Fact, or just "old wives tale?"

Marian
Thu, 28 Jun 2007 12:07:24 +0000

Even if there existed clear-cut evidence that milk worsened cold symptoms, would that be enough reason to forbid your son to drink it?

We’re talking about a cold here, not some dire medical problem. I see no harm in letting him do his own experimentation and see whether milk helps or hurts. And even if it hurts, if he chooses to drink it anyway, so what?

In our household, we have a somewhat similar problem. My daughter has a scar from an operation she had three months ago. The surgeon told her that using vitamin E oil on the scar would help keep it soft and better-looking as it heals. We bought some, but I know she isn’t using it – probably because she doesn’t want to get the oil all over everything. Does it really matter? No. She doesn’t care what the scar looks like anyway. So I’m not making a fuss.

On the other hand, if your kid or mine wanted to discontinue an antibiotic before the 10 days are up, I bet we would both insist that this is forbidden. When something really matters, it matters.