April 27, 2008
Does My Child Need An Annual Physical?
It’s easy to know when to take babies and toddlers to the doctor for well-baby and well-child checkups. The schedule is pretty rigid, and we have the need for immunizations to consider too. So at two weeks, two months, six months, etc. we trot off to the doctor’s office for a checkup. After two years old, it’s still easy – once a year visits are the norm and are often covered by insurance. Plus your child is still getting immunizations during these years.But after age five, things become much less clear. Children typically don’t need any immunizations after age five or six until they are around 12. They’re not growing as fast, and you probably have fewer questions about their development. Some camp and sports activities require a physical, but otherwise, do you really need to take your children in for an annual physical or checkup?
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It’s a cliché, but like many clichés, it’s been oft-repeated because it’s true: Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day, especially for kids. During the night, your body uses energy you have stored up during the day to keep your heart beating, your blood flowing, your lungs working, etc. By morning, you need some fuel to get your brains and body started. That fuel comes in the form of blood sugar, also called glucose. 
It may seem trivial to some, but to a teenager, acne is a horrible affliction. While almost all teenagers get acne at one point or another, severe acne can lead to a negative body image and even severe depression. But don’t get worried; there are steps you can take to help your child get treated and start feeling better. 
The traditional image of the post-school hour is children skipping home to enjoy a glass of cold milk and some fresh-from-the-oven cookies. The reality is, most of us moms spend our days working at a job, running errands, or volunteering at our kids’ schools. The kids don’t walk or skip home – we pick them up or they go to an after-care program. And unless you just enjoy baking, your kids may only have fresh-from-the-oven cookies after you buy frozen cookie dough from the latest school fundraiser. 
Remember the Mary Poppins movie? She said all it takes is a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down. How I wish it was that easy! We all hate to see our kids sick and the last thing we want is to have a battle with them so they take their medicine. In truth, it’s not always that easy, nor is it always prudent or practical to mix sugar or anything else into our children’s medicine without checking with a health care professional. 
Kids can get easily annoyed by routines; for most of a child’s life, they are told exactly what they should do, and it is easy for them to become numb to orders. However, routines are also very important for a child. Routines help a child develop and teach responsibility. To that end, it can be difficult to get your child to engage in good dental habits. They may not be eager to do something that takes a set amount of their time every day, so it is important to help them to establish good dental habits as soon as you can. Here are some tips that may prove to be useful in your household for when you are trying to get your children to maintain their dental hygiene.
You never know when the unexpected might happen, and with kids it usually does! Cuts, scrapes and bruises are a normal part of growing up. Whether it’s the recent rash of violent storms which have plagued our country, or unavoidable accidents in the home; having a first aid kit is essential to treat anyone in your family at a moment’s notice. Does your family have a first aid kit? If not, you can either buy a home kit or take a little time to put one together. Here are some items you will need:
Childhood obesity rates here in the U.S. are skyrocketing. Many of the children that become overweight at a young age will develop health issue throughout their lives. How can we help overcome this and try make sure your child grows up healthy? As parents, there are a lot of things we can under consideration with respects to the habits that your child develops. It is important we help to influence those habits. Why? Because the habits our children develop when they are young tend to stick with them throughout their lives, so it’s important to start establishing good guidelines for living as soon as possible. These days, nutrition is one of the most neglected aspects of our style of living. Lets take a look at ways to establish some basic guidelines that can help our children stay healthy with regards to nutrition.