How to Raise an Expressive Child Raising an emotionally expressive child is one of the biggest challenges of parenting for those of us who weren’t allowed to express our feelings as children. Here’s how to encourage your child to be expressive, yet respectful. 1. Practice Attachment Parenting A baby who can express needs becomes a […]
Child Back Pain from Backpacks Back problems are no longer limited to the elderly. Pediatricians are seeing more and more school children with back pain related to the misuse of backpacks. We don’t discourage the use of backpacks since compared with shoulder bags or purses backpacks are easier on the upper body muscles because these […]
“Dr. Sears, What’s your opinion about spacing children?”Child spacing varies from family to family. There is seldom the ideal time for a child. If we always waited for “the perfect time” to have a child, we would probably have two instead of eight. An important factor is the need level of the baby. If you […]
Growing Pains in Children vs. More Serious Pain It can be difficult for parents to know if their child is just feeling growing pains or if something is really wrong. How can you tell the difference between growing pains in children from something more serious? Growth doesn’t hurt, at least not physically. Growing pains in […]
What is the cause of heel pain? Heel pain occurs in active children because the human foot was never meant to run on concrete, asphalt, gym floors, or pivot in soccer or basketball. Most heel pain in children is due to using the foot in a way it was never designed to be used. Heel pain […]
VIDEO VIOLENCE IS COMING TO A SCREEN NEAR YOU WARNING: Video games may be hazardous to your child’s emotional health. Sounds like a warning on a cigarette pack, and justifiably so. Once upon a time TV was blamed on a variety of children’s emotional disturbances, from obesity to aggression. Just as parents learned to tame […]
Avoiding Mommy Burnout Burnout is a state of emotional exhaustion. Mommy burnout happens when a mother has been out of balance for too long. With so much energy draining out of her, she reaches a point where she feels she has nothing left to give. Yet baby continues to need mom, and mom needs to go […]
Giving Medicines As Mary Poppins sings, “A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.” Giving medicine to children may require an additional measure of creative marketing as the finishing touch. Try these tricks: Match the Medicine to the Mouth The same medication may come in a variety of flavors and forms. Stick to your […]
Identifying and Removing Foreign Objects In the Nose An article reported in the December 2015 issue of The Wall Street Journal called attention to how frequently children stuff harmful objects in the nose. The usual culprits were cherries, chickpeas, nuts, ladybugs, pebbles and, can you believe it, little flat batteries. While most of these were […]
Helping the Failure to Thrive Infant Throughout our 30 years of working with parents and babies, we have grown to appreciate the correlation between baby growth (emotionally and physically) and the style of parenting they receive. We have noticed that failure to thrive in infants is often simply cured by more parental nurturing. Keep Baby Thriving: […]
Spoiled Children or Healthy Babies? Few parents make it through their offspring’s babyhood without being told that all their efforts to nurture and respond to their baby will surely spoil her. And if it’s not spoiled children that new parents are warned against, they’re told not to let themselves be “manipulated” by baby. Attachment parenting is not the […]
Since your children’s sandbox can quickly and easily be turned into the neighborhood litter box, take these precautions to make it safe: Keep your sandbox covered and pet-free. Instruct your children not to let family pets play with them in the sandbox. Once they understand that pets will turn the sandbox into a litter box, […]
