Volume 1 Edition 19.....

"Whether we've taken an elegaic turn because it's approaching the end of year, or there is a general zeitgeist, the paediatric blogosphere offers many thoughtful posts. We have sex, drugs, issues of life, death, morality; ethical dilemmas that reflect religious and cultural values as well as the challenges posed by advances in medicine. Because this is PGR, we also have snot, magical thinking and the general weirdness of contact with children.

Machiavelli famously claimed that statecraft involves fortifying the banks against the rivers of misfortune. We're not all the way there, but most of us are fortunate enough to live in societies where we have fortified the banks of paediatric health against the erosive forces of disease, morbidity and mortality. We live in good housing, we have clean water, standards for air quality, good nutrition, safety standards, improvements in medical science and public health measures such as vaccination. Most of us can be confident that children will survive through to adulthood."

This edition can be found at Breath Spa for Kids and was published on December 30, 2006.