Category: Healthy Parenting

Parents’ mental health was worse during pandemic, study finds

May 16, 2022 Sharika Soukup

Hybrid school was associated with worse parental mental health, finds a Brown School study. Credit: Shutterstock While having a child attend a private school or school with above-average instructional quality was associated with better mental health of parents during the COVID-19 pandemic, hybrid school was associated with worse parental mental health, as was working from home, finds…

Healthy Parenting

Have difficult talk with parents early about their future wishes | Boomer

May 15, 2022 Sharika Soukup

Talking to your parents early about their wishes for the care they’d like to receive when they are older is an important step in preparing for a smooth transition once that time comes. A parent communicating these wishes ahead of time is likely to be more sound of mind, allowing them to lucidly convey what…

Healthy Parenting

What Parents Need to Know About the Formula Shortage

May 14, 2022 Sharika Soukup

Bottles of baby formula in Brooklyn on April 4, 2019. (Caroline Tompkins/The New York Times) A worsening nationwide baby formula shortage is putting parents across the United States on edge as they scramble to find ways to feed their children. More than 40% of formulas are out of stock at stores around the country —…

Healthy Parenting

Parenting is hard, but building healthy habits doesn’t have to be

May 13, 2022 Sharika Soukup

Being a parent is hard. Being a parent during a post-pandemic age in which technology is consuming us, is even harder. We want our children to be physically and mentally healthy, but sometimes we can’t quite figure out how to navigate this new world. As a pediatrician and mother of 11-year-old twins and a 7-year-old…

Healthy Parenting

Minnesota parents still struggling to find infant formula amid shortages

May 11, 2022 Sharika Soukup

Parenting infant twins born prematurely was already a challenge before Cassandra Solberg faced a new, unexpected stressor: finding much-needed formula to feed her 3-month-old babies. “Every store I would go to would only have one or two cans,” she said. “After that then it started being non-existent. I started calling the stores … they started…

Healthy Parenting

Health experts urge parents to keep up with childhood, teen vaccinations

May 10, 2022 Sharika Soukup

Data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that the pandemic interrupted more than school for students in kindergarten through 12th grade — in the 2020-21 school year, the number of kindergarteners who received all their state-required vaccines dropped by one percentage point. While one percentage point may not seem like much,…

Healthy Parenting

For children who lost a parent, the pandemic pain will never end

May 9, 2022 Sharika Soukup

Aidan Garza (seen above) often talks about his dad in the present tense, as if David Garza were still right across the living room, sitting in his favorite chair, calling the 12-year-old over to watch a “Star Wars” series. As if he had never collapsed while out running errands on Dec. 30, 2020, in Converse,…

Healthy Parenting

How parents can help kids who are struggling with mental health

May 8, 2022 Sharika Soukup

With one in five children and adolescents coping with a diagnosable mental health or learning disorder, the Child Mind Institute launched Monday its “Dare to Share” campaign, to encourage kids to talk about the issue of mental health. The campaign features celebrities, artists, athletes and role models who all share their personal stories, to de-stigmatize…

Healthy Parenting