Monday, January 30, 2012

"Show Me That Smile Again, Oh Show Me That Smile!"

In 1985, an American television sitcom made it's debut on ABC. It was about a family living in Huntington, NY (Long Island for those of you that don't know). The father was a psychiatrist, who worked from home, the mother was a journalist, and they had three kids, two boys and a girl, two teenagers and a little boy who was of undefined elementary school age. The oldest boy was a perpetual trouble maker, and the teenage girl was a goody-goody type. If you grew up in the 80s chances are you can guess the name of this show.

That's right, it was called "Growing Pains" and it starred Alan Thicke, Joanna Kearns, Tracey Gold and the the infamous Kirk Cameron, who (by the way) is now super Christian and married to his girlfriend from the show, Chelsea Noble.

It sounds like such a sweet name, right? Growing Pains, oh how cute! As the kids grow up they experience mild emotional and physical pains that concurrently happen with growing up.

Well, folks, the reality of the situation is that Growing Pains are not mild or cute in any way, in fact they are painful, severe and shocking.

Last night Ari woke up at 1am screaming his head off.


Wil was sleeping in the bed with him, and asked him repeatedly "What's wrong?"
His responses were incomprehensible and he continued to moan in pain.
After about ten minutes of this behavior, Wil was mentally and physically exhausted and he yelled to me across the apartment:
"Babe! Go in there with him please!"
So I slept walked into the bed with Ari and rubbed his back while he screamed his 3 3/4 year old head off.
"Does something hurt?" I asked him groggily.
"MY KNEE!!!! MY KNEE HURTS!!!!!" And with that, he continued to scream and writhe in pain.
I just held him, while he screamed. Eventually, he calmed down, and then he climbed back into bed with Wil and went to sleep.

I remember being around eight or nine years old, and complaining to my mom that my own knees hurt. I can't remember the pain exactly, but I do remember that it was alarming enough to report. My mom comforted me by saying:
"Don't worry honey, it's probably just growing pains."

The thing is whoever named the Alan Thicke show has their head up their ass. Growing Pains are not adorable, they are scary and jarring, and the poor kid has no idea what is happening to him! I just want to know when these things are going to stop. When will Ari get some relief from waking up in the middle of the night in excruciating pain?

Has anyone else experienced growing pains personally, or with their own children?

5 comments:

  1. Oh, poor Ari! Luka has growing pains, too, and always in the middle of the night!! Although it always starts with tears over an aching foot or knee, sometimes it turns out that it is a belly ache or a nightmare. Here's what I do (see, I even have a routine for it, meaning that it happens quite often..): I give him a hot water bottle, as it seems to ease the pains. Sometimes that and a cuddle will do, and he will go back to sleep. If it doesn't help, I offer him a sip of "medicine", really just apple juice from a medicine spoon. That normally does the trick (I love a good, old placebo..). If nothing else helps, give him a dose of pain killers. Booo, I also remember having growing pains, it was so painful :(

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  2. I love the placebo idea! Aww! Poor Luka! ;(. Thanks for the awesome ideas!! I need to get a hot water bottle!

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  3. My son does the same thing, well he did when he was a little younger. He now just kinda deals with it as he is a great big 10 yr old now. I will rub his knees sometimes when it's enough for him to come to me and say something. I even once put this cream on him. Sorta like a natural icy hot can't remember the name of it. That really helped but I didn't want to use it all the time just in extreme cases. As for how long will they last, I don't remember having growing pains after 9 or 10 but my husband who is 6'4 told me that the summer before highschool he actually grew 12 in and he said it was the most painful thing ever!!! Poor Ari hope this does not happen often for the little guy.

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  4. My son does the same thing, well he did when he was a little younger. He now just kinda deals with it as he is a great big 10 yr old now. I will rub his knees sometimes when it's enough for him to come to me and say something. I even once put this cream on him. Sorta like a natural icy hot can't remember the name of it. That really helped but I didn't want to use it all the time just in extreme cases. As for how long will they last, I don't remember having growing pains after 9 or 10 but my husband who is 6'4 told me that the summer before highschool he actually grew 12 in and he said it was the most painful thing ever!!! Poor Ari hope this does not happen often for the little guy.

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