Breastfeeding and IQ: Brain Food for Your Baby

If you had the power to make your child more intelligent, would you? Doctors and scientists agree: Breast milk is the best nourishment for babies. Human milk provides nutrients essential to building strong human bodies that cow’s milk or formula simply can’t supply. But does it also enhance brain function? Recent studies indicate that yes, … Read more

Grandma in Charge: When Grandparents Care for Kids

Grandma is doing a lot more than baking cookies these days. After raising her own children, she is stepping in and caring for grandchildren while their parents work. In the process, she is helping forge bridges between generations and strengthening family bonds. Grandparents caring for young children is an increasing trend in the United States. … Read more

6 strategies to get your toddler to do what you want (without using the N-word)

Has your 2 year old ever looked at you, presumably understood that she’s not allowed to press the buttons on the television remote control, smiled sweetly and pressed them anyway? No, she’s not the evil conniver Aunt Sally makes her out to be. She’s a toddler. And with toddlerhood come the initiative, curiosity and autonomy … Read more

The effects of divorce on children: A potential cause for bedwetting

Although the primary parties involved are parents, divorce affects every member of the family. Children are witnesses to the stress, confusion and hurt that often accompany divorce. With the current divorce rate at 52.4 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Vital Statistics, many children are forced to deal with divorce – and the emotional, … Read more

How to make your child Adjust and feel better with braces?

Thirteen-year-old Sara’s transformation from a child into a preteenager could be best described as a whirlwind. At a time when this St. Louis preteen was venturing into the realm of adolescence, as most preteens adorn wrists with silver stackable bracelets and hang dangling earrings from their lobes, along came the dentist to add another set of … Read more

How to talk to a teenager who doesn’t want to talk

When her 14-year-old daughter closes herself up like a fan and writes dark poetry in her diary, Paula Dawidowicz of Blacksburg, Va., gently pulls her into a conversation. Parents like Dawidowicz often wonder which is worse: the silent treatment or the grunts and snarls that seem to be more appropriate forms of communication among wild … Read more

5 tips for having a productive family meeting

Has there ever been a time when something was going on at home that needed the input of the whole family, but maybe everyone was too busy to give it the attention it deserves? Or do you get the feeling that everyone is talking but nothing is ever really resolved? That’s where family meetings come … Read more