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Recently in: Tweens
Parents Sound Off About School Lunches
Ask kids what they think of the cafeteria's fare and they'll likely offer a scrunched nose and a frown, whether the food is good - or good for them - or not. But what do... Read more
Hot Enough For Ya?
By Hal Runkel, LMFT
You've may have seen "The Far Side" cartoon entitled, "Nerds in Hell." It depicts a long line of eternally damned souls waiting for, well, eternity... Read more
The Truth from a Teacher
By Jenny Runkel
This new school year will mark the first time in almost a decade that I will not be putting up bulletin boards and making new seating charts. I am in t... Read more
Today, kids are exposed to so much information about sex and relationships on TV and the Internet that by the time they approach puberty, they may be familiar with some advanced ideas. And yet, talking about the issues of puberty remains an important job for parents because not all of a child's information comes from reliable sources.
Don't wait for your child to come to you with questions about his or her changing body - that day may never arrive, especially if your child doesn't know that he or she can talk to you about this sensitive topic. Keep reading to learn how you can talk to your child about puberty.
Most parents are well aware that preteens worry about looks, schoolwork, and fitting in. But you might be surprised to learn that what preteens worry about most is the health of loved ones.
A new KidsHealth KidsPoll surveyed 1,154 kids ages 9 to 13. More than half the kids ― 55% ― said they worry "almost all the time" about the health of a loved one. For preteens, that concern surpassed worries about the future (43%), schoolwork (37%), and looks or appearance (37%).
Worry about the health of a loved one ― whether it's a parent, grandparent, sibling, or a pet ― is a concern kids often experience. But t
... Continue reading KidsPoll: What Kids Worry About.
Helping Kids Cope With Cliques
Your 10-year-old daughter comes home crying because the girls she's been friends with are suddenly leaving her out and spreading rumors about her. She's confused because it seemed to happen out of the blue. She doesn't know what she did wrong and is nervous about returning to school, unsure if she has any friends.
Given how prevalent cliques are throughout middle and high school, at some point your child is likely to face the prospect of being in one or being excluded from them. There's little you can do to shield kids from cliques, but plenty you can do to help them maintain confidence and self-respect while negotiating cli
... Continue reading Helping Kids Cope With Cliques.
Disciplining Your Child
How do you keep a 1-year-old from heading toward the VCR? What should you do when your preschooler throws a fit? How can you get a teenager to respect your authority?
Whatever the age of your child, it's important to be consistent when it comes to discipline. If you don't stick to the rules and consequences that you set up, your child isn't likely to either.
Here are some ideas about how to vary your approach to discipline to best fit your family.
Ages 0 to 2
Babies and toddlers are naturally curious. So it's wise to eliminate temptations and no-nos - items such as VCRs, stereos,
... Continue reading Disciplining Your Child.
Lack of Sleep Tied to Obesity in Preteens
Not getting enough shuteye can make kids wake up on the wrong side of the bed, with a day that's long on moodiness and short on cooperation and attention. But a new study shows that skimping on ZZZs can affect kids' health in an even more serious way - making it more likely they'll become overweight.
Researchers set out to see if there was a link between sleep - or lack thereof - and putting on too many pounds. So, they looked at 800 kids' sleep patterns - problems and how long they snoozed - as well as their body mass index (BMI, a calculation using height and weight to estimate a person's body fat) over time.
Our parents had it easy... the television was the only brain-warping device they needed to pry us away from (and frankly, the shows weren't that good anyway). But today, we as parents have a bigger arsenal of exciting technology to contend with; not only the maniacal sponges and pre-teen rockers of kids' TV, but thrill-a-minute video games, mp3 players worn all day, cell phones ringing off the hook (with the latest rap ringtone), and now texting - texting in the car, texting on the couch, texting at the dinner table - Whew, so what's a parent to do?
In this age of midriff-bearing, tank-top wearing or shirtless sun worshipping, warnings about cancer may not be what teens want to hear. But experts say educating children about skin cancer prevention is a community-wide challenge that should involve messages from family members and your child's friends, classmates, athletic coaches and other adult role models.
This multi-pronged approach was the basis of a recent study involving nearly 2,000 children entering sixth through eighth grades in New Hampshire and Vermont. Experts say that as children begin adolescent development, they are establishing their own identities
... Continue reading Skin Cancer Prevention Targets Adolescents, Teens.
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