Supporting Your Child and Understanding Common Health Conditions

Four of the most common serious health conditions in children are obesity, chronic illness, developmental disabilities, and injury during sport or play. It is important to establish healthy patterns and support your child as they transition from childhood and adolescence to adulthood. Often your child will not know how to express themselves and this will lead to confusion and anger. Communication and patience are the keys to soothing your child and supporting them through difficult and often painful times. According to the Center for Disease Control, Obesity affects more than one third of all children and adolescents. Obesity is still misunderstood by most and is too often attributed to being weak willed or lazy. The best thing you can do to help your child is to educate yourself about the contributing factors to obesity.

• Sleep Habits - Try to keep your child on similar sleep schedule every night. Avoiding late night snacking and staying up too late will help increase your child’s energy and activity level.
• Portion Size – One way to help with childhood obesity is to limit portion size. You may indeed be providing a proper diet, but you could be giving them too much. Consult a pediatrician for proper portion size suggestions.
• Diet Options – Avoid diet pills, starvation diets, or fasting – these could hinder your child’s growth and destroy their confidence. Consult a pediatrician for diet options and avoid late night grazing and snack foods. Also, try packing your child’s lunch – that way you will know what your child is eating throughout the day.
• Exercise – This may be the most obvious option, but without accomplishing the first three bullet points you will not have an active or energetic child. Be patient with your child in the early stages and allow them to grow their confidence by playing with other kids.

Chronic Conditions/Illness can range from two months to a lifetime of struggles. Chronic conditions may come as a surprise and leave a family feeling alone and powerless. But, there is a large support network for children and as a parent you should spend time educating yourself to benefit your child. There are several important factors to help your child cope with confusing and sometimes scary conditions. Try these four steps to help your child:  Listen to your child, Learn from others, Teach your child, Encourage your child to be independent.

Developmental Disabilities often go untreated because parents are likely to avoid or disregard obvious factors. Developmental disabilities like Autism and Attention Deficit Disorder are two of the least understood and either untreated or misdiagnosed. To support your child it is important to educate yourself and find a support system of parents and families with a similar family dynamic. Developmental disabilities range in severity and treatment, but each requires a specially designed system to comfort and support your child.

Sprains, strains, or fractures are three of the most common ways children are injured during sport or play. One of the most common soothing techniques is the RICE method: Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. RICE is commonly used for soft tissue damage like sprains or strains but a more severe injury should be treated in a hospital.