Trick Your Kids With Pills
One step beyond “Mommy will kiss it and make it all better”–a new placebo pill goes on the market in June.
Is your kid a tiny hypochondriac begging for sympathy for non-existent aches and pains? Give them a pill–a fake one. A controversial “medication” Obecalp (placebo spelled backwards) is being marketed to parents who want to make their kids feel better–if there’s nothing really wrong with them– with a sugar pill. The pills, 50 tablets for $5.95, will be available next week on the Efficacy Brands website. Beyond the ridiculousness of paying for pills that don’t do anything, pediatrician and friend of momlogic Dr. Gwenn thinks “fake medicine” is a bitter pill to swallow.
She suggests parents should “avoid tactics that trick the child into thinking he is getting a medication because it sends the wrong message.”
