Vacations offer a chance for families to spend time together, away from everyday routines and hassles. Getting away can boost your spirits and seems to be good for your health, especially if you’re regularly under a lot of stress. Children Need to Get Away, Too Often if parents don’t get a break, kids don’t either. [...]
Drivers using cell phones to send text messages are six times more likely to crash than those concentrating only on driving, according to a study in the journal Human Factors. Using a virtual driving simulator to analyze driving performance, researchers found texting drivers had less control over their vehicles. Talking, Texting Take Attention Because texting [...]
American children and teens have almost constant exposure to a wide range of media—such as smart phones, social media and television—and kids' use of such media must be carefully managed, child experts say. Excessive media use has been associated with obesity, lack of sleep, school problems, aggression and other behavior problems, according to the American [...]
Do you text when you drive? Most adults know that the “right” answer to that question is an unencumbered no, and most parents would make that an emphatic “no,” as in “I don’t text and drive, and you, child of mine, shouldn’t either.” That’s the message that comes from everyone from Derrick Rose of the [...]
My preschooler really wants a pet, preferably something small. Right now, we're trying to decide between a turtle and a hamster. Are these OK pet options for young kids? - Shelly Good for you for checking before buying! Actually, turtles and hamsters aren't wise pet choices for young children. What many parents don't realize is [...]
Pets love us unconditionally. They're also great for our health—mentally and physically. Caring for pets can boost self-esteem, prevent loneliness, and even lower heart rate and blood pressure in some people. Growing up with a pet can be wonderful for kids. But remember that although the experience gives kids a sense of responsibility, only adults [...]
Be available for your children Notice times when your kids are most likely to talk—for example, at bedtime, before dinner, in the car—and be available. Start the conversation… View the rest of this article on the American Psychological Association website.
Even if you think you have a wonderful relationship with your child, when he or she becomes a teenager, communication may become a problem. A simple parent-child conversation often isn't simple anymore when the child turns into an adolescent. When kids get to be teenagers, they think differently than children. There's a shift from concrete [...]
Your teen is itching to get a summer job and the spending money that goes along with it, but you’re not sure whether that's a good idea. Here’s good news for both of you: When asked in a recent survey, about 70 percent of parents said they are actively involved in helping their teens find [...]
More teenagers start drinking and smoking cigarettes and marijuana in June and July than in any other months, U.S. health officials say. During each of those summer days, more than 11,000 teens on average use alcohol for the first time, 5,000 start smoking cigarettes and 4,500 try marijuana, according to the report, which was released [...]