I can already hear (and see) you reacting quite strongly to that question. It’s a no brainer right? Any parent knows that while children are precious, there are just times when they will make one’s blood pressure shoot up like a rocket crazy to go to outer space. I know this, and you know this; so what’s up with question that I am posing?
Earlier, I stumbled upon a very interesting study about how people actually benefit from being parents – in terms of lower blood pressure. Just like you probably, the first thought that entered my mind was: that’s a load of crock. Then again, when I read more, it seemed to make some sense.
In a nutshell, the study’s results bank on the fact that having children give us a more meaningful life and a sense of purpose. Even if you take children out of the equation, it is easy to understand how the simple idea of having a bigger perspective, a sense of purpose, can be beneficial to an individual.
Think about it, when you face some really stressful situation at work, does coming home to your children help you de-stress? Even the mere thought of going home to your babies makes a difference, right? Or let’s say you don’t work – that doesn’t mean you’re immune to the stresses of life. Having a kid, according to the study, helps you deal better with these things.
Some details about the study:
The conclusion comes from a study of 198 adults who were fitted with portable blood pressure monitors for 24 hours as they went about their normal lives. Researchers took into account other factors that can influence blood pressure, such as health, age, weight, exercise, employment and drinking history. The effect was stronger among women. Mothers had a 12 and seven-point difference in blood pressure compared with childless women.
Dr Julianne Holt-Lunstad, who led the study at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, said: ‘While caring for children may include daily hassles, deriving a sense of meaning and purpose from life’s stress has been shown to be associated with better health outcomes.’ Many parents, who cast an envious eye over the apparently carefree lives of childless couples, may disagree.
You think? I can rattle off a long list of parents who would probably disagree. I think, though, that it really depends on the situation and the point in time. So what do you think – does being a parent reduce or increase blood pressure?
I’ve happily been in a Christmas reverie all week, finishing up our decorating, the shopping, and planning out fun activities for the coming weeks, when I was jolted back into Doctor-Mom-Reality last night. My four-year-old O had just finished at the potty, and as I was about to flush, I saw a horrible horrible thing – a nasty long white worm, almost as thick as a pencil. It was awful. O had been complaining of tummy aches (or “tummy eggs” as calls it), and didn’t want to finish his food lately, but I had attributed it to simple childhood grumbles. Poor O had probably had this nasty worm for some time now, given its size, and I had no idea!
After the whole family had a good look at the worm (gross, but a good deterrent so everybody keeps clean!), I rang Dr.J our pedia, who prescribed Mebendazole to be taken now then repeated in two weeks. She advised us to keep clean and to watch out for any more worms, so I decided to keep him home from Kindergarten for the next couple of days. Apparently it was caught from playing in the garden or at the park, probably from soil that he touched and transmitted through his mouth. Or it could have been through his feet. What I find most distressing is that the slimy devil had been feeding on my little boy’s nutrients for a while now – not great since he is already so skinny. After the course of medicine, thankfully no more worms appeared, nor did my other kids get infected. Phew.
If you’ve never had a child who’s infected with worms (this particular one was a round worm), I would be aware of these symptoms, all of which my little boy had for a couple of weeks before the worm actually came out:
1. Frequent complaints of tummy aches
2. Disturbed sleep (O came to our room every night because he couldn’t sleep)
3. Loss of appetite – feeling full after just a few bites.
For more on worms, do visit these sites:
Worms in Children
Is Your Sandbox Safe From Roundworm?
If you have pets in your household like we do, and think it could be related, read this from Dr.Greene.
And lastly, PREVENTION is key. After the worm incident, my kids now meekly obey when I remind them to wear shoes in the garden, wash their hands rigorously and keep their fingers away from their mouths. Here’s a great lesson plan and activity you can do with your kids to teach them about worms. I’ll never forget my poor son’s face when I showed him this awful photo of roundworms in the gut. He was silent for a while then said, “Mom, am I going to die?” Awww, kids!
The new school year is upon us, and it’s every parent’s mealtime (and lunchbox) crusade – getting your kids to eat healthier. Well, its mine at least. Easy(ish) when they’re young and they pretty much eat anything you put in front of them. Not so easy when school starts and they discover a whole new world – like their classmate’s lunch boxes filled with no-no’s like soda and Doritos.
When my 3 kids were babies I started them all of with what I think is the Bible of healthy-baby-eating, The Super Baby Food Book. Well, I admit that it got to a lesser degree with #2, but with #3 came the the advent of commercial organic baby food, which made things a lot easier. Whether you are a DIY Mom like Ruth of the Super Baby Book (who also makes her own Play Dough, mind you), or prefer to buy from the organic aisle at the supermarket, know that giving your kids a healthy diet now means setting up their foundations for a healthy life. Now isn’t that a worthwhile mission?
Here are my tips on how to help you get started (and hopefully keep going!):
1. Teach Them About Health
My Mom did this for my sister and I (she was and still is what you would call a “health nut”), and I have to say that it stuck. Explain to your kids WHY certain foods are good or bad for you and you’ll be surprised how well they’ll respond. I try and use language they understand like: “…healthy food like fruit and vegetables helps you get bigger and stronger, but also makes your “soldiers” strong to fight bad germs so you don’t get sick“. There are a few kids shows now which touch on this, as well as books. Read/watch and talk about it with them and be prepared to answer their questions.
2. Vegetarian Meals= Budget meals
Yes, its true! Add a vegetarian meal or two to your weekly menu and see how much you can save. It’s a known fact that fresh produce is significantly cheaper than meats (which are some of the costliest food items in stores), so by serving say, a vegetarian lasagna rather than the “al forno” with beef, you not only give your kids a veggie-filled nutritious meal, you also save on the weekly budget (yipee!), plus it’s good for the planet. Why? read about vegatarianism and the environment here.
3. Make it Fun!
My kids and I like to play quick games like guessing which food is “healthy or not”. For example, what’s better? french fries or apple slices with cinnamon? (Okay, so my husband doesn’t join in and prefers to roll his eyes- but WE enjoy it!). The winner gets a small prize like stickers. You can also make healthy food attractive and fun by using a cookie cutter to make shapes and adding “faces” (raisins and sliced red pepper make easy instant characters). Brit Mom turned kid-food guru, Anabel Karmel is a total wiz at this and I love her cookbooks.
4. Go Organic
Finding organic food is really easy these days, and the health benefits are huge. Would you prefer to feed your kids things without harmful chemicals and pesticides? With more nutrients and vitamins? I would. It’s a really simple choice, and really worth the extra effort.
5. Plan Ahead and Cook More, Mom!
I really believe that planning ahead, being organized and cooking yourself is the key to healthier eating. Look online for new healthy recipes to try (you can get the kids to help choose here), add more fruit and veg to your meals, and take a few minutes every Sunday to plan healthy weekly menus- this really helps keep me in budget too!
Let’s face it. One of the things we parents have to deal with is our kids getting sick or injured. It’s a part of growing up, especially if you have accident-prone kids like I do.
My four-year-old Ollie gets a bump/wound/scratch almost daily, and a few months ago had a bad accident in our garden where he cut his head open and was rushed to the ER. While playing with his big sister, he fell through the fence constructed by our handyman and nearly fell into our pool (which had just been cleaned out and empty). He was grabbed just in time by the handyman, so didn’t fall into the pool but slammed his head on the tile. My husband saw the whole thing and was going to kill the handyman for his shoddy work (it wasn’t nailed in properly), but he did save Ollie’s life…so it was a hard one. Luckily Ollie didn’t need stitches and aside from my husband being covered in blood ala Carrie, it turned out to be a minor injury. It could have been much much worse though, so we are grateful and have since taken extra precautions to make sure that all areas in our home were safe. Ollie was feeing a bit traumatized for the next few days (as were all of us), but I think he’s recovered now.
Here are some great tips from After The Injury, a really useful website for parents who have to deal with their child’s injuries. Whether your child’s injury is big or small, it helps to remember these things so that your child recovers faster.
While doctors know that injury prevention is the best “medicine,” the sad truth is that kids still do get hurt- lots of them- even with the most vigilant parents. In fact, 9.2 million children are treated in an emergency room for an injury each year, making it equally important for parents to know how to handle what happens after the injury.
1. Let your child know that he or she is safe. In the first days and weeks following an injury many children fear that something bad might happen to them again. Learn more about helping your child with new fears or worries.
2. Allow children to talk about their feelings and worries, if they want to. Let your child know that it’s ok to feel a little upset. The circumstances of an injury can be frightening, and it’s not always easy to know how to talk with your child about it. Here are some things that other parents have found helpful for talking with their child.
3. Go back to normal routines. It is important to help your child get plenty of sleep, eat regular meals, keep up with schoolwork, and spend time with friends. Here are some options to consider if the injury gets in the way of things s/he used to do.
4. Increase time with family and friends. Children who get support from family and friends seem to do better in recovering after upsetting events. Try reading together, playing games, or watching movies together. Listen to what some parents had to say about how to help their children remain connected after an injury.
5. Take time to deal with your own feelings. In addition to all of the things you do to help your child, it’s important to remember to take good care of yourself. Learn more about your own reactions and get tips for taking care of yourself.
6. Keep in mind people in the same family can react in different ways. Your child’s feelings and worries about the injury might be different from yours. It’s important to monitor how your child is doing and when reactions might signal trouble. Learn how to gauge your child’s emotional recovery and identify any reactions that might need special attention.
Visit After the Injury to read full tip sheets, learn more about child injury and pain care, take a quiz to rate your child’s reactions to injury, and create a personalized care plan to help parents help their child recover from injury.
“He has PNEUMONIA”. It’s a very very scary thing to hear from your pediatrician, and it is just what she told me last Friday when I took baby Wills for a check-up. The thing with being a mother-of-three is that you fancy yourself a pro, even when it comes to health matters. So when little Wills started coughing on Monday and developed a fever which continued throughout the week, I didn’t even call or text Dr. J. Yes, I gave the normal meds and used the puffer for the cough, but only when his fever still spiked after the 72 hour grace period, did I rush him to get checked.
Luckily, she’s also a pediatric pulmonary specialist, and when she listened to his chest, she immediately said “Momma! it’s not good“. I put on her stethoscope and heard some crackling noises, which apparently meant that the infection had gone to his lungs, which meant pneumonia.
Pneumonia is a frightening word to us parents, but it simply means an inflammation in the lungs and can be treated easily, at home. While it certainly isn’t a disease to take lightly, babies, toddlers and the elderly are the most susceptible to the disease, and it is particularly bad in developing countries where antibiotics and treatments aren’t readily available.
How did he get such a nasty bug? Who knows? Nat probably brought it back from big school and did have a mild cough for a few days. But what was important was that Dr.J said that it wasn’t too bad a case (no need for an x-ray or worse, confinement at the hospital), and she was sure he’s be fine in a week if he started taking antibiotics today.
Now, just three days since taking his first dose of clarithromycin, he’s almost back to his useful sunny self. The bad news? I think Mom’s caught it.
Last night I was putting the kids to bed, and while I was tucking Ollie into the bottom bunk, Nat started swinging from the bunk’s ladder, saying “Mom! Look at all the ways I can get down”, proceeding to swing to the floor from different directions.
As I kissed my 4-year-old goodnight and tried to listen to something he was saying about a Super Mario game, I found myself saying “NAT!! Get down from there” “NAT! That’s really dangerous!” and “NAT! Stop that right now!”. THEN I heard a loud thud. I looked and Nat had fallen and whacked the back of her head on the floor. She was crying hard, saying “I’m so sorry Mom!” and I rushed to her side, feeling both angry and concerned. Why oh why don’t they just listen???
A goose egg appeared almost immediately, which I applied an ice pack on and I gave her paracetamol to deal with the pain. The fact that she cried loudly, spoke and did not lose consciousness or vomit, were signs that it wasn’t a serious head injury, but still, it was scary and worrying (she slept in our room last night, just to be sure). Especially after the recent tragedy with Natasha Richardson, who we were all very fond of 
.
I did some research after she went to bed, and was relieved to find out that most bumps to the back and front of the head are not likely to cause serious injury, as opposed to in the sides of the head. Here’s an interesting article I found on children’s head injuries, using case studies to help you understand better. It is such a common yet possibly dangerous occurrence with kids that I think every parent should at least be aware of the basics.
Depression, anger, lack of social skills and many more, these are classical signs of either underlying sickness or too much stress. Nope, you’re not crazy but might need help, who needs psychologists who charge tons of money. Get help from people like you who may have overcome these challenges themselves and have ample experience to help you through. From seasoned professionals who are well versed in such cases or merely people who want to help and have dealt with people like you, what’s important is to accept that something is wrong and that help is needed.
Acceptance is one of the most difficult things to do, for no one, and we mean no one wants to admit it outright they have issues. Pent up anger can get out of hand and easily turn violent without therapy and counseling. Have a child who seems out of the game most of the time, get help quick so you can get help on tips how you can help them develop into more lively kids.
Getting help is the first step, recovery is the ultimate goal which we all strive to attain. Learn how people overcome fear, anxiety and dread of things we take fore granted. Learn how your fears can be turned into positive approaches to the most common problems we face. The current economic slump isn’t helping either, lost your job, need help or simply want a sympathetic ear to ease away the pain. Depression is so hard to battle when you’re alone. You sacrifice your health, family and life for something that can be addresses with simple yet effective conversations. Get help, get on your way to a healthier you, inside and out!
Written by brian on March 5th, 2009. 6 Comments »
Filed under Dads, Emotions, Health, Home, Inspiration, News, Relationships, Safety, Sleep, Teens, Tips, Website.
On Friday morning my 13-month old baby boy Wills had his Prevnar booster vaccine. That afternoon he fussed, and by late evening had a fever of 38.5. On Saturday he stayed pretty much the same, miserable and with a low-grade fever that went up to around 38.7 a little past Midnight. I gave him his last dose of Calpol by then, and by the next day the fever was gone.
I’m always wary after my children have a vaccine. I suppose its because of all the news one hears on television and in the papers, that vaccines like MMR particularly, have been linked to Autism. Its something that parents dread hearing the most, especially after pediatricians (like mine) are staunch defenders of vaccines. It was actually reported in the Huffington Post a few weeks ago that in spite of a federal ruling in the “vaccine court” which showed NO link between MMR and autism, a little boy named Bailey Banks was also awarded nearly a million dollars because the courts found that his brain damage leading to autism was indeed caused by the MMR vaccine. You read horror stories on blogs like this one, called Vaccines Exposed, or even by celebs like Jenny McCarthy:
We believe autism is an environmental illness. Vaccines are not the only environmental trigger, but we do think they play a major role. If we are going to solve this problem and finally start to reverse the rate of autism, we need to consider changing the vaccine schedule, reducing the number of shots given and removing certain ingredients that could be toxic to some children.
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Our furry friends have been known to lower stress of parenting and childhood for they offer companionship without question even if they do get around to mischief from time to time. Raising kids can be quite hectic specially in today’s recession wrecked economy but having them take care of a pet can be a nice way to teach them some responsibility. They do entail some costs for care and veterinary services to ensure they are fit and well but take my word for it, they’re well worth the cost so knowing the breed through updated dog information is essential for both your sakes.
You can also try animal shelters and animal charities for some pets that have had it rough and need loving families. May you be a pet lover or not, dogs and all other pets deserve care for they are our responsibility. Dogs are more energetic than cats and may even contribute to the health of your family as you have to take them for walks, call it a symbiotic existence where both benefit from living together.
Parents and kids alike will benefit for with the kids, they get to get a taste of responsibility and compassion for animals. For us adults, they become a sort of multi-tasking ward, guarding our homes, watching over the kids and what can we say, it’s just fun to talk and pour out stress without having the other party answer back!!!
Two weeks ago I got an ubiquitous letter from my daughter’s school warning of a mini-epidemic of gastroenteritis going around. It listed the symptoms and how to keep it away (washing hands, etc) – okay, thanks. As if you can say that to a 6-year-old and expect them to remember to wash their hands in between the playground and lunch break! Unlike us Mums who have a keen awareness of germs and potential carriers (if I see someone coughing at the bank I immediately run for cover and whip out the antibacterial gel), kids just don’t notice these things and find it extremely difficult to stop touching things and (horrors) put their hands in their mouth.
Well, I did what I could. I gave them spiel about the germs and the hand washing, pumped them with vitamin C and hoped for the best. As fate would have it, on the night of baby Will’s 1st birthday party, Nat came to our bedroom at midnight and promptly vomited. It wasn’t too much birthday cake, cookies or lasagna as I hoped, because she couldn’t hold down anything for the next 24 hours. She then came down with a fever, had diarrhea, and for the next few days just lay on the sofa, totally miserable. Classic symptoms of gastro.
What’s worse is that we had planned a trip to Disneyland for their birthdays and it was just a few days away. And just as we were considering canceling the whole vacation, she got better. But then her brother got it, then the baby got it. And this was after I had lysol-ed my house like a madwoman! Luckily, the boys had a much, much milder version, and were pretty much their normal selves apart from a bit of runny tummies for a few days.
Now back from our great holiday (boy, did we narrowly miss disaster because of these school germs), my daughter came home from school today with ANOTHER letter, this time saying that there is a cold virus going around the school. HELP!!
Apparently, some schools and parents have taken the matter into their own hands, with things like the Germy Wormy and the Sniffle Sleeve. Good on them. Worth mentioning at the next PTA meeting I think.
