Marguerite Kelly of the Washington Post.... I bow down.

My mother in law clipped and article out of the Des Moines Register this weekend title "Keep a record of son's tantrums to discover trigger". I immediately got defensive and wondered what prompted her to send this to me. I owe my mother in law a big apology. She did not clip this article to not-so-subtly tell me how to be a better mom but to encourage us that we were on the right track. It turn out that this article was originally published in the Family Almanac column of the Washington Post with the title, "From Sweet to Monstrous in a Heartbeat". The Family Almanac column is written by Marguerite Kelly at the Washington Post. It is a column where a family writes in with a problem they are dealing with and Ms. Kelly writes a response. I often skip past this type of column becuase they rarely have any common sense advice and often suggest unrealistic solutions.
Well... it seems the Ms. Kelly is not only a down to earth parent who knows what she is talking about and is not afraid of dishing out real advice to struggling parents but is a woman who is also aware of how diet and environmental toxins can effect a person's behavior. As I was tracking down where this article originated I discovered that this particular response by Kelly was not the 1st time she has referred to the removal of dyes, preservatives and salicylates from a child's diet as a way to help moderate behavior. (click here for another posting) Thank you, thank you, thank you Marguerite Kelly for bringing this more natural solution and other completely reasonable solutions to the mainstream, even if you still only get published on page 8E.

ADDED AS EDIT 7/21:
I emailed Marguerite Kelly after reading her article and much to my surprise, she wrote me back. Here is her response. It is nice to know people like this are out there.

"Karen,

Thanks for your thoughtful note and your kind words. And yes, I have heard of the Feingold diet. In fact, I've recommended it so often that I've been accused of being a shill for it so this time I wrote about it without giving it a name. The diet, and many other treatments to correct physical conditions, will be included in the book I'm writing, tentatively named, "Where Do We Turn?", which, with luck, will be published before your child starts middle school.

Marguerite"