apologize, or we can stop

and say to our child, “Let's begin again,” and do it over differently. In this way, we nurture –or begin to heal and rebuild – a trusting, caring relationship.

MYLA: Those moments when our children are disruptive or difficult can be tricky, because I think children want so many different things.

Oftentimes, what they say they want takes on material form, and because parents are so harried and overworked, it's often a lot easier to just give children what they want. The objects start to take the place of really soul-satisfying, connective moments. I think it's very useful to ask ourselves, “Does my child need this? Is this in my child's best interests?” When we ask ourselves that, it can lead us to see that something else is needed, and not necessarily something material or tangible. That's when this work of parenting calls upon our own genius to be really creative in those moments. Every parent has that ability.

JON: When our son was in nursery school, his teacher was struck by something that happened one morning. As the children sat on the floor in a circle, she asked each of them what they liked to hold when they went to sleep at night. Some children mentioned stuffed animals, others, their baby blankets. When our son's turn came, he looked at her and said simply, without embarrassment, “My mommy.” We might ask ourselves, is it healthier for our children to be reaching for blankets or toys when they are distressed, or reaching out to human beings?

SARAH: Finding time has become one of the real big issues for many people with both parents working, and with so many more single-parent families. Is the kind of attentive parenting you're describing doable in this society?

MYLA: I think attentive parenting requires the desire to really examine the fabric of your life. If we look at our family life, and we ask ourselves, “Is this really working for all of us?” that may mean making choices. And that's very difficult.

It's not just the economic pressure to work – it's also the desire that we have to fulfill ourselves in our work. It would be wonderful if the culture supported both parents working part time, because children need both parents. But I think that sometimes if we're willing to give up things and find some creative solutions, we do find them.

JON: There are very few people who, on their deathbeds, smack their heads and say, “My God, I wish I'd spent more time at the office.” I think a lot of people reflect back on how they were as parents, and they realize that they did not bring enough perspective to it. They were too economically focused, or too stressed. All understandable, but not necessary. It just takes attention – attention in the present moment.

SARAH: Could you talk a bit about the effects of media and especially television on the family?

MYLA: In some ways, the media is raising our children instead of us. Whatever we can do to create a haven in our home from that broader culture, which has a lot of very toxic elements to it, is a worthwhile endeavor. And I think that people don't realize that it's not just the TV that's turned on that affects your family. Just the mere presence of a TV in the home controls what happens in those moments when there's nothing to do. It's hard to compete with something that's such a quick fix. I think that one thing that we can do with our children is to start asking them when they turn off the TV, “How do you feel?” Very often you see that they're grumpy, that they're fighting, that in some way, the watching has not really given them anything.

JON: It hasn't sustained them. But it has erased time, and it can erase very large amounts of time from your life.

SARAH: One of the things that helps us raise our eight year-old and our 12 year-old is that we live in a cohousing community where there are always other children of all ages for our kids to play with. I'm very aware from having spent time in Third World countries that the isolated single family is rare in other parts of the world, and it was here, too, until recently.

JON: As they say, “It takes a village to raise a child.”

MYLA: That's wonderful that you have your village, because so few people do. We all need support in this. In some ways due to the pressures on us, we are becoming managers of our children's lives rather than really loving, connected human beings in relationship to our children.

JON: Society conspires to disrespect the work of parenting in many ways. It's totally socially acceptable to give 150 percent of your energy to work. It's so misunderstood what the potential would be for a kind of wise attention given to the children. It's not smothering attention. It's not neurotic attention. It's not an overprotective attention. It's the recognition of the relationship and the sacred quality of the parent/child relationship.

SARAH: How can you start to bring this sacred quality to your parenting?

JON: The first thing is to intend to bring mindfulness into one's parenting on a daily basis. You also need to focus. It's through sustained attending that we develop insight. We're not saying that this is easy to do. There's no formula for a perfect way to raise children, or that results in “perfect” children, whatever that would mean. What we are saying is that our children are perfect just the way they are – including their imperfections. It's important that we are authentic, and that we honor our children and ourselves as best we can, and that our intention be to, at the very least, do no harm. Mindful parenting is the hardest job on the planet, but it's also one that has the potential for the deepest kinds of satisfactions over the life span, and the greatest feelings of interconnectedness and community and belonging.

Twelve Excercises for Mindful Parenting

1. Try to imagine the world from your child's point of view, purposefully letting go of your own. Do this every day for at least a few moments to remind you of who this child is and what he or she faces in the world.

2. Imagine how you appear and sound from your child's point of view; imagine having you as a parent today, in this moment. How might this modify how you carry yourself in your body and in space, how you speak, what you say? How do you want to relate to your child in this moment?

3. Practice seeing your children as perfect just the way they are. Work at accepting them as they are when it is hardest for you to do so.

4. Be mindful of your expectations of your children, and consider whether they are truly in your children's best interests. Also, be aware of how you communicate those expectations and how they affect your children.

5. Practice altruism, putting the needs of your children above your own whenever possible. Then see if there isn't some common ground where your needs can also be met. You may be surprised at how much overlap is possible, especially if you are patient and strive for balance.

6. When you feel lost, or at a loss, remember to stand still. Meditate on the whole by bringing your full attention to the situation, to your child, to yourself, to the family. In doing so, you may go beyond thinking and perceive intuitively, with the whole of your being, what really needs to be done.

7. Try embodying silent presence. Listen carefully.

8. Learn to live with tension without losing your own balance. Practice moving into any moment, however difficult, without trying to change anything and without having to have a particular outcome occur. See what is “workable” if you are willing to trust your intuition and best instincts.

9. Apologize to your child when you have betrayed a trust in even a little way. Apologies are healing, and they demonstrate that you see a situation more clearly, or more from your child's point of view. But “I'm sorry” loses its meaning if we are always saying it, or if we make regret a habit.

10. Every child is special, and every child has special needs. Each sees in an entirely unique way. Hold an image of each child in your heart. Drink in their being, wishing them well.

11. There are very important times when we need to practice being clear and strong and unequivocal with our children. Let this come as much as possible out of awareness and generosity and discernment, rather than out of fear, self-righteousness, or the desire to control. Mindful parenting does not mean being overindulgent, neglectful, or weak; nor does it mean being rigid and controlling.

12. The greatest gift you can give your child is your self. This means that part of your work as a parent is to keep growing in self-knowledge and in awareness. We have to be grounded in the present moment to share what is deepest and best in ourselves.

http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?ID=856

OFFICE VISIT = AN ANXIETY ATTACK = MENTAL MODEL

When infants and toddlers come to the office for "well" infant/toddler visits, there is a sequence of events which transpire. The baby/toddler is taken into or enters the exam room, their clothes are removed, they are taken to the scale to be weighed, they are placed on "the table", the doctor comes and "gets into their space" (without asking) and the nurse comes in and "stabs" them.

Parents are often surprised and embarrassed by the behavior of their child in this situation. And it seems to only escalate with each visit even though the child is getting older and "should be getting used to it". I have created a new Spanish colloquialism which might apply to this situation: Dola? (which is a contraction of duh + ola and means duh, hello!)

Actually, the neurobiology/neuropsychiatry researchers have in fact figured out exactly why the infant/toddler brain does what we see. A lot of this information is in a book listed on the Sea View web site entitled "Parenting From The Inside Out" written by Daniel Siegel (UCLA, sorry USC people) and Mary Hartzell. The following is a quotation from an article by Dr. Siegel and helps us to understand what is going on in our infant/toddler's mind and the behavior which follows:

"Memory is the way in which past experience is encoded in the brain and shapes present and future functioning (McClelland, 1998; Milner, Squire, & Kandel, 1998). The processes of memory and those of development in fact are closely aligned. For the first year of life, the infant has available an “implicit” form of memory that includes emotional, behavioral, perceptual, and perhaps bodily (somatosensory) forms of memory. Implicit memory also includes the generalizations of repeated experiences, called “mental models” or schema (Johnson-Laird, 1983). The way that the brain readies itself for retrieval of certain memories in response to specific cues is also a part of implicit memory and is called “priming” (Schacter&Buckner,1998). When implicit memories are activated, they do not have an internal sensation that something is being recalled. They merely influence our emotions, behaviors, or perceptions directly, in the here and now, without our awareness of their connection to some experience from the past."

It is no surprise that we don't know why our infant/toddler is behaving this way because she doesn't know either. But she has created a "mental model" and that model ends with getting the shots (pain). And the obvious reaction to knowing the end of the sequence is to call on the "fight or flight" response and that is exactly what they do.

Now, instead of feeling anxious, embarrassed or irritated, we can all just say "Dola?"

More about Dr. Siegel:

http://www.latimes.com/features/la-mag-july122009-taste-siegel,0,1272981.story

From the Los Angeles Times

Tastemakers

Daniel Siegel, MD

by Nancie Clare

July 12, 2009

When Siegel was a med student, he was actively discouraged from finding out what patients were thinking. Now in his current practice as a clinical psychiatrist, executive director of Mindsight and codirector of the Mindful Awareness Research Center at UCLA, it’s the mind he is most interested in—specifically how it can be channeled to help the whole body. One of the core practices of “mindsight” is concentrating on the breath. “Mindsight can increase one’s ability to perceive the world,” he says. Siegel created practical applications from his research: He has lectured to school superintendents, and educators confirm mindsight’s effectiveness as a foundation for social and emotional intelligence. Even the world’s spiritual leaders are interested—he met with Pope John Paul II and the Dalai Lama. And what of Freud? Siegel thinks he would approve—heartily.