Parenting Solved

Alert the Media

In case you missed this piece of breaking news, it’s been discovered that children who attend daycare get more colds than those who don’t.

Fat Micromanagement

News moms generated an excellent post yesterday on President Clinton's latest efforts to influence junk food producers.

While Clinton's efforts at tackling obsesity should be applauded, it's hard to know how much of the celebrity "obesity bashing" isn't an attempt to get press. This is nothing more than micromanagement of a massive problem that begins squarely at home with all of us. I see this in the academic research realm ... everyone wants a piece of the obesity epidemic and much of it is handwaving for funding. Until families begin more serious restriction of their intake and undertake serious increase in caloric expenditure, the epidemic will be with us.

Nanny Diaries

It seems the authors at I Saw Your Nanny have the number on negligent nannies and are letting us know about it. Reading this blog elicits the same visceral thrill that comes when we see those child predators hauled away on MSNBC’s To Catch a Predator. My favorite: Dr. Pepper in the tippy cup.

It would appear that, for better or worse, following what people are doing to our kids has become something of a full-contact sport. While the perverse entertainment derived from watching an animal walk into a trap is of marginal value, it must be balanced with the belief that this type of oversight is somehow making a difference. It seems the same Internet that feeds the fantasy compulsions of child predators may ultimately conspire to catch them. And derelict nannies may finally get their due.

Juice Jury Deliberation

Word on the street is that “the jury is still out” on whether juice makes kids fat. While the association between juice intake and obesity has been suggested in the past, a study published in this month’s journal Pediatrics finds no clear correlation between juice or soda intake and overweight in preschoolers.

But if you’re smart, you’re suspicious. The conclusions drawn from medical studies are often difficult to apply in the real world. And in this case the devil’s in the details. As it turns out, we really don’t know how much these kids were exercising. How much they were eating was based on what parents could recall (I can’t recall where I was for breakfast). Finally, real conclusions about soda, juice and weight gain could only be established after following these kids into their school-aged years after they hit what researchers call their “adiposity rebound.” While the researchers mention these shortcomings in their journal article, the details somehow got lost in the news feed.

So hold the juice and don’t believe everything you read.

Lucky Doctors

Dr. Charles discusses medicine’s dirty little secret in his post Lucky. As much as physicans love to deny it, luck plays a far bigger role in what becomes of our kids. Our diagnostic impressions and therapeutic trials only facilitate what children many times do for themselves when parents are given education and support.

On a similar note the American Academy of Pediatrics just released new guidelines for the management of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). RSV is one of the most common viruses responsible for bronchiolitis, an inflammatory condition of the airways. Symptoms include wheezing, congestion and cough sometimes severe enough to warrant hospitalization. It seems the AAP’s Subcommittee on Diagnosis and Management of Bronchiolitis finds that all the testing and treating that we’ve been doing for years doesn’t change how our kids ultimately do. The best way to handle this is to watch and wait. Feeling lucky?

The Pediatrician as Rejuvenile

I just finished Christopher Noxon’s new book, Rejuvenile, which identifies an increasing population of adults who “cultivate tastes and mindsets traditionally associated with those younger than themselves.” While impossible to characterize in just a paragraph, rejuveniles are basically those adults who find intense pleasure in activities such as organized kickball, collecting action figures, and skipping to name just a few. Noxon makes a compelling argument for why rejuvenalia is on the rise and it’s really worth the read.

I must add that the book ignores pediatricians, perhaps the largest group of closet rejuveniles. While the motivation to pursue pediatrics is at once complicated and personal, I can’t help but think that the drive to relive one’s carefree past is playing some part. I must admit that as a medical student I was repulsed by the reality of adulthood. The cancer, heart disease and ravages of age hinted too closely of my own inevitability. As an adult, denial is my greatest weapon. As a pediatrician I like to think I’m safe.

Perhaps Mr. Noxon will consider this as a chapter in his sequel.

The Cupcake Crusaders

It seems an Orange County school superintendent has cracked the code of the pediatric obesity epidemic. It’s the cupcakes. And in a brilliant moment of genius it was suggested that carrots should be substituted for cookies and cake during classroom celebrations.

We forget that long before kids ever struggled with weight, cupcakes weren't the problem.

The worn out posturing illustrated in this tale of cupcake rebellion serves as an excellent example of why we’re losing the war on childhood obesity.