It’s uncertain what causes depression, however there are some important issues known about depression. Probably it depends on the following components: Genetic tendency, factors that affected you essentially while growing up.

Now you can get further information about the causes of depression here.

Genetics

Depression may show transition between family members. If your mother, father, children or siblings go through repeating depression attacks, unfortunately the risk of having once or more depression episodes of yours is 20%.

Sex

The possibility of progress in depression in women is as twice as much in men. What is more, it is claimed that recently in fact there are much men getting depressed in number than that are assumed in the first place, however they are much more in volunteer to get into a research of treatment. Depression affects men in different aspects so that most men don’t even realize that they’ve got depressed. That leads to existence of decreased per cents in researches.

Socio-economic situation

The relation between social situation and depression isn’t verified eventually, but it seems like the risk of progress in depression in lower socio-economic groups is higher.

Psychological trauma

Some people who have gone through psychological shocks and traumas react these issues by getting depressed. Some of them react in anxiety or alcoholism. In some of them, there hardly occurs a psychological damage. The reaction that you’ll give depends on mostly your genetics and personality.

Sexual abuse

The risk of depression stands higher in people who have been exposed to sexual abuse in childhood.

Divorce

It’s uncertain whether divorce increases the risk of depression or not. The possibility of having been divorced is higher in people depressed than other people, but it’s uncertain whether people get depressed due to divorce or get divorced due to depression.

Unemployment

The possibility of being unemployed is higher in depressed people. However it’s uncertain whether people get depressed due to unemployment or get unemployed due to depression.

Lamentation

It’ll probably surprise you to find out that there’s no relation between the death of a close friend or a relative and the risk of getting into depression. Lamentation is a different situation; however if lasts for too long or causes loss of sense, you may get depressed.

Illness

Physical illnesses increase the risk of depression. Any kind of illness may lead to depression. That is valid for serious problems like coroner thromboses and cancer as well as small problems like flu.

Pregnancy and birth

The risk of progress in depression is higher in weeks and months that follow giving birth. It’s essential that both of your body and mind to get into synchronization in the birth process. It requires harmony in functional systems to look after your baby. This is a most emotional period of life and every one of ten women gets into postnatal depression.

When I told anyone who happened to be interested that I was interviewing Ann Sinnott, a mother who had breastfed her daughter for over six years and has now written a book on the subject, reactions ranged from discreet grimaces to outright revulsion.

If I’d said I was about to meet someone who believed swearing at children was to be encouraged along with smacking them daily, the disapproval could not have been greater.

“It’s obviously about her own needs, not her child’s,” a few mothers said, while one or two men, more predictably, homed in on the sexual potential. “She probably gets turned on by it.” My seven-year-old son (keen breastfeeder for seven months) wasn’t exactly neutral. “Yuck. Imagine me coming home from school and saying, ‘OK, Mum, can I suck from your bosoms now?’ It’s weird.”

If we find it weird, argues Sinnott, it’s simply because we’re not used to it. When was the last time you noticed a mother breastfeeding her eight-year-old in the local park? In public, at least, it isn’t done. “But children aren’t cultural creatures like us,” says Sinnott. “Their biological imperatives are intact.” Such an imperative is to feed as often – and as long – as possible, whether that be to two years old, eight or well beyond. In other cultures it is completely natural to respond to such needs, Sinnott claims, with three and four-year-olds continuing to breastfeed in Greenland, five-year-olds in Hawaii and seven-year-olds among the Inuit.

We know from a wealth of research the health advantages of long-term breastfeeding. The World Health Organisation (WHO) now recommends breastfeeding with “appropriate complementary foods” for up to two years or beyond. But what about that key word “beyond”? Physiologically, there is no research, as yet, to suggest that breastfeeding for longer than two years is significantly beneficial. As the WHO says: “We don’t know. There is no evidence either way.”

Sinnott is, however, passionate about the advantages, even though the evidence she cites is overwhelmingly anecdotal, and personal. “A child who has been breastfed to their heart’s content … has a basic sunny aspect to their nature,” she says. “They are amazing; self-confident and outgoing but not in a brash way – the anecdotal evidence is overwhelming.”

At one point she mentions a 16-year-old boy who was regularly fed by his mother and cites examples of even older children. She says breastfeeding adolescents isn’t a practice she would dismiss out of hand.

I wonder what sort of woman Sinnott can be before I am due to meet her on a snowy afternoon in Cambridge at a hotel near where she lives. Her book is exhaustively researched and argued, if not a little evangelical at times, and can seem defensive when anyone – including two child psychotherapists – is sceptical about her views. Will she be, as my son would say, “weird”, fanatical and humourless on the subject? Not at all. She is older than I expected, in her late 50s, with auburn, silvery hair and speaks softly with a faint Irish lilt. She works as a part-time administrator at the university, and is dressed in a black velvet top and a pearl necklace – the effect is more affectionate aunt than breastfeeding hardliner.

We sit in the glass foyer sipping hot chocolate, watching falling snow drift across the quad of Queen’s College, while she chatters warmly about her only daughter, now nearly 18 and hoping to study history at Oxford university. “When Maeve was two, the thought of breastfeeding five or six-year-olds seemed horrific to me,” she admits. “Then I spoke to an ex-colleague who told me he had been breastfed until about eight and the scales just fell from my eyes.”

When Maeve was six months old, Sinnott, then a health writer, knew she wanted to continue breastfeeding long term. “Her need to feed was evident, and I knew even then I would go well beyond a year. I realised I’d be treading outside the norm and decided to join a breastfeeding group who would support me.”

Sinnott was a single parent by the time Maeve was born, devoting herself to her daughter’s needs exclusively. “For the first three years, we lived a life when night and day were blurred. It was wonderful. She fed whenever she needed to. As she got older – around three – she was so strong physically. I remember visiting relatives and they would ask, ‘How come she eats like a bird but she looks so robust, so strong physically?’” she recalls proudly.

Wasn’t she eating solid meals by that age? “Well, it comes and goes at that stage if you’re still feeding. I hear mothers and fathers anxious because their child doesn’t feel hungry and I think they’re probably too full up on solids. Whereas breast milk is perfect – it changes to meet the needs of children whatever their age.” Sinnott admits that her style of parenting isn’t realistic for many mothers. “My circumstances allowed me to mother how I wanted.”

The longer she breastfed, the more women she met – of all ages and social classes – discreetly feeding older children well beyond primary school age. Although she is convinced that their numbers are on the increase, they are, she says, a hidden phenomenon, driven behind doors because they are so fearful of being misinterpreted and misunderstood. “I think the internet has helped. Women have recourse to much more information and support. But many are still really afraid and worried about other people’s reactions,” she says.

Ruth (not her real name) would have felt distinctly uncomfortable breastfeeding her six-year-old son in public. “I wouldn’t want to shock people, and just because I understand the health and emotional benefits, it doesn’t mean everyone else will feel the same way.” Ruth recalls how one of her male friends asked her if she “got off on it”. “He didn’t understand and didn’t want to listen to my views anyway.” Her partner found that as the father, other people tended to be less judgmental. “Any comments we got were almost always directed at Ruth,” he says. “For some women I felt there was actually a degree of guilt as well as envy, which they didn’t recognise.”

Whatever the reason, there is something about breastfeeding older children that makes many of us feel awkward and, irrationally, uneasy. On some level it touches darker fears about a mother pursuing her own needs, potentially sexual as well as emotional, over and above that of her child.

Our general ambivalence on the issue is crystallised in that Little Britain sketch where an extremely adult David Walliams cries “Not bitty later, bitty now”, before latching on to a middle-aged mother to the horror of polite onlookers. This makes me wonder if Sinnott feels there is a limit to the upper age at which children should be breastfed? If, for instance, Maeve came home from college and still fancied the occasional feed, why not? Maeve, as it happened, decided she was no longer interested at around six-and-a-half but had she wished to continue, Sinnott says she would have, happily.

“I wouldn’t pre-judge,” she says and cites a historical example she found during her research, of a daughter in her early 20s, “suckled” by her mother for “comfort” during a bereavement.

Doesn’t she worry that older children could be confused by the physical intimacy of breastfeeding? “No, no,” she insists. “I know it’s not a sexual act. Anyway I don’t see it as ‘intimate’. If I hugged you, there’s an intimacy there too.” Not quite the same level of intimacy as a mouth latching on to your nipple, I suggest, but she won’t acknowledge a difference.

Sinnott does admit that she was rather surprised that around 18 of the 181 women she approached in her research did, “have an experience they could equate to sexual feelings”. Maybe, she reflects, it is part of a “reward system”, in other words, nature’s way of “ensuring women will breastfeed because it’s a source of physical pleasure to them.”

Sinnott herself never enjoyed breastfeeding in that way. “Once she was latched on, I had no sensation,” she recalls. Did she miss the experience when Maeve decided to stop? “No, but it was great. We were both ready at the same time, although she has no memories of it, which is a shame.”

Stephanie Heard, a health visitor, breastfed her son Wilfred for 16 months but her twin daughters continued to feed until they were six, stopping two months ago.”They are very proud and really enjoyed it,” says Heard. “It was never a taboo subject, and when they decided to stop it was a mutual decision between the two of them.”

When they were younger, they would feed at the same time but even at six, it was something of a shared experience. “Kizzy said ‘I’m not going to have dee-dee – that’s what they called breastfeeding – any more.’ So Jenna said, ‘If you’re not having it any more, can I have your side?’

“Soon afterwards they said, ‘We’re not having dee-dee any more’ and that was that. It was just another thing really, like sucking their thumb or needing a particular toy.”

Stella Onions, 45, stopped breastfeeding her daughter last March. Now nearly seven, she still remembers it well. “It was delicious and yummy,” she enthuses over the phone. “It made me feel happy.”

Onions decided to carry on breastfeeding because she was convinced of the continuing nutritional value of breast milk to older children. “The more you read about it, the more you think what it does for the immune system is incredible.” She also found it an effective way to offer comfort. “It does help when they’re toddlers and they’re upset, angry or tired.”

Yet emotionally the advantages of extended breastfeeding are difficult to measure. One could argue that a mother’s role is to steer her child towards independence, and that breastfeeding until well beyond primary school age could hinder the delicate process of emotional maturation and separation. Modern parenting theory would suggest that it is the parent, rather than the child, who should set boundaries, and by the age of eight, the mother should be able to rely on less physical means of gratifying and meeting the needs of her child.

“It isn’t necessarily productive,” says Louise Emanuel, a consultant child psychotherapist and head of the under-five service at the Tavistock Clinic in London. “They may feel that to say no is cruel and heartless. I think parents who breastfeed for a very short time or a very long time may be displaying a manifestation of something similar.” In other words, a difficulty to feel confident in what they have to give to a child. “Parents need to help their children cope beyond the physical presence of the parents, to internalise a helpful parent in their mind, even when the parent is not physically there.”

Long-term breastfeeders believe the opposite. Helen (not her real name), now 50 and a lecturer who breastfed her son until he was eight, feels that not rushing the separation process is what gives a child a stronger sense of independence later on. “The general fear is that the mother is overly dependent on the child, keeping them young or immature. I’ve spoken to enough people to know that isn’t the case. More people are damaged by premature separation than by allowing someone to move on in their own time.”

Helen’s son stopped of his own accord, even though he used to say he would like to carry on for ever. “I do remember asking him, ‘When do you think you’ll stop?’, to which he replied, ‘When I’m married’, and once he said, ‘When you’re dead I’ll stop feeding.’”

But where does this leave the father when the physical bond between mother and child is so close for so long? Helen says her partner never felt excluded. “He was fine about it when I explained what I was doing and why.” Stella’s partner is also supportive. “It’s a natural, really, and makes perfect sense for the baby. I don’t feel left out – I think my wife can be sexy and a mother.”

Other men, says Sinnott, can be less tolerant when their partners continue to feed for years. “It’s a common scenario in the US when a relationship flounders – breastfeeding is used as a means for a father to gain custody.”

One has sympathy for many of Sinnott’s arguments when they relate to her own personal experience but less so when she makes a more general case. “Look at what we’ve done to the world, the catastrophes around us … to say breastfeeding is the answer to our social ills is, of course, too simplistic, but I feel fairly sure that, in time, it will come to be acknowledged as a major component.”

I’m more swayed by one mother who stopped breastfeeding her 14-month-old for the simple reason that “once they’re old enough to walk across a room and ask for it, I think it’s probably time to stop.”

Breastfeeding Older Children by Ann Sinnott is published by Free Association Books

If your child has hard stools that are painful to pass or they have to strain, they’re probably constipated.

This is a common problem especially amongst younger children and usually happens because they aren’t eating enough fibre or drinking enough fluid.

A change of diet should sort it out in a few days. However, some children resist opening their bowels because they don’t enjoy the sensation or have found it painful in the past.

This can lead to chronic constipation which may need to be treated with laxatives on prescription. Chronic constipation can also cause soiling which parents mistake for diarrhoea.

Eating foods with plenty of fibre and drinking plenty makes stools that are bulky, but soft and easy to pass out.

Food and fibre

Ask your practice nurse for a list of foods high in fibre if you are unsure which foods contain fibre. Some examples include: fruit, vegetables, cereals, wholemeal bread. A change to a high fibre diet is often ‘easier said then done’, as many children are fussy eaters. However, any change is better than none. Have you tried such things as:

• giving dried apricots or raisins for snacks.
• jacket potatoes filled with baked beans for tea.
• porridge or other high fibre cereals for breakfast.
• vegetable soups with bread.
• offering fruit with every meal.
• perhaps do not allow sweets until your child has eaten a piece of fruit.

Another tip for when children are reluctant to eat high fibre foods is to add powdered bran to yoghurt. The yoghurt will feel grainy, but powdered bran is tasteless.

Drink

Encourage children to drink plenty. However, some children get into the habit of only drinking squash, fizzy drinks or milk to quench their thirst. These may fill them up, and make them less likely to eat proper meals with food that contains plenty of fibre. So try and limit these kinds of drinks, and give water as the main drink. However, fruit juices that contain fructose or sorbitol have a laxative action (such as prune, pear, or apple juice). These may be useful from time to time if the stools become harder than usual and you suspect constipation may be developing.

Some other tips which may help

• Try and get children into a regular toilet habit. After breakfast, before school or nursery, is often best. Try and allow plenty of time so they don’t feel rushed.
• Some kind of reward system is sometimes useful in younger children prone to ‘holding on’ to stools. For example, a little treat after each successful toilet trip.

However, try not to make a fuss over the toilet issue. The aim is to be ‘matter of fact’ and relaxed about it.

Mild constipation in children and it’s treatment

Most bouts of constipation in children last just a few days. Many children strain to pass a large or hard stool now and then. It is of little concern, so long as a normal pattern soon returns. Treatment of mild and temporary constipation is the same as for preventing constipation. That is, a diet with plenty of fibre, lots to drink, and perhaps a fruit juice which contains fructose or sorbitol.

Parents are wise to limit kid’s TV watching to a couple of hours each day. It’s a difficult limit to stick to, but if parents can establish this habit early on, it’s easier. Selective TV watching prevents children (and adults) from turning into couch potatoes with withered brain cells.

Many parents turn to activities to keep their kids busy. They often live in their cars and have forgotten what their spouse looks like. Parents fall into the over-scheduling trap for variety of reasons. The first motive is the healthiest and the last is the most damaging:

• Parents want their children to use their time wisely, but accidentally take on too much.
• Children want to do everything. Parents don’t want to disappoint them or hear endless nagging, so they let them.
• Parents keep children busy so they won’t get into trouble, instead of teaching children how to make planned responsible decisions to be “good” children.
• Some parents want their children to experience every opportunity — all at once, which is overwhelming.
• Now and then, parents expect their children to be super-achievers, whatever the cost.

To determine whether your family’s schedule needs to be scaled back, ask, “Does my child want to do all these activities or do I want them to?” When parents register children for activities without asking children first, it’s a huge red flag that parents need to back off. If children want to do everything, think “moderation” and remember that responsible parents do not give children everything they want.

The reality is that when anyone adds too many kettles to the fire, they are bound to get burned out. Over-scheduling often affects children’s schoolwork, quality family time and increases the stress levels of the children and parents involved. The long term result of over-scheduling is a generation of stressed-out workaholics who don’t know how to set priorities, say “no,” focus on one task, and have balance in their lives. What? WE are part of a generation of stressed-out workaholics?

Then we need to break the cycle. Children need “down time” as much as adults do. They need time to play and just be a kid — even teens. Will they get bored? Probably. But they need to learn how to use their imaginations to handle boredom creatively and responsibly.

To regain control of your family life and reduce scheduling stress, establish a policy of two activities per season. Have children rotate seasonal activities or reach one goal, then strive for another. Also, families need time together when they aren’t eating, driving or discussing schedules and life-changing issues. Weekly family time is one activity worth scheduling.

Setting limits on activities teaches children important skills and values that benefit them as adults. They learn how to budget their time and responsibilities and to handle disappointment. These children know how to set priorities and concentrate on doing their best at a few chosen activities. Rarely are activities “once in a lifetime” opportunities. Usually, there is a time and season for every activity. We and our children just need to pace ourselves, instead of racing to do everything all at once.

According to Dr. Mark Borchert, director, The Vision Center at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, certain toys, such as BB guns, pose a particular danger for young children. “While a BB gun pellet may not break the skin of a young child, it can puncture his eye very easily. Unfortunately, every Christmas I see young children in our emergency room who have had an eye destroyed by a BB pellet.”
The eye surgeon said parents with young children should avoid toys that shoot projectiles, have parts that fly off or can be shattered into sharp pieces. He added that scissors, rubber bands and deflated balloons–often left out at holiday time — should be collected, since they can be dangerous in the hands of younger children.

It also is a good idea to explain to a child how a new toy is properly used and to promptly throw away broken toys.

The Consumer Products and Safety Commission reports that more than 230,000 toy-related injuries are treated at U.S. emergency rooms annually. Of those injured, approximately one third were under the age of five, and three quarters were under the age of 15. More than 45 percent of injuries were to the head and face.

Dr. Borchert noted that during busy holiday times, young children are at higher risk for injuring their eyes because they often have less adult supervision.

“If you are hosting young children in your home, be sure to get furniture corner protectors for tables, cabinets and windowsills. Young children are prone to falling into low-lying objects,” he added.

If you suspect your child has suffered an eye injury look for these symptoms:

– There is blood in the clear part of the eye;

– Your child has obvious pain or trouble seeing;

– One eye does not move as well as the other;

– The eye has an unusual pupil size or shape.

If your child’s eye is injured, he should be seen immediately by your family physician or an emergency room doctor. A physician should use an ophthalmoscope to look inside the eye to check for damage that may not be readily apparent. Corneal abrasion, bleeding in the eye, damage to the lens, retina or even optic nerve, are all possible depending on the type of blow the eye receives.

If necessary, the child should be seen by a pediatric ophthalmologist. A child under the age of five is at increased risk of permanent loss of vision from eye injury because the immature brain may lose the ability to see even if the eye is repaired.

About The Vision Center “Where all eye conditions receive extraordinary care.”

The Vision Center at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles is an international referral center known for its family friendly environment of children afflicted with all forms of eye disease and provides a full range of inpatient and outpatient services. It is the largest pediatric ophthalmology program in the nation with multiple subspecialty programs that are considered to be among today’s finest resources for diagnosis, treatment and research.

Founded in 1901, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles has been treating the most seriously ill and injured children in Los Angeles for more than a century, and it is acknowledged throughout the United States and around the world for its leadership in pediatric and adolescent health. Childrens Hospital is one of America’s premier teaching hospitals, affiliated with the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California since 1932. The Saban Research Institute of Childrens Hospital Los Angeles is among the largest and most productive pediatric research facilities in the United States.

Since 1990, U.S. News & World Report and its panel of board-certified pediatricians have named Childrens Hospital Los Angeles one of the top pediatric facilities in the nation. Childrens Hospital Los Angeles is one of only 10 children’s hospitals in the nation and the only children’s hospital on the West Coast ranked in all 10 pediatric specialties in the U.S. News & World Report rankings and named to the magazine’s “Honor Roll” of children’s hospitals.

Circuit Training is a great way to get the whole family up and moving. If you’re not familiar with the nuts and bolts of circuit training, it’s best described as a series of pre-set exercise stations. The participants rotate around to each station every minute or so. Upbeat music may play in the background. Many of the popular women’s exercise facilities popping up around town are based on the circuit-training concept.

In a gym setting, circuit training usually involves hydraulic exercise machines. But the beauty of circuit training is that it easily translates to any environment. All it takes is a little creativity. Periodically in this column I’ll introduce a new circuit-training course you can try with your kids at home.

All of the circuits will include cardiovascular, strength training, and coordination stations. But first it’s important to point out a few differences between successful kids’ circuits and those created solely for adults.

1. As you can imagine, a kids’ circuit has to be more fun. Although adults like to have fun while exercising, for kids, fun is their prime motivator. So it’s necessary to include stations like hula hooping, sock skating, and juggling. (Besides, how fun is it to watch dad try to hula hoop!)
2. Since kids have a shorter attention span, it’s better to rotate stations more frequently. Instead of having a set time at each station of one minute, I let the enthusiasm level of my students help determine when it’s time to change stations. At the first flicker of boredom- it’s time. Usually it’s at about 20 seconds.
3. More equipment is needed for a kids’ circuit. An adult circuit can survive with stations like jumping jacks or push-ups that are simply marked with an orange cone. But kids are very hands-on learners. Part of the excitement of going to the next station involves picking up and exploring the awaiting equipment. The equipment also helps to define what to do at the station.

The entire family can be involved in the preparation of the family circuit. All of the circuits that will be presented here can be set up in your family room or backyard. Make it a family effort to move a little furniture if needed. Let your kids help create a song playlist. The challenge is finding ten songs that everyone likes that are consistently upbeat (about 130 bpm).

Much of the equipment needed for a family circuit can be found at home. The rest, if desired, can be purchased at sporting goods or toy stores. In case you’re feeling inspired and want to start building your family circuit arsenal now, the following is a list of items I like to use in my kids’ circuits:

Store-bought Equipment

• Hula hoops
• Jump ropes
• Foam noodles (often used in swimming pools)
• Orange cones
• Bean bags
• Medicine ball
• 2-3 lb. soft-coated hand weights
• Exercise tubing
• Plastic bouncy balls (the kind from the drug-store)

Items from Home

• Canned food
• Paper plates
• Stuffed animal toys
• Beach towels
• Bubble wrap
• Scarves
• Blue painter’s tape
• Balloons
• Pillows
• Chair

Wondering what we’re going to do with the canned food and bubble wrap? Check in next week to receive the outline for the first in a series of fun Family Circuits.

Don’t worry—you won’t be bogged down with the science. Kids learn best by doing. So the next time your little ones are running on the soccer field or taking the family dog for a walk, point out a few things happening in the amazing machine that is their body.

Use your kids’ natural love for exercise as a teaching opportunity. Here is a simple guideline:
Imagine the body is a well-oiled machine, like a car. As it zooms around the track, it stops at a few checkpoints along the way.

Body Checkpoint #1
After the onset of activity, prompt your kids to stop briefly and notice how their body feels. Ask them, “Do you feel warmer, like you want to take your jacket off?” Or, “Do you feel like your body is waking up?” Explain that their heart and lungs are stepping up to the challenge of the activity. Blood is moving faster through out their body, warming up their muscles.

Body Checkpoint #2
At the height of their workout, signal your kids to take notice of how their body is responding to an even higher demand. By using the “Talk Test,” you can show them how hard their lungs are working. Here’s how: While exercising, ask your kids to sing a simple song or recite the Pledge of Allegiance. They’ll notice that their breathing is a little labored in doing so—concrete evidence that they’re working hard. During intense exercise, you can direct them to put their hand over their heart where they will be able to feel it pounding. Explain that their heart is pumping blood, which carries oxygen to their working muscles. (In a future column we’ll explore ways kids can use math to check their heart rate.)

Body Checkpoint #3
It’s important for kids to learn that sweating is a good thing. Some kids actually avoid sweating because they associate it with being dirty or stinky. Teach kids that the body is like a machine, and sweating is its cooling system. Sweating prevents the machine from overheating. Encourage kids to embrace sweating by saying, “If you’re sweaty say hot tamale!” or some other fun phrase. Also, give out high-fives for sweat. Kids love to wipe their foreheads and give you a wet one.

Body Checkpoint #4
To better understand how the muscles respond to exercise, instruct your kids to do a wall sit. Here’s how: Stand against a wall with feet hip distance apart. Edge your feet away from the wall as you slide down into a sitting position (without letting their bum touch the ground). After thirty seconds or so, you’ll feel a burning sensation in the quads. That’s your cue to stand up and stretch the quads. It’s exciting for kids to actually feel the muscles working. But even if kids aren’t doing a specific strength training exercise, like a wall sit, it’s still important to stretch the working muscles. Running around a basketball court, for example, challenges many muscles in the body and requires recovery stretching. To illustrate this concept, make a fist to represent how a muscle looks when it’s contracted. Imagine how uncomfortable it would be to hold that tense position all day? Then slowly open your hand to model how that muscle looks when it relaxes into a stretch.

Body Checkpoint #5
Ask your kids how they feel after completing their intense activity. Relaxed? Proud of themselves? Happy? Those warm and fuzzy feelings are easy to explain. Exercise releases endorphins in the body. Endorphins are hormones that reduce stress and boost your mood. It’s just another fascinating way the body works.

All these checkpoints will help you illustrate to your kids how “cool” their body is. Of course, in the lexicon of kids, “cool” brings respect.

As much as 80 per cent of our lifetime exposure to the sun occurs during childhood so it is vital that parents to make sure children are properly protected

Sun exposure and protection is a complex and contradictory area of child health. On the one hand, fresh air and sun are vital for the development of a child.

Sunlight, for example, is an important source of bone-building vitamin D. On the other hand, too much sun in childhood can seriously increase the risk of skin cancer in later life.

With this in mind, it is worrying that recent research published in the British Medical Journal shows that many parents still don’t use sunscreens regularly to protect their kids.

There are also suggestions that adults and children who do use sunscreens may actually be at increased risk of developing skin cancer as they mistakenly believe applying it once will give them free rein to stay out in the sun for long periods.

So what is a parent to do?

If you’ve seen your child suffering the agony of severe sunburn, you certainly won’t be blasé about protecting their skin in the future.

Skin cancer, like all cancers, is a slow developing disease, often with decades between the trigger (in this case overexposure to the sun) and the emergence of the symptoms. Research shows that six episodes of serious sunburn before the age of 18 doubles the risk of developing skin cancer as an adult.

On balance, despite the concerns raised above, if your child is going to be out in the sun for extended periods then suncream is essential.

I’m in the no-spanking camp myself, figuring I can’t teach children that hitting is bad if I’m doing it myself. But that doesn’t mean I’ve never given a balky toddler a swat on the fanny. Now that my daughter is in first grade, I wouldn’t dream of smacking her. My challenges come more in trying to figure out how to reward appropriate behavior.

So I was fascinated by new research in the journal Child Development that followed a total of about 750 children from ages 5 to 16 and looked at how parents’ choices of discipline in childhood were tied to teenage behavior. Researchers found that the children whose parents put aside physical discipline over the years demonstrated much less antisocial behavior than those whose parents continued to use harsh or moderate physical discipline. The physically disciplined children also had much poorer relationships with their parents. Of course, there’s no evidence that the lack of spanking caused the improved behavior. It could be, for instance, that problem kids are more likely to be spanked and also more likely to be problem teens. “More difficult children elicit more punitive behavior in their parents,” says Jennifer Lansford, who led the study. Researchers tried to factor that out by adjusting the results if children were considered badly behaved as 5-year-olds, as well as the family’s socioeconomic status. Inherited behavior traits could also be a factor, says Lansford, a developmental psychologist and associate research professor at Duke University’s Center for Child and Family Policy.

What’s new and intriguing in this work is that the researchers found that most parents back off on physical discipline as children move into the later elementary school grades. In other words, most parents pick up on the fact that as their children become more sophisticated in their thinking and behavior, their own approach to discipline has to grow up, too. For whatever reason, the parents who can’t or won’t make that shift—and keep hitting—are the ones who are more likely to have problem teenagers.

The good news: There are time-tested methods that work to discipline children without smacking them. They’ve been tested on children of all personality types and even work for children with serious behavior problems. The big secrets? Praise works better than punishment in teaching children proper behavior. But not just any praise. It needs to be:

• Superenthusiastic
• Specific to the desired behavior
• Reinforced with a smile or a touch
• Frequent
• And immediately following the desired behavior (“Wow, you did a great job clearing the table!”)