Pediatricians Suggest ‘Media Diet’ for Obese Kids: “Children see thousands of food ads a year on TV in this country. How fair is that to our kids? Do we want our children and teenagers to grow up healthy? Then we need to stop advertising unhealthy foods to them,” Strasburger said. He says the ads for junk food contribute to kids developing poor eating habits in childhood and later in life. (ABC News)
How Does a Baby Get to Be Obese?: Poor diet, huge portion sizes, lack of physical activity, inadequate sleep and uninformed parents are contributing to larger numbers of overweight or obese young children. (CNN.com)
Content, Timing of TV Can Take Toll on Kids’ Sleep: If your preschooler can’t sleep — turn off the violence and nighttime TV. That’s the message in a new study that found sleep problems are more common in 3- to 5-year-olds who watch television after 7 p.m. Watching shows with violence — including kids’ cartoons — also was tied to sleeping difficulties. (USA Today)
Many Pediatricians Aren’t Testing Tots for Developmental Delays: Although there’s been some improvement in the number of pediatricians checking toddlers for developmental delays, more than half still don’t routinely do so, a new study finds. (HealthDay)
Why Everyone’s a Parenting Expert: With summer here and kids at home, there’s a whole new set of parenting decisions that other parents (and even non-parents) feel obligated to judge. In many cases, the parental “sins” seem arbitrary. Chicago clinical psychologist John Duffy has one client whose own parents call her a “slave driver” for requiring her 12-year-old daughter to mow the lawn as a summer chore. Another family gets flak from friends for letting their son play a few hours of video games on summer days. (LiveScience)
Is Visitors Day for Parents at Sleepaway Camp More Trouble Than It’s Worth?: As many full-summer programs have been trimmed back from eight weeks to six or seven, are parent visiting days worth the trouble? Absolutely, camp directors said, though some acknowledged most kids could likely live without them. (Washington Post)
