Kids' Health | PulseonParenting

Are Antiperspirants a Health Risk?

Jul 24 2018

You know you’ve found your tribe when everyone in it shares the status of their armpits. Odor (loads or a little to none), sweat (when and how much) and products that work or fail. Now that’s friendship. After this completely transparent (like a deodorant that doesn’t leave white stuff on my tops) text chat, I feel empowered. So much so I will share, unashamed, that I am a sweaty betty. It takes very little heat and stress for me, ironically and otherwise always cold, to glisten in a terribly unattractive way. (Sweaty yoga doesn’t count. Everyone is drenched there.) …

Jun 14 2018

When I hear those two words, “growing pains” that little memory file in my brain opens and B.J. Thomas starts crooning in my head: As long as we got each uh-uh-ther… . It happens to you, too, right? Or maybe not. I know, I’m hinting at my age (note the pants in the photo above) by recalling the 1980’s family sitcom Growing Pains and its earworm*** of a theme song. And about the time that saccharin prime-time show aired I had exactly what the title described: (actual) growing pains. But what are they, really? “Growing pains” are often used to describe any…

Jun 07 2018

Something was not right. I looked at the packaging on my favorite protein powder to see how it described the Stevia content and saw “stevia leaf extract.” That worried me, being that in my post How to Approach the Sugar Epidemic I stated that only stevia leaf glycosides were approved by the FDA for food use. And that anything other than that, like stevia leaf extract, was not and could cause unwanted side effects. Ok, I had a bit of a panic, as my whole family used the protein powder and loves it. As it turns out, I worried…

Jun 06 2018

I originally published this post on June 22, 2017. Here is a reprint to kick off Summer 2018. Happy riding, everyone! My family lives in a free-spirited town. A place where you can’t say I’ve seen it all, but you regularly get a little closer. Like the other day. As my favorite barista was handing me a much-needed java, I spotted, making a bee-line across the local highway, a bicyclist pulling a child trailer. Even in my coffee-deprived state I was present enough to think OMG, that’s dangerous, then realized with relief that the trailer did not chauffeur…

May 31 2018

“Mom.” “Mom…Mom.” MOM, MOOOOOMMMM!!!” I know, right? We’ve all been there. (Not to exclude the guys, so please feel free to substitute “Dad!!!”.) Maybe we’re on the phone, or the toilet, or on a mission to get the bills paid while making supper. Inevitably (even at age 13), kids need us at the times we are most indisposed. They are checking in, making sure we can disengage from other aspects of daily living in case they want us. Younger kids “check in” by testing boundaries, shocking us parents to attention. My twins used to climb up on the dining table…

May 24 2018

It was ironic. And a little bit sick. Not nearly as sick as an airport television tuned in to a feature on plane crashes or that particular vendor in Pompeii selling snow globes of the doomed city. But still. As I was researching this article, a pop-up video advertised a delicious recipe using Reese’s peanut butter cups. SO not fair. But I’ll admit, at first the video didn’t seem out of the ordinary…so common and everyday is our exposure, in media or on the dinner table, to sugary nirvana. It may be the 21st century but humans still have cave person…

May 17 2018

It seemed like there was so much more of it than at other parties, in other years. Maybe it was because I was paying better attention. But I couldn’t believe all the junk food. It was as if the evil witch’s house from Hansel and Gretel had crash-landed in my son’s third grade classroom. I had the urge to start picking through the rubble looking for ruby slippers. (Wait, I’m confusing my fairy tales, aren’t I?) I know I was complicit in this edible crime, having brought something sweet and tasty for the kids to gobble up. Of…

May 03 2018

My kids’ bathroom is a disaster. Wet towels carpet the floor, the wastebasket fills up daily (at least the trash is actually in the basket…), and I’m pretty sure the lavatory has gone MIA as it can’t be seen for all the soap bars, hair ties and dried crusts of toothpaste. I try to let this swamp be the kids’ responsibility, but on days the nesting instinct takes over, I can’t help myself. The other day I found a half-dozen gooey, gummy, squeezed-from-the-middle toothpaste tubes. Ick. I lined them all up on the counter and the bathroom was transformed into…

Mar 21 2018

That’s WAY more than you need, put half of it back in the serving bowl. You just ate, you can’t need a snack yet. Your brother can have two hamburgers…he is growing faster than you are right now. Ugh. These phrases are my dance around the weight issue. Trying not to mention that my child weighs too much, and the fear of fueling a body image problem or an eating disorder, this dialogue is the best I’ve come up with. Reading my rationale on my computer screen, I see how woefully inadequate and controlling I sound. Not overtly bad,…

Mar 15 2018

I entered the exam room with a paper chart (back in the olden days before the electronic medical record), the patient’s name and the patient’s concern, “discuss weight.” I was no stranger to addressing issues like this with my adult patients; it was a routine part of my day, treating and making treatment plans for a patient’s well-being and overall health. What I was not prepared for was, on entering the room, to see a mother and her preteen daughter…the latter, not the former, being the patient. At that point in my career I had little experience with…

Category - Kids’ Health

Are Antiperspirants a Health Risk?

Growing Pains: What They are and What to Do About Them

A Clarification About Stevia

Rules of the Road: Hand Signals for Safe Bicycling

Step 5 to Live an Extraordinary Life: Slow Down

How to Approach the Sugar Epidemic

Why We Need to Reduce Our Kids Sugar Intake Now

Something You Should Know About Your Toothpaste

How to Talk Body Weight With Your Child Without Talking Body Weight

All in the Family: Helping Your Overweight Child Make Healthy Choices