Training Kids that Pills Are The Answer

Are we stupid, or what?

Or, maybe, take away all the cortisol stimulation of phones and tablets and introduce a set bed time…

Riding in to work today I heard a commercial about a sleep aid for children. “Is your kid grumpy? They probably aren’t getting enough sleep. Give them a pill and everything will be all better. Naturally.”

So, that’s not an exact quote, but that is the sentiment of the commercial.

Are we stupid or what?

If we are going to go with the idea that it is a good plan to train your children from an early age that taking pills makes things better, then we are stupid.

“Well, mom gave me pills or a pretty purple liquid and she seemed to think it was a good idea, so, Fentanyl gummies can’t be bad. And some of this purple drank, heck yeah!”

Be sure and train your kids early that taking pills makes things better.

I ripped the following off the website. Emphasis is mine:

Working well

I tried these on both of my boys, ages 10 and 15 as well as trying them myself. My 10 year old said that he loves the flavor of them and that they are a gummy form which is fun and easy for him to take. He said he didn’t notice any difference in how he fell asleep or stayed asleep but he did enjoy taking them. My 15 year old also said he loved the flavor and the gummy form. He said he noticed that he seemed to fall asleep easier than usual when he took them. I personally think that the flavor was delicious and it made them very pleasant to take. Even though they’re gummies, they didn’t get stuck in my teeth and were easy to chew up completely. I did feel that I was getting sleepier than without using them and I also seemed to fall asleep easier and stay asleep for longer periods of time without waking compared to when I wasn’t using them

So, one kid didn’t notice any effect, and the other kid and the parent seemed to think they fell asleep easier.

But boy howdy, were they ever delicious!

The active ingredient in these kidz pillz is melatonin. So, here is where I get upset and call us stupid.

Melatonin production is at its highest when we are young and gradually decreases naturally over time. There can be many reasons why, but I think we are stupid to discount “it’s supposed to be that way.” Kids go from needing 14 - 17 hours of sleep for newborns up to 3 months, to 7 hours or so for ages 18 and up.

Kids in their pre-teen and early teen years are producing sufficient amounts of melatonin under normal circumstances to be able to fall asleep and stay asleep for the normal amounts of time. They should not need melatonin supplementation as the cause of inadequate sleep is generally not lack of melatonin but other environmental factors, such as screen time, no set bed time, stress in the home, etc.

So, what am I saying? I’m saying don’t be a lazy parent. Have a set bedtime, take away screen time, sort out the stress levels in your house, and don’t solve everything with a pill, gummy or drink. It’s just a stupid thing to do.

You wonder why kids eat fentanyl gummies? Really? Stop kidding yourselves and start parenting. Like from when they are born until they are in their 30s or so. Really.