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Who Refuses Vaccines? (Cont’d)
Estimated percentage of children enrolled in kindergarten who have been exempted from receiving one or more vaccines* — United States, 2012–13 school year (CDC) Not citizens from the great State of...
View ArticleWhere Failure Is Not An Option
Have you ever seen anything like this?: Earlier this week, a father in the city of Mathura was caught strapping his 8-year old daughter to a motorcycle after she refused to attend school to take her...
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Too Much Homework?
I often ask school-age children: “If you could change one thing about school — anything — what would it be?” Almost always, the answer is the same: “Homework.” To which I am apt to reply: “You’d better...
View ArticleAvoiding The “Summer Slide”
As the end of the school year rapidly approaches, and summer plans for the family come more clearly into view, it’s time, as we did last year on The PediaBlog, to acknowledge and avoid the “summer...
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Is 7:48 a.m. Too Early?
Wave that flag Wave it wide and high Summertime Done come and gone My oh my — “U.S. Blues” by Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia It’s the home stretch of summer vacation. With kids heading back to school...
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Sleep-Deprived And Stressed
While doing research for yesterday’s PediaBlog post about the effects of early school start times on teenagers’ academic performance and health, I came across the infographic below from the youth...
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“Resistance Is Futile”
Baldo by Hector D. Cantu and Carlos Castellanos (GoComics.com) It’s all about attitude, and positive attitudes usually win every time. The best students tend to have positive attitudes...
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Starting Kindergarten
Rachel Garlinghouse doesn’t want you to make the same mistakes she made when she sent her daughter to kindergarten: Last year, I sent my oldest “baby” to kindergarten. My dreams of a utopian school...
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Transitioning To Middle School
Transitioning to middle school isn’t easy for many students. Different teachers for different subjects in different classrooms bound to cause chaos as students get lost, then found, in crowded and...
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“Brave Is A Decision”
By Rachel Lore, Pediatric Alliance, Practice Administrator — Regional Office Division Hey Baby. Tomorrow is a big day. Third Grade – wow. For the last several years, Glennon Doyle Melton has...
View ArticleVaccines: Most Parents Agree
Let me begin today by stating one simple fact: A majority of parents (a VAST majority, in fact) in the United States believe every child, including their own, should be vaccinated completely and on...
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Mind On The Run
By Anthony Kovatch, M.D., Pediatric Alliance — Arcadia Division Mind On The Run: Learning Kindergarten Last week, The Pediablog juxtaposed two articles symbolized by the “fire and ice” motif. One...
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October Is LD Awareness Month
October is the month of raising awareness for causes which are bigger than ourselves. As you may know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It’s also the month when we raise awareness for Down...
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Texting Is King Among Teens
Texting has become the dominant mode of communication among teenagers. Adolescent boys and girls may use their mobile devices to text at the same rates, but they do so for different purposes. Girls...
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Will Every Student Succeed?
From the time it was signed into law by President Bush in 2002 (after receiving overwhelming bipartisan congressional support), No Child Left Behind (NCLB) was unpopular among teachers, school...
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Teaching What Matters
Yesterday we learned that the new Every Student Succeeds Act, signed last week into law by President Obama to replace the long-maligned No Child Left Behind legislation of his predecessor, mandates...
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Red Flag Warning
One of the joys of being a pediatrician is having the special privilege of interacting with children of all ages, as well as parents and grandparents. Every age is an age of discovery, driven by a...
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The School Excuse
Pediatricians’ offices get bombarded daily with requests from parents for school excuses. What parents don’t realize is that for most situations, a note from the pediatrician is not necessary; parents...
View ArticleQuote Of The Day
“There is no evidence that any amount of homework improves the academic performance of elementary students.” — Duke University professor and researcher Harris Cooper (salon.com) As we near the end of...
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2 Breakfasts Better Than None
For reasons we have explored previously on The PediaBlog, most (60%) teenagers do not eat breakfast before school most mornings, even when they can buy it at school. For children, skipping breakfast...
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