i'd rather teach kids that there isn't a magic pill to fix everything. that sometimes you have to just deal and do your best to cope.

Although it is a cute idea, I think you're setting your kids up to become adult hypochondriacs, thinking that they need to take medicine every time something doesn't feel right. And whatever happened to telling your kids the simple answer "No", as in "no, you really aren't sick and don't need medicine right now"? I think there are too many parents afraid to use that word with their kids anymore. My three-year-old son is typical in the fact that he, too, will tell me he needs medicine for everything, but after a simple "no", he usually gives up, walks away, and immediately his attention has already gone to something else.

Nothing says good parenting like teaching your children to rely on pills to fix everything.

As a Public Health Specialist and former pharmaceutical salesperson, I would also like to remind everyone that the overuse of antibiotics (to treat colds instead of true bacterial infections) has led to the increasing resistance of bugs to these medications. Have you been hearing about Methicillin Resistant Strep Pneumo on the news? If people (doctors and patients) would stop using pills to comfort and/or validate illness this type of problem could be avoided and lessened for the future.

Good for a gag gift, but yeah, a kiss is fine.

Hello, this is like treating emotions with food... you don't heal sadness, depression, frustration, anger, etc. with food OR drugs, real or not! Talk to your kids about what they are feeling and get to the root of it!

Another short term solution that creates a long term problem. Definitely a Not.

As a pediatrician and a mom I have to agree with most of the other posts. Teaching kids to take a pill for everything is a bad idea. Besides ... usually a spiderman or hello kitty band-aid and a kiss from Mama fixes anything.

HA! this makes me thing of the "spirin" tablets from the movie the birdcage.

"what is spirin... what are you giving her? oh, relax its just asprin with the "A" scratched off."

HUG IT OUT!

If your kid needs something to make him feel better, why not try talking, hugs, kisses, emotional support? Giving the kid a placebo pill can send the wrong message.

How is this a "hot" product?

Um, <I>I</I> need this! I get stress and tension headaches from clenching the muscles in my face. As soon as I sense a headache coming on, I start to clench like crazy, just making it worse, but taking a couple of advil let me relax (because I've "done something" about the headache), and it goes away. I know that most of the reason I feel better is because I took a pill, not because of the actual medicine. I've always thought that if someone could sneak into my pill bottle and replace them with placebos, I'd feel just as well and wouldn't be putting unnecessary drugs into my body.

The problem is getting someone to slip me the placebo without my knowledge or suggestion!

(The same thing is true for insomnia. I lie awake wondering if I should take something to help me fall asleep. Or I take half a Tylenol PM (tiny dose) and have no problem falling asleep because I've "done something" to help...)

Ugh no! As it is my husband is quick to pull out the Tylenol for every little ache and pain. You really don't need a pill for everything and the last thing kids need to learn is that there IS a pill for everything.

Ha! This is awesome! Let's train our kids to medicate and let's also lie to them in the process. Two fantastic lessons rolled into chewy goodness.