Archives for July 3, 2012

  Guest post contributed by Claire York for The Invisible Orthodontist. When my son was a toddler he used to yearn to brush his teeth alone. However, I was just not comfortable with this. Now I am proud to walk by in the mornings and see him standing on his step stool brushing his teeth at the sink. Learning to trust him was tough, but now I am glad to see him taking his first steps toward independence. It’s not as though my fears were completely unfounded – I had read about the dangers of fluoride poisoning if children swallow large amounts of toothpaste, and my son had already proved himself to be very fond of anything with a sweet flavor. I simply didn’t trust him to be left alone with a tube full of toothpaste. I also worried that my son wouldn’t brush properly if I didn’t help him. I worried that he would either hurt his gums by brushing too hard or leave plaque on his teeth by not brushing thoroughly enough. Even though I knew his baby teeth would be replaced as … [Read more...]

Summer is here, and that means lots of time in the swimming pool for kids and their parents. Swimming is one of those low-cost summer activities that define summer vacation. Before jumping in, though, make swimming pool safety a priority. Hundreds of people die in pool-related accidents each year. Many of those who drown are children. Consider these sobering statistics from the CDC: From 2005-2009, there were an average of 3,533 fatal unintentional drownings (non-boating related) annually in the United States — about ten deaths per day On average, two of the 10 people who die from unintentional drowning each day are children aged 14 or younger. More than 30% of children ages 1-4 who died from an unintentional injury died as a result of drowning. Most drownings of children aged 1-4 years old occur in home swimming pools. While there is no substitute for adult supervision and responsible play, there are steps pool owners can take to make their swimming pools safer for … [Read more...]