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Symptoms to Call Your Doctor About

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When you become a parent, you earn a medical merit badge of sorts. Whether you’re sopping up a goopy nose or extracting a dangling-by-a-thread baby tooth, eventually few things faze you. But sometimes it’s tough to tell what warrants a call to your doctor’s office: Which temperature actually classifies as a “high fever”? What kind of tummy ache means your child has more than your average stomach bug? And when something truly frightening happens — say, your child suddenly breaks out in hives — should you call your pediatrician or head straight to the E.R.?

“Parents should always err on the side of caution and seek immediate medical care when they’re worried about something,” says Anita Chandra-Puri, M.D., a pediatrician at Northwestern Memorial Physicians Group, in Chicago, and a spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics. However, to give you more specific guidelines to follow, we talked to top pediatricians about the 12 symptoms that always require medical attention.

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Practicing Patience

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I read this great article this morning and I don’t want to wait to pass it on to you. 🙂 Please click to see her great ideas for teaching patience to toddler through teens. Practicing Patience by Tammy Darling

One of my most popular sayings is “Honey, you’ll just have to wait.” But as you know, that’s not something any child wants to hear. Instant gratification has become a hallmark of our culture.

Do you give your kids practice waiting? Or do you serve them quickly to avoid a meltdown? We must understand that the more we appease our kids, the more impatient and rude they’ll be as adults.

Why Wait

Learning to wait is more important than we may realize. In a landmark Stanford University study, a group of 4-year-olds were each given a marshmallow. The kids were promised another one if they could wait for several minutes without eating the first one. Fourteen years later, as high school seniors, those who had quickly eaten the first marshmallow had lower self-esteem and were more prone to frustration, envy, and conflict. Those who had waited, were more socially competent, coped better with stress and frustration, and got better grades. In fact, those who waited scored an average of 210 points higher on their SATs.

The ability to wait teaches self-control and self-discipline. Kids who learn to wait are better able to think before they act and to understand the potential consequences of their actions. They learn respect and submission to authority. And learning to wait now will enable our children to “wait patiently for the Lord” as Scripture instructs in Psalm 27:14.

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Prenatal Test for Autism: Would You Want to Know?

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Right after Casey was diagnosed, I went to an autism convention. They brought up the fact that there were new genes being linked to autism all of the time. I got all excited. That would mean I wouldn’t have had to jump through all of those hoops to get him diagnosed! It would be like it is with Down syndrome; I could have just known in advance and been prepared.

Fast forward several years. I have a baby with Down syndrome. A baby I thought everyone would just think was beautiful, wonderful, etc., because that was the bubble I lived in. I thought anyone would want a baby with Down syndrome. I remember being so jealous of the kids with Down syndrome in Casey’s Early Intervention classes because they didn’t scream and kick every time they were dropped off. I knew somewhere in the back of my mind that some people aborted babies because they had Down syndrome, but I thought that was rare.

That bubble burst when I learned most of babies who are prenatally diagnosed with Down syndrome are aborted.

Please take a moment and read the rest of this article at Mamapedia

Autism Awareness and New Facts

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For those of you who have not read much about autism, this is Autism Awareness Month. As such, I want to do my part to help make you aware of the condition and the progress being made to help children on the Autism Spectrum.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized, in varying degrees, by difficulties in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication and repetitive behaviors. It appears to have its roots in very early brain development, however, the most obvious signs and symptoms tend to emerge between 2-3 years of age. ASD is associated with intellectual disability, difficulties in motor coordination and attention, sleep disruption and gastrointestinal disturbances. The incidence of autism in all its forms is approximately 1 in 88 children, affecting boys much more than girls. Currently, research has identified some rare gene changes associated with autism. But it appears to be caused by a combination of autism risk genes and environmental factors influencing early brain development.

This month I took a look at some research and want to give you some up-dated findings about Autism.
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French Parenting

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Could some of these techniques make parenting in the US and Asia easier? This is excerpt from Fox News, March 3, 2013

Pamela Druckerman, an American living in Paris, didn’t expect to find anything special about French parenting – but little by little, she noticed life was different for French parents. Easier, perhaps.

“Children in France typically eat much better, for starters,” said Druckerman, who is the author of Bringing Up Bebe, and its sequel, Bebe Day by Day: 100 Keys to French Parenting.

“You don’t have kids just eating kids’ food all the time. Grownups and adults eat the same thing. There were babies sleeping through the night much sooner than American babies around me.”

Druckerman said French parents are “old-school,” in that their life does not revolve entirely around their kids, and they are better at saying “no” and sticking with it.

“They don’t want to fall into that cycle of perpetual negation that we often find ourselves in America,” Druckerman said. “But, at the same time, they give kids a lot of freedom. French kids bake cakes and load the dishwasher at 3-years-old, and they make salad dressing.”

1. You are the keeper of the fridge.

“Kids don’t snack in between meals in France,” Druckerman said. “There is one official snack time of the day; in the afternoon, and basically they eat well at meal times.”

Druckerman said she thinks this is one of the reasons France has such low childhood obesity levels.

2. Don’t let your child interrupt you.
“I think in America, we have gotten used to stopping everything when the child comes in, and that’s why you have moms and dads who say, ‘I can’t finish a cup of coffee, I can’t finish a conversation with my spouse…’ In France, children, of course, try to interrupt – they’re normal kids – and parents will say, ‘Excuse me, honey, I’m in the middle of something; I will be with you in a minute.'”

3. Let them eat cake.
This means two things, Druckerman said. First, kids literally bake cakes – starting at an early age. “It’s a way of teaching kids patience and self-control,” she said. “The other side is, you get to eat cake at the end. But you eat it normally as an afternoon snack. So it takes a wait.”

4. Show kids you have a life apart from them.
A French friend of hers went back to work so her children saw their mother’s life did not revolve around them entirely, Druckerman said, adding that children need to see a “mysterious adult realm” that they can aspire to one day.

Alternately, parents should have alone time and show kids they like to have privacy.

5. Punish rarely, but make it matter.
This is all about choosing your battles, Druckerman said. “Have certain no-go areas that the kids accept as laws of nature,” she said. “One of those is politeness.” In France, kids must always say “hello, good-bye, please and thank you.”

But – you don’t have to jump on your child for every little thing they do wrong – or else a parent’s authority will ultimately be diminished.

Go to  Fox News, March 3, 2013, to see the whole article