No more baby aspirin parties

My big sister has a nearly-grown daughter of her own now, but once upon a time she was a four year old child and I was her baby brother.

It's now a family legend, how she approached my crib one summer night and invited me to a "baby aspirin party."

This was back in the day when St. Joseph's Aspirin was made in 83 mg. orange-flavored tablets, and every family medicine cabinet had a bottle. At two I had a taste for them, and we washed 'em down with chocolatey Ex-Lax. Yummy!

Now there is a serious point here, one I referenced last week. Little kids should not be getting over the counter cold medicines.

Saline nose drops, a few Tylenol drops on the tongue, and lots of love are the new protocol. Chicken soup is also good.

Drug-makers say they will re-label their products, and market them differently.

But, as my old family story shows there is something else they can do with these medicines.

Make them taste yucky.

Medicine is given a taste of fruit so that kids will take it. A spoonful of sugar and all that.

But medicine is serious business. It should be treated as such by even the youngest patient.

The solution, then, seems obvious. No more cherry flavored cold medicine. Try cod liver flavored instead. Maybe that's extreme, but you get the idea.

No more baby aspirin parties, kids. The bar is closed.