Critical parenting error. Part 1 of ??????

I made a critical parenting error yesterday. I let Homer take Bart to his check-up by himself. I didn’t go. First time ever. Last time ever.

I sent him with his health card and immunization record. I also said I would like him to ask about two concerns:

1. His sleepwalking.
2. The fact that he seemed to get more overheated than the other kids when he played outside in the summer.

Besides these two things, Bart is a super-healthy boy. He eats well, has lots of energy, never gets sick. He has some speech problems, but nothing alarming given the fact that he’s only 4 years old (has problems with the sounds: L, Th, F, V and imbedded J).

Here are the results of the check-up:

-> Bart is not a sleepwalker. The Dr asked about his sleepwalking behaviour and Homer described late night trips to the washroom and conversations in the dark. No, that is not sleepwalking. What is sleepwalking (I’m pretty sure) are the times that he walks up and down the hall, does not respond if you speak to him, then settles back into bed. Or the times that he does respond but it only comes out as little grunts. Homer didn’t mention those things.

-> We suck (my word) because:
a. Bart has 2 cavities (that magically washed away when I brushed and flossed his teeth last night). Homer said that he usually brushes his own teeth with little help from us. Not even close to true.

b. We rejected speech therapy for Bart because we were “too busy with 3 kids” (yes, he said that). The only thing is that I took him to speech therapy and a hearing test, the speech therapist gave me some at home exercises, I took him back 2 months later and he had improved so much that she wrote on his file: “Will excel with parental coaching. No further intervention recommended.”

c. Bart is likely iron-deficient (indications: he is pale and Homer described the overheating as constant fatigue). Homer also said that Bart eats no red meat (not true). The Dr advised that we try to give him more whole-grain cereals and breads. Um, that IS what he eats. And, my whole family is super-pale. We're Scottish, what do you want?

-> On the plus side (or at least not the negative side), he’s in the 95th percentile for his height and 75th for his weight, which means he’s a big, healthy boy.


It amazes me that Homer spends almost as much time with the kids as I do, but he is absolutely clueless about any of their personal details. And now, my doctor thinks I’m a moron. It’s always the mother’s fault. Seriously, would I do anything to harm this little guy? No I would not.

First day of school!