Determining if a child’s troubling behavior is “part of growing up” or a sign of a mental health problem can be difficult. Parents should contact a mental health professional if symptoms last weeks or more and interfere with the child’s daily life, says the National Institute of Mental Health. Warning signs of a mental illness…  read on >

Getting kids to eat right can be a challenge, but an easy place to start is with the lunch they bring to school. Make the contents of their lunchbox more fun, and they’ll be more likely to eat what you pack. These creative tips will make this meal more nutritious, too. Begin with a sandwich…  read on >

A healthy school year is important for your child’s success, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Whether your child is heading off to high school or kindergarten, it is crucial for the child to stay safe. The CDC encourages children to: Wash their hands. Eat well and stay active. Limit sugary drinks. Avoid…  read on >

E-cigarettes are enticing enough to young people with their fruit flavors and slick smoking devices, but new research suggests that marketing in retail stores may also encourage some teenagers to take up vaping. Researchers found that teens who recalled seeing in-store marketing were twice as likely to start vaping over the next couple years. A…  read on >

Books, tablets, lunch: Stuff can really start to weigh heavily in your kid’s school backpack. And so experts at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) are offering tips on backpack safety to parents as a new school year begins. That’s because heavy and improperly worn backpacks can trigger back, neck and shoulder-related pain in…  read on >

A staggering number of teen girls are experiencing an insidious form of relationship abuse: reproductive coercion. Researchers report that it affects 1 in 8 adolescent girls who are sexually active. Reproductive coercion is a form of abuse in which a girl or woman is pressured into pregnancy. From a male partner threatening to leave if…  read on >

Critically ill kids are far more likely to survive if they’re treated at hospital emergency rooms that are well-equipped to care for children, a new study finds. Researchers analyzed data on more than 20,400 critically ill youngsters seen in ERs at 426 hospitals in Florida, Iowa, Massachusetts, Nebraska and New York state. The risk of…  read on >

THURSDAY, Aug. 22, 2019 (HealthDay News) — Chance Ammirata was a vaper for almost two years. But three weeks ago, the 18-year-old began to have trouble breathing. “I would say my chest felt like it was collapsing and tightening up, and I couldn’t breathe,” he told CBS News. After going to the emergency room, doctors…  read on >

There’s good and bad news in a new report on tuberculosis rates among American children and teens: Overall, the number of cases have fallen by nearly half, but they still remain much higher among minorities than whites. Tuberculosis (TB), a bacterial lung disease, is potentially fatal, but it is preventable and curable in children and…  read on >

Forty percent of U.S. parents say they would likely find a new doctor if their child’s primary care provider sees families who refuse childhood vaccines, a nationwide poll finds. And three in 10 say their child’s primary care provider should not treat youngsters whose parents refuse all vaccines. Those are key findings of the latest…  read on >