Photo: husin.sani

As we become over saturated in our electronic devices and busy lifestyles, the cost becomes more apparent. Not just the monetary costs (that I am always telling my kids about), but the cognitive cost. When I say that many children are confused today, do I mean uninformed or truly clueless? Let’s begin with computer and internet access 24/7! Yes, if the computer is in your child’s bedroom, it is 24/7.

NEW RULE: lights out means all electronics off. There bed is for sleeping, and they need adequate sleep to grow…

Cold and flu season is among us and the weather does not seem to know that it is truly winter. Are you or your kids coughing a lot? Maybe you are fighting some lingering post-nasal congestion and wondering how to stop it without taking prescription medications (as there is always a place for medication-overuse is never good long term)?

If colds linger for more than a week, a doctor’s appointment may be in order especially if accompanied by fever. Here are some handy over the counter, easy ways to remedy a…

Recently, I was reading through emails from friends and family and someone had sent me a chain letter. I read it quickly and it took me back to my childhood. It was all about how raising children today has changed significantly from when we were kids. For example 40 years ago, your parent would send you outside to play all day — there was no fear that anything bad would happen, and you always came home in time for dinner. Today children come home to their computers and spend little, if any,…

Everyone knows someone who has asthma. While it is very common throughout the United States, it is particularly prevalent in the northeast.

Why is it so high here and is there anything that can be done to change that? I’m glad to say that there is something that can be done to change it, and it is called getting informed and controlling your symptoms. Medication management is very important in any disease but environmental changes often bring the biggest impact on symptom control. This means that there are things that you and…

Neti pots have been in use for a very long time all around the world. If you have never heard of them it is used to flush the nare-nose of secretion. If you are an allergy sufferer you may use one when the seasonal allergies become unbearable. For some children, it is a method to clear blocked sinus passages with a warm water solution. Kids tell me that it looks like a ‘terrible teapot’ in other words they don’t like BUT do like the fact that they breathe better after…

For families that care for an ill child at home the work is 24/7, and the stress of daily care can take a toll on everyone. But much research on home care in children supports that these children often do so much better at home. They continue to maintain their role within the family. Surround yourself with those that love you, and you love and anything is possible. Here is a thought:

H — Happiness lives there;
O — Overwhelming love and safety;
M — Me and my family, strong together;
E — Everyone I care…

Life Skills is something we, as adults, take for granted since we feel pretty independent in all our daily living needs unless we suffer from some illness that requires assistance. But our children, specifically our teenagers, are poised at the ready to enter the big world of adulthood. Are they ready? Better yet are we ready? How do you prepare your teen or young adult out of college to handle daily independent living in a positive way?

Things are very different now then they were 20 or more  years ago. To…

Corrective pediatric surgeries happen everyday in most hospitals in the United States. For the most part, these surgeries are required for many different conditions and can be life changing. Corrective surgeries, for example, open doors for ambulation, normal cardiac function, normal diet consumption and opportunities for achievement. Families do there best to prepare themselves and their child for what may be a difficult road to recovery. It can be life changing in both good and bad ways.  Bad in that some surgery recipients have complications and have great difficulty “getting…

Holiday cheer, family in from out of town, and all the fittings of the many feasts that come with the holidays. As you prepare to entertain, visit with family and routines get changed, don’t forget the safety part of any holiday. Many years ago, I had a parent who reported to me her daughter’s trip to an ER on Christmas Eve. Because her daughter (then 3-years-old) took an unidentified pill. A pill you ask? Yes, it was left in the bathroom on the sink by an older cousin who had…

Interesting isn’t it that today’s children (the under three year old set) are already watching two or more hours of television or electronics play (this includes computer screen time) everyday.

Where is all this sit-down time coming from because it is taking a toll on the opportunity for normal language exchange between parent and child and the creative play that comes from mimicking what Mom or Dad is doing. I still remember the first time my now-18 year old daughter was two years old and picked up her play plastic phone,…