LOL

[conuly]

Over at the NYTimes they're discussing what makes people buy brand name medicines instead of generics for their kids. Two people said they prefer to get the flavors their kids like, which doesn't seem an unreasonable position to me. (Well, they said "to preserve peace in the house" and "I pay whatever it takes", but I'm sure they meant "if it's available and affordable". People often dramatize the hardships and interpersonal issues of living with kids, have you noticed?)

There is a small but quite vocal cadre of commenters who read that and apparently translated it as "I personally serve my kids ice cream on a silver platter for breakfast every day, and don't let the poor darlings have any chores".

According to them, choosing to make medicine a little more pleasant for a sick child (at least, I assume the kids are sick) is "a privileged bunch of hooey", "abrogating your parental authority" (well, they said advocating, but I don't think they meant it), and "knuckling under to your kids" (this is all one commenter!). As the rest of them put it, you'd only do this if your kid is a "special snowflake" and are "headed for serious trouble on larger issues".

The day all those people start deliberately taking the worst tasting medicine for themselves instead of picking one in a flavor they like, that's the day I will, uh, knuckle under to their demands that I never, ever ask the nieces which flavor they prefer when we're in the store buying cough syrup.

Comments

[janewilliams20]

Oh, FFS.... there's something wrong with buying something to make a child, especially a sick child, a little happier?
I'll admit I was a little surprised a few weeks back to be given some particularly foul medicine with benefit of sugar lump, since I'm an adult, not a child, but again, it's a minor expense and saves inflicting one more unpleasant thing on people who already have quite enough to deal with.

[conuly]

Apparently, it is a sign that you have insufficient control over your offspring.

[kyrielle]

If you are paying $100 for the flavor of the day vs $1 for the cruddy one, then they would have a point. But if you are talking a relatively small difference (and one often is)...well then, why not? Especially if it's also a medicine that is always or sometimes taken when your gut is not feeling well, I'd suggest that not getting a flavor they dislike is *good medicine*.

Grrr-argh. (I suppose they would dump on me for getting my son the flavor of toothpaste he likes also. Well, it causes him to brush his teeth *eagerly* and *willingly* instead of having it be a battle. Forget him, that one is for ME!)

[conuly]

You're supposed to make him needlessly suffer to prove you're the one in charge.

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

I am about to start a one-man campaign to rid the cultural lexicon of the term "special snowflake".

That said, I wonder if any of these idiots have children themselves.

[conuly]

It's right up there with "first world problems", a phrase which ought to mean "no, not having the exact shade of blue nail polish you want is not a level 10 crisis" but seems to instead mean "LOL, so what if you can't get to work because you have no car? At least you have a job!!!!!"

[marveen.livejournal.com]

Medicine comes in flavors?

Myself, I think the expression "Take your medicine" (meaning to put up with something unpleasant that will ultimately benefit you) arose for a reason. I compound my own medicine much of the time, and sometimes it tastes nasty. You know what? That's just the way it is.

Like the mother who lamented that her kids would eat ONLY the noodles from canned soup, and at that with ALL the broth rinsed off, someone let the kids know that was possible. I was amazed at the story, since rinsing soup noodles off would never even have occurred to me...so how did the kids know to demand it?

Also, taking the one side as an exaggeration and the other at face value is usually a mistake. Not clear if that's what you were actually doing, but the comments you quote sound like hyperbole was used liberally on both sides.

[conuly]

Sure - cherry, grape, and bubblegum! Or you can get special flavors at the counter for an extra price.

And while "take your medicine" is an expression, so is "a spoonful of sugar", so... yeah.