Sometimes we don’t think to show respect to children or value their ideas. I thought this article was a good reminder to us to never underestimate the power of a child’s mind. It seems that two fourteen year old school girls with a science project to complete decided to compare the vitamin C levels in ready to drink products. Their hypothesis: the cheaper brands were less healthy. So their original goal was to prove that the more expensive Ribena brand was healthier and to support the company’s claim that their product contained more vitamin C and thus was healthier. Please don’t assume that more expensive, name brand products are actually worth the extra money.

When they performed their test they found that the name brand product, Ribena, actually contained almost no trace of vitamin C. The girls initially thought they must have made a mistake in their testing; surely their results couldn’t be correct.
Then the girls contacted the company but they weren’t given the time of day. But when a government watch dog agency picked up on the story the company was forced to respond.

This is also one of those lessons in why it is so important for children to have self-esteem and know their self-worth. Had these girls lacked those qualities they never would have been able to take their results to the company. Unfortunately, many adopted children don’t have this kind of inner fortitude. So many suffer from a lack of self-worth and are guilt ridden. Sometimes it is because of early neglect, abuse or lack of bonding.

Personally I realize that my older adopted children struggle with low self-esteem and guilt issues which I want to help them overcome. On the other hand they can be very naughty; struggling with passive-aggressive behaviors and impulse control issues which I am compelled to discipline which then causes the guilt. It seems to be a vicious circle where we are always walking a fine line as adoptive parents of older children.

Read the full article about the girls.
Schoolgirls rumble Ribena vitamin claims

• NZ students find almost no vitamin C in drink
• GlaxoSmithKline could face up to £1.1m fine

Jeevan Vasagar
Tuesday March 27, 2007
The Guardian
Two New Zealand schoolgirls humbled one of the world's biggest food and drugs companies after their school science experiment found that their ready-to-drink Ribena contained almost no trace of vitamin C.

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