ParentDish http://www.parentdish.com ParentDish http://www.parentdish.com/media/feedlogo.gif ParentDish http://www.parentdish.com en-us Copyright 2013 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/Depressed Dads Spank Kids More Often, Study Showshttp://www.parentdish.com/2011/03/14/depressed-dads-spanking/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/03/14/depressed-dads-spanking/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/03/14/depressed-dads-spanking/#commentsFiled under:

depressed dads

A new study finds 7 percent of dads of 1-year-olds are depressed. Credit: Getty

With so much focus on maternal post-partum depression, it's easy to overlook the mental health of fathers, but a new study shows depressed dads also are less likely to engage in healthy parenting behavior.

Researchers from the University of Michigan looked at more than 1,700 fathers of 1-year-olds and found 7 percent of them were depressed. These men were nearly four times more likely to report spanking their child in the previous month than their non-depressed counterparts, according to an article in Pediatrics.

"Irritability and anger, common symptoms of depression, may be implicated in the increased likelihood of depressed fathers spanking their 1-year-old children," the authors write, adding that spanking has been associated with increased aggressive behavior in children.

Depressed fathers were less than half as likely to read to their child on a regular basis than non-depressed dads, but both groups said they sang to, talked to and played games with their child more than three times in a typical week, the report says.

Interactive play helps foster secure attachment in children, according to the study, and talking and other speech interactions help with language development.

Additionally, the study says, paternal depression has been shown to hurt speech development.

"By reducing positive interactions and amplifying negative interactions, paternal depression may be adversely impacting children's health and development as well as father-child relationship formation early in children's lives," the authors write.

The researchers noted that 77 percent of the depressed fathers had spoken to their child's pediatrician in the previous year, adding that well-child visits may provide a good opportunity for doctors to discuss healthy parenting and to refer depressed fathers for treatment.

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]]>depressed dadsDepressedDadsdepressionfatherspaternal depressionPaternalDepressionplaying gamesPlayingGamesreadingspankingMonique El-FaizyMon, 14 Mar 2011 00:02:00 ESTShould Parents Sweat Over Their Kids Doing Hot Yoga?http://www.parentdish.com/2011/02/18/should-parents-sweat-over-their-kids-doing-hot-yoga/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/02/18/should-parents-sweat-over-their-kids-doing-hot-yoga/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/02/18/should-parents-sweat-over-their-kids-doing-hot-yoga/#commentsFiled under: , ,

hot yoga pictures

Turning up the heat on fitness: Yoga instructor Taylor Wells practices poses with her children Madison and Sage. Credit: Ray Mucci

Yoga studios everywhere have tiny tots bending into downward dogs, but some kids -- or in many cases, their parents -- are looking for an child exercise experience that's a little more intense.

Hot yoga, anyone?

While kids still aren't flocking in droves to classes held in triple digit temperatures, yoga instructors say they have seen an uptick in the number of youngsters attending heated yoga sessions, particularly among tweens.

Taylor Wells, co-owner of Prana Power Yoga, which has studios in the Boston area and in New York, says she's noticed an increase in the past year.

"I would say I'm seeing younger kids in classes all the time now, whereas, before, it would be unusual," she tells ParentDish. "Now, I see one or two a class. Before it was one or two a week."

Otto Cedeno, owner of Bikram Yoga Union Square in New York, says he sees only the occasional child -- including his now 14-year-old nephew, who started practicing when he was 4 -- although there are a couple other kids who come fairly regularly. For the most part, Cedeno says, kids come with their mothers.

Liam Harvey, 11, tells ParentDish that Bikram, a form of hot yoga in which the room is kept at a sweltering 104 degrees, helps keep him healthy and fit and that the heated workout makes him more flexible and, therefore, less injury prone.

"I like it because it's good for my body and it burns all the toxins out," Harvey says. "Kids who play sports should do it."

But could a workout that can make even adults swoon from overheating be safe for kids? Perhaps surprisingly, some doctors say "Yes."

"We've always been taught that children don't handle heat as well as adults," Dr. Chris Koutures, a pediatrician and sports medicine doctor who sits on the executive committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics Council for Sports Medicine and Fitness, tells ParentDish. "To be honest, there's new data that says, across the board, kids may handle heat, as well.

"As long as you've got somebody who watches their technique and the child is having fun, I think it's fine," he adds. "I think yoga is wonderful. I think it teaches balance, I think it teaches body control. I think it's a wonderful thing for young people."

Before trying a heated class, however, Koutures recommends kids try a few regular yoga classes to familiarize themselves with the poses, and he stresses that it should be the child generating the interest, not the parent.

Realistically, though, it probably won't be until children have reached late elementary school that they will be able decide for themselves to take a hot yoga class and have the focus to make it through, yoga teachers say.

These rules apply to kids who are otherwise healthy. Those who are taking medication or who have medical conditions, such as a heart condition or a reduced ability to sweat, should consult with their physicians first, Koutures tells ParentDish.

Still, not all doctors agree that the heated practice is safe for kids.

"I am not an advocate for hot yoga for kids ... Children do not respond to temperature changes in the same way that adults do," New York-based pediatrician Alanna Levine tells ParentDish in an e-mail. "I think yoga is a great way for children to relax and be in touch with their bodies. But save the hot yoga classes for the adults."

Some yoga teachers also question whether kids get the same benefits from hot yoga as adults. The higher temperatures are intended to help adults be more flexible, but most kids don't suffer from tightness.


"Bikram yoga is not a yoga designed for children," Cedeno says.

While Koutures thinks hot yoga is OK for kids, he cautions that parents need to keep a caerful eye on their children. For starters, kids should be allowed to take their time getting used to the sizzling conditions, and to take a break whenever needed. Koutures says he is not against allowing children as young as 4 to try the classes, as long as they start slowly -- no more than half an hour per session, he says.

Kids taking hot yoga will need plenty of water -- which means going into class already well-hydrated and taking lots of water breaks. To determine if your child is getting enough water, weigh him or her before and after class, Koutures recommends.

"Most kids shouldn't lose more than a pound or two," he says.

Kids who sweat a lot or who are what Koutures calls "salty sweaters" -- their sweat will taste like salt -- may need to eat something with salt or sugar after a workout of more than an hour, of any kind. A hydrated child will have clear urine, he says.

Yoga studios also tend to err on the side of caution.

Cedeno's nephew started accompanying him to class when the boy was 4, but Cedeno says he only allowed him to stay in for less than half an hour in the beginning and made sure he drank plenty of water and would lie down whenever he felt fatigued or uncomfortable.

By 5, the boy started doing more of the class, and by 8 he could do the whole 90 minutes. Most of the kids he sees in his studio are in their tween years before they can last a whole class, Cedeno says.

Similarly, Wells says that while both her 6-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter take her heated yoga classes -- held in a humid room warmed to 97 or 99 degrees -- she probably wouldn't let someone else's 6-year-old in.

Wells says her daughter's friends sometimes come with her, and will modify poses when they need to and take breaks from time to time, even sometimes leaving the classroom. But Wells suspects the departures are as much about texting as they are about relaxation.

"I don't care," Wells tells ParentDish. "We're really into accessible yoga."

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]]>BikramYogahot yogaHotYogaKids And YogaKidsAndYogaYogaMonique El-FaizyFri, 18 Feb 2011 12:00:00 ESTChildhood Self-Control Is a Predictor of Adult Success, Study Showshttp://www.parentdish.com/2011/01/24/childhood-self-control-is-a-predictor-of-adult-success-study-sh/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/01/24/childhood-self-control-is-a-predictor-of-adult-success-study-sh/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/01/24/childhood-self-control-is-a-predictor-of-adult-success-study-sh/#commentsFiled under: ,

Teaching your child self-control now can mean a healthier future. Credit: Getty

Grating as they may be, most of us are inclined to brush off our preschoolers' tantrums as inconsequential, knowing they'll grow out of it one day.

We would be wrong.

A new study finds the level of self-control one has in childhood is a predictor of one's level of health, substance abuse, personal finances and criminality in adulthood, according to a report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Researchers followed 1,000 children in New Zealand from birth to age 32 and found that 3-year-olds who had poor self-control were more likely to have problems in all these areas by the time they were 32, the report says.

Self-control was regularly assessed by parents, teachers, observers and the children themselves, who were asked to consider measures such as frustration tolerance, persistence in reaching goals, ability to stick with a task, activity level, ability to think before acting, ability to wait for a turn, restlessness and conscientiousness, according to the findings.


Decades later, when the children were grown up, those who had scored lowest on those measures were more likely than their peers to have health issues, including breathing problems, gum disease, sexually transmitted diseases, inflammation, being overweight and having high cholesterol and high blood pressure, the report says.

The individuals with lower self-control, who were impulsive and had a diminished ability to think about the long term, had more troubles with finances, including savings, home ownership and credit card debt. They were more likely to be single parents, have criminal convictions and to be dependent on drugs and alcohol than those with higher self-control, the report says. These results held true even after researchers accounted for intelligence, class and mistakes made in adolescence.

The troubles started before adulthood. The children with low self-control were more likely to make poor choices as adolescents, including starting to smoke, having unplanned pregnancies and dropping out of school, the report says.

To further test the findings, the researchers ran the same analysis on 500 pairs of fraternal twins in Britain. They found the twin who had lower self-control when he was 5 was more likely than his sibling to have started smoking, be performing badly in school and be behaving antisocially at age 12 -- despite their shared family background, the study says.

But kids with poor impulse control aren't doomed to a life of trouble. The study participants who managed to increase their self-control as they got older fared better than one would have expected based on their childhood scores, the report says.

In other words, self-control can be learned. The authors suggest early intervention to improve self-control can help at-risk children.

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]]>criminal recordCriminalRecordfinancial problemsFinancialProblemshealthself-controlsingle parentsSingleParentstemper tantrums sore loser normalTemperTantrumsSoreLoserNormalMonique El-FaizyMon, 24 Jan 2011 15:01:00 ESTBilingual Toddlers Reap Cognitive Benefits Over Kids Who Speak Just 1 Languagehttp://www.parentdish.com/2011/01/20/bilingual-toddlers-reap-cognitive-benefits/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/01/20/bilingual-toddlers-reap-cognitive-benefits/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/01/20/bilingual-toddlers-reap-cognitive-benefits/#commentsFiled under: ,

Teaching your child a second language, such as Spanish, at an early age can improve her cognitive abilities. Credit: Getty

Parlez-vous français? ¿Habla español? Sprechen sie Deutsch?

Speaking a second language gives toddlers some cognitive advantages over children who only speak one language, a new study shows.

Researchers in Canada and France divided more than 60 24-month-old children into two groups: those who spoke both French and English, and those who spoke a single language, according to a report in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. The children's parents provided information about their kids' exposure to language and filled out vocabulary checklists while the language skills and cognitive abilities of the children were tested.

Previous research has already shown that bilingual children have better cognitive skills than monolingual children, which has been attributed to the flexibility required to switch between two languages, the report says. This new study tested that theory by looking at younger children, who have less experience going back and forth between their two languages, and the researchers found the cognitive benefits present earlier than previously thought.

The children with two native languages significantly outperformed the children who spoke one language on a cognitive test that measured reaction time and the ability to exclude conflicting information (in adults, this skill is measured by asking them to read the name of a color printed in a different color, such as the word "blue" printed in red ink), the report says. There was no difference in performance between the two groups on other cognitive exams.

The findings show that exposing children to a second language early on can help with attention control, according to the report.

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]]>BilingualKidscognitive abilityCognitiveAbilityforeign languageForeignLanguagelanguageMonique El-FaizyThu, 20 Jan 2011 15:00:00 ESTChinese Parent Amy Chua Talks Extreme Discipline and Parenting Regretshttp://www.parentdish.com/2011/01/12/amy-chua-chinese-parenting/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/01/12/amy-chua-chinese-parenting/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/01/12/amy-chua-chinese-parenting/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

amy chua family picture

Author Amy Chua and her family. Credit: The Penguin Press

Amy Chua is getting a lot of flack these days for her parenting style, which she calls the Chinese way. It revolves around total respect for parents, heavy math and language drills and hours and hours of music lessons (piano or violin only!). Lots of verbal abuse, such as calling your kid garbage if he or she screws up. As for TV, video games and play dates, they don't even register on the child's schedule.

In Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, the Yale law school professor sets out to explain why she thought the Chinese approach to raising kids was superior to the Western way. And why her rebellious daughter is making her regret some of those choices. An edited version of our chat with Chua follows.

ParentDish: What is the Chinese way and how does it differ from Western child rearing?
Amy Chua: I'm using the term "Chinese parent" very loosely -- it's really more of an immigrant mentality. Basically, I'm describing the way that my parents raised me, with a very strong emphasis on academic excellence and fewer choices. I wasn't allowed to do a lot of things when I was little that other people got to do.

PD: There's been a lot of buzz lately that Chinese parents will only accept perfection from their children. True?
AC: I think what the Chinese parent is conveying to the child is not "You have to get an A or I will reject you," but "I believe in you so much that I believe you can be excellent, and I will be in the trenches with you and I'm not going to let you give up." In the end, the Chinese approach is not about A's and achievement, but it's really about helping your child be the best that they can be, and that's usually better than they think.

PD: Did you find it hard to deal with when you were a kid?
AC: In retrospect, my parents having high expectations for me, coupled with love, was the greatest gift that they could give me and it's why I decided to parent my own two children the same way.

PD: What do you reject from Western parenting styles?
AC: For me the biggest difference is that Western parents worry much more about their children's self-esteem whereas Chinese parents don't. They assume strength rather than fragility, and because of that that they behave very differently. A lot of the techniques and things they say seem very harsh to Westerners.

PD: How did your daughters respond?
AC: With my first daughter, Sophia. things went very smoothly, and I think I got a little cocky and I thought, 'Parenting is easy.' Then my second daughter, Lulu, came along; she's a real fireball and I got my comeuppance. From day one, it was always a little bit rocky, but then at 13, Lulu rebelled. It was a real crisis for me, she rebelled against my strictness but also seemingly against everything I stood for.

PD: You write in the book about a big blowup with Lulu, after which you eased up a bit and let her make more of her own choices. If you could go back, would you do things differently?
AC: I would probably do the same thing with minor adjustments. I have many regrets. I wish that I hadn't been so harsh at the time. I wish I hadn't lost my temper. I wish that I'd paid a little more attention to the individual personalities of my two children. I think I would have given my daughters, in retrospect, a little more choice. They have much more freedom now. I'm very, very proud of my girls. They are confident, happy girls with huge personalities.

PD: Did you wind up with a different view of parenting overall?
AC: Very much so. This is still a work in progress. I'm not saying that the Chinese way is the best approach and that it's for everybody. At the end, I wondered if a hybrid approach is better.

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]]>Amy ChuaAmyChuabattle hymn of the tiger motherBattleHymnOfTheTigerMotherChinese ParentingChineseParentingMonique El-FaizyWed, 12 Jan 2011 12:00:00 ESTParents' Smoking Can Increase Children's Blood Pressurehttp://www.parentdish.com/2011/01/10/smoking-can-increase-your-childs-blood-pressure/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/01/10/smoking-can-increase-your-childs-blood-pressure/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/01/10/smoking-can-increase-your-childs-blood-pressure/#commentsFiled under: , ,

smoking mother picture

Secondhand smoke can cause high blood pressure in young kids. Credit: Getty


Forget about lung cancer causing harm in the distant future. Your smoking may hurt your child before he hits grade school.

A new study shows breathing tobacco smoke can increase blood pressure in children as young as 4.

Researchers in Germany looked at the blood pressure of more than 4,000 kindergarten students who were, on average, 5.7 years old, according to an article published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.



They found that children who had a parent who smoked were 21 percent more likely to have a systolic blood pressure -- the top number, which measures the maximum pressure in the arteries -- in the highest 15 percent, the report says.

That held true even after they adjusted for other risk factors, such as birth weight, body mass index and hypertension in the parents, according to the study.

The correlation between parental smoking and high blood pressure was less evident in the diastolic pressure -- the bottom number of a reading, which measures the lowest amount of pressure that occurs in the arteries -- the report says.

More fathers smoked than mothers, but a mother's smoking habit had a larger impact than a father's, probably because more of their smoking was done at home, the authors postulate.

The study's results suggest that promoting smoke-free homes may protect cardiovascular health in children as well as adults, the report notes.

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]]>blood pressureBloodPressurechildrensecond hand smokeSecondHandSmokesmokingMonique El-FaizyMon, 10 Jan 2011 16:15:00 ESTAutism Risk Higher With Closely-Spaced Pregnancieshttp://www.parentdish.com/2011/01/10/autism-risk-higher-with-closely-spaced-pregnancies/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/01/10/autism-risk-higher-with-closely-spaced-pregnancies/http://www.parentdish.com/2011/01/10/autism-risk-higher-with-closely-spaced-pregnancies/#commentsFiled under: ,

The timing of pregnancies could affect autism odds. Credit: Getty Images

More fuel to throw on the burning autism debate: A new study says how closely together children are born may play a role.

Second children who are conceived within a year of their older sibling's birth were more than three times more likely to be diagnosed with autism than those conceived more than three years after their older sibling was born, according to an article in the journal Pediatrics.

Researchers looked at records of babies born in California between 1992 and 2002 and examined the odds of autism in more than 660,000 second children. They found that the further apart pregnancies were, the lower the risk of autism in the second child, the article says. Compared to children conceived more than three years after their older sibling's birth, children conceived 12 to 23 months after a previous birth were twice as likely to have been diagnosed with autism, and children conceived after a 24- to 35-month gap were one and a quarter times more likely to have been given that diagnosis.

The study's authors don't know why pregnancy timing and autism are linked, but they suggested some factors that may be to blame, although they didn't test for them. Some of the possible culprits are depleted levels of nutrients, such as folate and iron, and higher stress levels, the article says. The results accounted for low birth weight, premature births and the age of the parents, the article says.

The finding is particularly important because the number of babies born within two years of their older sibling is on the rise, up from 11 percent in 1992 to 18 percent in 2002, the authors write.



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]]>autismpregnancyMonique El-FaizyMon, 10 Jan 2011 00:01:00 ESTC-Sections Rise, Teen Birth Rate Falls in 2008http://www.parentdish.com/2010/12/20/teen-birth-rate/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/12/20/teen-birth-rate/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/12/20/teen-birth-rate/#commentsFiled under: , ,

teen birth rate

Teen birth rates are down, but more older women are having babies. Credit: Getty Images

Americans had fewer babies in 2008, but more of them were delivered by cesarean section -- up to nearly a third, and more of them were born to older women, according to an annual survey to be published in Pediatrics.

That marks the 12th year in a row that C-section rates have risen, the survey finds. The Annual Summary of Vital Statistics: 2008 is compiled by the National Center for Health Statistics and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

In 2008, 4.3 million babies were born in the United States, a two percent drop from 2007, the year of the most births in recorded United States history, according to the survey. Teenage mothers giving birth also dropped by 2 percent; a reversal over the trend of the previous two years, when it had gone up.

And so much for the prime childbearing years: Women between the ages of 20 and 39 had fewer babies -- the first drop for 35-to 39-year-olds since 1978 -- but the number of women between 40 and 49 having babies went up, the report shows. Wedlock also seems to be falling out of favor a bit with new moms; 40.6 percent of the babies born in 2008 were the children of unmarried women, up from 39.7 percent the prior year. The rate of twin and triplet births was unchanged.

Their mothers may be getting older, but babies seem to be faring better: The number of infants born prematurely was 3 percent lower than in 2007, and the rate of babies born with low birth weights was unchanged, according to the survey.

And there's more good news: The report showed a drop in death rates for children between the ages of 1 and 18.

But there was also cause for concern. Nearly a third of all deliveries were done by C-section in 2008, a whopping 56 percent rise over 1996 rates, the survey shows. And homicide was the second leading cause of death for children 19 years old or younger, after unintentional injuries, which accounted for almost 39 percent of all deaths; together the two causes accounted for a bit more than half of all child and adolescent deaths.

Babies born in 2008 can expect to live an average of 77.8 years, the report says.

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]]>annual survey of vital statisticsAnnualSurveyOfVitalStatisticsbirth ratesBirthRateschild mortalityChildMortalityolder mothersOlderMotherspreterm birthsPretermBirthsteen birthTeenBirthMonique El-FaizyMon, 20 Dec 2010 00:01:00 ESTCaffeine Linked to Sleep Issues, but Most Kids Drink it Dailyhttp://www.parentdish.com/2010/12/16/caffeine-linked-to-sleep-issues-but-most-kids-drink-it-daily/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/12/16/caffeine-linked-to-sleep-issues-but-most-kids-drink-it-daily/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/12/16/caffeine-linked-to-sleep-issues-but-most-kids-drink-it-daily/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

caffeine and sleep picture

Decrease the buzz, increase the Zzzs. Credit: Melanie Conner/Getty Images

Baffled by your child's sleep issues? Try cutting the caffeine.

A survey of the parents of more than 200 children between the ages of 5 and 12 showed that more than 75 percent of them consumed caffeine on a daily basis, according to an article in the Journal of Pediatrics. And guess what? The more caffeine they drank, the less they slept.

Researchers from the University of Nebraska Medical Center spoke to parents during routine visits to a pediatric clinic and asked what kinds of snacks and drinks their child consumed each day. They found that some kids as young as 5 were drinking the equivalent of a can of soda every day, and kids between the ages of 8 and 12 the equivalent of 3 cans. The study's lead author, William Warzak, professor of psychology in the Department of Pediatrics at UNMC, tells ParentDish by e-mail that parents' estimates about older children's consumption are "probably underestimates, because parents lose track of what their children are eating and drinking."

The researchers managed to poke holes, though, in the old theory that caffeine causes bedwetting; they found no such link, although Warzak cautions that his results are preliminary and need to be replicated. "Until then, I would maintain my advice that children who wet the bed would be well advised to forgo caffeine especially as the day wears down and bedtime approaches," he tells ParentDish.

The study's authors concluded that parents need to be aware of how much caffeine their children are consuming each day, and of the potential for disrupted sleep.

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]]>bedwettingcaffeinesleep problemsSleepProblemssodaMonique El-FaizyThu, 16 Dec 2010 00:00:00 ESTPatch Might Not Be Best Treatment for Lazy Eyehttp://www.parentdish.com/2010/12/13/patch-might-not-be-best-treatment-for-lazy-eye/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/12/13/patch-might-not-be-best-treatment-for-lazy-eye/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/12/13/patch-might-not-be-best-treatment-for-lazy-eye/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

The patch may be a thing of the past when it comes to treating lazy eyes. Credit: Corbis

The pirate look may be cute on Johnny Depp or kids in day care, but going to school with a patch over one eye can be humiliating for primary and middle school children suffering from a lazy eye.

But there may be help: A new study shows acupuncture may be more effective than the patch.

Lazy eye afflicts up to five percent of people, and as many of 50 percent of those cases are caused by a difference in the nearsightedness or farsightedness between the two eyes, according to a report in the Archives of Ophthalmology.

Younger kids can be treated with the right glasses or contact lenses, but for kids between ages of 7 and 12, that only works in about 30 percent of cases. The rest need to wear a patch, which brings the improvement rate up to about 66 percent, the report says.

The trouble with that is, by the time they're in elementary school, kids may not want to turn up to class looking as though their first words might be "Ahoy, matey!" Many kids end up taking the patch off, and those who don't "may experience emotional problems," the report says.

Researchers in China set out to find an alternative. They ran a trial with 88 children and gave 43 of them five acupuncture treatments a week. The remaining 45 children wore an eye patch for two hours a day. All the children wore corrective lenses and were told to do a minimum of one hour a day of near-vision activities for their lazy eye, things such as reading or typing, the report says.

After 15 weeks of treatment, the kids whose eyes were patched had visual acuity improvements of 1.8 lines on an eye chart, and those who had acupuncture could see 2.3 lines better, according to the report. Of those who were patched, 66.7 had improvements of two lines or more, compared with 75.6 percent of the kids who had acupuncture, the report continues.

Perhaps the biggest contrast came in the percentage of children for whom the problem was considered resolved: 16.7 percent of the kids who were patched, as opposed to 41.5 percent of those who had acupuncture, the report shows.

The study doesn't mean, though, that kids can abandon their patches in favor of tiny needles. While the treatment looks "promising," the authors note that their follow-up period was relatively short and that there are different styles of acupuncture.

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]]>acupunctureeye patchEyePatchlazy eyeLazyEyeMonique El-FaizyMon, 13 Dec 2010 16:00:00 ESTEven Young Athletes May Not Get Enough Exercise, Study Showshttp://www.parentdish.com/2010/12/06/even-young-athletes-may-not-get-enough-exercise-study-shows/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/12/06/even-young-athletes-may-not-get-enough-exercise-study-shows/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/12/06/even-young-athletes-may-not-get-enough-exercise-study-shows/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

younger athletes

Too much time is spent sitting, rather than playing during sports practices, a new study shows. Credit: Corbis

Kids are so busy these days. After-school schedules are are filled with hours of sports practices and homework. Weekends are packed with games and tournaments. But at least they're getting plenty of exercise, right?

Yes, but it still may not be enough. Only about a quarter of children playing organized sports are getting the amount of exercise recommended by the government during team practice, the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine reports.

Children and teens should engage in an hour of moderate to vigorous exercise each day, according to national guidelines, but fewer than 50 percent of children and 10 percent of teens manage to be that active, the report shows. The American Academy of Pediatrics considers youth sports a good way to get exercise, as well as social benefits, the authors write, but how much activity athletic leagues provide is unclear.

To find out, researchers from San Diego State University and the University of California, San Diego followed 200 kids between the ages of 7 and 14 who played on community soccer, baseball or softball teams. The kids wore sensors to measure how much activity they were getting during practices, and their parents filled out surveys providing family demographics and their child's physical attributes.

The researchers found that only 24 percent of the children got the recommended 60 minutes of activity during their practice session, although rates differed by sport and age group. Soccer provided more vigorous activity than baseball or softball, boys got more exercise than girls and the most active age group included 7- to 10-year-olds. The mean for moderate or vigorous activity was 45 minutes, or 46 percent of practice time, the report says, and the average child spent 30 minutes being inactive during each session.

The authors conclude that playing youth sports doesn't guarantee your child is getting enough exercise. The health effects of athletic programs could be improved if leagues adopt guidelines to increase the amount of physical activity during practices, the report says.

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]]>aapexercisekids exerciseKidsExercisesportsteam sportsTeamSportsMonique El-FaizyMon, 06 Dec 2010 16:00:00 ESTOne Third of LGBT Youth Have Attempted Suicidehttp://www.parentdish.com/2010/12/03/one-third-of-lgbt-youth-have-attempted-suicide/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/12/03/one-third-of-lgbt-youth-have-attempted-suicide/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/12/03/one-third-of-lgbt-youth-have-attempted-suicide/#commentsFiled under: ,

gay suicide

People participate in a candlelight vigil for Rutgers University freshman Tyler Clementi, who committed suicide in September. Credit: Reena Rose Sibayan, AP

It may get better, but for many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth, it's still really hard: A third of them have attempted suicide in their lifetimes, according to a new study.

The good news is that 70 percent of the LGBT youth in the study didn't meet the criteria for any mental disorders.

"One of the most important findings from our work is that most of these youth are doing very well and are not experiencing mental health problems," Dr. Brian Mustanski, assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago and lead author of the study, says in a statement.

Using the criteria set out in the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, researchers at the UIC interviewed 246 ethnically diverse LGBT 16- to 20-year-olds to determine if they'd suffered from major depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, conduct disorder or had attempted suicide, according to a report in the American Journal of Public Health.

Nearly 10 percent of the youth met the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder and about 15 percent for major depression. A third of them had attempted suicide, and 6 percent had done so in the past year. While these are sobering numbers, and higher than those in national samples, the LGBT youth suffer these disorders at a similar rate to urban youth and those who are members of racial and ethnic minorities, the report states.

"The big question is, are these youth more likely to have mental disorders relative to other kids?" Mustanski says in the statement. "And the answer to that is that it really depends on who you're comparing them to."

Researchers also broke the youth into sub groups and found that bisexual youth were less likely to have the disorders than others in the study, the report says, adding that previous studies had shown the opposite.

Listen to an interview with Mutanski here.

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]]>bisexualsdepressiongaygay youthGayYouthLesbianlgbtmental disordersMentalDisorderssuicidetransexualMonique El-FaizyFri, 03 Dec 2010 10:14:00 ESTEating Disorders on the Rise Among Children and Adolescentshttp://www.parentdish.com/2010/11/29/eating-disorders-on-the-rise-among-children-and-adolescents/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/11/29/eating-disorders-on-the-rise-among-children-and-adolescents/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/11/29/eating-disorders-on-the-rise-among-children-and-adolescents/#commentsFiled under: ,

plus size pic

Plus size models are becoming more popular on the runway. Credit: William West, AFP/Getty Images

Perhaps the media doesn't exactly dictate reality, after all.

The days of heroin chic and waif thin supermodels may be coming to an end, but, to the contrary, the number of children and adolescents being diagnosed with eating disorders continues to rise, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Up to 2 percent of adolescent girls suffer from bulimia nervosa and 0.5 percent have anorexia nervosa. And, experts are noticing, the number of boys suffering from eating disorders is quickly on the rise, as well.

Roughly 10 percent of all recognized cases are now in males, according to a report in Pediatrics, and eating disorders are becoming more common in minority communities.

Most concerning, the amount of young children with eating disorders has drastically spiked. Between 1999 and 2006, the number of children younger than 12 who were hospitalized for eating disorders increased by 119 percent, the report states.

And the problem may be bigger than we realize. Many kids don't meet the strict criteria for eating disorders established by the American Psychiatric Association, yet suffer the same psychical and psychological consequences as those who do.

So, what does the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend to prevent eating disorders among children?

Pediatricians need to be on the lookout for these disorders and should screen for them in annual checkups and in health exams required for participation on athletic teams.

Also, doctors should manage or refer children who are diagnosed with an eating disorder, since medical complications from them can be serious or even life threatening. Proper care should include medical care, mental health treatment and nutritional intervention, the authors recommend.

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]]>anorexia nervosaAnorexiaNervosabulimia nervosaBulimiaNervosaeating disordersEatingDisordersMonique El-FaizyMon, 29 Nov 2010 15:25:00 ESTWinner of CNN Heroes Award Fights Sex Trafficking in Nepalhttp://www.parentdish.com/2010/11/23/winner-of-cnn-heroes-award-fights-sex-trafficking-in-nepal/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/11/23/winner-of-cnn-heroes-award-fights-sex-trafficking-in-nepal/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/11/23/winner-of-cnn-heroes-award-fights-sex-trafficking-in-nepal/#commentsFiled under:

Anuradha Koirala picture

Anuradha Koirala is fighting sex trafficking. Credit: John Shearer, WireImage


It seems that every bold-faced name supports a cause these days: Al Gore has the environment, George Clooney has Sudan and Bono is saving Africa (and anything else you can think of).

There's no denying that their famous faces shining from the pages of glossy magazines help draw the world's attention to important issues. Let's give them all a well-deserved hand.

But there are others, those doing the bulk of the hard work behind the scenes, who also deserve some appreciation. People whose faces we've never seen and whose names we've never heard; the people who spend countless thankless hours touching lives. People like Anuradha Koirala.

Koirala, the founder of Maiti Nepal, an organization working to stop sex trafficking in Nepal, currently is visiting in Los Angeles, where she is being honored as CNN's Hero of 2010. The CNN Heroes All-Star Tribute, hosted by Anderson Cooper, is scheduled to air on Thanksgiving Day.

But Koirala isn't using her time in California to bask in the glow of adulation; far from it. While there, she is working to raise awareness of sex trafficking and fund-raising for her organization.

Koirala used her own money to start Maiti Nepal in the early 1990s, which she began as a small safe house for girls living on the streets of Katmandu.

Once Koirala learned about the sexual abuse and trafficking the girls had been subjected to, she expanded Maiti Nepal into a multi-faceted organization that rescues girls from traffickers and brothels, houses them and provides medical care, counseling and vocational training.

She says she never allowed herself to be deterred by the size of the problem, or the dangers of fighting traffickers.

"Someone had to start something," she tells ParentDish. "if you think there are threats, if you are scared, if you think you might be murdered, you might be shot, then who will work for the children?"

A mix of low education rates among women, endemic sexism and searing poverty, along with its porous border with India, make Nepal ripe territory for sex traffickers. In addition to the work it does in Katmandu, Maiti Nepal stations former victims of sex trafficking at border crossings to India to help make sure girls are not being taken out of Nepal against their will.

The work can be so treacherous that many volunteers must travel with body guards.

For her part, Koirala is quick to dismiss talk of bravery.

"Every woman and every body is brave," she says. "If someone comes from behind and gives you a blow, you cannot save yourself. But even if a strong person comes from in front to fight with you or discuss, even if you cannot push him one yard, you can push him an inch."

In other words, even little victories count and everyone can play a part, Koirala says.

"Trafficking is a heinous crime. It's a shame to humanity and all of us have to join hands and make a society free of trafficking," she tells ParentDish.

Her advice for those who'd like to join her in the fight?

"They have to raise their voices," she says. "They shouldn't just read about it and forget it and put the paper in the dust; they have to feel the issue and take it as their own."

To that end, ParentDish AdviceMama Susan Stiffelman and activist and filmmaker Chelo Alvarez-Stehle will be co-hosting a fundraiser for Maiti Nepal in Malibu on Nov. 23. Stiffelman will emcee the evening, and Koirala will speak at the event, which also will feature a screening of "Tin Girls," a documentary about sex trafficking in Nepal. Alvarez-Stehle served as a consultant on the film and conducted the interviews.

Despite the seemingly intractable nature of the problem, Koirala stays focused on her goal.

"I hope one day I can close Maiti Nepal, because I don't want any trafficking," she tells ParentDish. "But there is still so much to be done."

To make a tax-deductible donation, please visit FriendsofMaitiNepal.org, and watch Koirala's acceptance speech.

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]]>Anuradha KoiralaAnuradhaKoiralaCNNCNN HeroesCnnHeroesMaiti NepalMaitiNepalnepalsex traffickingSexTraffickingsusan stiffelmanSusanStiffelmanTin GirlsTinGirlsMonique El-FaizyTue, 23 Nov 2010 10:15:00 ESTMotorcycles+Kids=Risk of Brain Injury; Helmet Laws Helphttp://www.parentdish.com/2010/11/15/motorcycles-kids-risk-of-brain-injury-helmet-laws-help/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/11/15/motorcycles-kids-risk-of-brain-injury-helmet-laws-help/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/11/15/motorcycles-kids-risk-of-brain-injury-helmet-laws-help/#commentsFiled under: , ,

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Study shows that helmet laws are not universal. Credit: Corbis




Wear a helmet.

It seems like obvious advice, particularly if the wheels in question are of the motorized variety. But a duet of new studies shows that motorcycle accidents are a significant source of traumatic brain injuries in adolescents and that they are more likely to wear helmets if the laws are more stringent.

In the first study -- both of which are in the December issue of the journal Pediatrics -- researchers looked at a database of kids who were hospitalized in 38 states in 2006. They found that motorcycle-related crashes were the reason that 3 percent of youth between the ages of 12 and 20 were hospitalized that year, and that out of more than 5,600 motorcycle-related hospital stays, about a third of them were patients with traumatic brain injury, or TBI, the article says. Youth with TBIs were 10 times more likely to die in the hospital than patients without brain injury, and nearly a quarter of them had long-term disabilities.

Given that, helmet wear should be a no-brainer, right? Apparently not for adolescents. The second study compared the helmet laws and TBI injuries of different states, 17 of which had universal helmet laws, six of which required helmets for anyone under 21, and 12 of which mandated helmets for minors, according to the article. Although youth are required to wear helmets in all those states, researchers found that in states with under-21 helmet laws the rate of motorcycle-related TBI among youth was 38 percent higher than in states with universal helmet laws. The only way to keep young people using helmets is to adopt universal helmet laws, the authors conclude.

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]]>HelmetLawsmotorcycleTBItraumatic brain injuryTraumaticBrainInjuryMonique El-FaizyMon, 15 Nov 2010 09:01:00 ESTStudy Shows 1 In 4 Kids Younger Than 12 Is on a Diethttp://www.parentdish.com/2010/11/08/study-shows-1-in-4-kids-younger-than-12-is-on-a-diet/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/11/08/study-shows-1-in-4-kids-younger-than-12-is-on-a-diet/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/11/08/study-shows-1-in-4-kids-younger-than-12-is-on-a-diet/#commentsFiled under: , ,

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Does your kid really need to be on a diet? Credit: Getty Images

In light of America's child obesity epidemic, it sounds like good news: A quarter of all kids younger than 12 is on a diet of some kind, according to a recent study.

A question looms, however. Only 6 percent of the more than 6,500 parents of children 12 and younger who participated in the survey were told by their pediatricians that their child needed to be on a diet, according to a statement, so are those the kids who most need to be watching their weight or do they simply have neurotic parents?

Without input from their doctors, parents are notoriously bad at determining if their children are a healthy weight or not. We've all probably seen the mom who obsesses over her 10-year-old daughter's perfectly normal baby fat. At the same time, earlier studies have shown that parents are likely to underestimate their child's weight, particularly if that child is overweight.

What is obvious from the study is that kids are generally eating badly. The poll, conducted by CouponCodes4U.com, asked parents what food their kids ate the most. Less than a quarter of them answered "healthy food" while 58 percent of them answered "junk food."

In addition to the 26 percent of parents who said they had put their child on a diet, another 11 percent said they were watching what their child ate, according to the statement.

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]]>childhood obesityChildhoodObesitydietkidsobesityMonique El-FaizyMon, 08 Nov 2010 15:15:00 ESTBreast or Bottle Feeding? No Difference: Moms Are Equally Tiredhttp://www.parentdish.com/2010/11/08/bottle-feeding/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/11/08/bottle-feeding/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/11/08/bottle-feeding/#commentsFiled under: ,

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Bottle feeding or breast-feeding, you're wiped out. Credit: Getty Images

It's either good news or bad news, depending on your perspective: A new study shows that breast-feeding and bottle feeding mothers are equally exhausted.

Breast-fed babies are reported to wake up more frequently than formula-fed babies, an article in the journal Pediatrics asserts. But what does that mean for nursing mothers -- are they more sleep deprived than their formula-feeding counterparts?

To find out, the researchers interviewed 80 new mothers, and divided them into three groups: Those who fed breast milk exclusively, those who fed formula exclusively and those who used a combination of the two, the article says. They then monitored the mothers' sleep and had them keep sleep diaries, which recorded their nighttime sleeping as well as how sleepy or fatigued they felt during the day.

For the most part, the sleep monitors showed that mothers got roughly the same amount of sleep regardless of their feeding habits, although their sleep diaries indicated that the nursing mothers thought they woke up more at night, the article says. The mothers reported feeling equally tired during the day.

How much a new mother sleeps matters, not only for her well-being, but for that of her baby as well. Studies have shown that improvements in an infant's sleep can help lessen a mother's depression, the article says. Maternal depression can have a negative impact on parent-child interaction, emotional and cognitive outcomes, the ability to thrive and behavior, the article states.

The authors conclude that, since "the cumulative evidence supporting the benefits of breast-feeding is so significant," new mothers should be told that choosing formula doesn't mean they will get more sleep.

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]]>bottle feedingBottleFeedingformulanursingsleepMonique El-FaizyMon, 08 Nov 2010 09:38:00 ESTPeanut Allergy in Children Linked to Eating Peanuts While Pregnanthttp://www.parentdish.com/2010/11/02/peanut-allergy-in-children/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/11/02/peanut-allergy-in-children/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/11/02/peanut-allergy-in-children/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Back away from the PB and J ... Credit: Getty Images

Moms-to-be: Put down the peanut butter and step away from the grape jelly. Your sticky indulgence could mean a lifetime of hassle for your baby.

A new study shows that infants may be at a greater risk of developing a peanut allergy if their mothers ate peanuts while they were pregnant, according to a report in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

But before you mothers of peanut-allergic children go beating yourselves up, consider this: The more than 500 infants who were part of this study were already known to have a sensitivity to milk or eggs. The children, all between the ages of 3 months and 15 months, had a positive skin prick test to milk or eggs and they either had a reaction to eating milk or eggs or had severe eczema, all of which are known risk factors for peanut allergies, according to the report.

The researchers queried the babies' mothers about their eating habits during pregnancy and took blood samples from the infants. They found that the more frequently the mothers ate peanuts, the more likely the babies were to have a strong positive result in their peanut allergy blood test, the report says. The children of women who ate peanuts twice a week or more during pregnancy were two to three times more likely to have a strong positive than those whose mothers didn't eat peanuts.

But the article's lead author, Dr. Scott Sicherer, a professor of pediatrics at the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, warns that none of this is definitive. For starters, the positive blood tests don't mean those babies will definitely have peanut allergies, he says. It's possible to have a strongly positive test result and still be able to eat peanuts without problems. Because his study was observational, the researchers didn't determine which children actually had the allergy.

Even more importantly, Sicherer cautions, the babies in his study were already shown to have other allergies. Similar studies conducted in the general population showed that eating peanuts posed no risk to an unborn child.

Sicherer says the message for the medical community is that more studies need to be done. The take home for mothers is less clear.

"You can decide which study you believe," he tells ParentDish. "Ultimately, we don't know for sure what the answer is."

In other words, use your judgment, and your family history, to guide you.

"For now, the advice would be do what you're comfortable doing," Sicherer says. "Each family has to decide what they want to do."

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]]>allergiesPeanut AllergyPeanutAllergyPregnancyMonique El-FaizyTue, 02 Nov 2010 16:30:00 ESTWin on YouTube, Play at Carnegie Hallhttp://www.parentdish.com/2010/10/26/win-on-youtube-play-at-carnegie-hall/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/10/26/win-on-youtube-play-at-carnegie-hall/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/10/26/win-on-youtube-play-at-carnegie-hall/#commentsFiled under:



Let's face it: When given the choice between even the most stunning performance of Elgar's cello concerto and, say, a singing contortionist, television audiences are likely to choose the latter.

But there's a new opportunity for talented Americans who are classical musicians to be heard -- and the prize is a solo performance in Carnegie Hall.

"From the Top," an NPR radio broadcast that showcases young musicians, has teamed up with Carnegie Hall to present Big Break. Musicians between the ages of 8 and 18 are invited to post a video of themselves performing a solo classical piece to YouTube.com/bigbreak before Nov. 18. Musicians younger than 13 must have a parent or guardian submit their entry.

The competition came about after officials at Carnegie Hall found itself with a YouTube channel and the capacity to run competitions on it. They pondered who might make the best partner and decided it was the folks at "From the Top."

"They are all about finding and nurturing and promoting the best young talent," Carnegie Hall's Executive and Artistic Director Clive Gillenson tells ParentDish, adding that the YouTube platform was a win-win. "It enabled them to reach out much more broadly for recruiting and finding the best talent."

"From the Top" already receives close to 2,000 applications each year from kids who want to appear on the radio show, and the hope is that Big Break will broaden their reach, says Erin MacCurtain, communications director for the NPR show. As Gillenson says, "A competition is a good way of engaging people."

The scope of YouTube will allow kids who might not have access to Carnegie Hall or listen to NPR to participate. That, says Gillenson, "is absolutely central to the way we think about everything. How do you try to reach the greatest number of kids with music, so it can be a part of their life?"

As entries come in, they are posted to the YouTube gallery, where the public can see the first of the performers now. After the Nov. 18 deadline, judges from Carnegie Hall and "From the Top" will pick a pool of finalists, and the public will be able to vote for the contestant they think should win. Public voting will begin in late November and end on Dec. 14.

The winners will perform in a Carnegie Hall Family Concert in Zankel Hall on April 9, 2011, and will appear with "From the Top" host Christopher O'Riley. Tickets for the concert at Carnegie Hall will go on sale Jan. 14.

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]]>Carnegie HallCarnegieHallclassical musicClassicalMusiccontestFrom the TopFromTheTopmusicianstalent showTalentShowYouTubeMonique El-FaizyTue, 26 Oct 2010 16:20:00 ESTShocker: Teens Not Truthful About Drug Usehttp://www.parentdish.com/2010/10/25/shocker-teens-not-truthful-about-drug-use/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/10/25/shocker-teens-not-truthful-about-drug-use/http://www.parentdish.com/2010/10/25/shocker-teens-not-truthful-about-drug-use/#commentsFiled under: , ,

marijuana joint picture

Your kids are probably telling you what you want to hear. Credit: Getty Images

Your teenager insists he isn't taking drugs, and you believe him.

Sucker.

A new study shows teenagers are 52 times more likely to test positive for cocaine than they are to cop to using it -- even if they know they will be tested and are guaranteed confidentiality, according to a report in Pediatrics.

"It shouldn't have been surprising to us," Dr. Virginia Delaney-Black, professor of pediatrics at Wayne State University and the article's primary author, tells ParentDish. "The take-home message is that it's human nature for us to want to give socially acceptable answers, and not everyone believes that using drugs or admitting to using drugs is socially acceptable."

Researchers conducted confidential interviews with more than 400 high-risk urban teens ages 14 or older and their parents, and asked about recurrent drug use. After filling out a questionnaire about their use of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, cocaine and heroin, the subjects supplied a hair sample, which was then tested for drugs.

Of those hair samples, researchers gathered 211 that were adequate to test for cocaine, 69 of which returned positive results. But of those 69 teenagers, only two had admitted to using the drug, Delaney-Black tells ParentDish. This was despite having been assured there would be no repercussions if they admitted drug use, their parents would not be told and that no third party would be allowed to ask for the information.

The parents were tested, too, and weren't entirely accurate about their responses, either. The adults were 6.5 times more likely to test positive for cocaine and 5.5 times more likely to test positive for opiates than they were to admit using the substances. The parents also under-identified their teen's drug use.

The results show you can't rely on your child, or on your instincts, if you need to know whether or not your teenager is doing drugs.

"If you really need that information, whether you're a researcher or a pediatrician or a parent, you may have to do more than just ask," Delaney-Black tells ParentDish.

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]]>cocainedrug testingdrugsDrugTestingteen drug useTeenDrugUseteensteens and drugsTeensAndDrugsMonique El-FaizyMon, 25 Oct 2010 00:01:00 EST