Facebook is Right to Nix Teen Photo Competitions

Concerned parents have succeeded in getting a "Most Beautiful Teen in the World" Facebook page pulled. Kids were uploading photos of themselves, sometimes scantily clad in sexualized poses, for the approval or disapproval of the Internet masses, ABC News reports.

Now there's a recipe for disaster: Nubile youths throwing their images into cyberspace to be critiqued by who knows who. I'm bothered by kids splashing images of themselves about to start with. Mix in some shirtless or bikini-clad photos and that just escalates my concerns. Those photos of bare-chested boys with thin arms and concave chests are pitiful. It gets worse; there are "most ugly teen" contests too. Read more at Facebook is Right to Nix Teen Photo Competitions 

How to treat mono symptoms in kids, teens

Your teen is cranky and tired. She sleeps all the time and complains of a sore throat, fever, achy muscles and belly pains. It could be the flu, but there's a good chance that she has mononucleosis, usually shortened to "mono." We've been through three bouts of it in our family, with one child getting a reinfection a few years later. Here are some tips to prevent mono infections and care for a teenager who has it. Read more at How to treat mono symptoms in teens

Exergaming, Yoga Good Fitness, Exercise for Obese Teen Girls

A new study from the American Academy of Pediatrics finds that obese teen girls respond positively to medical weight loss interventions and health education from their doctors and in clinical settings. Here is information for parents about study findings. I'm loving the emphasis on interactiver exergaming. Instead of fighting with kids to exercise and not play video games, this presents the perfect compromise. Read more at Obese Teen Girls Respond Well to Diet, Exercise Intervention

Parents Post Breastfeeding Photos Online, Deemed Obscene - Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com

This is a two-part series on the breastfeeding moms vs. Facebook fracas. Moms from around the world gathered at Facebook offices and in large cities to protest by doing what they do, aka nursing babies. Why the protest? Facebook won't let them share photos of themselves breastfeeding their children (but it will allow people to spray the f-bomb all over the place, to post highly sexualized images of themselves and to tell the world every time they use the bathroom).

I wrote these pieces from a straight news (no opinion) basis, but I feel very strongly that breastfeeding in public is healthy, positive and very much NOT obscene. Breastfed is best-fed for baby. It's good for other moms to see others in solidarity. And anyone who gets their knickers in a twist over the sight of a lovely mommy using her God-given breasts (for the purpose God intended) to feed her lovely baby, needs to get therapy. Don't want to see it? Go sit under a blanket. That and never leave the house, turn on the television or go online. So rock on breastfeeding mamas. I miss those days so much. Okay here endeth the rant (temporarily, anyway. This really incenses me) and here is the nurse-in article. Moms Protest Facebook for Banned Breastfeeding Photos. And this is one about the Leaky B@@b and Express Yourself Mums that got the ball rolling. Read more at Parents Post Breastfeeding Photos Online, Deemed Obscene. 

American Heart Association Tips for Parents to Combat Childhood Obesity

Parents Are Key in Helping Obese Kids Lose Weight, AHA Says The key to combating juvenile obesity lies with parents, the American Heart Association says. Amid concerns about school nutrition, junk food in school vending machines and other external sources of obesity, the AHA says parents are the primary gatekeeper for weight loss and kids. The AHA released a scientific statement in its most recent issue of "Circulation" journal. Here are tips for parents to curb weight problems in kids, based on that report. Read on...

Parent Smoking Increases Risk of Ear Infection, Surgery in Kids

Parent Smoking Increases Risk of Ear Infection, Surgery in Kids Children's exposure to secondhand smoke has long been a health concern. A study published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine adds increased risk of middle ear disease to the list of SHTS-related issues. Here are details about ear infections, household smoking and resources for parents. Read more...

How to Parent an Obese Child

How This Mom Would Help an Obese Child Lose Weight and Be Healthy In Cleveland Heights, Ohio, an 8-year-old child was taken from his mother's home and placed in foster care. Why? He weighs over 200 pounds. Mom is being charged with medical neglect, for not making him diet. Despite having access to more community support networks than his mother, the foster family isn't finding it so easy to get his weight down either.

Obesity isn't a simple matter, as they are finding. It's not just nutrition and exercise that determine a child's weight. Some kids can live on junk food and never gain weight. Other children, no matter how well they are fed, will go through a pudgy stage. Genetic makeup, breastfed or bottle, family poverty, intellectual stimulation, puberty, depression and emotional issues, thyroid problems, Prader-Willi Syndrome all these factors and more can affect a child's weight. If I was a parent, these are the steps I would take to care for this obese child. I know what it's like to be the overweight kid. I also know what it's like to parent a child who struggles with weight problems and a child with an eating disorder. So many factors enter into the equation. The important thing is to address the emotional health issues, provide good nutrition and fitness opportunities and let puberty take its course. Read on...