The True Master of...

Yesterday, in church, Sean gave a talk. I had just gone into a Primary (kind of like Jr. Sunday School) manual online and copy and pasted it for the most part. Sean was a bit nervous. I told him that he could do it, and he was smart enough to read it on his own. I had him read it to me right before I took him to Primary. He read it all by him self. I told him he did a great job and that I knew he could do it. When it came to be time for him to give his talk, I stood in the back of the room as he told Sister Kidd that he didn't need help. She very happily let him go ahead. My smarty-pants, kindergarten boy then read his talk all by himself. The only time he needed help was when he lost his place. I thought this was very impressive because I didn't even know he could read some of the words in there (throughout, for example). Then, after church, his primary teacher told me that he read a scripture in class all by himself that had some hard words in it too. How did this boy learn these words? Who said he cold get this big so fast?

The Good Call From the School

This morning I checked my messages to find a great message from Sean's teacher, Mrs. Badgett. She was calling to let us know how much she has been enjoying having him in her class so far. She complimented him on how smart he is, and even said that he has his hand up for every question and always has the right answer. It is so wonderful to get this kind of message from the school as opposed to the one I got last February about Eric.

Love Letters From My Boys

Eric made me that on in school last week. What mom wouldn't be happy to be loved so much?

That is Sean's handy work. He said that instead of drawing a picture of the temple in Primary, he wanted to write a letter to Mom and Dad. I am so proud that my almost 6 year old thinks I am pretty good... :-)

At 8?!

In my medical terminology class we have discussions that tie into the parts of the body we are learning. This unit we are studying the male and female reproductive systems and obstetrics and neonatology. Our discussion is about HIV/AIDS. The topic is listed like this: "HIV/AIDS has become epidemic in the world. Discuss some of the medical terms that have become part of our general vocabulary related to this disease. Does the age or gender of the person you are talking with affect what words you use to explain or discuss HIV/AIDS?" We are to post our opinion on the subject, then respond to at least 3 of our class mates. I seem to agree with most of their points. I agree that education is key, and that it needs to be done early. I, however, don't agree on the age that some of them have decided is best to start.

Here is the main discussion that I had a hard time reading.

Unit 3 Discussion
I believe the age of a child or young adult, when discussing the disease and the prevention of the HIV/AIDS problems is everything. Using some of the words such as:Viral load white cell count T-4 cells Window period HIV AIDSWestern blot trachea lungs candidiasis PneumoniaDidn’t mean much to me I had to look every term up.According to a paper from the CDC HIV/AIDS fact sheet educating our young, needs to begin as early as 8 years old.The http://www.globalchange.com/truth-about-aids states that worldwide, pneumonia or pneumocystis carinii are factors of HIV but many of these deaths go unreported, in some rare cases a bronchoscope is used to locate germs hiding in the lung if the Doctor suspects the person to have died of HIV/AIDS.

Dawn Strauss-Berta
11 Aug 09 11:47 AM MST

Hi Jacqueline,I agree with you. Education children as young as 8 years old is a good idea. Do you have any suggestions on how we would do this?Thank you for the link, but when I click on it, the information was not there. Does it work for you?Dr. Dawn

Jacqueline Otero
12 Aug 09 1:48 PM MST

Sorry about the link:http://www.globalchange.com/truth-about-aids-chapter-3.htmis the correct link.another link for children ishttp://kidshealth.org/parent/infections/std/hiv.html#Has some great info on HIV/AIDSI would create a story book with pictures and pronunciations on the big words that go hand in hand with HIV/AIDSthe kidshealth web site above has a picture of a T-cells and how to pronounce immune (ih-myoon), and several other giant words in such a way that children can understand, and pronounce.

Dawn Strauss-Berta
13 Aug 09 2:54 PM MST

Thanks for the links. Great idea with the storybook suggestion!Dr. Dawn

Michelle Giroux
13 Aug 09 1:28 PM MST

There are plenty of ways that we can educate young kids like 8 year olds about this. Like in health class they should discuss it and also do research on it. Maybe if they see pictures and hear that people die from theses diseases they might think twice about having unprotected sex.I know 8 year old is a young age but you never know kids be having sex at like 13. So it's good to educate them young

Dawn Strauss-Berta
13 Aug 09 2:55 PM MST

Hi Michelle,I agree, it is a good idea to education them young. How would you go about explaining it to an 8 year old? Would you teach them any of the terminology?Thanks,Dr. Dawn

Michelle Giroux
14 Aug 09 7:15 AM MST

You can teach the 8 year olds the terminology. And you could also have them do research projects, and some activities that can teach them about the diseases.

Dawn Strauss-Berta
15 Aug 09 8:14 PM MST

Hi Michelle,I really like the idea of having them do activities to help them learn about the diseases.Dr. Dawn

Rosa Crumpley
18 Aug 09 8:56 AM MST

I think 8 is a bit young. At that age, they are just starting to learn the technical terms about their body parts. I agree with educating them, but I think it needs to be age appropriate and tailored to the specific child. I have a seven and a half year old. I teach him what I can. He is a smart kids, but still very young and innocent. I think that telling him all the facts at this age would be information overload.I do agree that kids need to be educated at a young age though.

Danielle Jones
15 Aug 09 5:34 PM MST

I agree we should start teaching them at a young age. i think they should have it in school too.

LATASHA SEWELL
11 Aug 09 6:29 PM MST

Jacqueline, I agree that discussing HIV/AIDS to try to prevent people from getting it should start at a young age. If people educate their children at the age of eight it would help stop the spread of the disease.

Jacqueline Otero
13 Aug 09 1:53 PM MST

How do we get the message to our young people, to stop look and listen?That cool is not being the first one to act on a dare, and that it is ok to say oooo I don't want to get that disease! It looks ucky!

Am I just living in a sheltered world. I think that it sounds crazy to not only have the birds and the bees conversation with an eight year old, but give them all the details of STDs at that age as well? Also, would a second grader really have the know how and motivation to do some big research project on the subject?

Yay!

While going through the training schedule last night I realized that I get to have my anniversary off! Yay! That was the main day that I was bummed about having to work since I started. I hadn't really sat down and looked at it, but I was sure I would have to work that day. As it turns out, since that is the last week of training the schedule will be Sunday through Thursday with Friday off, and then I will start my regular shift (the graveyard shift) on Saturday. That Friday is my anniversary.

Now for an interesting (to me anyway) fact about my anniversary. We got married on Friday, September 4, 1998. This year our anniversary will be on a Friday. Kind of interesting and fun...I think.

So Tired

I am so tired lately! I am probably not getting enough sleep. I don't get home from work until midnight, and then I just want to spend time with John. I get up aroud six (most mornings) so that I can spend time with my husband before he goes to work since I am not home when he gets home.

Homework is kicking my butt. I do still like the learning part, but it seems like most of my free time is taken by doing school work. I guess I shouldn't complain. I could be doing this much work and attending classes. Instead, I am doing this much work and turning it in online. Not so bad I guess.

My kids would be the other reason I am so tired. I love them. They really are good kids. The thing is, these boys need to get into school. They are driving me crazy. They need some structure. I am not a hugely structured person (I guess I could list that as reason number 4). I am sure that once they are in school, things will calm down at least a little bit around here. Only one week for Eric and a week and a half for Sean. Then, they will be in school. Not that I am counting or anything...

General Update

As Jami was so nice to remind me, it has been a while since I updated my blog. This is not because I don't want people to know what is going on with me. I just plain haven't had the time. It is hard to juggle kids and school and work. A lot harder than I thought it would be. I am hoping that once I get into the groove it will be a bit easier for me to find time for my hobbies like blogging and sewing and knitting.

School is going pretty good right now. I have a 99% in both classes. That is great. I had a hard time trying to find time to fit in my school work, but I did eventually get my assignments and quizzes done. By eventually, I mean I just got finished. It's OK. I had five and a half more hours to get the stuff in. It is not completely last minute.

Work is, well, interesting. I am in a class of 12 new hires. We get to sit and learn all about Dish Network most of the time. Sometimes we get to sit for an hour or two and listen to live calls. As boring as that sounds, I actually am having fun most of the time. I like most of the people in the class. I find it interesting that adults are just as clicky in that kind of situation as high school kids. There seems to be 2 obvious groups with a few of us that are, for the most part, accepted by both groups.

The kids went camping with John's family the last few days. It sounds like they had a lot of fun. John and I didn't go, so the kids went up with Rachel. I'm glad that she was willing to do that. The kids looked forward to going on vacation without Mom and Dad. We are lucky to have someone who was willing to aid in that effort.

I think that is all that needs to be updated right now. I'm sure if I left anything out, someone will ask questions....right?