Organics,Saturday, March 31, 2007
Drug companies are trying to use genetically engineered seeds to grow crops that produce compounds to make drugs. This practice is very dangerous to our food supply and cross contamination is a certainty. Fields growing genetically engineered crops have already proven to contaminate neighboring crops. This problem has already wrecked the lives and reputation of farmers. Now, with pharmaceutical companies growing crops for use in drugs, the problem can escalate to harmful health problems from accidentally consumption of “pharma” plants. Union of Concerned Scientist put up a website that describes in detail, all the concerns, how to find out about these crops in your area, and a petition that you can sign to help stop it. Click Here
Family,Thursday, March 29, 2007
The “intellectual elites” are sending the message throughout society that spanking your child is wrong. Jenn and I have been struggling to understand where we stand. We like some of the non-physical techniques like time-out and prefer to implement a non-physical means of discipline if possible. I find myself saying to Matthew that he’s either going to time-out or getting a spanking.
Jenn and I have been seriously studying this topic recently. We visited Dr. Sears website, read information in commentaries and the bible, and found some information out of universities. What we found is very revealing.
There is a very thorough article at the Biolo Website titled “Spare the Rod”. It refutes each argument of people who are against spaking. It is probably the one stop shop to shoot down those that say it is bad to spank.
The research presented on Dr. Sears site is mainly showing the effects of abusive forms of punishment in an abusive environment. There is little mentioned about the effects of a more balanced approach withing a loving environment. Dr. Sears says that the effects are “less”, but that is very ambiguous. Really, “less” could mean “zero”. And actually, there is a study showing that a balanced approach to discipline in an encouraging nurturing environment actually provides the “most favorable outcome”.
Dr. Diana Baumrind of the Institute for Human Development at the University of California-Berkeley, conducted a decade-long study of families with children 3 to 9 years old. Baumrind found that parents employing a balanced disciplinary style of firm control (including spanking) and positive encouragement experienced the most favorable outcome in their children. Parents taking extreme approaches to discipline (authoritarian-types using excessive punishment with less encouragement or permissive-types using little punishment and no spanking) were less successful.
Those who are against spanking will also site that it will damage your child for life and they will suffer in adulthood! But again, their research is very biased towards abusive forms of discipline in very abusive environments, or teenage spanking. Research is showing that the link between adult aggression and spanking in childhood cannot be supported by the data.
In a 1994 review article on corporal punishment, Dr. Robert E. Larzelere, a director of research at Boys Town, Nebraska, presents evidence supporting a parent’s selective use of spanking of children, particularly those 2 to 6 years old. After thoroughly reviewing the literature, Larzelere concludes that any association between spanking and antisocial aggressiveness in children is insignificant and artifactual.
After a decade of longitudinal study of children beginning in third grade, Dr. Leonard Eron found no association between punishment (including spanking) and later aggression. Eron, a clinical psychologist at the Univeristy of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research, concluded, “Upon follow-up 10 years after the original data collection, we found that punishment of aggressive acts at the earlier age was no longer related to current aggression, and instead, other variables like parental nurturance and children’s identification with their parents were more important in predicting later aggression.”
It’s interesting that Dr. Sears also attempts to interpret Scripture to fit his disciplinary beliefs. I have checked a number of different sources for interpretation of Scripture and it seems unanimous that everyone understand the “Rod” to mean corporal punishment. But Dr. Sears insists that it’s just a Shepard’s stick used to nudge sheep. The more I think about it, the more ridiculous that sounds. If I tried to push Matthew with a stick when he’s misbehaving, he’s likely to just yank the stick away from me and start beating me with it! Those tantrums can be pretty nasty.
After reading this research, not only are we more careful as to what we believe from supposed Christian doctors, but we are going to feel more confident in disciplining our son. Yes, he gets spanked, but he is also showered with lots of love. The pictures on this site don’t lie. He is a very happy boy.
Monday, March 26, 2007
There are so many things I hear and read that just strike me as something worthy of being quoted. I figured, hey, I can just put these quotes up on my website! So starting today, I’ll begin adding a variety of quotes that will appear at the top of the page. As the database of quotes grows, I might begin randomizing the display of the quotes so that each time you visit, a different one will appear. I hope you all enjoy them. Feel free to comment on them by clicking the comment button beneath the quote.
Announcements,Friday, March 23, 2007
I added a section to our website that shares our favorite links. These are websites that we like for one reason or another. Some of them we visit very often and others we visit only occasionally. In the navigation section on the right side panel, click “Links” to see the full list. In the full list, click one of the link titles to visit that website. Under each link title is a description of the link. And under each description are a few keywords related to that link. Click on one of the keywords and you’ll see a list of links related to that keyword. For example, click the keyword Church, and you’ll see a narrowed down list of links related to Church. To get back to the full list, click “Links” again on the side panel.
Health,Thursday, March 22, 2007
Triclosan in most antibacterial soaps interact with the chlorine in our tap water, creating toxic chloroform. There’s also the risk of encouraging bacteria to adapt to the antibacterial soaps. This is actually the same concern that humans have to deal with when they take antibiotics. The germs can and do adapt. Also, proper washing with regular hand soap is plenty. The Center for Disease control did an in depth study that showed no significant advantage to using antibacterial soaps when compared to regular soap.
Their study also showed that the hands of the doctors who regularly used the antibacterial soaps actually contained higher levels of antimicrobial resistent bacteria. This means that the bacteria are adapting in as little as a year’s time. So there really is little reason to spend extra money on these soaps and the toxicity from the interaction of triclosan and chlorine is just another big reason to go for the cheaper, standard soap. If you have antibacterial soaps or gels with triclosan, you might want to toss it in the garbage.
Triclosan Article at Organic Consumers Association
Soap Article at the World Watch Institute
Antibacterial Study at the Center for Disease Control
