Our Little Canaries

Our children today are our proverbial canaries in the coal mine. Have you looked around a preschool classroom lately? Good grief! As one teacher said to me a couple of weeks ago, "If you could just spend a couple of hours in my class you would be amazed. Almost 3/4 of my class has some issue of some sort. It wasn't this bad 5 or 10 years ago."

Have you seen the crazy cases of eczema? Asthma? Allergies? Allergies that look like ADHD? How about all the "normal" kids with terrible teeth, ultra pale skin, and no meat on their bones? How about the child with dark circles under his/her eyes? So what is it?

I am generally not one to join in public speculation and outrage about chemicals, toxins, vaccinations, food sources, and the like. I am making different choices today than I did previously and have become a fanatic about clean food. But as far as trying to find the smoking gun, it seems a worthy but frustrating pursuit. I believe there is not one single smoking gun. Few kids I know with issues have the same story so how would we decide what was the true "cause" for them when we can barely piece together enough pictures to make a baby book (or maybe that's just me - I am *terrible* about documenting my children's lives)?

I do, however, believe there is one sure cure. Heal the gut, heal the immune system, heal the body, heal the brain. I know our diet would help any number of children achieve their full potential.

So I have decided to put forth my personal efforts in healing children with existing conditions. Prevention? Would be lovely. Few will listen, even fewer will do. But have a kid that has an issue and you will find a very motivated parent. Parents want solutions and they are willing to go to great lengths to get them.

I hope that if we are able to consistently help children heal via natural methods, to let their bodies heal and rebuild themselves, that perhaps someone will have enough insight on the way in which they are healing as to find the way they are being broken in the first place.

Until then, let us watch these precious little singing birds. They are our warning signals. Once you know what you are looking for (dark circles, pale complexion, anxiousness, hyperactivity, lack of eye contact, chronic ear infections, chronic strep, behavioral regressions, etc., etc., etc.) you will begin to see that an overwhelming number of sweet little canaries around you are having a hard time. The answer is true healing, from the inside out. Put on your diagnostician glasses and see if you do not see issues facing many of our youngest members of society. *Something* is not right in our coal mine and some of our canaries are barely able to sing.

If you can just see all the children of the world as your own, all the mothers of the world as you are, we can make a huge difference.

-- Susan Sarandon