A 6-Year-Old's Dream-Car List

So The Middle, the other morning, told me, "Dad, do you know what cars I'm going to have when I grow up?"
I said, "No, What are they?"
"A car, a truck, a Jeep, a Lamborghini, and a mini-van!" he responded.
I said, "A mini-van, really?"
With a big proud smirk on his face while nodding confidently, he said, "Oh yeah...a mini-van," as if this mini-van would be the most unbelievable, sweetest car in his collection.
I said, "OK, that's awesome!"
I will need to probe deeper in order to determine his reasoning for each of his selections.

Photo credit: Concavo Wheels / Foter / CC BY

A 4-Year Old That Totally Gets Politics

We were invited to the grand opening of a special manufacturing exhibit at the Discovery Museum (for kids) in Little Rock. Our family was asked to be one of several families to represent Caterpillar North Little Rock at the event. Governor Beebe was one of the speakers and later there was an opportunity to get a family picture with the Governor. However, The Middle wasn't feeling it. He refused to join us for the picture. Then the Governor promised him that he could have ice cream if he stood for the picture. Reluctantly, The Middle joined us for the photo. Later, there was no ice cream from the Governor. (Maybe he expected us to fulfill his promise???)

Months later, we were trying to get The Middle to do chores and we promised him something, maybe ice cream, if he did what he was told and he screamed "No. I don't trust Mommy, I don't trust Daddy, and I don't trust the Governor." Get used to it kid, it doesn't get any better. That's politics.

Powerwheels Don't Come in 4x4

After watching Dad drive off-road in his Jeep, The Big Boy decided to try his Jeep (Powerwheels) off-road. He made it a good way back onto the open lot next door. (Much further that I ever would have thought he could make it.) But eventually the lack of four-wheel-drive got him stuck. Not to mention the hard plastic wheels, lack of articulation, etc. etc. He was stranded, unwilling to get out of his vehicle in mud and tall weeds.

I didn't particularly want to walk back through that muck either. So I got into my Jeep, pulled up beside him, and slung him into the back and his Jeep up on the hood and we rode back to civilization. (All of this took place in the empty lot next to our house.)

Expensive Prescription Not Covered By Insurance

At some point in time your doctor is going to write a prescription for a medication that is not covered by your insurance. Most likely this will be as the doctor’s office is closing. So by the time you find out...it will be too late. Don’t let that happen. Use this article to prepare yourself. Most likely, you won’t even ask what is being prescribed, won’t see the prescription, and it will be sent electronically, directly to your pharmacy. When you arrive at the pharmacy, you find out that this prescription is not covered by your insurance. You will call the insurance to confirm, and...they will.  You might try to call your call  doctor's office, but they won't be open anymore. You will be stuck with your child’s life hanging by a thread (not really) in one hand, and a wad of money in the other. Which will you choose?

So that is what happened to us. Our oldest son had the flu. We were one of the last people seen that night before they closed. The doctor prescribe Tamiflu. I went to the pharmacy (the 24 hour one, on the other side of town) and then found out that it wasn’t covered by our insurance. It was going to cost $300. And that was just one of the medications. There were two more that were covered. We had been hearing really bad things about kids getting the flu. We felt like horrible parents for even considering not filling the prescription. But we could have waited just 12 hours to call the doctor the next morning to confirm that there were no alternatives, or fill the prescription that night and get my kid on the road to recovery. I went ahead and called my insurance to confirm that it was no mistake. They did confirm that they don't cover that particular medication. There were no generics to substitute. I begged the pharmacist for some kind of a discount program, so they give me $30 off my $300 prescription.

I asked the pharmacist how most people paid for this medicine. She said that most people's insurance will cover this. I said, “What about poor people? How do they pay for this medicine?” She said that even Medicaid and Medicare actually cover this prescription. But MY insurance doesn't cover this, and I have to pay for it out-of-pocket.

After two hours at the pharmacy, I came home with all the medicine, prepared it (as well as the food to be eaten before my son took it). I went back to where my son was sleeping (at this point it was 10 o'clock at night). I woke him up to take his food and medicine, but he just wanted to go back to sleep and take it the next morning. AHHH! By the next morning I would have been able to call the doctor to confirm this prescription was in fact required, and maybe have gotten an alternative prescribed! But it was too late for that. So he was going to take this medicine, damn it! I made him take his regiment of various medications and sent him back to bed.

As a preventive measure, the doctor actually wrote prescriptions for everyone in the family for this stuff. But since none of the rest of us were not symptomatic, I did not get those prescriptions filled. I will be calling the doctor’s office tomorrow morning to confirm that this is the only available option. Hopefully they can provide prescriptions written for something else that IS covered. At the end of the day, if there is no alternative, we will probably wait until we become symptomatic before I fill those prescriptions at $300 per person.

The prescription insurance representative did say that I could appeal, but I don't know how far I will get with that.

So, my recommendation is that before you leave the doctor's office with a prescription or have a prescription called in by the doctor, confirm it is covered by your prescription insurance or ask  for the generic or alternatives. Put a sticky note reminder on your health insurance card right now to remind you.

The List
Ensure prescriptions are covered before you leave the doctor’s office

Location: Doctor’s Office

When: When prescription is written

What: Confirm prescription is covered. If not, ask if there are generics, or alternatives.

The List

At the top of of this site you will see a menu item called "The List". On "The List" you will find several lists of things you need, things you need to look out for, things you need to do, and things you need to learn. I will grow this list as we think of more. I will link the to stories behind this list as they are written. Subscribe to be notified of new stories. If you have stories you would like to share and/or additional items that need to be added to the list, please send them in.

Photo credit: o.tacke / Foter / CC BY

Welcome

Eric: Hello everyone. My Name is Eric and this is my wife Sarah... and we have three boys.
Everyone (together): Hi Eric. Hi Sarah.

OK, so maybe we do need a support group. This site will have to suffice.

We are Eric and Sarah. We are husband and wife and a father and mother to three boys. Our friends told us that we should publish our stories and put together a list of things to help other families with kids (and maybe entertain those that don't). We hope to share our stories, and in doing so, entertain everyone and help prepare parents to prevent some of the disasters that have happened to us with our boys.

Now, it will seem like our life is in complete disorder if we only post the bad stuff, and really, it isn't. So we will try to include some of the good stuff as well.

Our boys are still fairly young and we already have a lot to say. So please pray for us as we continue on this adventure!

Eric & Sarah