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Parents have been stealing lots of tips from me on what to do if they find their child stealing something. While stealing a base or a basketball from another player may be fair play in competition, when a child takes something that belongs to someone else, it isn’t fair even if it’s something as small as grabbing a piece of candy from a store or from someone’s home without permission. Younger children under 4 may not understand that stealing is wrong but by age 5 or 6, they understand what’s right and wrong, and it’s at this point that stealing is recognized by both child and parent as an unacceptable behavior.
(Photo provided) Parents have been all choked up, especially during this pandemic, asking me whether their baby or toddler might have a breathing problem called bronchiolitis. Well let me put everyone in the nose, or in the know, when it comes to learning about this illness.
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– Bronchiolitis is a contagious inflammatory disease of the tiny airways that lead into the lungs. It can last one to two weeks, usually occurs in winter and early spring, and usually results in not just inflammation but mucus build-up in those airways, making it hard to breathe especially for those with the tiniest of air passages, meaning babies and, even more, infants born premature or those with a chronic heart or lung disease.
(Photo provided) Parents have been asking me some tough questions recently about their teenagers being stressed to the point they might try to hurt themselves or even try to commit suicide. This is a topic that should be stressed for all parents, so let me try to provide some helpful information. Suicide is one of the leading causes of death for 15 to 24-year-olds, and the risk of this occurring is four to 10 times higher if teens have access to firearms in the home. Who is at risk for thinking about suicide? Usually, it’s the teen who feels disconnected and isolated from family and friends (and that can certainly be the case in the midst of this pandemic), or perhaps an adolescent who might have an underlying and undetected mental health disorder like depression. Often a stressful event such as failure at school, a breakup with a boyfriend or girlfriend, or a major family conflict can trigger thoughts of suicide in a teen.