-
A Cautionary Tale on the Risks of BB Guns
Tweet Share on Facebook December 31, 2009 Comment (21)I often write about toy safety, but this story's got to be a first: According to the Miami Herald, a 39-year-old Florida man allegedly shot his stepson in the chest with a BB gun the kid got for Christmas, in order to show the child that getting shot with a pellet gun can hurt. This after the boy (age not specified in news reports) shot his autistic cousin in the behind. The boy ended up with a welt on his chest, and the stepdad faced a charge of cruelty toward child without great harm.
This may be one of the more boneheaded families in America, but their misadventures do bring up the question: Is this a toy too dangerous to be tucked under the Christmas tree? In the still-popular 1983 movie A Christmas Story, based on the story by Jean Shepard, 10-year-old Ralphie longs for a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas, but the adults in his life tell him: "No, you'll shoot your eye out." I won't tell you what actually happens in the movie, but that fate would make Ralphie one of the approximately 21,000 people injured each year by nonpowder guns like BB, pellet, and paintball guns, and air rifles, with about 4 percent of those injuries resulting in hospitalization, according to a 2004 report from the American Academy of Pediatrics. The Consumer Product Safety Commission says kids under 16 should not use BB guns or pellet guns, and it says about four people a year die from using the guns.
-
More Parents Are Able to Get Their Kids Vaccinated Against H1N1
Tweet Share on Facebook December 23, 2009 Comment (5)Swine flu vaccine is widely available at last, ending a long and frustrating experience for parents seeking to protect their children against H1N1. In a new survey on swine flu vaccine by the Harvard School of Public Health, three quarters of parents who attempted to get their kids vaccinated said that they were able to do so by mid-December, compared with just one third at the beginning of November. Sure enough, when I looked at my county health department's website, I found 13 free vaccine clinics listed, with vaccine available to all comers. And our pediatrician's office has H1N1 vaccine, as do local pharmacies.
So, should I take my 6-year-old back for a second dose of H1N1 vaccine, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention? There may well be a third wave of pandemic flu next spring, and I would hate to regret not getting that second shot merely because of the bother. A new study on children and the swine flu published online in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that kids can get by with just one dose of vaccine. The accompanying editorial, however, says not so fast; children, particularly those under age 3, still mount a stronger immune response to the virus with two doses. In the JAMA study, 92.5 percent of the children getting one standard dose of vaccine had a good immune response, compared with 100 percent after two doses.
-
Help Your Kids Have a Happy Holiday Despite Recession
Tweet Share on Facebook December 22, 2009 Comment (3)"Did you buy my Christmas present?" was the first phrase out of my darling daughter's mouth this morning. There will be presents under the tree, but like many families in Year 2 of the Great Recession, we've really cut back. Christmas, yes; extravagance, no.
That leaves parents like me wondering how to give our children a wonderful holiday at a time when the kids too often think that the occasion is defined by the presents. We have to deal with not just our children's expectations and disappointment, but our own. I remembered a conversation I had at this time last year with Mary Alvord, a psychologist in Rockville, Md. Her advice is even more apt today because one third of kids ages 8 to 17 say they are more stressed out now than they were a year ago, according to a poll on kids and stress issued last month by the American Psychological Association. And 30 percent of the children polled worry about their family's financial situation.
-
Autism Called Urgent Public Health Concern; 1 in 100 Children Affected
Tweet Share on Facebook December 18, 2009 Comment (21)Almost 1 percent of 8-year-olds have been diagnosed with autism and related disorders, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That number is not a huge surprise; the same figure was reported in another autism study in October. But it's not every day that the CDC labels a developmental disorder "an urgent public-health concern." Language like that could provide more momentum for much-needed research into the causes of autism and more funding to test and develop autism treatments. It's high time; parents seeking help for their children find many treatments and cures promoted but few that have been rigorously tested.
It's not clear why the number of children diagnosed with autism has increased so much. CDC data from a 2002 survey pegged the number at 1 in 150 children, while today's report, based on a 2006 survey, found 1 in 110 children affected. Four to five times as many boys are diagnosed, with 1 in 70 boys and 1 in 315 girls diagnosed with autism, according to the CDC's new numbers.
-
Sexting and Your Kids: Strategies for Parents to Reduce the Risk
Tweet Share on Facebook December 17, 2009 Comment (11)Just 4 percent of teenagers admit to "sexting," or sending sexually explicit photos of themselves or others by cellphone. But 15 percent of teenagers say they've been sent nude or nearly nude photos, according to a new survey, so clearly somebody's not telling the whole story. With sexting so much in the news—even Tiger Woods's mistresses were sexting, for crying out loud, and High School Musical star Vanessa Hudgens found her nude photos all over the Internet after she sent them to a boyfriend—those numbers will undoubtedly grow. Combine their legendary ability to make boneheaded decisions with the ease of sharing digital photos, and it's no wonder that teens can find themselves in a heap of embarrassment, or even legal trouble, for doing something they thought of as sexy fun.
"When I was about 14-15 years old, I received/sent these types of pictures," one high school girl told the surveyors for the Pew Internet and American Life Project, which just released the new data. "Boys usually ask for them or start that type of conversation. My boyfriend, or someone I really liked, asked for them. And I felt like if I didn't do it, they wouldn't continue to talk to me. At the time, it was no big deal. But now looking back, it was definitely inappropriate and over the line."
-
Children's Sleep Problems May Be Tied to Headaches, Stomach Pain
Tweet Share on Facebook December 16, 2009 Comment (1)Children's sleep problems are a huge headache for families; now it looks as if the sleep problems themselves could be linked to headaches.
Children who have trouble falling asleep or wake up often at night are much more likely to have headaches or to regurgitate food, according to research published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. Headaches were twice as likely to occur in children with sleep problems; 24 percent of those kids reported pain, compared with 13 percent of children without disturbed sleep. And 19 percent of children with insomnia had problems with regurgitation, compared with 7.5 percent of children without sleep problems.
-
New Kids' Health Site Offers Advice From Pediatricians
Tweet Share on Facebook December 10, 2009 Comment (10)Seeking advice from pediatricians on your kids’ health just got easier. The American Academy of Pediatrics today launched a website, healthychildren.org, in an effort to bring “pediatrician-approved health information” to the often-confusing world of online medical advice.
The group is already online at aap.org, but until now that site has mashed together health information aimed at parents with professional information for its 60,000 members. It’s nice to know that the AAP supports health reform, but not when what I really need to know is whether it’s OK to alternate Tylenol and Motrin to bring down a fever. The new site focuses on parents’ questions on often-encountered issues like finicky eating, toilet training, and ADHD. It includes a section where you can ask questions of a team of doctors.
-
Zhu Zhu Pets Are OK: Here’s How to Find Out if Other Toys Are Safe
Tweet Share on Facebook December 8, 2009 Comment (17)Parents around the nation breathed a sigh of relief with the news that Zhu Zhu Pets, those adorable robot hamsters, are not contaminated with antimony, a metallic element that can cause heart and lung problems. Zhu Zhu Pets are the "it" toy of the 2009 holiday season; more than 6 million of the fuzzy cuties have been sold so far, meaning that there would have been a lot of very disappointed kids on Christmas morning if the toys had indeed been tainted.
GoodGuide, a website that ranks the safety and sustainability of toys and household products, had reported over the weekend that Mr. Squiggles, one of the Zhu Zhu Pets, contained antimony at levels of 93 to 106 parts per million, in excess of the federal standard of 60 parts per million. Cephia LLC, the manufacturer of Zhu Zhu Pets, quickly posted its own toxicology report on Mr. Squiggles. The CPSC examined the report and gave the little guy a clean bill of health. It turns out that GoodGuide had conducted its test with a hand-held X-ray fluorescence analyzer, which is considered less accurate than the methods required of manufacturers, which test the levels of soluble contaminants in a toy. Good for Mr. Squiggles, but what about all the other toys destined to be under the tree?
-
Boys Miss Out on Sex Education Talks With Parents
Tweet Share on Facebook December 7, 2009 Comment (7)Parents are all too often failing to talk with their teenagers about sex before they become sexually active, according to a new survey. Almost half of teens had intercourse before their parents got around to talking with them about sexually transmitted diseases and birth control. And boys are most likely to miss out on the conversation; nearly two thirds of teenage boys surveyed said their parents had not talked to them about using condoms before they became sexually active, while about 25 percent of parents and their daughters said they hadn't talked about how to resist pressure to have sex.
This documentation of our failure to give our children guidance isn't a huge surprise. I can't be the only parent who already cringes at the prospect of having "the talk," even though my daughter is still in grade school. Still, these survey results—from researchers at Rand Corp., Virginia Commonwealth University, and Children's Hospital Boston—clearly show how we parents are letting our own squeamishness win out over taking care of our children.
-
Psychologist Wins $1 Million for Showing that Teenage Brains Really Are Different
Tweet Share on Facebook December 4, 2009 Comment (4)Teenage brains and behavior are worth $1 million—at least to a researcher who has been trying to figure out why teenagers do such dumb things, particularly when they're hanging out together.
Laurence Steinberg, a developmental psychologist at Temple University in Philadelphia, won the $1 million Klaus J. Jacobs Research Prize on Dec. 3 for his study of teenage brains and behavior. In the past five years, scientists have made huge progress in understanding that adolescent brains are very different than the adult version. The brain regions that control impulsivity and executive function are not fully developed in teens. Steinberg's work has played a key role in expanding our understanding that physiology drives some of teenagers' illogical or risky decisions, and I've greatly enjoyed reading and writing about his work, most recently in a story on the amazing power of the teen brain.
For instance, in 2005 Steinberg showed that teens taking a simulated driving test were twice as likely to drive dangerously if they had two friends with them as they would if driving alone. Brain scans later showed that reward centers in the teenagers' brains lit up more if they were told that friends were watching them, a pattern not seen in adults. He's now studying how adolescents and adults respond to peer influence when they make decisions and how their brain activity differs when they do. And he's starting to look into whether the teenage behaviors that so baffle American parents are universal or if teenagers in other countries deploy their uniquely adolescent brains in different ways.
