Healthy Children

When confronting the challenge of disciplining their children, moms and dads often default to the ways their own parents disciplined them, sometimes with harmful results.

But mom and practicing pediatrician Dr. Candice Jones shows parents a better way, helping parents understand child development and how the ways that children are disciplined shape not only their behavior but their overall health and well-being.

Dr. Jones coaches parents to understand their child’s developmental stages and their own motivations to create a family discipline plan that manages misbehavior and encourages good behavior. Her advice is packed with developmentally appropriate strategies to tame tantrums, stop sibling squabbles, and reward better behavior, to create a calmer, more harmonious home.

Listen to this encore episode from January 2022 as she talks about the power of positive discipline, different styles of parenting, and her new book High Five Discipline.

Kids are now back in school and social situations with their peers. And we know that anxiety levels have been at an all-time high throughout this pandemic. So today we're talking about anxiety, depression and how that manifests physically in eating disorders, and more. 

We talk about how the easing of the pandemic is changing the mindset in our kids, why anxiety is increasing now in kids even as restrictions decrease, and how we can help our kids get through this tumultuous time. 

Dr. Katherine Williamson is board certified in pediatrics and is a member of the CHOC Primary Care Network, treating kids and teens in Orange County California. She is also the AAP Orange County President, as well as a spokeswoman for the AAP.

The AAP released updated recommendations on breastfeeding a few months ago, which have been a bit controversial because they call for supporting moms who breastfeed 2 years or beyond (from the previous recommendation of 1 year.)

Our goal is to normalize breastfeeding in the U.S. and help women achieve whatever breastfeeding goals they have surrounding feeding their babies. So today, Dr. Lauren Crosby joins our host Melanie Cole to discuss the new guidelines, giving our newborns the best nutrition in those early days & weeks, and how we can get rid of stigmas surrounding breast & bottle feeding moms. 

Dr. Lauren Crosby is a nationally recognized parenting expert and pediatrician.  She is certified by the American Board of Pediatrics, is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and is an Official Spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics. She is a Pediatric Expert for television news, serves on the Board of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, is a medical reviewer for What to Expect, and is a Founding Member of Hope in A Suitcase.

This is not a discussion any parent wants to have with their kids. We don't even wanna think about it but think about it we must. Our kids have a unique issue that we did not have.

They must be prepared for school shootings, mass attacks, and gun violence in a way that we never did. I hate that we even have to talk about this, but. We have to do this because it is incumbent on us to bring these issues out into the open so that parents can have these discussions. 

Joining our host Melanie Cole, MS for this critical conversation is Dr. Lois Lee, she's an attending pediatric emergency medicine physician at Boston Children's Hospital and an associate professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine at Harvard Medical.

In this episode, Melanie and Dr. Lee discuss the humbling statistics of gun-based deaths, teen suicide, how to discuss safe gun storage with your child's friends' parents, and teaching kids to be aware and alert to what they see on social media.

We do a lot of podcasts here at Healthy Children on parenting tips and ways we could be better parents and ways to keep our kids healthy and safe.

But what about being a conscious parent? These days with so many distractions and cell phones, we are not very present. The advice Melanie gives all the time as a parent of a 19 and 22-year-old is "don't blink" because if you do, you miss it, it goes by in an instant.

Pediatrician and medical geneticist, Dr. Bob Saul has been guiding parents and their children’s physical, behavioral, and mental care for over 40 years.  Dr. Bob Saul developed the Parental Awareness Threshold, a simple framework that guides parents and guardians to actively parent with self-awareness, empathy, and compassion. Dr. Saul has been a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics since 1982.

He joins Melanie today to discuss the importance of raising community-oriented children, radical empathy, and teaching our kids to be good citizens! These ideas are all based on his most recent book,  "Conscious Parenting: Using the Parental Awareness Threshold."

Play is important to child development. It should be a priority in children’s lives.

Why Play is Priority

Fifty percent of parents don’t go outside to play with their children. Thirty percent of kindergartens don’t have recess--a sacrifice made in order to focus on testing skills. Unsafe outdoor conditions often lead children to stay indoors with screens.

Toys are fantastic for developing problem-solving ability. Parents may limit the child’s interactions by telling the child how to play. You can ask prompting questions if the child seems stuck, but let the youngster resolve the toy.

Listen as Dr. Michael Yogman joins Melanie Cole, MS, to discuss the importance of play.

Pediatricians around the country are voicing concern over federal and state actions that could threaten the medical rights and safety of teenagers seeking reproductive healthcare, including pregnancy counseling and abortion services.

Joining us for this very important topic today is Dr. Elise Berlin. She's a professor in the department of pediatrics at the Ohio State University College of Medicine and a specialist in adolescent medicine in Columbus, Ohio.

She is a co-author of two AAP policy statements regarding protecting teens’ rights to reproductive health care and the right to confidential care when considering abortion.

Listen as Dr. Berlan and our host Melanie discuss adolescents being at high risk for unplanned pregnancy, increasing access to quality sexuality education, barriers to abortion care, and their hopes for the future of this type of care in the US.

After spending so much time at home these last few years, and doing school online, some children may not be excited to go back to the classroom. And we know anxiety and depression have been on the rise in young people as well. So how can we get our kids eased back into the old ways of socialization and in-person school? 

Dr. Emily Frank is an assistant professor of pediatrics at UCSF and a public school teacher in Oakland. In addition to providing primary care in the clinic, she treats patients with urgent medical needs in the emergency departments at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals. Seeking to inspire and bring about change, she has a particular interest in working with young people to develop their abilities to obtain and use health-related information and to advocate for better care.

She shares some ways anxiety can manifest in our children, signs to look out for that might be worrisome, creating a support system at school for when kids feel overwhelmed, and how we can prep our anxious kids in these last days of summer.

All summer long, your children most likely have been staying up all night, sleeping in, and have lost track of any type of schedule. So as the season comes to an end, its time to prep your kids for going back to school, and getting back into the rhythms that will help them succeed in the classroom.

Dr. Emily Frank is an assistant professor of pediatrics at UCSF and a public school teacher in Oakland. In addition to providing primary care in the clinic, she treats patients with urgent medical needs in the emergency departments at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals. Seeking to inspire and bring about change, she has a particular interest in working with young people to develop their abilities to obtain and use health-related information and to advocate for better care.

She talks with Melanie in this episode about how we can get that good sleep, resetting bedtimes, and getting your kids all around active and focused for a new school year.

Millions of children across the United States are being raised by their grandparents.

Grandparents have always played a role in children’s lives, but their involvement in raising the children has increased in the past twenty years. Their involvement can go beyond serving as a sitter or providing care while the parents are working.

Grandfamilies are often formed under stress. Grandparents typically step in as primary caregivers because of a crisis. Relearning how to parent in modern times with today’s challenges means a learning curve for grandparents.

Listen as Dr. Andrew Adesman joins Melanie Cole, MS, in this encore episode from January 2019 to discuss how grandfamilies are formed and resources available to families to manage the new commitment and responsibilities these grandparents have.