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Health & Fitness

What Are We Doing To Our Kids??

We are seriously overmedicating our children in this country and our children are sicker than ever. It's time we stop doing what's easy and start doing what's right.

I was tucking my son in bed the other night and he had on a D.A.R.E. t-shirt he had received from school. 

You know the organization…Drug Abuse Resistance Organization.  D.A.R.E. is a very noble group of law enforcement agencies trying to eradicate drug abuse in our communities.  A prominent way they try to prevent abuse and use of drugs is through in-school programs that educate our children on the dangers of taking drugs. 

I’m definitely all for it.

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But it triggered a memory for me when I first enrolled him in kindergarten that made me shudder.  I remember bringing him to school and getting him registered before the school year began.  Walking up to the school I noticed two separate lines of parents and their children.  The first was a very long line that I knew I didn’t really want to wait in…the second a very short line with just a few parents and kids in.  As we approached the line, the attendant took our information and apologized for the long line that we were directed to, indicating that once we were done in that line we could get into the next one and get our child fully enrolled.  I asked what the difference was in the lines, and she said “the long line is for dropping off your child’s medication so that it can be properly administered to them.”

I was stunned.  I told her that my son wasn’t on any medication.  None of my three children have ever had any chemicals put into their bodies.

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It hit me hard that day that we are overmedicating our children.  Really overmedicating them.

In 2002, two million pediatric prescriptions were written for Paxil alone, many to toddlers. According to a Medco Health Solutions analysis of customer data, the use of behavioral medications for children topped all other areas of drugs in 2003 at 17% of total spending. This compared to 16% for antibiotics and asthma drugs, 11% for skin conditions, and 6% for allergy meds. Antidepressant spending grew by 21% over a three-year period and ADHD by 369% (no typo) compared to 4.3% in the use of antibiotics. (www.chaada.org)

The National Center for Health Statistics reports that the percentage of Americans taking at least one prescription drug each month increased from 44 percent to 48 percent from 1999 to 2008. The percentage taking two or more increased from 25 percent in 1999 to 31 percent in 2008. In that same time period, the percentage of Americans who took five or more prescription drugs per month increased from 6 percent to 11 percent. Is it any wonder that in the United States alone, almost $300 billion is spent each year on pharmaceuticals?

In researching this article, I was not able to determine what portion of the dollars spent annually on prescription drugs is spent on prescriptions for children, although a Medco study in 2002 reported that spending on prescription drugs for those under age 19 grew 28 percent in 2001. Yet, despite not knowing exactly how much Americans are spending to drug their children, we do know that the pharmaceutical industry spent $189 million last year alone just lobbying Congress and other important law-makers to pass legislation that has allowed for more advertising and more drugs available on the market.

It’s not okay with me that our country is like this.  And you can see that it is a growing problem.  Our kids are becoming unhealthier.  Childhood obesity is rampant, diabetes is out of control in our youth, autism, asthma, and allergies have never been more prevalent.  They sit too much, they eat horribly processed foods, drink way too much soda, ingest too much sugar, don’t get proper rest, have too many chemicals put into them, and rarely get their spines checked for subluxation.

I know there’s a better way…I know D.A.R.E. is doing a great job of educating our kids against the dangers of illegal drugs and alcohol. 

But who’s teaching our kids about what it really means to be healthy?  Who’s replacing the soda with water?  Who’s turning off the TV and taking the game controller out of their hands and replacing it with a football or a soccer ball?  Who’s replacing the Happy Meal with a banana or carrot sticks?  Who’s taking them to get their spine and nervous system checked so they can have an optimally functioning body?

Well, it’s got to be you…if there’s an answer to the future health of our nation, it’s our kids.  We have to stop doing the easy thing and start doing the right thing.

It’s our children for God’s sake.

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