Chronicles of a “Mr. Mom”

In many ways, pediatricians do know more than parents. When your doctor says your newborn needs to ride in a rear-facing car seat, don’t argue. When he says your 2-month-old with a 105-degree fever needs to get to the doctor’s office — and fast — you’d better listen.

But there are far more areas that are gray and have no science, or not very good science, to back them up, says our panel of pediatric experts. They say that sometimes, this means your pediatrician is giving you his or her opinion, not medical fact.

Full story: When it’s OK to question your pediatrician’s advice

For a few decades, it’s been noted that a large percentage of all gifted students (those who score in the top 10 percent on aptitude tests) severely underestimate their own abilities. Those afflicted with this lack of perceived competence adopt lower standards for success and expect less of themselves. They underrate the importance of effort, and they overrate how much help they need from a parent.

When parents praise their children’s intelligence, they believe they are providing the solution to this problem. According to a survey conducted by Columbia University, 85 percent of American parents think it’s important to tell their kids that they’re smart. In and around the New York area, according to my own (admittedly nonscientific) poll, the number is more like 100 percent. Everyone does it, habitually. The constant praise is meant to be an angel on the shoulder, ensuring that children do not sell their talents short.

Full story: How Not to Talk to Your Kids

Here’s one simple way to keep your children healthy: Ban the bedroom TV.

By some estimates, half of American children have a television in their bedroom; one study of third graders put the number at 70 percent. And a growing body of research shows strong associations between TV in the bedroom and numerous health and educational problems.

Children with bedroom TVs score lower on school tests and are more likely to have sleep problems. Having a television in the bedroom is strongly associated with being overweight and a higher risk for smoking.

Full story: A One-Eyed Invader in the Bedroom

Do we love our kids so much that we can’t even imagine that they’ve become obese?

Full story: Many Parents Fail to See Obesity in Children

Plus, trends that are on the way out and tips to keep your house current…

A well written article that points out the simple drawbacks and disadvantages of many houses.

The only one from the article that my house is guilty of, is the washer/dryer in the basement. But it doesn’t bother me much, as my basement is fully finished, with carpeting. So, it’s not like I have to walk into a cold, damp, dark basement. Instead, it is a bright, warm, and lovely basement!

Here’s the full story: 8 reasons why your house is unsellable

Researchers from the Indiana University School of Medicine made a list of common medical beliefs espoused by physicians and the general public. They included statements they had heard endorsed by doctors on multiple occasions. The result is a seven-item list of medical and health myths that are widely repeated by doctors and in the media, all of which either aren’t true or lack scientific evidence to support them.

Here’s the summary:

1. People should drink at least eight glasses of water a day
2. We use only 10 percent of our brains
3. Hair and fingernails continue to grow after death
4. Shaving hair causes it to grow back faster, darker or coarser
5. Reading in dim light ruins your eyesight
6. Eating turkey makes people especially drowsy
7. Cell phones create considerable electromagnetic interference in hospitals

See the full story here: ‘Dim light ruins eyesight’ and other medical myths

“While I never thought that I would end up staying home with Sarah, I knew that I was fully capable of doing so,” says Brian Metz, McClure-Metz’s husband.

But almost four years into it, McClure-Metz began to feel her husband was maybe too capable. He had become more competent and assertive in the child-care arena and it showed in small ways. Metz took over when his wife struggled with the car seat, or put the kibosh on plans when he thought their daughter needed down time.

Full story: ‘Momblocked’ mothers feel edged out by dads

“I still remember standing in front of my third grade teacher’s desk and looking at my parents apprehensively. It was my report day, my older sister had come first in her class and I had barely passed, by the skin of my teeth, as it were.

My knees trembled, knowing a beating was in store for me once we reached home and for once I wanted to stay put in school and hide my head in my teacher’s lap but it wasn’t going to be so, it never happened that way.

1) Hitting a child never works. The child merely becomes more stubborn and rebellious.
2) Time out works better to calm a child down and make him/her think about the naughty deed done.
3) Threats rarely work, kids get used to threatening parents.
4) Never compare kids with other siblings that causes low self esteem and festers sibling rivalry”

Full story: Parenting Tips From Childhood: No Two Fingers Are Alike

A 27-year-old newly divorced daughter tells her mother that her boyfriend of two months is moving in with her. A grown son is stressing out over the bills his wife keeps piling up on her shopping sprees.

Even after children are grown and gone from the nest, it seems that isn’t the end of the job of parenting. Once a child is born it’s the start of a job that lasts a lifetime.

Children might look like adults, and even have children of their own, but it’s obvious to most parents that even adult children still need help working out the kinks in their lives.

Full story

Parenting Skills Should Trump Mental Health Screening:

Mental health screening of all children is the goal of legislation introduced into many state legislatures this year. Typical of these controversial bills is the Missouri bill that would require every Missouri school district, in collaboration with “the office of comprehensive child mental health,” to develop “a policy of incorporating social and emotional development into the district’s educational program.”

The Missouri bill requires schools to “address teaching and assessing social and emotional skills and protocols for responding to children with social, emotional or mental health problems.” The bill also requires the Missouri State Board of Education to set “social and emotional development standards.”

Full story