The switch from summer days to school days is always a challenge. August brings the back to school lists – school supplies, clothes, communication with teachers, books, lunch ideas, bus schedules, after school arrangements …and then there’s the dreaded alarm clock. Yes, your kids need a good night’s sleep also and the switch from summer to [...]

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Back to school. We are all trying to squeeze the last moments of summer into already busy schedules these days. But parents and kids alike are turning their eyes to school starting in the not too distant future. A colleague of mine shared this story:
“My 12-year-old REALLY wanted to go school shopping last night, new shoes, [...]

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First we worry about getting killed by drunk-like texting drivers, now we have to worry about getting hit by a drunk-like texting biker. Is no place safe from texting? A sign on my favorite commuter bike path said it all: “Multi-person crashes don’t happen when you text when you walk,” implying that they do happen [...]

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People are lining the fairways here in Minnesota at the PGA golf championship hoping to catch a glimpse of Tiger Woods. He’s not disappointing the fans, taking the lead after the first round. There’s lots of teens and kids in the audience, courtesy of free entry by the PGA. It was a beautiful day to [...]

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Last week I talked about the rise in blood pressure for kids who do not get outside for enough play and exercise. Another study reported in the Washington Post found equally disturbing news that about 7.6 million kids, ages one through twenty-one – that’s 9% of U.S. children and young adults have very low, deficient levels [...]

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New research gives us another reason to get our kids active this summer. The August issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine highlights a study linking sedentary behavior and high blood pressure in kids ages three to eight.  The interesting factor in this study was identifying kids’ screen time as the high blood [...]

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Accessing and playing video games streamed over the Internet is the future of videogaming as high speed broadband connections become more available. There are many reasons that make online play so attractive for gamers:
1. The games create elaborate and complex worlds.
2. The games never stop – they go 24 hours a day/7days a week.
3. Gamers [...]

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We live such busy lives that time to connect with our kids are at a premium. Summer days bring many fun opportunities for family time – vacations, reunions, days at the lake, park or beach, or maybe just a walk or bike or trip around the city. These are great fun and we should get [...]

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I love teenagers – but what on earth is going through their heads? I was all set to write about an uplifting aspect of media, when two articles grabbed my attention. The first in the Los Angeles Times reported the prevalence of “car surfing” among teens, especially in California, Texas and Florida. Fifty-one teens have died [...]

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I am interviewed often by reporters and program hosts, but a recent interview by two young digital natives astounded me. These two kids (one 9 and the other 12 years old) are hooked on how the brain works. They’ve constructed a great website, Neurokids.org, to share the latest news and research about the brain with [...]

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