Sick days are part of being a kid; worrying about childhood illnesses is part of being a parent. You wonder, what’s that weird rash? Does that cough sound worse than before? Am I going to catch this, too? Parents quickly learn from experience all about ear infections, pinkeye, stomach bugs, colds, and the flu. These [...]
How do you keep a 1-year-old from heading toward the DVD player? What should you do when your preschooler throws a fit? How can you get a teenager to respect your authority? Whatever the age of your child, it’s important to be consistent when it comes to discipline. If parents don’t stick to the rules and consequences [...]
Your skin is red and sore. It may even look scaly. You itch like crazy. You know you haven’t been near poison ivy and you don’t have chickenpox, but you’re starting to worry that you’re slowly turning into some kind of scaly creature from a monster movie. No need to worry. It’s just eczema. What [...]
What a Bedbug Is A bedbug is a small (about the size of a pencil eraser), flat, reddish-brown bug that can be found in homes all over the world. It hides during the day and comes out during the night to look for blood. A bedbug has a special ingredient in its saliva (spit) that [...]
After an exhausting trip overseas, topped off by a 15-hour train ride, Margaret Schwartz, a single professional in her mid-40s, arrived at an orphanage in Ukraine, where she had 30 minutes to make one of the most important decisions of her life. Moments later, and essentially without any formal training, Schwartz was on her way [...]
Few kids would say they crave a good fiber-rich meal. Although the thought of fiber might bring gags and groans from kids, many appetizing foods are actually great sources of fiber — from fruits to whole-grain cereals. And kids are probably eating them without even knowing it. Not just for the senior-citizen crowd, foods with [...]
When most adults think about exercise, they imagine working out in the gym on a treadmill or lifting weights. But for kids, exercise means playing and being physically active. Kids exercise when they have gym class at school, soccer practice, or dance class. They’re also exercising when they’re at recess, riding bikes, or playing tag. [...]
Lazy days at the pool or beach are warm weather rituals for many families. But if you’re tempted to let your child play outdoors for even a few minutes without the proper sun protection, you might want to think twice. “It only takes one severe sunburn to potentially double your child’s chances of getting melanoma later [...]
Rape — forced, unwanted sexual intercourse — can happen to males and females of any age. Rape (also called sexual assault) is about power, not sex. A rapist uses actual or threatened force or violence to exert control over another human being. Some rapists use drugs or alcohol to take away a person’s ability to fight back. Rape [...]
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), in a revised policy statement, says increasing immunization coverage for children, teens, and young adults should be promoted more aggressively to achieve better immunization rates. The AAP says data from the 2007 National Immunization Survey indicates that about 90% of children between 19 months and 35 months old have [...]
