Posts Tagged ‘
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Wednesday, July 13th, 2011
When Deborah Copaken Kogan snapped a photo of her 4-year-old son, Leo, in the pediatrician’s office on Mother’s Day and uploaded it to Facebook, she was looking for a few laughs (and probably some sympathy). The photo’s caption was, “Nothing says Happy Mother’s Day quite like a Sunday morning at the pediatrician’s.”
According to Slate.com, Kogan brought Leo to the doctor because he had a rash and a fever, and she feared strep. Leo was sent home with antibiotics, but the next day he was sicker and Kogan was back at the doctor. His new diagnosis was scarlet fever. Kogan continued posting pictures of Leo on Facebook to share with friends.
On the third day, Leo woke up so swollen and puffy that he was almost unrecognizable. Kogan sent pictures of her son to the doctor and posted one on Facebook. Before she heard from the doctor, Kogan got a call from Stephanie, a former neighbor and actress. Stephanie urged Kogan to bring Leo to the hospital; her own son had similar symptoms a few years earlier and was diagnosed with Kawasaki disease, a rare and sometimes fatal auto-immune disorder.
After receiving more comments and messages on Facebook from friends with the same suspicions, including a pediatrician and a pediatric cardiologist, Kogan brought Leo to the hospital. They were right: Leo had Kawasaki disease.
He will need tests on his heart every year for the rest of his life, but he is recovering and doing well.
Kogan, who originally joined Facebook to monitor the cyber-bullying of her oldest child, is grateful for how being part of a larger network of friends helped “diagnose” her son in a timely matter and also offered support during a difficult time. She recently wrote, “Thanks to my Facebook friends and their continuing support, I do not feel so alone.”
Do you have your own story about Kawasaki disease? Share your experience here.
Photograph by Deborah Copaken Kogan. Originally featured on Slate.
Tuesday, July 12th, 2011
9 things you shouldn’t say to your child
Read on for some of the most common verbal missteps moms and dads make, and kinder, gentler alternatives…
How does a newborn get to 16 pounds?
Jamichael’s large birth weight is the result of a condition called gestational diabetes, which his mom has.
Facebook teams with Time Warner to fight bullies
Facebook and Time Warner are ganging up on bullies to address a problem that torments millions of children and young adults.
Florida couple on trial after pet python kills child
Trial proceedings began on Monday for a central Florida mother and her boyfriend who are accused of allowing their pet python to strangle a 2-year-old girl in her crib.
Restaurant Owner: Parents Force Kid Ban
A Pennsylvania restaurant owner who is banning loud children from his eatery tells Fox 29 the behavior of their indignant parents is a big problem, in addition to noisy children.
Parents charged after youth baseball brawl
A youth baseball tournament turned ugly in Metzler Park, Colorado in June. Three parents are facing criminal charges because of a fight over what some said was a bad call.
Wednesday, June 29th, 2011
Yesterday my sister asked me what she should tell a friend who’s looking for a good sunscreen for her 8-month-old son. I gave her a few recommendations, but also suggested that her friend go to our Facebook page tomorrow–that’s when we’ll be hosting a live chat with dermatologist and mom Mona Gohara, M.D. From 12:15 p.m. EST to 1:45 p.m. EST, you can ask anything you want to know about protecting your child from the sun, just in time for the holiday weekend. Sun safety is one of Dr. Gohara’s passions; she created K&J Sunprotective Clothing, a line of cool t-shirts for babies and children that have a UPF rating of 50+. This means that only 1/50th of the sun’s ultraviolet rays will get through. (Most regular cotton shirts have a UPF rating of 5 or 10.)
So mark your calendars for tomorrow at 12:15 p.m. EST. Dr. Gohara will be standing by!
Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011
Jack in the Box to stop offering toys in kids’ meals
Jack in the Box, the nation’s fifth-largest hamburger chain, is dropping toys to promote its meals aimed at kids and working on adding healthier menu options to its offerings for children. (MSNBC)
Learning Empathy by Looking Beyond Disabilities
Students at Ridgewood High School were shown photos of young people with genetic disorders — muscular dystrophy, albinism, port-wine stains — and told not to look away. (New York Times)
IUDs officially recommended for healthy women, teens
A female contraceptive device whose reported side effects kept it off the frontline of birth control for years has been formally endorsed for all healthy adult women and adolescents by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. (USA Today)
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Wednesday, June 15th, 2011
Help support the more than 315 Special Olympics Team USA athletes traveling to Athens, Greece from June 25 to July 4, 2011 for the Special Olympics World Summer Games. All you need to do is “like,” share, or comment on Procter and Gamble’s “Thank You Mom” Facebook page and it will donate $1 (up to $250,000 for each fan’s interaction on the page) to Team USA.
I volunteered with the Disney VoluntEARS at the Special Olympics Metro Tournament at Queens College in Queens, N.Y. a few weeks ago and saw some of the amazing athletes, like powerlifter Kelletia Clayborne from Queens Village, .N.Y., who are proud and excited to represent the USA at the World Games. The athletes need to raise money for the trip to Greece, so every donation helps, and thanks to P&G, we can all help out. If you spread the word to 10 friends, that’s $10 you helped donate with just a few clicks.
Visit the “Thank You Mom” page to follow the games in Athens, watch videos from moms of Special Olympic athletes, and create your own video message.
Image courtesy of athens2011.org.
Thursday, May 26th, 2011
Gender-Free Baby: Is it O.K. For Parents to Keep Their Child’s Sex a Secret?
If pregnancy were a musical composition, finding out whether you’re having a boy or a girl would be the coda. Indeed, “Do you know what you’re having?” is probably the question lobbed most frequently at pregnant women, right up there with, “When are you due?” So news that a Canadian couple is raising their third child “genderless” in what amounts to a grand social experiment has set parental tongues a-wagging.
Parents Give Kids Shocking Amounts of Money
We’ve all heard that today’s twenty-somethings are more dependent on their parents for financial help than ever. Some 85 percent of this year’s graduates plan to move back home after receiving their diplomas, according to the firm Twentysomething. Now, new numbers out from the National Endowment for Financial Education reveal just how heavily adult kids lean on their parents.
Should Kids Under 13 Be on Facebook?
In a perfect, law-abiding world, no child under 13 has a Facebook account. But this world is pretty far from ideal, if the 7.5 million tweens – and younger kids – trolling the social-media behemoth are any gauge. Now, if Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg gets his way, that already impressive number will explode.
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Monday, May 23rd, 2011
Dentists hesitate to treat kids on Medicaid: study
Dentists were less willing to see kids who needed an emergency appointment if they were covered by Medicaid than if they had private insurance in a new study based in Cook County, Illinois. (Reuters)
U.S. Rates of Autism, ADHD Continue to Rise: Report
One in six U.S. children now has a developmental disability such as autism, learning disorders or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to new research from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That number appears to be on the rise. In 1997-1999, about 12.8 percent of kids were diagnosed with a developmental disability. That number rose to 15 percent in 2006-2008 — or an additional 1.8 million U.S. children. (Health.com)
Study Sees Link Between Psoriasis, Obesity in Kids
The prevalence of psoriasis — a chronic, inflammatory disease of the skin — is significantly higher among overweight and obese kids, researchers have found. The Kaiser Permanente study, published online in the Journal of Pediatrics, also found that teens with psoriasis (regardless of their body weight) have higher cholesterol levels, putting them at greater risk for heart disease. (Yahoo)
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Wednesday, March 30th, 2011
How do young kids consume digital media in the age of Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites?
A study conducted by the Sesame Workshop and other scholars, foundations, and market researchers resulted in an enlightening new report by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center titled, “Always Connected: The New Digital Media Habits of Young Children.” The report distilled data from seven other studies between 2006-2010 that focused on preschool and elementary school kids (ages 0-11) . The seven studies tracked how children absorbed digital, mobile, and online media in the form of television, smart phones, and online games.
An overview of the report’s findings reveal:
- Children now have more access to digital media, so they spend more time during the day consuming it.
- Television is still the number one way children consume media.
- Children expand their media consumption beyond television around age 8.
- Mobile media continues to be a rising trend in the way children consume media, such as handheld video games, portable music players, and cell phones.
- Due to family economic situations, some children still don’t have access to the latest technology.
During the 1990s, children around 2 years old watched over 3 hours of television and children between 8-18 were exposed to media for over 7.5 hours a day. Now, over ten years later, children under 1 watch 49 minutes of television while children 2-3 years old spend 1 hour and 51 minutes and children between 8-18 are now exposed to media for over 10 hours a day. In addition to the cable television, music players, VCRs, home computers, portable handheld video games, internet, and cell phones from available during the 1990s, other ways children now consume media are through DVDs, DVRs, MP3 players, electronic interactive toys, smart phones, and tablet computers.
According to the study, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children under age 2 should not watch television and older children should only watch a maximum of 2 hours a day. New guidelines about the best practices for how your kids consume technology will also be released this year by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
To read the full report, visit the Joan Ganz Cooney Center.
Categories: Health & Safety, News, Your Child | Tags: children, digital media, Facebook, kids, media, media habits, online media, sesame workshop, social media, Television, TV, twitter
