| iv id="body"> | | | | before symptoms appear and from two to ten days |
| Sitterphobe "I never have a second to myself," this | | | | after. "Even a doctor can't tell you exactly when a |
| mother tells you (and tells you and tells you). You | | | | cold is no longer transmittable," Dr. Neibart says. So |
| agree, judging by her slightly frazzled demeanor, that | | | | unless you care to raise your child in a bubble, he's |
| she could use a break. Maybe a trip to the gym. A | | | | going to catch colds -- lots of colds. And that's okay. |
| date with her husband. Time to herself. So you | | | | For the most part, colds are more of a nuisance for |
| recommend the great babysitter you've found. She | | | | kids than a serious health problem. As for proper cold |
| responds with one of those "but-I-love-my-children" | | | | etiquette? Keep your child home until any fever or |
| looks. And says something like: "Nobody can care for | | | | lethargy has subsided. Then, once he's feeling better, |
| a child as well as her own mother." | | | | let him go about life as usual. |
| Reality check: "A lot of mothers suffer incredible guilt | | | | Mommy Einstein She plays Mozart CDs for her infant, |
| about needing help to care for their children," Dr. Berger | | | | uses flash cards on her toddler, and spends her week |
| says. "And if Mom works full-time, the guilt is | | | | chauffeuring her children to and from karate, art, |
| compounded. Every spare second, she figures, needs | | | | soccer, piano, ballet, and more. After an hour with one |
| to be lavished on her kids." Trouble is, an overwhelmed | | | | of her French-speaking, tennis-acing prodigies, you ditch |
| mom isn't going to be on top of her game. Every | | | | your secret hope of an Ivy League education for your |
| parent (and every marriage) can benefit from the | | | | preschooler (whose extracurricular activities include |
| occasional kid-free outing. "It recharges your batteries | | | | playing "Princess Barbie Gets Married" and painting her |
| and allows you to breathe in a different kind of | | | | shoes with nail polish). |
| atmosphere," Dr. Berger says. "When you take care | | | | Reality check: "There's simply no evidence that |
| of yourself, you take better care of your kids." And if | | | | overexposing young children to flash cards, Mozart, or |
| you don't work outside the home, hiring the occasional | | | | early-reading programs leads to higher intelligence or |
| sitter teaches your children that people other than you | | | | even better SAT scores," says child and adolescent |
| can provide them with care and safety. Besides, | | | | psychiatrist Alvin Rosenfeld, M.D., coauthor of The |
| there's another bonus to getting away every now and | | | | Over-Scheduled Child: Avoiding the Hyper- Parenting |
| then: When you return home, not only will you | | | | Trap. Yet our culture pressures concerned parents to |
| appreciate your kids even more, they'll appreciate you | | | | begin early if they want their child to be academically |
| more too. | | | | competitive. "That attitude is doing much more harm |
| Cold Cop A one-woman germ patrol, this mom is | | | | than good," Dr. Rosenfeld says. |
| always on the lookout for telltale signs of germs that | | | | Sugar Shunner This mom enforces a strict no-sweets |
| can cause colds. When you're around her, you're | | | | policy. No cookies, candy, or ice cream. Her idea of a |
| forever fearing that your child may -- horrors! -- sniffle | | | | "treat" is a granola-and-yogurt "sundae." |
| or cough, resulting in one of Mrs. Germophobe's | | | | Reality check: Loading up on nutritionally void sugar |
| nervous "you're-putting-my-children-at-risk" looks. | | | | calories isn't wise, but forbidding sugar entirely isn't the |
| Reality check: The fact is that kids get an average of | | | | answer either, says Lynn Marotz, Ph.D., R.N., a |
| six colds a year, says Eric Neibart, M.D., an instructor of | | | | professor of human development at the University of |
| infectious disease and internal medicine at Mount Sinai | | | | Kansas and coauthor of Health, Safety, and Nutrition |
| School of Medicine, in New York City. Thus, at any | | | | for the Young Child. Completely restricting sugary |
| given time, a good 10 to 15 percent of your child's | | | | foods can backfire big time: Instead of having a child |
| peers are contagious. And the culprits are impossible | | | | who occasionally indulges his sweet tooth, you may |
| to detect, since colds are contagious a few days | | | | create a kid obsessed with cookies, candy, and cake. |