Is Your Kid a Twitter Addict?

Last updated on March 9th, 2018 at 10:37 am

Social media certainly has its place in a teen’s life. But as a parent, one of our most important roles these days is not to let our teens become “twidiots” or twitter addicts.

With its infamous 140-charater limit, Twitter hosts stars with millions of followers (hello, Charlie Sheen, Oprah, Kim Kardashian). When teen idol Miley Cyrus decided to fire up her Twitter account again a couple of months ago, it became semi-big news.

Twitter and Facebook dominate the news far too much, if you ask me. The media’s love affair with social media knows no bounds — and it’s out of control.

The problem is there are real dangers that your Twitter-obsessed teen – or anyone who uses the microblogging service – must keep in mind. Here are the two big ones:

Phishing Scams: First of all, Twitter users are repeatedly the target of phishing scams. Scammers send direct messages or tweets that include a generic message (such as “You’re on this video” or “I think I see you here”) to get people to click on a link. The link takes you to a fake Twitter page that asks you to log in with your username and password, which the scammer then uses to hijack your account.

Malware:  Second, fake Twitter profiles have been used to spread malicious software (known as malware). Many times, scammers use fake celebrity profiles or fake news about celebrities to lure you in. These profiles and tweets look legit. But they are created to infect your computer with malware that lets the scammer use your computer to send spam, install spyware, steal your identity or launch attacks on other computers.

I’m not suggesting that your teen should never tweet. I’m just advocating social-media life balance. Tell your teen why it’s a good idea to take his eyes off the screen and take a break from Twitter. Then, set some clear Twitter rules for your kids:

  • Post no more than one or two tweets per day. Unless your kids have a very compelling reason for sending more (they won’t), this shouldn’t be an issue.
  • Don’t auto-follow everyone. Are more than a couple of hundred followers really necessary? Do you really want a bunch of strangers constantly knowing what your kid is doing and thinking?
  • Beware of phishing and malware. Educate your kid about the phishing scams and malware risks out there. Knowing what to look for will help them avoid trouble.
  • Know that mom/dad is watching. Let your kids know you’ll be following them too. 



March 28, 2012 | Filed Under Community | Leave a Comment 

PedSafe Weekly Tweet Roundup: 03-19-2012 to 03-25-2012

Last updated on March 3rd, 2018 at 11:11 am

Welcome to Pediatric Safety’s “Weekly Tweet Roundup”– a recap of the past week’s child health and safety news from around the world.

Each day we strive to tweet relevant and timely health and safety information for parents, medical professionals and other caregivers. Occasionally we may miss something, but we think overall we’re doing pretty well at keeping you informed. But for our friends and colleagues who are not on Twitter (or who are but may have missed something), we offer you a recap of the past week’s top 25 tweet-worthy events.

PedSafe Tweet of the Week:

**RECALL: CPSC recalls over 1 million Safety 1st Push ‘N Snap child safety cabinet locks http://t.co/oZHNWWvi

March 27, 2012 | Filed Under Awareness | Leave a Comment 

Beware of Falling Furniture

Last updated on March 3rd, 2018 at 11:11 am

Be honest. Most of us do not consider the furniture in our homes or even the television to be dangerous to our children. The kids run and play and laugh and occasionally knock over a chair or bump into a desk or fall off the furniture but that seems to be the extent of our worry when it comes to furniture. Well according to a new study furniture related injuries are on the rise and if your kids are anything like mine, we have some work to do.

According to the study conducted by the U.S Consumer Product Safety Commission, most furniture tip-over-related injuries occurred among children younger than 7 years of age and resulted from televisions tipping over. More than one quarter of the injuries occurred when children pulled over or climbed on furniture. Children ages 10-17 years were more likely to suffer injuries from desks, cabinets or bookshelves tipping over. Head and neck injuries were most common among younger children, while children older than 9 years were more likely to suffer injuries to the lower body.

Despite warnings from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the number of injuries involving televisions and other furniture tipping over onto children has increased in this country since the early 1990s.

“There was a more than 40 percent increase in the number of injuries during the study period, and the injury rate also significantly increased during these years,” said study senior author Gary Smith, MD, DrPH, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. “This trend demonstrates the inadequacy of current prevention strategies and underscores the need for increased prevention efforts.”

So what can we as parents do? Parents can minimize risks to children by placing televisions low to the ground and near the back of their stands and strapping televisions and furniture to the wall with safety straps or L-brackets. Purchasing furniture with wide legs or with solid bases, installing drawer stops on chests of drawers and placing heavy items close to the floor on shelves will also help prevent tip-overs. Additionally, parents can reduce a child’s desire to climb furniture by not placing attractive items, such as toys or the remote control, high on top of furniture or the television.

Caregivers and even those of us in the emergency medicine field should be aware that furniture tip-overs are an important source of childhood injury and that education geared towards simple prevention steps will decrease the number of injuries to children associated with furniture tip-overs.”

March 26, 2012 | Filed Under Community | Leave a Comment 

PedSafe Weekly Tweet Roundup: 03-12-2012 to 03-18-2012

Last updated on March 3rd, 2018 at 11:11 am

Welcome to Pediatric Safety’s “Weekly Tweet Roundup”- a recap of the past week’s child health and safety news from around the world.

Each day we strive to tweet relevant and timely health and safety information for parents, medical professionals and other caregivers. Occasionally we may miss something, but we think overall we’re doing pretty well at keeping you informed. But for our friends and colleagues who are not on Twitter (or who are but may have missed something), we offer you a recap of the past week’s top 25 tweet-worthy events.

PedSafe Tweet of the Week:

Protect Your Child from Household Poisons – Fantastic article by EMS World
http://t.co/k6HDG9oy Please RT!

March 20, 2012 | Filed Under Awareness | Leave a Comment 

What Age Should Your Child Start Swimming Lessons?

Last updated on March 21st, 2012 at 12:05 pm

Most parents wait until their children are school-age to start swimming lessons. After all, most children don’t have the physical coordination to truly master swimming until they are older. They may look at the parent-and-tot classes and think, ‘they are just playing, do I really need to pull on my bathing suit for that?’

The answer is unequivocally YES! Children ages 1-4 have the highest drowning rate worldwide of all age groups. In the U.S., children ages 1-4 usually drown in private pools, were being supervised, but were out of sight of one or both parents for under 5 minutes. It only takes 2 minutes and 2 inches of water to drown. Pretty scary stuff. The great news is that participation in formal swimming lessons is associated with an 88% reduction in the risk of drowning in 1-4 year olds and even informal swimming lessons reduce the risk, which means just taking your child into the water with you and playing ‘safety games’ can make them safer around water. For some fun informal games check out last month’s blog “Fun water safety games! Survival skills for your child” again.

What type of swimming lessons should you consider? Lessons for young children run the gamut from ‘survival skills’ to what appears to just be games with nursery songs. As a mother and an expert in drowning prevention I am strongly in favor of the ‘games’ option. Those games are key to teaching children to feel comfortable in the water as well as forming the basis for teaching elemental skills that are the foundation of swimming.

Some parents become so afraid of drowning that they hope to instill fear of the water into their child in the belief that their child is more likely to stay away from the water. Nothing could be further from the truth, or more dangerous. Fear leads to panic. If a child falls into the water unexpectedly you want them to remain calm, to turn on their back and float, kick for the side, kick and paddle, grab the side and hold on, do monkey hands to the nearest steps or ladder – anything but panic. Early classes will not only keep a child from drowning, but they can buy you that extra minute or two to notice your child is missing.

Some infant survival classes initiate children into the water so abruptly that it is frightening to a child and may take years to undo the damage. A good rule of thumb is to observe a class. If parents are asked to leave the area, if children are crying (beyond the normal apprehension that does occur with some children which should be handled with gentle understanding), if you ever see an instructor force a child’s head under the water, find a different class.

Helping your child develop a safe and respectful attitude towards water, while still having fun, will keep them safe for their whole life. And singing ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ to your baby while you teach them to float on their back is really very magical.

Fun water safety games! Survival skills for your child

March 19, 2012 | Filed Under Community | 2 Comments 

Tanning Beds and Teens – A Toxic Combination?

Last updated on August 30th, 2015 at 06:15 pm

With near-record temperatures this week throughout much of the US, it feels like spring has already arrived. And it is true that Spring Break is just around the corner.

Tanning salons also feel spring has arrived, judging by all the ads and billboards around town. These ads often target young women – even teens – giving lists of reasons to tan that include spring break, homecoming and Prom! After all, what young girl doesn’t want a nice glow on vacation – or to offset that special dress?

Unfortunately, that glow often comes at a price much higher than the cost of a tanning membership. When we think about skin cancer we usually picture a 60 year-old white man. However, over the past 30 years, skin cancer rates have increased significantly among young women – melanoma increased by 50%, basal cell carcinoma rates more than doubled, and squamous cell carcinoma increased by 700 percent (see skincancer.org and cancer.gov). Young women now have a higher probability of developing melanoma than any other cancer – except breast cancer. In another decade our daughters and nieces may be doing walks for melanoma instead of breast cancer – only they will need to be held at night…or in the local shopping mall.

Numerous scientific studies have shown a link between indoor tanning and skin cancer. Some show that cancer risk is increased by 70% or more for indoor tanners – and that risk is higher for those who started tanning at younger ages. Given that national tanning rates for teen girls range from 9% at age 14 to 27% (more than one in four) by age 17, the use of tanning beds by teens has become a national public health issue.

In fact, last year California banned the use of tanning beds by those under 18, with many other states currently debating similar legislation. In testimony this month to the Connecticut Public Health Committee in support of the state’s proposed teen tanning law, Dr. Philip Kerr, a prominent dermatologist, stated that “the science is clear – if you use indoor tanning beds, your risk of developing skin cancer significantly increases.”

The issue driving such legislation is that young people are often not well informed about the risks of indoor tanning or don’t take them seriously – and current restrictions and guidelines designed to protect teens are not working. Dr Kerr points out that teen girls are three times more likely than women in their early twenties to believe that tanning beds do not cause skin cancer. Furthermore, an undercover congressional investigation revealed that “90 percent of tanning salons denied the known risks of indoor tanning.” Salons also fail to abide by FDA-recommended limits on and spacing of initial tanning visits. Their “unlimited tanning” and membership deals fly directly in the face of these guidelines and the science behind skin cancer.

So what is a concerned parent to do? Changing the beauty norm for young women – particularly during the challenging teen years – is an uphill battle, especially if we adults also reinforce the desire for a golden tan. However, information about the dangers of indoor tanning can help. Make sure you and your teen read the congressional investigative report because her local tanning salon will direct her to lots of slick industry-sponsored websites that try to refute the so-called “myths and hype” about indoor tanning risks. But if preventing your teen from tanning doesn’t seem realistic, be sure she is aware of the riskiest practices as outlined by the FDA, such as skipping the goggles and starting with long exposures. Also, make use of the regulations that may exist in your state. Although under-age tanning isn’t yet banned in most of the country, many states require parental permission – either written or in-person. This can help you monitor, and mould, your teen’s tanning habits.

March 16, 2012 | Filed Under Community | 2 Comments