I have a bone to pick with the AAP. Call me the product of the internet age, but I expect more out of a collection of 60,000 pediatricians. Good information on the health of our children is everywhere these days. What parents really need is someone to give unbiased, research-based, intelligent advice about tough issues.
Sadly, I've come to the conclusion that the AAP ain't it.
Maybe I'm jaded about doctors in general after a month-long NICU stay with my daughter. Maybe doctors are just a conservative bunch who aren't browsing the internet everyday like this admittedly geeky dad who reads the news.
But lately the AAP has been a little suspect in my eyes. It started when I read a nice book about how educational tv you watch with your kids is much different than junk tv on as a babysitter. See also the recent Spongebob versus PBS study, too. Yet the AAP discourages even background tv from parents before the age of 2.
They ignore research and positive effects of co-sleeping and the better technologies available for it. They were late to the game on recommending boys get the HPV vaccine. Oh, not to mention their recent cholesterol screenings for kids thing.
What bothers me is that plenty of parents don't bother to do the information gathering on their own though. They take a group of doctors at their word and it comes across as straight from God. This is what science tells us.
As parents, we're all free to to what's best for our kids. For me, I just think they could do a better job of updating to meet the needs of the 21st century parent. I'm no anti-vaccine crazy, doctor-hating conspiracy theorist. I just wish medicine was a little more real life rather than talking down to us.
Sadly, I've come to the conclusion that the AAP ain't it.
Maybe I'm jaded about doctors in general after a month-long NICU stay with my daughter. Maybe doctors are just a conservative bunch who aren't browsing the internet everyday like this admittedly geeky dad who reads the news.
But lately the AAP has been a little suspect in my eyes. It started when I read a nice book about how educational tv you watch with your kids is much different than junk tv on as a babysitter. See also the recent Spongebob versus PBS study, too. Yet the AAP discourages even background tv from parents before the age of 2.
They ignore research and positive effects of co-sleeping and the better technologies available for it. They were late to the game on recommending boys get the HPV vaccine. Oh, not to mention their recent cholesterol screenings for kids thing.
What bothers me is that plenty of parents don't bother to do the information gathering on their own though. They take a group of doctors at their word and it comes across as straight from God. This is what science tells us.
As parents, we're all free to to what's best for our kids. For me, I just think they could do a better job of updating to meet the needs of the 21st century parent. I'm no anti-vaccine crazy, doctor-hating conspiracy theorist. I just wish medicine was a little more real life rather than talking down to us.