During the last 30 years, prescription drug usage during the first trimester of pregnancy has increased by over 60%, raising new safety concerns. “We seem to have forgotten as a society that drugs pose risks,” says Dr. Allen A. Mitchell, professor of epidemiology and pediatrics at Boston University Schools of Public Health and Medicine. “Many over-the-counter drugs were grandfathered in with no studies of their possible effects during pregnancy.”

The New York Times, 2/26/2013

The number of pets ingesting human prescriptions is on the rise, partly due to the amount of gelatin used in capsules. To prevent your pet from getting into your prescriptions, always make sure your medicines are out of reach and stored in a locked cabinet. In case your dog or cat does ingest your medication, have a number on speed dial for a pet poison hotline. When you call this hotline, give ALL available information, from the drug name to the dosage. This will help the vet or technician identify the most effective remedy.

The Wall Street Journal, 2/12/2013

The modern workplace has developed lots of tools for promoting cooperation and teamwork, says Bruce Feiler, and we can use them at home too. A new generation of parents is taking solutions from the workplace and transferring them to the home. Feiler writes, "A central plank is accountability. Teams use 'information radiators'—large, public boards on which people mark their progress. The Starrs, for instance, created a morning checklist of chores, which each child is responsible for ticking off." During family meetings, Feiler advises, "First, empower the children. The key to the meeting is to let the kids spick their own rewards and punishments." Feiler's intriguing essay on running a family like a business is adapted from his new book, "The Secrets of Happy Families: Improve Your Mornings, Rethink Family Dinner, Fight Smarter, Go Out and Play, and Much More." 

The Wall Street Journal, 2/10/2013

The parents of Richard Fee, who committed suicide in November 2011, say they begged their son's doctors not to prescribe Adderall, an amphetamine to which Richard had become addicted. Richard's story highlights widespread failings in the psychiatric system through which five million Americans take medication for A.D.H.D. Although the medications can significantly improve the lives of people with the disorder, the tunnel-like focus the medicines provide has led growing numbers of teenagers and young adults to fake symptoms to obtain prescriptions for highly addictive medications that carry serious psychological dangers. Meanwhile, many doctors skip established diagnostic procedures, renew prescriptions and spend too little time with patients to accurately monitor side effects.

The New York Times, 2/3/2013

According to a report in the Journal of Adolescence, teens who share their secrets are more confident in social situations than others who keep secrets to themselves.

The Wall Street Journal, 2/5/2013

At-home dads are putting a masculine stamp on child-rearing and home life that could have significant benefits down the road. The lead author of a recent study on at-home fathers, Gokcen Coskuner-Balli, an assistant professor of marketing at Chapman University in Orange, CA, says,"Just as we saw the feminization of the workplace in the past few decades, with more emphasis on such skills as empathy and listening, we are seeing the opposite at home--a masculization of domestic tasks and routines."

The Wall Street Journal, 1/23/2013

Women who suppress lingering doubts are more likely to seek a divorce later, according to a study published in the current issue of The Journal of Family Psychology. Justin A. Lavner, a doctoral student in psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles, says, "Having doubts before marriage is not only common, it predicted a higher divorce rate for women and more dissatisfaction in marriages for men and women" as compared to newlyweds who had no doubts.

The New York Times, 1/22/2013

In schools across the country, teachers are beginning to reward well-behaved students rather than point out the misbehaved ones. Utilizing techniques such as "active ignoring" is part of a treatment known as teacher-child interaction therapy" (TCIT). The goal is to improve the instructor's capability to reduce disruptive classroom behaviors in order to focus on teaching. At the League School, a 130-student school and day-treatment program for children who have a psychiatric diagnosis and a demonstrated history of disruptive or aggressive behaviors, the Child Mind Institute has been training teachers in TCIT. First-grade teacher Tara Irizarry claims ignoring bad behavior is the hardest part of applying the new techniques. In some cases, unruly students are brought to a quiet place where they calm down and have a moment to contemplate their actions. Since the implementation of TCIT in some League classrooms, disruptive incidents have dropped 32% to 1,500 over the last school year.

The Wall Street Journal, 1/15/2013

"The Digital Divide: How the Online Behavior of Teens is Getting Past Parents” is a new study sponsored by online security company McAfee. Half of the teens surveyed said they would change their online behavior if they knew their parents were watching, and more than 70 percent said they have actively done something to hide their online activity. Experts say iPads present the biggest electronics challenge for parents today.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 1/9/2013

Across the country, parents are struggling through what many of us thought would come easily: a modern, authentic split-down-the-middle approach to parenting. This approach may seem like it should be ideal, but, in practice, it's leading to unprecedented levels of stress and resentment. One father, Steve Majors, explains it well: “Experts suggest couples talk about money, commitment, buying a home, religion. ... Nobody tells you to have the conversation about division of labor, about how kids add an extraordinary level of work.” Having a discussion about what "equal" means and actually developing a strategy to achieve it (including standing up against gender stereotypes) is something that many couples say they wish they had done before they had their first child.

The Washington Post, 1/3/2013

As more and more grade schools drop recess from their schedules, members of the American Academy of Pediatrics are speaking out in hopes of reversing the trend, pointing to recess’s benefits to both learning and health, and arguing that kids need daily recess to keep them mentally sharp and physically healthy.  

NBC News, 12/31/2012