subject: Is Worrywart Synonymous With Parent? [print this page] The Food and Drug Administration doesn't want children to get their hands on eye drops or nose sprays. These over-the-counter medications contain chemicals that could seriously harm them. Between 1985 and 2012 ninety-six children ages 5 and younger became ill after ingesting these medicines, with the results ranging from nausea to coma. Although the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has proposed child-resistant packaging for these products, more than 60,000 young children are taken to emergency rooms every year because they got into medicines. We need to keep medicines out of children's reach. Out of sight, out of ... mouth.
Cheerleading accounts for 66% of catastrophic injuries (scull fractures, paralysis and death) among high school girls. In October 2012 - because of the flips, pyramids and tosses - the American Academy of Pediatrics called for cheerleading to be recognized as an official sport. As such it would have to follow the same rules for safety and coaching as other girls' sports. Sprains account for 53% of the injuries, but head injuries account for 4%. Considering more than 500,000 high school girls cheerlead at sports events or on competitive cheer teams, their parents should cheer for anything that would make "the sport" safer.
Heavy teens have a higher risk for kidney disease. A study published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine used data collected between 1967 and 1997 on 1.2 million 17-year-olds examined for fitness for Israeli military service. Those who were overweight were 3 times likelier to develop end-stage renal disease over the next 25 years. Obese 17-year-olds were almost 7 times likelier. Doctors don't know if the connection between overweight/obese teens and ESRD is hormonal, an unhealthy lifestyle or extra weight damaging the kidney; but this is something else to "weigh on the minds" of parents of heavy children.
The more friends children have in high school, the more money they'll earn later in life. A study by the National Bureau of Economy Research analyzed an earlier study that tracked a random sample of 10,317 students from their Wisconsin high school graduation in 1957 through 2008. To measure popularity researchers counted the "friendship nominations" (a practice in Wisconsin high schools in the 50's) for 4,330 white males. Each nomination was associated with 2% higher wages 35 years later. That popular children earn more as adults was attributed to their likeability being a permanent ability. It "pays" to be likeable.
