
Rabbi Aliza Berger shares a personal story about parenting challenges and the difficulty of maintaining focus amidst distractions.
I recently sent Solomon to the store. He came back with everything I asked him to purchase, but I sent himback because he mistakenly bought Children’s Tylenol with red dye #40. As he headed out, I started bath time with the kids. Eder, my soon-to-be three-year-old, was happily drawing on the tub with his “dots”—he is obsessed with these Crayola “bath dropz” which are little tabs of concentrated dyes designed to turn the water of the bath into crazy colors. Sadia, my 8-month-old, was splashing away in her bath seat. I turned my attention away for just a moment to respond to an email on my phone. Suddenly, I heard Eder saying, “here you go,Sadia, that’s so yummy...good job…” What he said registered a second too late. I looked up with horror to see Sadia happily chewing up pure, concentrated green dye. I reached up to try to fish it out of her mouth as quickly as I could. Just then, Solomon walked through the door with the dye-free Tylenol. Sadia smiled at him with a mouth full of green. After bedtime, Solomon and I were processing the night. There were some feelings. I know I should have been watching the kids more closely—three-year-olds are unpredictable and Sadia will eat…
Host: Rabbi Aliza Berger
Organizations: Speaking of Psychology, Temple Emanuel of Newton
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