Center for Pediatric Therapies

Sharing CPT Blog

Sharing CPT Blog

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Halloween and Kids

It’s time for costumes, jack-o-lanterns, and lots of candy!  Some things to remember as you and your children celebrate:

1.) Supervise your children while they are carving pumpkins.  Unfortunately, emergency rooms see a lot of children come in over Halloween with injuries to their hands from sharp knives.  Purchase special pumpkin carving tools for your children which are smaller, not as sharp, and easier to control.  Stabilize the pumpkin as your carve, and make sure your children are not putting their hands inside the pumpkin while they cut.  Remind them to point the knife down and away from them, and if they are young, let them draw the pattern and then cut it out for them so that they do not have to use a knife.

2.) Limit how much candy your child eats at one time.  Make sure they eat a healthy dinner before trick-or-treating so that they do not just consume candy on Halloween night.  Don’t allow your child to store the candy in his or her room — this could be an irresistible temptation for some kids.  Always supervise how much candy your child is eating at one sitting.

3.) Send an adult to trick-or-treat with younger children.  They could be scared by some costumes older children wear and will feel safer with an adult.  Also, cars can be a concern for younger children walking on the street in the dark.

Stay safe, and have a happy Halloween!

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The Importance of Play for Child Development

Despite the pressure that parents often feel to schedule their children’s every activity, it is important not to over-schedule your child.  Make sure you are leaving your child with enough free time to encourage good, old-fashioned play.  Research has shown that that play is essential to a child’s development.  Play contributes to the cognitive, social, emotional, and physical well-being of children.  Leaving your child with unstructured time to play in whatever way he or she chooses offers all of the following benefits:

  • Play encourages a child’s creativity and imagination — they make up their own games and create their own imaginary world.  Creativity and imagination are an important part of brain development.
  • Play allows an opportunity for a child to work out his or her feelings, fears, and frustrations about things.  For example, a child can address fears at school by playing the role of teacher and helping her “students”. 
  • Play helps children learn, as they engage and interact with the world around them.
  • Play builds self-esteem.  As children master their play world, they gain the confidence to face other challenges in the real world.
  • Play encourages children to develop social skills, as they interact with inanimate objects, and later, other children.  They learn to share, negotiate, and empathize with others. 
  • Play allows children to discover what their interests are and what they enjoy.  Eventually, they may discover passions they wish to pursue.
  • Play builds active, healthy bodies and increases physical activity levels in children.
  • When parents play with their children, parents and children learn to communicate better with one another and build their parent-child relationship.
  • Play helps children with language development.  As children talk repeatedly during play, they enhance their language skills through repetition of words.
  • Play is also important simply because it is how children experience fun and joy that should be a cherished part of childhood!

Don’t let play get lost amidst the business of school and other structured activities.  A child whose every moment is scheduled loses out on all of the ways that play contributes to development.

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Are your Kids Watching Too Much Television?

Although television can be an easy way to let kids entertain themselves, too much time in front of the tv can be detrimental to your children’s health.  A sedentary lifestyle can lead to obesity, high blood pressure, and other health problems.  Researchers have also found that each hour of daily time in front of the television for children under the age of 3 led to lower scores on their developmental tests in math, reading recognition, and reading comprehension at ages 6 and 7.  So what can you do to limit your child’s time in front of the tv?  Here are some ideas:

1. Keep televisions out of bedrooms so that you can more easily keep track of when your child is watching tv.

2. Have the television be off-limits at certain days or times — you might want to limit tv to just the weekends, for instance, or limit it to only after-dinner.

3. Set a restriction on how much tv your child is allowed to watch — one hour a day, for example.

4. Turn the television off during meals and make that family time instead.

5. Make television a privilege, not a right.  Tell children they can only watch tv after their homework is finished and their chores are completed.

6. Suggest fun alternatives to television, like reading, games, physical activities outside, crafts, etc.  

7. Try playing with your children or going for family walks to distract them.

8. Don’t allow your kids to watch tv while they are doing something else — they don’t need to have it on as “background” noise.

9. Ask other parents about their tv-watching policies and look for ideas to use in your household. 

10. Be a good role model — if they see that you turn on the tv when you come home, it will be harder for you to enforce rules about the television.

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Backpack Safety for Children

With schools back in full swing, your children are probably lugging full backpacks back and forth from home to school.  But what are the potential health consequences for carrying a heavy pack around all day?  Studies have shown that heavy backpacks can cause shoulder, back, and neck pain when worn for an extended period of time.  So it  is important for you to help your child learn what to do to minimize his or her risk of developing back and shoulder pain.  Here are several things to keep in mind:

1. Do not overload the backpack.  Your child should not carry more than 15% of  his or her weight.

2. The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons recommends that a backpack hang two inches above a child’s waist for optimum fit.  The lower the backpack hangs, the more weight the shoulders have to carry.

3. Pack the backpack with the heavist items towards the back.

4. Get a backpack with wide, padded shoulder straps to keep them from digging into your child’s shoulder.

5. Tell your child to use both straps to avoid straining the muscles on one side.

6. To pick up a heavy backpack, your child should bend at the knees and lift with his or her legs.

7. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends using the waist/hip strap to distribute the weight when carrying a heavy load.

8. Encourage your children to use their locker or desk frequently throughout the day to avoid having to carry an entire day’s books in the backpack.

9. Make sure your child does not carry around unneccessary items in his or her backpack.

10. Ask your children to plan ahead and only bring home what they need for homework or studying each night.

Helping your child learn about the health consequences associated with heavy backpacks can keep them from developing back pain later in life.  So start teaching your children these backpack safety tips today!

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Children and Sleep

Since it is summertime, you may have relaxed your child’s bedtime, and you may be a bit more flexible when it comes to his or her sleep.  But when you begin to think about your child’s return to school, it is important to know how much sleep your child needs and how to help your child get the proper amount of sleep.

School-aged children need about 10-12 hours of sleep a night.  If they don’t get enough sleep, they will become hyper, disagreeable, and prone to extremes in behavior.  It can also make it difficult for your child to pay attention in school.  It is important to set a bedtime to make sure that your child is getting enough rest each night.  Remind your child when the bedtime is getting close and encourage them to start getting ready.  Be firm in sticking to their bedtime.

It is also important to establish a bedtime routine to help your child fall asleep more easily.  Make sure to include a winding down period before bed.  Watching tv before going to bed can make it difficult to fall asleep.  Stick to things like a bedtime story or a song.  Having your child take a bath in the evening is also a good way to encourage him or her to calm down. Whatever bedtime routine you set, stick by it and follow the same sequence of events at the same time in the same order every night.  The predictability of the bedtime will make it easier for your child to relax and fall asleep.