Paul Scott exposes the child marketing industry’s unethical practices and harmful effects in his outstanding article in Children’s Health.

He warns parents that child marketing is everywhere, not just in the 30 second TV ads that we typically think of as marketing. The child marketing industry seeks to influence your children every chance it gets. The results are a quiet disaster. From the internet to cell phones, corporate brands are using every tool in the book to move your child “from brand awareness to investigation, from investigation to selection, to repeat purchase, to loyalty and ultimately to advocacy.”

If you’ve ever heard your child ask you for a brand, he or she has become that brand’s advocate and is now working for that company as part of its sales force. Seizing children’s brains is like shooting fish in a barrel it turns out.

Research has shown that children younger than 7 or 8 are unable to tell whether something or someone is trying to persuade them to do something. That, coupled with with proven damage that marketing to children causes, is why an organization no less prestigious than the American Psychological Association considers advertising to children under 7 to be unethical. In fact, it is illegal in Norway and Sweden and many other countries severely restrict it like we restrict cigarette and alcohol advertising.

Scott’s article lists the many harmful effects marketing has on children from higher body mass index to lack of creativity, and points out that the increasing sexualization of marketing to girls is particularly harmful. The American Psychological Association found “ample evidence to conclude that sexualization has negative effects on cognitive function, physical and mental health and healthy sexual development.”

These findings would not be so scary if our country’s children ages 8-18 did not spend 44.5 hours a week exposed to media and marketing. What can you do to fight this flood? Scott has some answers in his Princess Diatribes.

He also recommends toys that stimulate a child’s imagination and intellect. Hint: no branded toy can. Try PlanToys, Magna-Tiles, Gustafer Yellowgold, Back to Basics Toys, Thames & Kosmos, and TRUCE Toy Action Guide.

One such death was that of 13-month-old Aiden Truett who stopped eating and began vomiting. Doctors attributed the symptoms to a viral upper respiratory infection, but were forced to re-evaluate after treatment only led to worsening symptoms.

X-rays revealed the baby had swallowed a button battery, which was quickly removed surgically. Two days later, however, the baby started coughing blood and soon died.

Before doctors could remove the small battery, it had already burned a hole in the baby’s esophagus and damaged his heart. In the past, such batteries were not strong enough to cause such massive damage, but today’s batteries are supercharged for their small sizes and have caused a sevenfold increase in serious injuries and death since 1985.

Deaths are still very rare, fewer than 10 since 2004, but 3,500 button battery ingestions occur annually and today’s stronger batteries are causing more serious injuries. Every organ that encounters a button battery is a risk.

Vocal chords have been damaged, leaving children suffering from a lifelong whisper. Digestive tract injuries have caused children to undergo multiple surgeries and require feeding tubes. Children are not the only population at risk for these injuries. Our elderly have mistaken the buttons for candy and medication.

The worst offenders are batteries that begin with the number 20. They measure 20 millimeters and are the strongest of today’s tiny power plants. Batteries numbered 2032, 2025, and 2016 cause more than 90 percent of serious injury.

In 60 percent of child injuries, the child has removed the batter from an electronic device, not found it loose. Store your battery powered devices in a safe place.

Read the full article here.

Staying off busy roads is not enough. More than half the 135 children who die in bike-related car accidents are killed on minor roads or in residential areas. They don’t have to – bike helmets reduce the risk of severe brain injury by 88 percent.

Make sure you set a good example for your child. You are a role model whether you like it or not. Your approach cannot be “do as I say, not as I do.” Children are always watching you for what is acceptable behavior.

Use hand signals in traffic and always ride responsibly. Ride on the right side of the road with traffic. Don’t let your child be one of the 75 to 85 percent of children who ride bikes without helmets. Show them that using a helmet is the only way to bicycle.

Even though you may be riding responsibly, sometimes injuries occur due to the fault of others. Helmets significantly reduce your risk of needing a Daytona Beach personal injury lawyer.

Shoulder dystocia describes a birth in which the baby’s shoulder gets stuck behind the mother’s pubic bone, thus preventing the baby’s delivery. If the shoulder is not freed in a timely manner or is freed in a negligently manner, serious injury and death will occur. In fact, 20 percent of births involving shoulder dystocia result in the baby suffering serious injury. Examples include birth asphyxia, fractures of the humerus or collarbone, cuts, bruises or damage to the brachial plexus nerves, which can lead to paralysis of the arm and hand.

However, if a baby is determined to be at high risk for shoulder dystocia, preemptive c-sections can be performed to avoid the dangers associated with delivering a baby with shoulder dystocia. CALM is the tool of choice to predict this dangerous condition and give expecting parents some peace of mind about at least one aspect of birth. In making its prediction, the program weighs such factors as maternal history including previous shoulder dystocia and gestational diabetes, gestational age, estimated fetal weight, maternal weight and maternal height.

Though not perfect, CALM is the best tool we have to predict shoulder dystocia and can provide a measure of ease to expecting parents.

They can’t tell us what’s wrong so our fears are left unchecked. To make matters worse, symptoms that we would easily recognize in older children and adults are often different in babies.

Here’s your chance to learn about the most common medical conditions that are difficult to spot in children younger than 2, and help your pediatrician make the right diagnosis.

Type I Diabetes

The early signs of type I diabetes often mimic symptoms of common illnesses like the flu or can even be mistaken for healthy, thriving behavior. Parents are likely to consider increased thirst and appetite a great sign that healthy growth is proceeding as it should. More frequent urination can also be chalked up to a side effect of that “growth spurt.”

Children with type I diabetes are often tired, but then again, most babies are. And what about the fruity-smelling breath that’s another sign? Parents are likely to delight in that. Lastly, your child will not be able to alert you to the blurring of her eyesight.

The best way to diagnose type I diabetes may be the proactive step of requesting a blood sugar or urine sugar test before your suspicions are aroused. Even if your baby begins showing more serious signs of type I diabetes, they can often be misdiagnosed with pneumonia or gastroenteritis leaving the diabetes untreated which can cascade out of control leaving your baby in the intensive care unit.

Keep an eye out for the early warning signs and note any changes in your baby’s behavior. Type I diabetes does not run in families so you can not use that as a predictor. Most of the time, no known relative has the disease.

Head Injuries

If you see your baby fall and then later develop vomiting, that’s an undeniable sign of a brain trauma which needs medical attention. New research reveals most children with head trauma should not receive an immediate CAT scan but should be watched closely. However, head injuries accompanied by vomiting should at least be looked at by a doctor.

But what if you don’t see your baby hit her head? What if it happened while a caregiver was watching her while you were at work and you were not notified? Vomiting can be quite normal for young children. What you want to look for are changes in your baby’s pupils, lethargy, sensitivity to light, increased emotional displays, confusion and whether or not your baby continues to move normally.

No one knows your baby better than you, if you suspect she’s just not herself and displaying a combination of the above symptoms, tip your doctor off that a head injury should be considered.

Epilepsy

Think epilepsy is a no-brainer diagnosis? Think again. In babies, symptoms are different. A common type of seizure in young children involves nothing more than staring.

It can appear as if your baby is just zoning out. The key factor is whether or not you are able to snap your baby out of it. If you can snap your fingers and she responds, then that is normal.

However, if nothing distracts her from the staring behavior, a neurological examination is likely a good idea. If you can, video tape the staring behavior so your doctor can have as much information as possible with which to make the diagnosis. Use a phone video camera if necessary, even a short video can help immensely.

Pertussis (Whooping Cough)

Kids with pertussis cough so hard they can vomit. However, the characteristic whooping sound is rare in babies younger than 6-months-old which makes their symptoms look very much like those of pneumonia, asthma, croup or a viral upper-respiratory infection.

To make matters worse, babies with pertussis may not even cough at all and babies younger than 6 months are the most at risk of serious complications from pertussis.

Signs of serious pertussis are enough to send any parent to the emergency room, but it does not have to get that far. The best way to protect your baby from pertussis is for you and all other caregivers to get a booster vaccination.

Today’s researchers are now finding that many things that we traditionally thought of as innate human traits such as happiness and talent are actually more a result of nurture instead of nature. That means that we have control over how happy or talented we are. It’s a mistaken belief to think that some people are born more talented or happy than others. Studies show that talented and happy are the way they are because of their actions and behaviors, not any innate trait.

I recently read a fascinating review by Nancy Shute of USNews.com of the latest book to show us that there are many steps we can take to make ourselves happier parents. The book, Raising Happiness, was written by Christine Carter, a sociologist who studies happiness and also a mother.

Carter’s advice to parents is founded on solid science and provides often simple solutions such as why praise is a much more powerful tool to promote good behavior than punishment or nagging.

The book review mentions two simple steps to more familial happiness. You determine when you are happiest with your kids and what part of your normal day with your family routinely causes suffering. Step two is to structure your day so that you routinely get those happiest moments every day and so that you eliminate those routine pain points.

The review gives the example of bed-time reading being the favorite time of day for the author, but she couldn’t always be home at that time so she switched the bed-time reading to after-school reading so she could be sure she would have that time.

Another thing the author did at that bed-time reading session was to talk with her children about three good things that happened that day. This is another simple but powerful technique that research has shown makes significant improvements in happiness and self-confidence.

The review said that Raising Happiness is full of simple, powerful steps you can take to increase your happiness as a parent and the happiness of your children. It comes well-recommended.

Right now, they’re giving away free car seat IDs. Now is your chance to be better safe than sorry. Car seat ID tags may not seam very important now, but in the event you happen to be involved in a car wreck, truck accident or other type of traffic injury, a car seat ID will provide potentially life saving information to emergency responders, not to mention family contact numbers.

All car seat IDs from My Precious Kid come with self sealing lamination and a luggage loop. To be eligible to receive one of the free IDs, you must currently be pregnant or have given birth or adopted a baby on or after August 1, 2009. If you are not eligible, the IDs are available for sale also.

In addition to this offering, the blog boasts great information like how to obtain free stuff (diapers, etc) for your baby, and insightful product reviews. I recommend a visit to all my parent readers.

The problem is that maintaining our children in a hyper-clean state prevents their immune system from functioning effectively and can cause autoimmune system disorders such as multiple sclerosis, Type 1 Diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, asthma and allergies.

Scientists liken infants’ immune systems to unprogrammed computers that need instruction. Exposure to organisms trains our developing immune systems and provides that instruction. Exposure to organisms gives infants’ immune systems ‘practice’ but also allows it to learn what not to respond to. If our immune system never learns what not to respond to, it could mistake our own tissues for a dangerous organism and an autoimmune disorder is born.

Babies instinctively put everything in their mouth for a reason, they need exposure to many different organisms. The average human harbors 90 trillion microbes which contribute to our health. Young immune systems have a lot to learn in a short period of time so that it doesn’t kill off the helpful organisms along with harmful ones.

For more information, read Dr. Mary Ruebush’s “Why Dirt Is Good.” Another potentially important consequence of living in a hyper-clean world is that humans rarely harbor intestinal worms any more. While that sounds like a great thing to me, researchers have used harmless intestinal worms to both prevent and reverse autoimmune diseases. Dr. Joel V. Weinstock and Dr. David Elliot are at the forefront of this research.

They point out that children who grow up on farms are frequently exposed to these harmless worms and as a result are much less likely to develop allergies and autoimmune disorders. The doctors suggest allowing your children to have “two dogs and a cat” so your children’s immune system can benefit from exposure to a large array or organisms.

It is difficult to do everything well, and this is another example of that reality. These convertible seats purport to “grow with your child” but in the end may do more harm than good. That said, not all convertible seats are dangerous. Parents should consult the Institute’s test results to identify their particular model before discarding it for a new one.

The booster seats that turned out to be dangerous did a poor job of properly placing the shoulder and lap belts in the appropriate places relative to a child’s body. No recalls have been announced yet, but the results were announced only yesterday. If you cannot afford a new seat, remember that even a substandard seat is better than using an adult seatbelt on a child.

The Best Child Booster Seats

• Britax Frontier: model: #E9B54H6

• Clek Oobr: model: #OBM1U

• Combi Dakota backless with clip:  model: #882066

• Cosco Juvenile Pronto, models #22491/#22255/#22275

• Eddie Bauer Auto Booster, models #22888/#22829

• Evenflo Big Kid Amp backless with clip, models #3401913/#340XXXX

• Cosco Juvenile Pronto: models #22491/22255/22275

• Eddie Bauer Auto Booster models #22888/22829

• Evenflo Big Kid Amp backless with clip models: #3401913/340XXXX

• Maxi-Cosi Rodi XR, model #22223-CIP

• Recaro Vivo, model #351.00.MM14

• Recaro Young Sport, model #340.00.MM14

• Maxi-Cosi Rodi XR model #22223-CIP

• Recaro Vivo model #351.00.MM14

• Recaro Young Sport model #340.00.MM14

The Worst Child Booster Seats

• Alpha Omega model: #22469

• Alpha Omega Elite models #22149/22148

• Alpha Omega Luxe Echelon model: #22799

• Combi Kobuk, model #8970

• Eddie Bauer Deluxe, models #22800/#22862/#22865

• Eddie Bauer Deluxe 3-in-1, model #22790/#22795

• Combi Kobuk model #8970

• Eddie Bauer Deluxe models #22800/22862/22865

• Eddie Bauer Deluxe 3-in-1 models #22790/22795

• Evenflo Express, models #3292198/#329XXX

• Evenflo Sightseer, models #2692198/#269XXX

• Harmony Secure Comfort Deluxe backless with clip, model #0304001DRM

• Evenflo Express models #3292198/329XXX

• Evenflo Sightseer models #2692198/269XXX

• Harmony Secure Comfort Deluxe backless with clip models #0304001DRM/22178/#22177

• Safety 1st Alpha Omega Elite, models #22465/#22456/#22195/#22187

• Safety 1st All-in-One models #22178/22177

• Safety 1st Alpha Omega Elite models #22465/22456/22195/22187

Stocking hangers have become popular as a way to hang those well-loved holiday stockings without drilling holes or using other hardware in you home. These heavily weighted ornaments come in all shapes and sizes: stars, penguins, reindeer, you name it.

However, the stockings that hang from them are very attractive to children, with their bright colors, bells and bows. Within one hour of a Florida mother hanging a stocking on a star shaped hanger, her 18-month-old son pulled on the stocking causing the heavy hanger to fall off the mantel and strike him right between the eyes. Luckily his father was a plastic surgeon with some surgical supplies at home. He patched the boy up on the spot.

Not every child has been so lucky. Another suffered a deep puncture wound to the forehead and another child’s toe was crushed from these heavy stocking hangers. No deaths have been reported yet, but one child began vomiting (a symptom of brain trauma) after a stocking hanger fell on his head. He suffered no permanent injury.

Most of the injuries children suffer from falling stocking hangers probably hurt the parents more than the children. The vomiting boy’s mother said she was sick to her stomach with worry as she rushed her boy to the emergency room. For that reason alone, I’d keep my hangers packed and save them for later years.

Dads have to be careful too during the holidays. The Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that 13,000 Americans suffer holiday decoration related injuries that require emergency room treatment. Whether it’s falling from a ladder or a staple gun accident, the holidays are not a time to throw caution to the wind.

When you’re cutting through packaging, slow down. Also Make sure your candles are in safe places. Both these situations have caused injuries in holidays past. Make your holiday a merry one. Play it safe.