Kids, Parenting | featured news

If you've already allowed your kids to take a little sip of your beer or wine from time to time, you probably won't be pleased when you hear the findings of a new report.

Yong-Hee Kim still can't believe that in a prosperous country like Germany, powdered baby formula would ever be rationed and that she would have to scour shops in the German capital to find the right brand for her 13-month-old son.

The real reason parents who would die for their children are comfortable feeding them from boxes and drive-thrus isn't due to a lack of love or concern. It's because society has been so firmly and conclusively duped into believing that doing so is both safe and healthful that it has become our new normal.

THE news that 11 percent of school-age children now receive a diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder — some 6.4 million — gave me a chill. My son David was one of those who received that diagnosis.

Parents taking infants on long flights are turning to medication to help their children sleep. But is the practice safe - or a dangerous abuse of parental power?

A large new government study should reassure parents who are afraid that kids are getting autism because they receive too many vaccines too early in life. The study, by researchers at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, found no connection between the number of vaccines a child received and his or her risk of autism spectrum disorder. It also found that even though kids are getting more vaccines these days, those vaccines contain many fewer of the substances that provoke an immune response.

The menus offered to children by most U.S. restaurant chains have too many calories, too much salt or fat, and often not a hint of vegetables or fruit, according to a study by the Center for Science in the Public Interest. The group, which has agitated for everything from healthier popcorn at the movies to calorie labeling in supermarkets, found that among almost 3,500 combinations surveyed, kids' meals failed to meet nutritional standards 97 percent of the time.

The American Academy of Pediatrics discourages use of electronic media by kids under age 2 and recommends older kids be limited to one to two hours of educational programming daily. That may make intuitive sense to any parent who has watched a kid grow slack-jawed in front of the tube or beg for just five more minutes on the iPad.“That look on their faces – it’s panic-inducing. They look transfix...

It's 6:50 a.m., and the Huff household is in chaos. While mom Rachel coaxes her towheaded son Grant to get off the family computer ("One more minute," he's been saying since 6:30), husband Forrest fries eggs and corned beef hash for daughter Andie, who isn't even out of bed. "I don't want to be that mom who's always yelling, 'Come on!'" says Rachel, still wearing her penguin pajamas and now packing lunch boxes between gulps of tea.