stating the obvious

just got a "news flash" from some pediatric journal: caregivers should not "pre-chew" the food for a child because they could get aids from it. wow, glad they told me that one. i'm going to have to put up a sign or something to make sure my patients aren't doing this. forget that food grinder, that blender, do it the "natural" way and chew it for them! oh, and you shouldn't do it especially if you have any open sores in your mouth. please! i've heard many stupid things that parents have done, but this takes the cake. at least there's a reason not to do it now, besides the fact that it's disgusting and i can't even imagine being on either end of that activity! sorry, just had to share that with you.

seems there needs to be a statement to tell people not to do stupid stuff, like the coffee may be hot, and don't put this plastic bag over your head, or don't stick this knife in your eye, or don't swallow this little bag of sand in your medicine bottle, and on and on. one hopes that people who can actually read the warning labels (or can interpret the symbols on the warnings that are supposed to tell people who can't read not to do the stupid stuff) should have the common sense not to do those things, and that the warnings would be unnecessary, but no. sort of like the statement on the airline safety handouts that say "if you can't read this, ask someone to read it to you"...well, if you can't read, how do you know to ask?

i tell parents not to tell the older siblings of a new baby not to do something they haven't already done, like "you can't carry the baby", and things like that, because to do so might give the child the idea. so, if attorneys are responsible for these warnings, and we are a society of idiots, as it seems, is it better to tell us not to do these stupid things or should they not mention them in hopes we won't think of them ourselves? time will tell.