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Top 10 Summer Health Concerns for Kids

As we slide into summer, parents are weighing in on the summer health risks they see for their adolescent children.

Sunburn, bee stings, and heat strokes made the list. So did concerns such as online safety and knowing how to handle an unsafe situation.

That's according to an online survey taken by 542 parents of kids aged 10-13 years.

Nearly one in four parents are "extremely" or "very" concerned about their school-aged child's health during summer break, the survey shows.

The survey, conducted by the National Parent Teacher Association's survey, was funded by the drug company GlaxoSmithKline.

Parents' Summer Health Concerns

The parents rated a list of 10 health issues related to their young adolescent.

Here is that list, along with the percentages of parents noting concern about those issues:

Knowing what to do in an unsafe situation: 77%
Understanding how to be safe online: 75%
Making healthy food choices: 71%
Getting a sunburn: 61%
Getting injured while playing sports: 56%
Getting bitten by a tick: 46%
Swimming or playing at a pool, lake, or beach not attended by a lifeguard: 46%
Getting stung by a bee or wasp: 44%
Suffering from heat/sun stroke or dehydration: 44%
Being exposed to an infectious disease: 42%

Almost all parents -- 95% -- said they want their child to be active and fit over the summer.

Nearly a quarter said their child doesn't get enough exercise over the summer.

About half said their child spends too much time watching TV or playing video games.

Parents' Stay-Safe Summer Strategies

The parents also rated how likely they were to take certain steps to keep preteens and young teens healthy over the summer.

Here are the eight steps most frequently chosen:

Maintain open communication with him/her: 92%
Provide him/her with healthy food choices: 81%
Insist that he/she wear sunscreen: 75%
Talk to him/her about Internet safety: 71%
Ensure that he/she takes a bottle of water with him/her every day: 68%
Make sure his/her vaccinations are up to date: 62%
Teach him/her 911 protocols: 61%
Teach him/her first aid protocols: 52%

Let us enjoy summer and have fun - safely!

Tips for Preventing Dehydration in Children

Drink water or sports drinks. Water is fine, but a flavored beverage may be preferable for preventing dehydration because children may drink more of it, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

Fruit juice may be fine for kids participating in lighter activity, but sports drinks are better for the more active child, says Steven Parker, MD, co- author of the 1998 edition of Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care.

Be prepared. Before training and competitions, children should be well- hydrated

Get on schedule. Active or athletic children should drink fluids on a regular basis. Create a "fluid schedule" in which your child drinks a certain amount of fluids before, during, and after practices, games, and competitions. Children should drink more if they are working out in hot, humid, sunny conditions, or if they sweat heavily.

Steps to Take During Sports Activities

Drink early. By the time a child is thirsty, he or she may already be dehydrated.

Drink enough. The AAP suggests that a child weighing about 88 pounds drink 5 ounces of cold tap water or a flavored beverage every 20 minutes. Children and teens weighing 132 pounds should drink 9 ounces of cold tap water or a flavored beverage like a sports drink every 20 minutes. One ounce typically equals two kid-size gulps.

What to avoid: dehydrating beverages such as caffeinated beverages (sodas, iced tea). The caffeine is a diuretic, meaning it causes the child to lose more fluid.

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Why we celebrate Thanksgiving Day?

Many Americans think of Thanksgiving as a long weekend to gather with family and friends and savor a big feast with turkey, pumpkin pie, sweet potatoes and cranberries and more.

After the first harvest in the New World in October 1621, the "First Thanksgiving" was celebrated by the Pilgrims. A celebration of autumn harvest. Both the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared the joy of blessings from above.

The colonists hunted for turkeys in the 1621 and turkey is a uniquely American bird and by tradition it became a must choice as Thanksgiving meal for Americans.

The Thanksgiving holiday was used to teach children about American freedom and how to be good citizens.

May we go back to basics and listen to Governor William Bradford of the 1620 Pilgrim Colony who proclaimed :

"All ye Pilgrims with your wives and little ones, do gather at the Meeting House,

on the hill… there to listen to the pastor, and render Thanksgiving to

the Almighty God for all His blessings."

And keep listening to President Abraham Lincoln who proclaimed, by Act of Congress, on October 3, 1863, an annual National Day of Thanksgiving "a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens." In this Thanksgiving proclamation, our 16th President says that it is…

"…announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord… But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, by the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own… It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people…"

Thanksgiving is a day to celebrate best cooking from Mama or Grand-mama or best restaurant in town.

THEREFORE - let us teach our children and young and renew in the homes, churches, schools, communities and the nation the true meaning of Thanksgiving Day. To acknowledge God Almighty as our provider and who multiplies the work of our hands and blesses us everyday.

The future is coming - let us look back to the past foundations of this great nation and country.

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