All Search Results
-
“You have cancer.”
“You have cancer” are three words you never want to hear in your life, especially if you’re only twelve years old. That’s how old I was when I was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer and it flipped my life upside down. My worries were no longer about normal teenager things like what clothes I was wearing but instead, what new side effect was going to hit me after each chemo treatment. Having to quickly grow up and fight for my life was something I would’ve never anticipated as a child, but no one ever anticipates getting cancer.
-
The Lost Art of Play
As a parent, you want the best for your child, but sometimes it is hard to know what is best when it comes to balancing scheduled activities and play time. While activities such as little league and music groups can provide children with structure, discipline, and increasing independence, over-scheduling can leave kids feeling anxious and pressured to constantly perform. Free play is not only a time when children can relax and have fun but it is vital to a child’s growth and development. In the hustle and bustle of life for today’s children, the art of play is seemingly lost.
-
Learning disabilities: what are they and what can we do about them?
The term “learning disability” is thrown around pretty loosely these days, yet it’s hard for most of us to come up with an accurate definition of what is actually meant by those words. It’s important for parents to have some idea, though, of what learning disabilities are and what can be done about them. This knowledge will equip you to recognize a problem and get the appropriate help in a timely manner if your child does suffer from a learning disability.
-
10 Ways to Help Your Child Travel During the Holidays
Traveling during the holidays can add an additional layer of tasks to manage and challenges to overcome, especially if you are traveling with children. Whether by plane, train or automobile, here are some tips to supporting your child with the goal of minimizing their stress and ensuring a happy holiday for everyone.
-
Should your teen watch 13 Reasons Why?
If you have a teen or pre-teen in your house, you may have heard about the popular Netflix series generating a lot of buzz lately called 13 Reasons Why. It’s a show for and about teens adapted from a popular young adult novel of the same name, but it’s the controversial subject matter that has everyone from psychiatrists to school administrators ringing alarm bells.
-
What to do about bedwetting
You know the drill because it happens over and over and over again. You walk into your child’s room, and you can usually smell it before you even see it, and you think, “Uggh, he’s wet the bed AGAIN.” You start your day with the additional loads of laundry that you don’t have time for, a crying child who can sense your frustration and is overcome with embarrassment and the sinking feeling that you must be doing something wrong for this to continue happening.
-
On Mother's Day, what to say to parents who've lost a child
There are certain holidays that can feel like tiptoeing over landmines, and Mother’s and Father’s Day can be that way for some of us. For a perfectly intact family it may be nothing but joyful, but for those of us who have endured loss and heartache, that happiness is often tempered by a sense of sadness and grief. I lost my father as a teenager, and even now nearly twenty years later the day set aside to celebrate fathers is always bittersweet for me. I rejoice in the celebration of my husband with my children, but underneath I always feel the loss of my own father. My loss feels even heavier as I scroll through Facebook and see smiling photo after smiling photo posted of other people with their fathers. I’ll never have a picture of my Dad walking me down the aisle to get married; he wasn’t there. I’ll never have a photo of him with his grandchildren; he didn’t live to meet them. The knowledge of these things is a dull ache that has gotten better with time, but never really goes away.
-
How to recognize and prevent dehydration in kids
Before you know it the school year will be over and summer break will be upon us. As our kids buzz with excitement at the thought of their summer adventures, and we parents get a little stressed wondering how to keep kids busy for the next few months, there’s something else to consider. As the weather heats up each day, it becomes more and more critical to be sure your kids aren’t getting dehydrated in the summer heat.
-
How can you talk to your kids in the aftermath of tragedy?
Fred Rogers’s mother was right. Finding the helpers brings our children peace. Finding them reminds the kids that there are good people in this world, people that will risk their lives to save others, people who will give their time, their money, their wisdom, and their kindness to bring comfort and help to others.
-
Ways to keep your baby safe from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
As a physician, it is always hard to explain to new parents that their perfectly healthy newborn could potentially go to sleep and not wake up, and no one can explain why. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, also known as SIDS, is the sudden and unexplained death of a baby younger than 1 year old. It is sometimes referred to as “crib death” because it often occurs during sleep. SIDS is particularly scary because it has no symptoms or warning signs and typically, babies who die of SIDS are perfectly healthy before being put to bed. It is still unclear exactly what causes SIDS and although there is no way to 100% prevent it from happening, there are some things you can do as a parent to help keep your baby safe.
