Posts

Below are a few simple strategies that will help you guide your tween through these difficult social years. The goal is for your tween to make friends, become a good friend herself, and to learn to be comfortable inside her own skin. Encourage Healthy Friendships Take the time to point out what makes a good friend, as well as how to be a good friend to someone else. Be sure your tween understands that gossiping about a friend isn’t very friendly and that maintaining friendships require a little work....

Thus the most important rule in handling tantrums is this: Ignore the behavior, but don’t ignore your child. What is your toddler trying to communicate to you through her tantrum? Anger? Frustration? Ask your child what’s wrong and at the same time, encourage her to calm down enough so that you can help her. Let your child know that if she’s frustrated with something, you can’t possibly help her unless you know what’s wrong-but that you can’t understand her when she tries to talk to you in the midst of a hysterical tantrum....

Fifteen-year-old Jimmy Maslanka has his heart set on attending Indiana University in a couple of years. Jimmy has suffered from migraine headaches since he was four. He opted out of public school last year, when the severity and frequency of his headaches made it impossible for him to continue. Now he’s a homeschooler. What will Jimmy have to do to prove that he’s ready for the rigors of college life?...

Unfortunately, some children, especially younger ones, may resist that model. They simply aren’t interested in the subject matter. Parents can then either deal with the resistance (threats, rewards, etc.) or change their approach. Some parents choose to integrate aspects of the purchased curriculum that were useful, and disregard the rest. A subject a child hated last year might become a favorite this year, so flexibility is a must. Still other parents pick and choose from a variety of educational offerings: Saxon Math, perhaps, combined with Oak Meadow activities....

I used to think that education should be left to the educators. But 1.2 million children in the U.S. are being homeschooled these days. And contrary to what I once thought, not all homeschoolers are anti-establishment. Each has a reason for choosing homeschooling.I chose homeschooling for my 15-year-old son, Jimmy. He has suffered from migraine headaches since he was 4. He made it through grade school, but the headaches have gotten progressively worse....

Even the American Academy of Pediatrics has changed their advice over the years. For many years, they recommended no more than two hours of screen time per day for children. But, as electronics became increasingly portable, they acknowledged how difficult it can be to enforce those limits. After all, if your 12-year-old has a smartphone in their pocket, how do you limit how often they stare at the screen? Or if your 9-year-old uses their tablet to read books, should you still set a strict time limit?...

Your baby is moving from early pregnancy on, though typically the baby is so small that it is difficult to feel until several weeks into the second trimester. Feeling your baby move for the first time in each pregnancy is called quickening. Learn more about how soon you can feel your baby move in a second pregnancy. How Early Can You Feel Your Baby Move? The fetus begins to be able to flex its arms and legs between weeks 13 and 16 of pregnancy....

What Are Fibroids? Fibroids are muscular tumors that may develop in the wall of the uterus. They are usually benign, meaning not cancerous. Fewer than 1 in 1,000 fibroids are cancerous. Fibroids fall into one of four categories based on the location of the growth: Intramural: In the wall of the uterusSubserosal: On the outside of the uterusSubmucosal: In the uterine cavityPedunculated: Outside the uterus, attached by a stem Fibroids range from small (seed-sized) to large (grapefruit-sized)....

This is a topic of debate in school psychology, and it can certainly be confusing for parents. Before you rush to judgment about your child’s scores—whether they’re good or poor—it’s important to get a better understanding of what these equivalency tests actually mean. What Do Age Equivalent Test Scores Mean? Simply put, an age equivalent is a comparison of your child’s performance compared to age groups whose average scores are in the same range....

Pumping Breast Milk in the Early Days Whether you are pumping breast milk for a premature baby, or you plan to feed your newborn pumped breast milk only, you may find that you need to pump frequently. In the first day or two after birth, you may only pump a teaspoon or two of milk at a time. This early breast milk is called colostrum. Although moms only make a small amount of colostrum, it is packed with immunities and nutrients, and is very valuable to your baby (premature or full-term)....

The superintendent quickly found herself on the phone with U.S. President Joe Biden, who asked some questions about community support. In response, the governor’s office considered taking away funding from the district, the Miami Herald reported, which would only hurt the kids they are trying to protect. The chaos in Broward County is not an isolated incident. This dilemma of mandatory masking (or not) is resulting in protests, petitions, and more happening all over the country as students return to schools during a major spike in infections due to the Delta variant....

Before starting school, now is the time to prepare your child for preschool and make sure that they are skilled in some basic lessons that will help ensure they get the most from their first school experience. Personal Hygiene When checking out prospective preschools, you need to ask where they stand on kids in diapers. Most prefer that children are potty trained, but some don’t mind if the children are, at the very least, on their way to being trained....

BA.2 is a sublineage of Omicron, the COVID variant that caused a massive spike in COVID infections in the United States during December 2021 and January 2022. As of March 29th, BA.2 accounted for more than half of Omicron infections in the United States.The BA.2 subvariant is similar to other versions of Omicron, including BA.1 and BA1.1. The distinct difference is that BA.2 appears to be more contagious, explains Beth Oller, MD, a family physician in Stockton, Kans....

Want to put some distance between themselves and adults, and may rebel against authority.Need to be part of a group.Seek independence.Possess a high activity level.Can express a wide range of emotions and verbalize easily.Can empathize.Can think independently and critically, but are tied to peer standards.Begin to increase their sense of truthfulness.Are typically not self-confident. Where They’re GoingAt nine years old, your child is learning how to make decisions and set standards....

While you might not want to share every gritty detail with your son or daughter regarding why their father is absent, there are ways to answer their questions that help children feel more secure. To accomplish this, it helps to do a little planning advance. For instance, knowing what questions your child might ask as well as having some pre-prepared responses will help you avoid feeling put on the spot or caught you off guard when your kids ask about their dad....

An episiotomy is a surgical incision made in the area between the vagina and the anus, which is called the perineum. It is sometimes used to enlarge the vaginal opening before delivery. After the baby is delivered, stitches are used to close the incision as well as repair any tears. Here are a few things you should know about caring for episiotomy stitches, as well as signs of infection to be on the lookout for as you heal....

Do you eat the amount of food defined as one serving? Remember, fat and calorie measurements on the label are for a single serving size only. And we know it’s easy to eat more than one measly serving. Here’s a perfect example of the difference between serving size and the actual servings eaten: one serving of ice cream (½ cup) has approximately 12 grams of fat. Most of the people I know can easily eat 1 cup in a sitting, and you know what that means....

The TV show Saturday Night Live a few years ago aired a skit with comedian Steve Martin, who was guest-hosting. It was a spoof on an infomercial promoting a revolutionary get-out-of debt plan. The “unique program” was titled, “Don’t buy stuff you cannot afford.” The skit opened with a discouraged couple sitting at their kitchen table wondering how they’ll ever get out of debt. Enter the author of a one-page book, Don’t Buy Stuff You Cannot Afford....

You have no idea what’s going on. Are they weaning? Could it happen this suddenly? Either way, your stress levels are through the roof, and you have no idea what to do. If something like this is happening to you, your baby is most likely having a nursing strike and isn’t weaning. Nursing strikes are actually very common. As a lactation consultant, they are one of the most frequent calls for help that I receive....