Fluoride Debate; Is he 4 yet?; Aahh 80's

Germans love to argue. It's been said that meetings can go on for hours without a single decision being made. That's even if they agree, they just like to argue. One of the debates appears to be about the highly controversal and globally important issue of... Fluoride.

Before moving we knew that water was not fluoridated here and I found online some strong government statements about not forcing 'mass medication' on innocent people. And the study proving that if you feed mice nothing but fluoride in grotesque quantities 24 hours a day they might eventually get cancer - shocking. So what to do? Opinion #1 from our new Pediatrician was to immediately prescribe pills to give the kids daily, which we have faithfully done in paranoid don't-want-black-cavity-infested-teeth fashion. Opinions #2 & #3 came from our new Dentist visited for the first time this week. He said the kids are getting too much IF we are using the fluoridated salt you can buy in addition to the pills. Otherwise kids' toothpaste has enough fluoride. Table salt, it turns out, can be purchased in 3 color-coded packages, one with fluoride - should you choose such a treatment (could be considered Opinion #4) for your family, one without, and one with some other debatable mineral. We can keep using the pills on the kids if we don't buy the yellow packaged salt. ALSO, Kevin and I are supposed to start using a weekly gel treatment to supplement our toothpaste. Opionion #5 came to the other work family we know whose dentist will not prescribe any treatment unless they can prove, by ordering an expensive study, that their water in that particular town, has no fluoride. SO, with the path of fluoride treatment so clearly laid out before us we will probably have black teeth or end up with fluoride cancer.

I love my son. But I liked him very little this week. Open rebellion, screaming fits (new and surprising), and blatant disrespect were constant this past week. We are discussing a new discipline plan as my drill-sargent approach is mysteriously ineffective, praying for God's mercy, and calling my sister for support. She assures me he will turn four and things will change - just as hard, but at least different.

Do you miss the 80's? Of course specialty stations can be found in the states but if you move here you will get nothing but 80's and 90's American rock music on every radio station, in every store, in offices and waiting rooms, and in every restaurant you enter. As many of the shoppers and diners don't know English, the hilarity for Americans is even greater knowing that the music is often completely inappropriate for the atmosphere. For example: Last weekend we were at a hotel specifically targeted to families with young children. The song playing at breakfast in the restaurant/cafe one morning was Def Leppard's 'Pour Some Sugar on Me.' And concentrating on grocery shopping can be difficult when Madonna's 'Like a Virgin' is being blasted through the speakers in the lunchmeat aisle.