Am I the Only Person Bothered by This?

I am a person of average height (5'7") and my husband is tall (6'3"). My children have always been in the 95% in height. Height has never been a problem for our family but I still have a problem with this.

Aren't we trying to eliminate growth hormones from our food? Hasn't it been shown that these can have effects beyond building them taller? I'm confused.

But my big problem with this is the motivation behind it. Your perfectly healthy child is being picked on for being short so you boost them with growth hormones. Why not just teach them how to cope with bullies? What ever happened to "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me?"

Better yet. Why aren't the bullies' parents taking active steps to stop the action? Is it ok for people to be bullying about height? Or color? Or weight? Are we going to start allowing children to get gastric bypass? And what are we going to do for the children who are teased about being too tall?

I am a little concerned about the things we are doing with science and medicine. Instead of focusing on cures for disease we are researching how to eliminate teasing? Where is the line? Is there a line? Will we eventually get to the point of Stepford medicine? Will we eventually be able to fix every little imperfection or facet that we don't like about ourselves?

What happens to the personalities? What makes one person different from another? Where is the emotional strength? I know I am firing off questions like a machine gun but I can't make sense of it. Why would you spend 10's of thousands of dollars to "fix" a perfectly healthy child? What message are you sending? If someone bullies you, retreat into your shell and go buy a cure for yourself. Or is it, the bully was right. You ARE short and that is wrong.

I understand in the piece they noted that this child was not able to reach the water fountain and that is an issue. But isn't it the law that provisions are made? Like maybe a step stool? My husband gained inches late in high school. What is going to happen to the 8 year old who goes through this therapy who has a growth spurt in high school?

I am concerned about the implications this bears. But I'm not the only person with an opinion. What's yours?

I am a Steel Magnolia.

It's time for Mo's first round of dental reconstruction from my failure as a mother. It was supposed to happen a few weeks ago but she had a stomach bug so it got rescheduled for tomorrow. I spaced and forgot all about it until they called me for my reminder call. I had to break it to Beloved.

He hates this. He hates that we didn't do a better job with taking care of her teeth. He hates that she has to go through this "trauma" at the tender age of almost 5. I have walked him through the treatment three times and I still had to sit with him this afternoon and translate her entire treatment plan into layman terms for him. I worked for a dental office or a year and a half when we were first married so I was not just regurgitating a plan that the dentist explained to me. I was even able to walk him through tooth structures and states of decay and the whole nine yards.

He still hates it. Bless him. He is so worried about his little girl that he would rather do nothing than put her through trauma. Guess who is going to the office tomorrow morning. Not Daddy, that's for sure!

It strikes me as a little funny though. Sally Field's character had it right when she said,"Men are supposed to be made of steel or something.**" But let something happen to their little girls and they go to pieces. It reminds me of when I was 12 and I broke my arm. My dad had to leave the room when Dr. DeThomas was setting it because he was about to pass out. My mom stayed right there.

I guess it just happens when you give birth to a child. You are immediately initiated in to the Steel Magnolias. So here's to you all of my Steel Magnolia friends.