Paediatric ALS?
Researchers have diagnosed a new form of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) that occurs in childhood and progresses slowly. Symptoms appear around age four as trouble walking and spasticity issues in lower limbs.
Source: livescience.com
Advertising and body image
In a recent study, one-fifth of over 700 early adolescents experienced social media-related body dissatisfaction, especially girls. Those who followed celebrities were especially affected by photos which impacted their mental health status. Experts call for parents to start talking about real life and the pressure to look a certain way. They call for:
1) A non-dieting approach to eating and elimination of “fat talk;”
2) Physical activity for enjoyment;
3) Talk of what they like about themselves (and what you like about them that has nothing to do with appearance).
Source: www.childrenandscreens.com
Meet Trottibus
Initiated by the Canadian Cancer Society, the Trottibus is a walking school bus that helps elementary school children get safely to school in the morning, accompanied by parents and volunteers. There are:
• Planned routes with scheduled stops;
• Trained volunteers who’ve undergone a background check;
• Chances to make new friends;
• Chances to learn pedestrian safety;
• Increases in the level of daily physical activity;
• Reductions of car traffic around school.
Source: Trottibus.ca
First teeth
Children should see a dentist as soon as the first tooth erupts or by 12 months of age, just like regular checkups with a paediatrician or family doctor. Here are a few things you can do at home to help prevent early tooth decay:
• Maintain a good diet during pregnancy as baby teeth begin to develop. • Breastfeed if possible. Many studies reveal that babies have fewer cavities if breastfed. • Never put your baby to bed with a bottle or anything other than water. • Celebrate and reinforce the routine of mouth and teeth cleaning. • Limit juice or other sweet drinks to no more than four ounces a day.
Fit kids, fit parents?
The fitness of Canadian children is related to that of their parents, and the strength of the relationship varies according to different child-sex and parent-sex combinations. This is one of the main findings from a new study—the first to use a dataset from the Canadian Health Measures Survey (the child-parent dyad dataset) to examine the association in physical fitness among child-parent pairs.
Source: 150.statcan.gc.ca
Teen tics
Since the start of the pandemic, teenage girls around the globe began turning up in doctors’ offices with sudden, severe physical tics and verbal outbursts. After studying patients and pooling brainpower, experts in the US, Canada, Australia and the UK found TikTok was a common link.
Did You Know?
Babies can start differentiating between right and wrong from as young as six months old.
