Reflection Blog 10

I thought that reading chapter 16 was a little bit of a downer. Death is a topic that most people don’t just want to talk about, because it can be hard to understand for some, and very stressful to think about. Reading about the different traditions different religions participate in was interesting. I never knew that when someone who is Jewish dies, they cover mirrors. I have been to ceremonies where dirt is thrown on the grave though. Death is a hard topic to talk about. When you hear of a loved one passing away, it is hard to find the right words to say to console someone, and maybe there really aren’t words. Death is easier to accept when the person is older, or they have a terminal illness. The person who is expecting to die has had the time to make amends with family members and accept what is coming and sometimes they have made some of the plans after their death. A death that is not expected is the hardest for families to cope with, because it is unexpected.

The book also talks about euthanasia. Euthanasia can be active or passive. Active meaning the person with the terminal illness takes a lethal dose of medication, passive meaning life support or life extending medication is withheld. This can be taking someone off life support, taking out a feeding tube, or discontinuing therapeutic drug use (chemotherapy).  Ethically, not everyone agrees with euthanasia and I can understand why. There is a bar graph in the book that shows how many lethal doses were prescribed vs how many people died taking the lethal doses. Rates of how many prescriptions were given has been on the rise since 2006, with 2010 having the highest number of lethal prescriptions given. I know that there are a lot of things people have to do to be able to get the medication, but I think that the number of people not taking the medication is too high, if the medication is going to be given to them, they should be 100% sure this is what they want to do , and maybe people wanting to receive the lethal dose of medication should have to wait a little longer, so they are more sure in their decision.

Reflection Blog 9

I found the information in the article “As Good As it Gets” to be very interesting. I really liked hearing about the differences in health care between the U.S. and the Netherlands. This article does make it seem like health care in the Netherlands is really good. When hearing about the perks it does sound really nice, little to no copayments for medication, and they don’t pay very much, or anything for serious medical treatment. Here in the U.S. people can pay thousands of dollars yearly for their medications, and even more for serious medical treatments. The article compared when two different people had major surgery, one in the Netherlands, and one in the U.S. The one in the Netherlands didn’t have to pay anything, not a single dime. The person in the U.S. had to pay 20% of what the total costs was, which could be thousands, and that is not including the medication. One might ask how do the Dutch afford this type of health care system? The answer: Taxes. The income tax rate of a household earning 60,000 a year is 52%. That’s right 52%. The U.S. income tax rate for 60,000 a year for a household of four is 25%. Another difference between the health care systems is the wait time before major operations. In the U.S. a person does not need to wait long before getting the medical treatment they need, a day or two at the most. In the Netherlands those awaiting major surgery can wait for 14 weeks before a time slot becomes available. In the U.S. we pay to be able to have prompt surgery. I think it would be interesting to see if this type of proposal as made to the U.S citizens, having the majority of your health care paid for, but paying extremely high taxes if they would go for it, for the whole country to pay each others medical bills through taxes. I am not so sure if I would want to go for it myself.

Reflection Blog 8

In reading the article “Is there Love After Baby?”, I thought it was interesting that before the baby was born, both parents saw themselves as having a larger portion of themselves being the partner/lover. After the baby was born, this was the piece of the pie that shrunk or order to make room for the parent piece of the pie to get bigger.  This study showed that parents who maintained and kept the partner/lover portions of the pie larger had less parenting stress. This finding actually makes sense though. In order to be successful parents, or at least have less parenting stress, you need to have a good foundation. That foundation is built off of the parent’s relationship. If the parents forget about each other, or care less for each other then it makes sense that working together as a team to rear their child would be harder. I cannot speak from experience because I don’t have kids yet, but I can imagine that it would be hard. I have seen our friends relationships change, how the mother stays home with the kids while the father goes out because he doesn’t want to give up any of his social life, but it seems to work for them because they have established a date night once a week and that way they get time together without their kids.

                If I could do a separate study, I would want to know if the length of marriage before having children has any affect on what happens to most couples after having children, meaning if the couple has a more established relationship, is it easier for them to get the hang of balancing being the parent and being a partner/lover. I would also want to know if any of the disagreements mentioned in the article, (the mother doing more of the house work and child work than expected) change if the father is the stay at home parent and the mother is the one who has a full time job, or if there is not a difference.

Reflection Blog 7

I really enjoyed the article “Great Expectations”. From my experience, when people talk to me about their relationships and reasons why they feel they aren’t working, they usually say something along the lines of, “he’s not my soul mate”. I have always thought that if you put effort into your relationship, it will work. But being in a relationship is a lot of work, and things aren’t always going to go perfectly, and sometimes you will disagree and argue but that is part of being in a relationship. I think that this article was also trying to get the point across that there really is not such thing as a soul mate, and that that belief could end up ruining your relationship with someone you really love.  I got married young, to my high school sweet heart, but he really is my best friend. The article talks about when you are fully committed in a relationship; it gives the opportunity to truly love your partner, warts and all. I really liked the way the article worded that, because if your boyfriend or girlfriend only sees the perfect side of you, how are you going to feel waking up next to them one morning and you both have terrible morning breath. I think people should be who they really are, relaxed and fun when with a significant other. I’m not saying go to the bathroom with the door open or anything, but i think its best to be open with each other, and that is what this article talks about.

Reflection Blog 6

I found the Article “Teens Before Their Time” and chapter 8 to be interesting. I liked learning about what kinds of outside pressures can speed up or slow down puberty. The article talks about environmental factors such as exposure to chemicals along with obesity to be the trigger for girls going through puberty younger. Obesity makes sense and I think that we have known this information for a long time, that fat carries estrogen, and the release of estrogen is what causes females to get secondary sex characteristics younger. The book talks about family dynamics which I thought was interesting. I didn’t really think about a harsh family life, making a child have increased stress, triggering her to mature younger. Another deciding factor of weather a girl will mature younger is the presence of a good father figure. If the girl has a good father, then she will mature at the normal rate, but if the girl does not have a good father, she will mature faster. The theory behind this is that good fathers are rare, and should a good father come along, because good fathers are rare her body wants to be ready to have children when a good father comes around.

I feel like our bodies should work the opposite way, that if you don’t have a good father then you should wait to have kids, so that you can be more mature yourself to be able to take care of your offspring, should the father bail. The theory for this is “lower quality” offspring early vs “better quality” offspring later. I am not sure I agree with our bodies evolution in this way.

               

Reflection Blog 5

I found the article “Parenting: The Lost Art” to be sort of sad. Reading about what young kids are doing breaks my heart, they don’t seem to enjoy being a child, they are missing out on their childhood. The teens in this article are being treated like young adults and are therefore acting like young adults with out having the knowledge of what is right and what is wrong. They don't have guidance. When I was growing up and I would disagree with what my mom told me to do, and I would tell her I didn’t like her anymore, and she would tell me that she didn’t care if I liked her right then or not, because she is my mom and not my friend. She is the boss and I need to do what I am told. I grew up respecting that. These kids don’t seem to have parents to teach them what is right and what is wrong, by being their friend, their parents aren’t helping them learn anything about becoming an adult, and doing what you have to do whether you like it or not. I don’t have kids now, but this is definitely something to remember, you are their parent, not their friend and sometimes you have to tell your kids what to do, and they won’t always be happy with you.

If I could do another research project, I would want to know how the kids in this article raised their own children. If they decided to be a parent and teach their children right from wrong and to tell them what to do if necessary, or if they raised their children like they were raised, to be their child’s friend instead of parent.

               

Reflection Blog 4

I really enjoyed the article "Medicating Young Minds". In reading the article though I am not sure I have a complete understanding of ADHD or bipolar disease or any of the other disorders that plague todays youth. I strongly believe that if a child is slightly fidgety or slightly hyperactive or slightly whatever that they shouldn't be medicated. Maybe they need therapy, maybe they need another way to release their energy. Children can also be wild and crazy because guess what, they are kids. However, not all children are just slightly different, some children really do need help. one of the things they said in the article was by "medicating a child's brain, you may be burning the village to save it." Now time for my questions, can children grow out of these disorders, or will they have to be medicated for life? If the child does have to be medicated for life, is it better for them to go through childhood un medicated and have them not have a "normal" childhood in order to not risk damaging part of the brain and wait until they are older, or to medicate them so they can experience childhood how children are supposed to experience it, worry free. The article also states that the frontal lobe doesn't fully mature until around 30, and the frontal lobe is where feelings are controlled, should we wait to medicate until after 30? These are questions I don't really have an answer to.