I’m not big on spying on teens generally. I think that privacy is important. And by the time they are teens, in most cases we need to trust that at least some of the stuff we’ve said for years has stuck–and we need to let them learn to be independent and make choices without us.
That said, if you have a teen who drives, there’s some spying I suggest, assuming you …
Check to see if your teen is texting when driving
Repeated bumps to the head are bad for children. This sounds incredibly obvious, yet as a society, we don’t particularly act like we get it at all.
When the Bruins made it into the Stanley Cup finals, I thought about all the young hockey players who would be inspired to practice harder and play harder in the hope of one day doing the same. And I wondered: if they bumped their …
Youth sports should never knowingly risk brain damage
If you believe in vaccines, can you speak up?
When we are unsure about decisions, we want to know what our friends and loved ones think. This is normal and understandable; after all, these are people who are important to us, people whose opinions we value and trust.
We also turn to these people when making medical decisions–including ones about immunizations. While what …
If you believe in vaccines, please speak up
As someone who has been a parent for 22 years, I know firsthand just how hard driving kids around can be. When they are little they cry, as they get older they ask a million questions and fight with their siblings, and when they get older there’s the whole issue of the radio, not to mention the chaos of friends in the car. But a study recently released suggests that when …
It’s time for parents to stop distracted driving
We’ve all been hearing about the cool app Snapchat, which allows people to send pictures and videos that only last a few seconds before disappearing. Because of the disappearing thing, the worry that I keep reading about is that teens will use it for sexting, figuring that it’s no problem if they take sexy pictures or videos, because they won’t last.
Now I worry about sexting as much as anybody else …
Why this pediatrician is worried about Snapchat
I’m sad that a New York judge struck down the 16-ounce size limit for sodas and some other sweet drinks. I think Mayor Bloomberg had the right idea.
I get that whole personal freedom argument (although the court just said that it was arbitrary and out of Bloomberg’s purview), that this was a “nanny state” idea. But honestly, when it comes to obesity, …
Think of a soda ban like seatbelts
In the wake of the Newtown shootings, as a country we are all taking a step back, looking at our laws and our policies and thinking about what we can do to prevent unspeakable tragedies like the deaths of those children from happening again.
I am not a gun owner and never will be, but I am not advocating getting rid of all the guns. I totally get that there are …
If I’m wrong about guns, can you please explain why?
Having married parents is good for children. That’s why the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) thinks that same-sex couples should be able to marry.
In a policy statement, that’s exactly what they said. It’s going to put the AAP in the middle of controversy–but it was the right thing to do for children.
There are currently almost 2 million children being raised by gay and lesbian parents in the United States. And …
Same-sex couples should be able to marry: Why the AAP got involved
Sometimes, when a parent tells me about something that happened with their child, I think (and say, as nicely as I can): Why didn’t they call right away?
And sometimes, when I’m talking to a parent or seeing their child in the office, I think (but don’t say): Why did they call about this?
It can be really hard to know when to call the doctor.
It’s hard because sometimes you plain old …
How to know when to call the doctor
Your child has an earache. You are worried it is an ear infection. You call the doctor and make an appointment. After all, he needs antibiotics, right?
Maybe not.
We have a real problem of antibiotic overuse in our country–and because we are overusing our antibiotics, many bacteria are getting smarter and stronger. Because ear infections is the diagnosis that kids in the United …
What doctors are supposed to do when your child has an earache
Recently I’ve been wondering if pediatricians are out of touch when it comes to media and kids.
Our messaging is pretty straightforward: turn it off. The recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics is that children under the age of 2 should not watch TV at all, and everyone else should watch no more than 2 hours a day. And when we talk …
Media and our kids: Are pediatricians out of touch?
Lots of people are using complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) these days—things like vitamins, homeopathic or herbal medicine, chiropractors, acupuncture or massage therapy. But they don’t always tell their doctors about it.
In a study in the journal Pediatrics, researchers in Canada found that among kids with chronic health problems, 64.5 percent of them were using some form of CAM—but more than a third didn’t tell their …
Let doctors know if you’re using alternative medicine
Here in the Boston area, we’ve all been shaken by the news that a known sexual offender raped and molested children for years at a daycare just north of the city—even babies. It’s beyond horrible. For those with a child in daycare, this story is especially terrifying. You can’t help thinking: could this happen to my child?
Ultimately, the sad truth is that we can’t always stop these …
A sexual predator at a daycare: Do your homework when choosing
For around four years in a row, starting around 1996, my husband and I rented one of those inflatable bouncy houses for my son’s birthday party every August. We invited a whole bunch of his friends and cousins to bounce in it for a few hours (and let them play in the sprinkler and fed them cake). Nobody got hurt.
Which, in retrospect, …
The problem of bouncy houses and the injuries they cause
When it comes to getting parents to cut back on their kids’ screen time, we doctors aren’t doing such a great job.
Like most of my colleagues, I talk about screen time at almost all checkups. I talk about how too much screen time makes a kid more likely to be overweight and have behavioral problems. With the parents of babies and …
Cut back on screen time for kids
Your child has a rash and is acting a little sick. You reach for your phone–not to call the doctor, but to look up rashes on Google or your symptom checker app.
This, according to the latest report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, is the direction we are moving. As a doctor, I think it’s great.
In May of 2011, …
My smart phone helps me be a better doctor
I don’t know how to move forward after the shootings of the children in Newtown.
A lot of it has to do with the fact that I have a first grader. Whenever I close my eyes, I have visions of a gunman storming into his school. My son’s classroom is just off the main lobby–it would be his class a gunman would get to first. When I see the list of …
Honor the memory of the Newtown children by taking action
There was some good news recently about teens and driving: according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the number of teens who report drinking and driving has come down by half in the past decade from two in ten to one in ten.
While that really is good–great–news, it doesn’t change the fact that motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for US teens. In 2010, every day …
Know the risk factors for teen motor vehicle crashes
My two oldest children recently left for semesters abroad: Michaela went to Paris, and Zack to Beijing. I have all sorts of Mommy nervousness about this, but in my heart I know they’ll be fine. They are adults now, at 21 and 20—and not just adults, but capable, responsible, great people.
I don’t know how that happened.
I know that sounds stupid. And it’s not like I have no clue at all. …
How our children turn out isn’t really up to us
I got a really unexpected honor recently: according to Sharecare, I’m the top online influencer for children’s health.
I truly didn’t see it coming. I didn’t go into the online space to be an influencer. I’ve been writing about health and parenting for more than twenty years; when publishing moved into the online space, I just moved along with it. But having been online, blogging and doing other social media, it …
Doctors: There is tremendous opportunity in the online space
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