Musings on a Wednesday Morning.

A few years ago I was reading Downsed's* Issues and Information booklet on social skills. (Now available on-line,see here ) They had a list with the percentages of teens/adults (with Down syndrome) who could do certain independence skills. I noticed that use of a microwave was only a low 24%, and decided then and there to teach Ricki to use a microwave, at least for warming up food.
It was one of the biggest mistakes I have ever made. It opened a "Pandora's box" for Ricki. Suddenly, warming and eating vast quantities of soy patties had become easy. One just had to make sure that no one caught you taking too many.
And- as happens occasionally- if Ricki would hear someone coming, she had an easy and quick solution: discard the incriminating evidence as soon as possible. We began finding half-eaten soy patties behind the computer, on the sidewalk downstairs, etc. This behavior has since extended to any article she is overeating. So last night she dumped out a glass of milk that I caught her drinking in the middle of the night.Never mind that this meant "no milk for coffee in the morning", a distinct set-back for a coffee addict like myself.
So bright and early this morning I meandered into the local grocery. I didn't even glance at the pastry section: I know this is taboo for me. However,as I was paying, I couldn't help but notice the pastry the woman behind me was holding: a jelly-filled doughnut (sufganiyah).(This is a holiday food for channukah, which will start in about four months.) I did a double-take: "It's not even Rosh HaShanah yet!" I yelped in surprise. They even beat last year by 6 weeks. (See my views regarding this in my blog from February 6th, here.) For Americans, this would be akin to selling Halloween costumes before the fourth of July.
Am I the only one who thinks that commercialism has gone a bit too far?

* Any parents of children with Down syndrome who are NOT familiar with Downsed of England (Sue Buckley's place), should definitely check out their website (here).They have a wealth of up-to-date research-based information. They are currently publishing on-line more and more material from their publications.