Raising Healthy Eaters Mar 23 08:23am There's a ton of attention being paid to childhood obesity these days. I think every parent has to be at least a little concerned.  Given how much junk food is out there, and how much it's advertised, it's a miracle that any child eats... Read more

Three Ways to Help Your Child Succeed in School Mar 20 06:31am I started with the question, "What are the three best ways to help a child succeed in school?" But I ended up making a top-ten list. Why not make up your own list, and let me know what I missed?   Set a regular bedtime, so your child gets... Read more

Reading to Kids--Can Machines Compete with Parents? Mar 16 07:33am Here's proof we're living in the era of automation: A friend of mine saw an ad on TV for children's books prerecorded on some kind of digital viewer. The idea was that children could get the benefits of reading aloud without parents... Read more

What First Graders Know Mar 09 04:19am Mostly, they try to keep us doctors in the clinic.  But a few weeks ago, I got to go on a field trip.  A couple of first grade classes in a nearby school had made picture books to donate to our hospital in Cleveland.  I was going to thank the... Read more

Vaccine Benefits and Risks Feb 27 06:51am In the last month I've written about two promising new vaccines.  One protects against rotavirus, a common cause of severe diarrhea. The other protects against the viruses that cause most cervical cancers and genital warts. New vaccines are... Read more

Cervical Cancer Vaccine: Important for Our Daughters Feb 14 09:46am If you have a daughter, you need to know about the new cancer vaccine.  You've may have heard some of this already, but it bears repeating: Cervical cancer used to be the top cancer killer of women. Even with regular pap smears, more than 12,000... Read more

Dear Diarrhea Feb 07 01:04pm Dateline: Cleveland, the coldest week of the year. I think it's starting.  Diarrhea season, that is, the time of year when every day brings more young children with the runs.  All of them feel yucky, and some are very, very sick. The main... Read more

Top 10 Ways to Get Your Children Through Flu Season Feb 02 04:58am This year's flu season hasn't brought the dreaded epidemic flu.  Nor has Avian flu landed in the U.S.  Even so, we've seen a steady flow of children with fever, cough, and body ache.  Flu is mostly just a pain in the nose. But when... Read more

My Mistake Jan 20 06:11am A couple of days ago I posted a blog, and it might have been a mistake.  I wrote about the war in Iraq and its cost in dollars.  I wrote about the children I see all the time who suffer because their families, and our society, can't find the... Read more

The Cost of War Jan 17 10:03am This past week, President Bush announced his plan to send an additional 21,000 troops to Iraq.  This past week, a 10-year-old boy I'll call Tony was brought to the pediatric clinic at MetroHealth Medical Center because he is failing in school. ... Read more