Children Know Better Children do not sit still easily. They have good reason not to: Prolonged sitting day after day can lead to organ damage, muscle strain and degeneration, cancer, impaired brain function, and other adverse health outcomes (nicely summarized in a 2014 Washington Post article entitled, “The health hazards of Sitting).” Although most research […]
Sep 27 2016
California Foster Care Children Over-Prescribed Psychotropic Drugs
I previously wrote about research questioning the long-term use of Ritalin for ADHD. More recently, the State of California conducted an audit of psychotropic drug prescriptions in four representative counties, including Sonoma (the county in which I myself live). Apparently, foster children are prescribed too many of these drugs and often at too high a […]
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May 03 2016
Free Online Children’s Health Summit This Week
The “Children’s Health Summit” webinar is going on this week, once again hosted by Carla Atherton, a functional nutrition coach specializing in children and families. It started yesterday and continues through Saturday, May 7, 2016. Each day’s presentations can be watched for free for 24 hours. You may also purchase the entire set of interviews […]
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Apr 24 2016
Children and Mental Illness
Learning disabilities may be in vogue, but they are not the only reason that some children have trouble in school or in life. One child’s emotional meltdowns can make it difficult for everyone. Unfortunately, it can take years before a child receives what he or she needs. Liza Long knows first-hand how bad the mental […]
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Dec 16 2015
Fetal Medicine for Down Syndrome
Down syndrome, also called trisomy 21, is perhaps best known for its role in delayed intellectual development and obvious physical characteristics. Possible errors in over 200 proteins encoded for by the DNA can wreak health havoc. Medical researchers are beginning to focus on ways to fix the biochemistry, giving hope that early detection will result […]
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Sep 29 2015
Could Your Child be Colorblind?
Color blindness can be problematic. One test for it is the Farnsworth-Munsell 100 Hue Test. The online version is less accurate than the eye doctor would have, since monitors and room light variations may affect the outcome. Nevertheless, it’s worth trying because it is free and a high score indicates that further testing is warranted. […]
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Sep 25 2015
Toxic School Lunches
Healdsburg Patch has a good article about a study of BPA in children’s school lunches. Here’s one more reason to send lunch from home if you can afford it and to take political action either way: Low-income children are particularly at risk of BPA exposure because they are more likely to eat federally funded meals […]
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May 12 2015
New Story for Young Children Supports Nature as Natural
To counteract "Nature-Deficit Disorder," a new release from Barefoot Books, Outdoor Opposites, plays with words for opposites while portraying children enjoying the natural world. Macy Koch has written a nice description of the book (for ages 3-7) here. It is good to see a book that reminds children and parents how much fun playing outside […]
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Apr 15 2015
Recommended Books are Back
I put up a “Recommended Books” page again, this time with my own brief descriptions for many of the books. Check it out.
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Mar 30 2015
What is Healthy Eating for Children?
Is the “normal” U.S. diet harming your family? Since it is now estimated that one-third of people in the U.S. will end up with diabetes by the end of their lives, here is some good news: Type 2 diabetes is reversible! Roy Taylor, MD, a researcher at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom, discussed the […]
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