Ear Infections? Listen Up
Ear infections. Anyone who’s soothed the painful tears of a child during one of these knows how detrimental they can be to both on the child’s health and your sanity.
After helping my daughter through numerous infections, our ear, nose, and throat specialist recommended she have tubes surgically placed in her ears.
The effects were amazing. Her infections ceased. Then, a little more than a year later the tubes did what they were supposed to do, they fell out.
The average child will, hopefully, have grown out of the infections, but my child, unfortunately, needed another set of tubes. So last summer she received them and instantly her speech improved in clarity.
And I finally quit hearing the word “Huh?”
Headphone deafness: A new French study reported in the Washington Post suggests that the prolonged use of portable stereos with headphones can cause hearing loss, with the greatest risk in people who have a history of ear infections.
Personal-stereo use was associated with greater degrees of hearing loss than frequent attendance at rock concerts or having worked in a noisy environment.
Spoiling grandchildren?: According to a Roper Starch Worldwide survey, one in three Americans is a grandparent.
In 1997, reports American Demographics magazine, grandparents spent an average of $505 on their grandchildren, a 200 percent increase over the last decade.
It sure pays to be a grandkid these days.
You want me to eat what?: Are you battling with kids over dinner?
If so, try these tips given in a recent Sesame Street Parents magazine:
The one-bite rule. Research shows it takes 10 to 15 exposures before kids develop a liking for a new food. Set out some dips. Dipping food gives them a sense of control over their meal. Let your child help; kids love to be in the kitchen. Keep portions kid-size; a child who can finish everything without parental prodding will have a feeling of accomplishment.
New book release: Another book on the market offers wanted, or unwanted advice, as the case may be, to expectant mothers. “Pregnancy to Parenthood: Your Personal Step-by-Step Journey Through the Childbirth Experience,” a complete and up-to-date guide to the next nine months and beyond, has recently been released.
Authors Linda Goldberg, Ginny Brinkly and Janice Kukar use the most current information available to help take expectant parents from the first day of pregnancy through their children’s crucial first year, and beyond.
The book is published by Avery Publishing Group and is available for $12.95.