Family Valued

Review

The Adventures ofTom Sawyer

My
daughter likes to remind me, “this is the 21st century.” That’s fine. I just
don’t want to be limited to this century. Right now I’m crazy about this guy
from the 19th: Mark Twain.

            My son and I recently finished Tom Sawyer, and are now reading Huckleberry Finn. Sometimes I have to
explain the humor, and then he really laughs. Twain is what my husband calls “a
happy cynic.” He revels in the lunacy of life but isn’t beaten down by it.

            In addition to the humor, I enjoy
the adventurous spirits of these characters. Tom and Huck cut school to play
pirates, sneak out for nighttime adventures, and run away to an island in the
Mississippi.

            Reading these books to a
10-year-old, I realize that my big-city childhood was closer in spirit to Tom
Sawyer’s than my children’s suburban lives are. I had many opportunities to be
off on my own, exploring my world.

            I’m not saying children should run
away, or bring a dead cat to a cemetery at midnight to cure warts (as Tom and
Huck do). Tom and Huck witness a murder, robbery, and drunkenness. I don’t
advocate that either, but most kids today don’t have the freedom to roam and
have adventures. Having more unsupervised time or going slightly farther down
the block might expand their worlds. Perhaps we all can learn a thing or two
from my 19th-century friend.

            The Kennedy Center will bring the musical
version of “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” (Tom, Huck, and Becky are pictured)
to Nazareth College’s Callahan Theatre, 4245 East Avenue, Saturday, March 27,
at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. $9. 389-2170, www.naz.edu.

—
Lynn Malooly

This week for families:

Barnes & Noble
Greece Storytimes Every Wed, 9:30 and 10:30 a.m.; every Fri 10:30 a.m. and
7 p.m.; 330 Greece Ridge Center Dr, 227-4020

Barnes & Noble
Pittsford Storytimes Every Wed 9:30 and 11 a.m.; every Fri 7 p.m.; 3349
Monroe Ave. 586-6020

Brighton Memorial
Library Storytimes Every Mon 10:30 a.m., toddlers; every Mon 11:30 a.m.,
preschoolers; every Tues 7 p.m., all ages; every Wed 3:30 p.m., ages 5-7; Every
Thurs 7 p.m., families; Every Fri 10:30 a.m., ages 2-4. | 2300 Elmwood Ave,
784-5300

Brother Bear Party Tues,
Mar 30. Media Play, Southtown Plaza, 3333 W Henrietta Rd, 5 p.m. 292-5700

Charlie and the Chocolate FactoryThurs-Sun through Mar 28.
Performed by the Rochester Academy of Performing Arts, 727 East Main St,
Thurs-Sat 7 p.m., Sun 2 p.m. Tix: $10, $7 kids. 325-3366, www.rapaonline.org.

Cool Kids Thurs,
Mar 25. Airplane-making workshop, The Forum, Genesee Community College, One
College Rd, Batavia, 7-8 p.m. Free. 637-3984

Helmer Nature Center Sat,
Mar 27, Maple Sugar Open House, trail walks, demonstrations, maple treats, 11
a.m.-3 p.m. | Sun, Mar 28, Pancake Breakfast, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Tix: $5. | Helmer
Nature Center, 154 Pinegrove Ave, Irondequoit, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. 336-3035

It’s a Kid’s Life!Thurs, Mar 25. Musical performed by kids,
Moonbeam2earth Project, Holy Rosary Elementary School, 420 Lexington Ave, 7
p.m. Tix: $3. 381-8779, www.moonbeam2earth.org.

Pancakes and Rock ‘n’
Roll Sat, Mar 27. Breakfast with Moonbeam2earth Project, Faith Childcare
and Nursery, 2576 Browncroft Blvd, 10 a.m. Tix: $4, $2.50 kids. 381-8779

Parent-Caregiver
Relationships: Marriage Without the Vows Wed, Mar 24. Rochester Association
for the Education of Young Children, Cornell Cooperative Extension Bldg, 249
Highland Ave, 7 p.m. Free.

Phillis Wheatley
Community Library Storytimes Every Thurs. For preschoolers, 33 Dr. Samuel
McCree Way, 10:30 a.m. 428-8212

RPO Instrument
Petting Zoo Sat, Mar 27. For ages 4-7, Henrietta Public Library, 455
Calkins Rd, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Free. 359-7093

Seneca Park Zoo 2222
St. Paul St.Book and Beast, Wed, Mar 24, 11 a.m.| Tix: $5. 467-9453

Soy Unica! Soy Latina! Sat,
Mar 27. Activities and workshops for Latinas ages 9-14, Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr. School, 485 N Clinton Ave, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. 546-1271 ext 227

Strong Museum One
Manhattan Square. Ragtime, Cakewalks, and
Traditional Jazz, Wed, Mar 24, the Making American Music series, music by
the Smugtown Stompers, 7:30 p.m. Tix: $12. | Yelena’s Yuntov Puppet Theatre,
Sun, Mar 28, 1 and 3 p.m. Tix: $7, $5 kids. | 263-2700, www.strongmuseum.org.

Information on museum exhibits can be found in the
calendar’s Museum section.

Bugs and drugs

Fevers, colds, sore throats, and rashes cause kids to feel
bad, lose sleep, miss school, and worry their parents. Their parents worry
about how these illnesses are transmitted and the overuse of antibiotics to
treat them. There are two myths about these subjects worth clearing up.

            Diseases are not contagious, germs are. We all live in teeming colonies of viruses, bacteria, and fungi. Often helpful,
these germs sometimes exploit weaknesses in our immune systems and battles
ensue. Those battles are what we experience as infectious diseases. Because
children have naïve immune systems, they have more fights with germs. The
resulting ear infection, sore throat, bronchitis, or rash is not contagious. The germs are. What kids
do with the germ determines their symptoms. Infectious diseases have more to do
with how we deal with the germ than the germ itself.

            Antibiotics do not weaken immunity. It
is not true that when we use
antibiotics to help fight the germs in a child, her body won’t learn how to
defend itself. Antibiotics simply limit germs’ growth. Immune systems do the
vital work of destroying germs and cleaning up the infections. Without strong
immune defenses, antibiotics do not work.

            On the
other hand, our immune systems are weakened by stress, sleep deprivation, poor nutrition, and lack of exercise.
Teaching kids to wash their hands and to eat, sleep, and exercise well is most
of what limiting infectious disease is about.

— Laurence I. Sugarman, MD

This article appears in Mar 24-30, 2004.