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  Rites of Passage Institute

5 Ways to Avoid Cavities--FOR REAL!

3/22/2015

5 Comments

 
Is it me or does the dentist sound like a broken record? Brush your teeth, floss, use fluoride. Even the mommy magazine articles I read swear by the same regimen. My children brush their teeth twice a day and floss. I even pulled a muscle in my hand flossing their teeth. However, we do not use fluoride. We avoid it like vampires avoid sunlight.
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 Learn how fluoride affects your health HERE. With all the research about the damaging effects of fluoride I can't believe dentists, toothpaste companies, and water treatment facilities are still pushing it so hard. Fluoride is so yesterday. Moreover, brushing twice a day, flossing, and seeing your dentist every 6 months are not enough. 
With that being said, I thought I would share our wholistic healthy teeth regimen. I am not a dentist, but I am the mother of 3 beautiful smiles! Be sure to discuss these options with your doctor.

1. Calcium Magnesium Citrate. My children take this fruity liquid every evening around dinner time. Not only does it build healthy bones from the inside out, but it helps them achieve sleep nirvana.
2. Behold the Electric Toothbrush. 
My children use an electric toothbrush. Due to limited fine motor skills children are not able to brush independently until age 6/5 and still need supervision up to age 9. The electric toothbrush picks up the slack by getting in more strokes with more power--Oh! And some even have a timer to make sure your child brushes for the recommended 2 minutes.
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Yes, they chew it up; and therefore I have to replace it like every month. I got smart and bought the rechargeable electric toothbrushes (they plug into the wall) so I don't have to fool with batteries. The toothbrush heads are also replaceable, so you don't have to throw out the entire toothbrush just the chewed up head part.

3. M.I. Paste (the Fluoride-Free kind). My girlfriend who is a dental hygienist hipped me to this. When I asked my dentist about it, he said he'd never heard of it. So he wouldn't prescribe it to me. Then I asked my children's dentist and he was clueless too. Finally, my mother asked her dentist and she said it was a great idea and prescribed it to her.  At night we coat the (fluoride-free) dental floss with it before flossing.

4. Oil Pulling. Teach your child to oil pull in the morning before brushing her teeth. My four-year-old does it!

5. Xylitol. Dr. Yum's Baby Teeth Cleaners.  Xylitol helps keep a neutral pH level in the mouth and prevents bacteria from sticking to the teeth. This is how it protects the teeth from tooth decay. With the dental benefits of xylitol, the acid attack that would otherwise last for over half an hour is stopped. Most people are not aware of this benefit because such a claim makes xylitol into a drug, crossing a boundary not allowed by the Food and Drug Administration. Plus it's a natural sweetener, so it tastes like sugar!!

 

5 Comments

The Low Down on the Low Tech Life

3/11/2015

1 Comment

 
You don't have a TV!? You don't have a cell phone!? This realization seems to incite the fight or flight response. While hyperventilating, a series of rhetorical questions shoot into the air:
  • What about your safety? 
  • You are hurting your business! 
  • How do you know anything?
  • I could not live without my shows.
  •  You can get TV/phone for so cheap.
  • Your children will feel left out. What do--I have to go.
Poof! With a cloud of smoke some people simply ignite and vanish. Would it be wrong to say the fireworks have become a guilty pleasure? I don't know how many times people have said, "But I texted you!" Only to find out that my phone is this mysterious ancient system called a land line.  

It's not personal. Just like I choose not to partake in these forms of technology, they choose only to function within these specific modes. My girlfriends have tried to do an intervention, and my husband and I have been the center of jokes at a few dinner parties. Does it hurt my feelings? No. Am I embarrassed? No Way!! We know exactly what we are doing and why.

First, a little background. My great grandmother who is 100 years old abstains from technology. To this day, she will not talk on a phone or ride in a car. I think that may have genetically predisposed me for the low tech life. While we did have a television in my childhood home, the only time we watched television was Saturday Morning Cartoons. Yeah Snorks, Smurfs, and Captain Planet!  My sisters and I spent much of our time roaming the swamps and fields. 
As a high school student AP courses and extracurricular activities took up any possible TV viewing time.  College? I draw a complete blank for any shows or movies that came out during that 4 year period. Also, I struggle with filtering and overstimulation. I am not among the talented who possess that superpower which enables them to simultaneously study and listen to music. 
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 I'm also a complete failure at sitting still for long periods of time. I just don't have the proper genetics or upbringing for screen time. 

So what about my "deprived" children?! Well, the American Academy of Pediatrics says that children under age 2 should not have any screen time (i.e. TV, computer, video games), children over age 2 should be limited to 1-2 hours a day. In fact, a child's eyes are not fully developed until age 7. Excessive periods of screen time before age 7 can hinder that development.  There is some evidence from recent studies in the United States and Australia that the amount of time school-aged children spend outdoors, in natural light, may have some impact on whether they develop mild myopia. Let's not forget that ages birth to 7 are the formative years, which lay the foundation for all learning/development. At this time you want to nurture the brain as much as possible. 
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Our 1 year old loves to push buttons!
Screen time, due to the orienting response, inactivates the neocortex and sends the body into fight or flight (which can feel thrilling). Not only will this subject a child to headaches, dizziness, and tiredness, but it zaps her creative juices. Then there are the advertisements. I have beef with commercials; how dare someone bypass me and market their substandard toys and self-destructive indoctrination to my child. Then there is the issue of sexuality and violence--yes, these are in children's programming! 
With less screen time, it's easier to cultivate delayed gratification, focus, a Zen mentality, social skills, and most all teaching my children to value people and themselves. So, we may actually be helping our children.

So what do we have against the cell phone? Although we could cite health issues, our reasons for nil cell phone use are more social. We experience richer social interaction and deeper relationships without it. We attribute our wonderful marriage and family partly to our lack of cell phone and TV usage.   

In a society that is obsessed with the next upgrade, it's easy to assume that technology is inherently good. I'm not saying it's good or bad. I'm not anti-technology. In fact, I could not imagine living without WI FI. Ironically, I've made much of my living off my computer skills. However, the biggest thing I have learned from all my techy education is technology doesn't manage my life, I manage it. 

1 Comment

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