Friday, February 25, 2011

Today was the day...

I learned what Lucas really means when he sings: "Friar Chuck, Friar Chuck". Anyone want to hazard a guess?

Tales from behind the wheel

Last week I read about 'share day' at preschool, when children get to bring some of their toys. Well, last wednesday I got to have share day at the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles), and I brought my car for my behind-the-wheel-driving-test. As a bonus of our move abroad I got to do my driver's exam all over again. Only this time, I was surrounded by 16-year-olds. 16-YEAR-OLDS! Who would - if they aced their test - take their share of the road I'd be driving on. Now, I think I am not the only Dutch person who thinks it somewhat strange that 16-year-olds get to drive behind the wheel, but are not allowed to drink (which does not mean I am pro drinking at this age, and I do think the combination of driving and not drinking is a very good one). Many studies show that the bulk of road accidents happen to adolescents. This might have something to do with the way our brain develops. Our frontal lobe (where all the major smart decision making processes happen) is the last to develop and is by no means done at age 16.

The Californian driving test consists of a 20 minute drive (of which at least 5 minutes is taken up by showing your instructor you can honk your horn). Special manoeuvres are limited to backing in a straight line. That's it. No parking (front or backwards), no stopping on a hill (which is not really a difficult thing when you don't have a stick), no back turns, nothing, just backing in a straight line. And you get to make 15 mistakes on the test before you fail, although serious mistakes count as an immediate fail. A bit different from the Dutch driving test. The result for me? 7 mistakes and a pass. The young girl in the Mini before me made 10 mistakes, got some extra pointers, and also passed. She was very happy that she didn't have to enter the freeway or highway during the test. Although her mom mentioned the fact that she would have to drive on the freeway daily on her way to school. I admit I was also glad I didn't have to enter any freeway during my exam: the on ramps are very short, the amount of traffic is huge, and it is often unclear whether the ramp will end or not or whether the ramp is also an off ramp. Confusion galore. But still, I do think it should be part of the exam.

But hey, all this aside: I am now the proud owner of a Californian driver's license and a Dutch driver's license.

To end this blog in style, some interesting license plates my hubby and me saw on the road:

TKCHRG
TNK GRL (which was actually a little SUV driven by a dude)
KIDSM♥M
♥MYHBD (on a Prius)
DRVSMRT (not on a Smart)
TRNRCHK
MAUIFUN
TRVL SZ
IDNTITI

MINK OAT (not sure about the spelling capabilities of this driver)


and my favorite:
IMAWEE1 (on a Smart)

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Weapons of mass-paranoia

Many people still believe there is some truth to the 'vaccination leads to autism' idea. Why? Because some researchers claim to have found evidence supporting such a link. Enter Mr. Wakefield, who conducted one of the major studies into this area, and who published an important paper on a direct link between MMR vaccination (against measles, mumps, and rubella) and autism. However, whereas he was famous for his scientific results, he's now famous for something else altogether. His paper on the link between MMR vaccination and autism has been retracted, and Mr. Wakefield has been stripped of his medical license. Apparently, he had failed to disclose the fact that he was being paid by a law firm seeking to sue vaccine manufacturers. Moreover, he has not been able to reproduce the results. The most recent news in this whole ugly mess is being published by the British medical journal BMJ, who claim that Wakefield has falsified the actual data of the original study. Disclaimer: no proof there yet.

I know for a fact that the stories around vaccination have given rise to concern in parents of children with developmental disorders. Both during my time as a researcher and during my job as a psychologist, parents have questioned me about the possibility of vaccination as the cause of their child's problems. In addition, I also heard parents mentioning that their child's autistic symptoms started around the time of the vaccination (which also happens to be around the time that major milestones in the area of language, motor skills and cognition take place). Now, IF there is clear evidence that vaccination can result in autistic symptoms, I agree that we would have to think about our vaccination program. However, we should also be aware that the consequences of non-vaccination could result in higher rates of complications or even child-morbidity.

The idea of a link seems to stick in our heads, regardless of scientific evidence to the contrary. While googling I found that 48 percent of American people participating in the Harris interactive/health day poll either believes that there is truth in a link between vaccination and autism, or is not sure. What's more staggering is that this poll has been conducted AFTER the Wakefield paper had been retracted. Only half of the people participating in the poll actually heard about the paper being retracted, while almost everyone knew about the initial results. The combination between the unlimited access we have to all kinds of information (without necessarily being able to appreciate the value and truth of it) and the preference of the media to pick up on spectacular results proves to be a dangerous one.

As far as I know, there is no convincing evidence supporting a claim between vaccination and autism. In fact, the prevalence of autism in Japan seems to increase, in spite of the fact that they discontinued their MMR vaccinations. There is also counter-evidence against a link between autism and Thimerosal (a mercury based preservative often added to vaccines). Children who were exposed to Thimerosal, either in infancy or intrauterine did not show a higher prevalence of autism compared to children who were not exposed to Thimerosal.

So yes, I give my children their shots. Although I must admit there is a flicker of doubt when our doctor wants to give my eldest son extra shots for diseases that are common in the USA. That does not make me a bad researcher, a paranoid or a gullible person. It just makes me a mom who loves her children more than anything in the world.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

The word of the day...




...recondite. Yes. I found it in Terry Pratchett's book 'The last continent'. And I didn't have the faintest idea what it meant. So I looked it up. And the first entry in the online dictionary was: abstruse. Well whaddaya know. Who would have thought that? Not me. Because I didn't have the slightest idea what abstruse meant either. So, I read a little more. And what irony, because the definition of recondite turns out to be:

"difficult or impossible for one of ordinary understanding or knowledge to comprehend"

Well, I guess they got that right when they invented that word. I imagine the conversation went something like this:

 J: "Oi George, how are we doing in the word-department? Earth is all created, and there's no sense for the people of ordinary understanding to wait much longer now is there?"
G: "Well Jeff, we're just about finished. But we still have to invent a word for un-understandable."
J:  "Yes. Un-understandable just won't do. It would be way too understandable for one of ordinary understanding."
G: "How does abstruse sound?"
J:  "Well George, I think you're on to something. Still a tongue-twister, but no one of ordinary understanding will grasp the meaning of that."
G: "I don't think one word is enough though."
J:  "You're right, there should be another word. That will boggle the minds of ones of ordinary understanding all right."
J:  "Do you think recondite will do?"
G: "Well, it has a familiar ring to it. But it will do perfectly."
J:  "Great. Well, I guess we're all done then. Let's get the people of ordinary understanding out there and have ourselves a good laugh."

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Social Networking: the good, the bad, and the ugly

I am on Facebook. And on Linkedin. On Orkut. Hyves. Schoolbank... and on a couple of other social networking sites that I don't even remember myself. And of course I have my personal blog, after all you are reading it. I'd like to say that I'm also on Twitter, but I am too old to understand the terminology on that. But I am digressing.

Except for my blog, I'm not really active on these sites. But I do like to follow my 'friends', 'colleagues', 'classmates', 'friends of friends' or even 'complete strangers'. Reading their posts gives me a sense of snooping in their lives, since they don't actually know I'm reading their posts. But I do have permission of course, nothing illegal there. Now, reading the posts of other people I can't help but wonder what the effects are of these networking sites. I'm not thinking about the obvious repercussions of time spent in a virtual world instead of a real world. I'm also not thinking about the new people you can meet, old people you can re-meet, the career advancing opportunities or the upgrade in your 'cool' factor when you reach 1000+ friends.

No, I'm thinking more in lines of the effect specific remarks can have on existing friendships with those you are writing about. We all know that the absence of face-to-face contact in the virtual world makes it easier for people to be direct (open, frank, honest or downright blunt and nasty). What happens when you write something about somebody, which is in turn read by many others, including the very person you wrote about? Does that affect your friendship? Does that affect the friendship you have with other social networkers that read your posts and think about the possibility of a(n) unwanted guest appearance on your wall? How do you react to these posts when you read them? You can't just 'like' it, right? Or do you just ignore the post?

If you expected to find an answer to these questions, I have to disappoint you. I didn't have time yet to find whether it has been researched, which I will be doing as soon as I can stop reading the posts on all the networking sites I'm connected to. And if I don't find an answer in existing research, I'm thinking about conducting my very own research. Will you participate? I will put up a 'like button' for you if you like. Making my very own social networking site as it were.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Crouching tiger, hidden dragon

Remember my blog about crouching tiger? Meet hidden dragon. He is crouching tiger's big brother.



Featuring Lucas' talk (both Dutch and English):

In the aquarium:
Lucas: "Waar is papa?"
Ik: "Papa geeft Kwint even een schone luier, hij is even met Kwint naar de w.c."
Lucas: (met een hele hoge stem) "Een hele kleine w.c., he, voor Kwint?"


At home:
Ik: "Lucas, give me high five!"
Lucas: (gives me high five) "Ten! Dat is ten, he?"

Ik: "Lucas, je mag nog heel even spelen, daarna ga je naar bed."
Lucas: "Mag ik nog een heleboel spelen?"

Lucas: "Wil jij ook neus peuteren?"

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Top 10 Californian rules

Today´s blog is going to be a bit of a jumble of thoughts and experiences about California/USA. Since I'm big on structure, I made them into a set of top 10 Californian rules.

1. I write (my licence plate), therefore I am: Personalized license plates.
I don't know what the deal is with these things, but they are hot around here. Today I saw this one: C BLSNGS. Other ones: PRGRMMR. USEDATA. GRNPEAS (bright green car). I'll try to remember more of those.

2. A clean slate is a good state: Hygiene.
Wipes, tissues, handkerchiefs, antibacterial fluids, toilet seat cleaners, you name it, they got it and use it. Even on kids, which I think is completely useless.

3. See it, like it, mention it: Ask away.
Ok, this might need more explanation I guess. As I mentioned in another blog, my creative outbursts have been getting worse. It now comes to the point that I´m actually sewing clothes for my children AND let them out in public in them. I made Lucas a dragon vest. He's into dinosaurs and dragons right now (to the point he's been having these nightmares and is thus not allowed to watch Discovery's dinosaur programs anymore). I found a nice blog about sewing fun stuff for children, and the dragon vest looked just right for him. The result: lots of smiles and laughter and questions. But no, it's not what you think. Everybody loves it. And apparently everybody feels free enough to mention that, or ask me where I got the vest from.


4. Know thy neighbour. And thy neighbour's neighbour. And thy neighbour's neighbour's hair stylist. And of course thy own hair stylist: Networking
Big deal too. Even at the local hair dresser. Mention your personal history, they take your name and number and try to set you up with another client to help you out. Oh, and apparently the boy who packs my groceries  thinks it's useful to know me. But I suspect he has alterior motives.

5. The hills are alive with the sound of your car, UNLESS you forgot to go to the gas station: driving.
Driving is fun. Driving is good. You need to drive! Far. Because USA is big. And you need to remember to have gas in your tank. No gas, no drive. And this is even more true when you are driving in the hills.We actually ran out of gas in the hills. Well, according to our car who notified us that we had zero miles left. But we managed to go 6 more miles to the closest gas station.

6. Forewarned is forearmed, and they are after you: warning signs.
Yes, American people love those signs. There are so many, I can hardly see where I am going. But Bart already wrote about this in his blog, so I won't.

7. A day without discount is a day 'well spent': discounts.
'Well spent' as in expensive. But that's fine, because you always get discount. Always. And they always mention that, and put a nice circle around the money you saved. Ain't that grand?

8. Recycling makes the world go round: recycling.
Apparently living 'green' is getting to be more important these days. And they're really trying here. That is if you forget about two things: plastic bags and leaflets. But that's ok, because I've got myself a special bag to put all the plastic bags in, and I can put the leaflets in our paper-only container and then it will grow back on the trees.

9. Ok. Truth be told? I'm running out of ideas. I will have to live here for a little bit longer to come up with a longer list. Until then, number nine on my list will stay open. Because the next one needs to be the last one.

This one's for you guys back home:

10. Always wear sunscreen: summertime.
Yes, we have it and you want it.

FYI: about the picture. No hidden meaning there. We went to the Monterey aquarium again, and I just loved the complementary colors of the jellyfish and the water.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

USAccident

So, I forgot to mention that Kwint managed to hit his head against a shelf at daycare yesterday. Now, I would say that that is nothing out of the ordinary, and wouldn't think about it twice. Back home, we would maybe hear why our son had a throbbing red light on his forehead when we'd come to pick him up. But no, in the USA you get an actual accident report. With the time, an actual report of the accident and the way they handled the situation. Should I now sue them? I don't know the rules of this country yet, so I'm just asking.

So, I proudly present: Kwint's first accident report! May there be lots to follow.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

A case of late onset separation anxiety

Today was the big day: Kwint's first daycare day. No more mommy, enter big bad world. He's been with me for the last 3 to 4 months, since we took him out of daycare in October after our house got sold, Bart moved to California, and I temporarily moved in with my parents. He hasn't seen too many strangers during these months, and I wasn't too sure how his happy demeanor would be affected when I wouldn't be there.

Sure thing, we stumbled into a major case of separation anxiety. Separation anxiety, for those of you unfamiliar with the concept, is a normal developmental stage in which a child becomes frightened when they enter an unfamliar place or meet unfamiliar people. Obviously, the anxiety is most notable when the child is separated from its parents, hence separation anxiety.
In our case, we're talking about roaming emotions such as feelings of being abandoned, feeling unloved and a general feeling of total loss, in need of reassurance. Yep, I felt it all. And Kwint? He had a lovely day at daycare, was showing everybody his cute smiles and came home a happy baby.
My diagnosis: late onset separation anxiety.

In the category Lucas-talk:

Lucas: "Mama, ik wil je borsten zien."
Ik: "Nou Lucas dat is niet zo netjes om te vragen."
Lucas: "Mama, mag ik je borsten zien?"

In de Ikea
Ik: "Kijk Lucas, daar staat jouw bed. Dat is precies dezelfde."
Lucas (in de auto op de terugweg van de Ikea): "Nou kan ik niet meer slapen thuis. Bed niet thuis."