I came across this very inspiring story of an old Doctor while surfing the net. Wow! I bow my head, that's all I can say.. what a WOMAN of Wisdom! Just by reading her story in different articles I've recently searched, I ponder and came to realize that all of us can take life to the upper most limit and win. As simple as her words are: 'The secret to a long and healthy life is to live with a little common sense- Don't abuse your body and enjoy what you do.' She inspired hundreds of children and parents she cared for throughout the years. Her award winning wisdom and practical insight to dealing with children's health is of great benefit to young moms.
"When a mother says, `What makes my children so bad?' Dr. Denmark says, `Go look in the mirror.' Little children become like the environment they live in."
Dr. Leila Daughtry Denmark was born in February 1, 1898 in Bulloch County, Georgia. Shes one of America's Oldest and experienced Pediatrician and take note she's also the longest practicing Doctor in the United States. It is estimated that she personally treated over 250,000 patients over 75 years of active practice.
The secret to her incredible longevity and healthy life, she said, is simple. "Most of all, you have to love what you're doing. Anything you have to do is work. Anything you love to do is play and Don't abuse your body"
Along the way, Denmark helped develop the whooping cough vaccine, won countless awards and citations, and volunteered a day's work every week for 56 years at the Central Presbyterian Clinic in Atlanta to give needed care to poor people. Some parents travel hundreds of miles to have their children treated by a doctor with 70 years of experience. She's a wise sage and has written a book about her child rearing philosophies called "Every Child Should Have a Chance", published in 1971.
When people asked her when she'll intend to retire She answered "When I don't see well enough, hear well enough or think well enough, then I'll quit," "And when I go, I hope it will be right here in this office." Dr. Leila Denmark retired from medical practice in 2001, before her 104th birthday due to loss of vision but still conducts phone consultations for children and best known for her parenting and child rearing advice and her old-fashioned ways suit patients just fine. She turned 110 years old last Feb. 1, 2008 and Currently, she is the 67th oldest person in the world, according to the short list of super-centenarians (people at least 110 years old or older.)
Here are some of the wit and wisdom of 110-year-old Leila Denmark, I hope you guys can relate...
- Older women make good mothers. They know they didn't have anything until they got that husband and children.
- Women should be able to do everything a man does, but she shouldn't neglect her baby to do it.
- Every woman on earth should be able to have a professional life if she wants.
- Go out and do it, but do not bring a baby into the world and desert it.
- I don't belong to any of those HMOs. They have wrecked the medical profession.
- There's two things you can't fool -- a dog and a child. They know if you love them.
- I've never given a dose of cough medicine in my life. I try to find out what's making them cough instead of shutting them up.'
- My whole life I've been trying to teach mothers how to take care of their babies. Then they never have to take them to the doctor.
- Don’t abuse your body with junk food.
- - Drinking cow’s milk is dangerous.
- - Do your best to help others.
- - Too much sugar is not a good thing.
- - A sense of humor is very important for longevity.
- - Never bring a child into the world unless you’re willing to take care of them.
- - Children are not getting parental guidance and it’s wrecking this nation.
- - Kids in daycare are deprived of attention and catch too many illnesses.
- - We need to think about everything we eat and drink.
- - Let’s do is easier than do.
- - Never raise your hand or your voice to a child.
- - Parenting has gone out of style.
- - Children and adults should eat fruit instead of drinking fruit juices.
- - The greatest change she’s seen in her lifetime has been the neglect of little children.
- - " Anything on earth you want to do is play. Anything on earth you have to do is work. Play will never kill you, work will. I never worked a day in my life." - Dr. Leila Denmark, 100, USA's oldest practicing physician.