What to Do if Your Child Loses a Baby Tooth Too Soon
Last updated on August 9th, 2026 at 04:32 pm
While baby teeth are not permanent and only last in a child’s mouth for a few years, they have an important role in the development of the jaw, muscles, and adult teeth. It is natural for baby teeth to fall out as the permanent teeth grow in to take their place. However, if a baby tooth is lost too soon, it can sometimes prevent proper development in the mouth. It may be necessary for your child to have a space maintainer put in to keep the space open until the permanent tooth comes in. This can save your child from extensive orthodontic work in the future.
Baby teeth can fall out early for a number of reasons. The most common causes are accidents resulting in tooth loss, or having to extract a baby tooth due to severe decay. Sometimes a baby tooth doesn’t even grow in at all. Whichever the case, an empty space in your child’s mouth can cause problems if the permanent tooth doesn’t grow in soon after. The teeth around the space can start to tilt and shift, resulting in insufficient space for the adult tooth to grow it.
A space maintainer can prevent improper development by keeping the space open until the permanent tooth grows in. There are several different types of space maintainers that can be used for treatment. Older children who are responsible in the care of their teeth might use a removable space maintainer. This appliance looks much like a retainer and is usually plastic. Other methods involve a fixed space maintainer, which is banded or cemented in place and is usually made of metal. Your dentist will help determine which type of space maintainer will work best for your child’s needs, and will make a custom appliance using impressions of your child’s teeth. The space maintainer is removed once the permanent tooth is ready to erupt.
If your child loses a tooth early, make an appointment with your dentist to discuss whether or not a space maintainer is necessary for development. While losing a baby tooth early does not always lead to complications, it is safe to have a professional’s opinion before letting it go too long. A space maintainer is a fairly simple solution to guiding teeth into place, and can prevent your child from having to endure a year or more of complicated orthodontic treatment.
3 Ways Music Improves Kids’ Learning, Relationships & Confidence
Last updated on August 9th, 2026 at 04:32 pm
When we think of music, often what comes to mind is song. We may think of Broadway musicals, Bach or Justin Timberlake. In our minds, we might imagine orchestras or pianists.
Music has been central to civilization for thousands of years. In fact, before we had language we used musical tones and sounds to communicate. The tone of a grunt signaled a message in our prehistoric ancestors, while the beat of a drum brought village people together in unity far and wide. What we think of a little less often is what music is made of and how it impacts our learning, behavior and social relationships.
Music is all around us as we hear the subway cling and clatter, the pitter-patter of our children’s footsteps and the ambient noise inherent in life. Music engages our sensory, motor and auditory pathways in the brain fostering engagement and synchronicity (Patel & Iverson, 2014).
Curiously, the ability to synchronize with a beat is associated with learning language and grammar (Corriveau & Goswami, 2009; Gordon et al., 2015). At its core music is made of beats and rhythms that create sound, melody and even movement. These beats and rhythms are meaningful scaffolds we can use in school, at home and in life to enhance foundational aspects of our learning, behavior and character.
Here are three ways to incorporate music into your family life to foster growth in learning, behavior, confidence, social relationships and character.
TRUST – Engaging in music with your children, classmates and workmates can enhance a sense of cohesion, emotional safety and trust. Our brains and bodies love to entrain, that is, join together in synchrony with others. Moving, tapping and singing in synchrony provide us with a felt-sense of togetherness, safety and trust. Consider for a moment, the smile on an infant’s face as he plays clapping games with his mother. Think about your own emotions as you walk by a classroom of students harmonizing in song.
“Musical engagement provides opportunities to improve social cohesion, psychological safety and trust in our relationships.”
What can you do? Sing more with others. Whether acapella, with the radio or as you complete your tasks of daily living, turn up the music and sing along. Choose songs that are known to all and enjoy the feeling of camaraderie and togetherness as you sing out that tune, together.
LEARNING – Even if you aren’t a musical performer, songs, chants, poems and raps are a wonderful way to learn academic knowledge. Music provides a rhythmic foundation on which to layer information in order to encode it and make it learned knowledge. Further, consistent beats, specifically in 4/4 time, stimulate the brain’s natural interest, comfort and familiarity with patterns and sequences. Help your children learn their math facts, historical knowledge, literature and foreign language saying simple repetitive words with rhythm for better encoding and retrieval of learned knowledge.
“We are musical beings, even our neurons fire like an orchestra.”
MOVE IT – Clapping, tapping, stepping, marching and bouncing to a beat provide a firm scaffold on which to layer learning. Start by clapping or stepping to a simple quarter note at 85-120 beats per minute and increase tempo as the children become familiar with the beat.
On the downbeat add the content to be learned, for example, C-A-T CAT. You can also say the words syllabically, HO – USE HOUSE with a double clap on the fourth beat. Imagine learning your history facts to a beat, “Abraham Lincoln, our 16th president, created Thanksgiving Day, he championed for freedom, as the children played.” Mix and match beats with rhythm, movements, sounds and words for an engaging social experience. The words can rhyme, but they don’t have to.
Music is magical. It has the ability to help us calm or energize, connect and reflect, enhancing our thinking skills, learning and character by engaging us as musical and prosocial beings.
Enjoy building confidence, character, and social connections as you chant, sing, move, and create to the sounds of music.
For more musical learning ideas see Musical Thinking and 70 Play Activities for Better Thinking, Self-Regulation, Learning and Behavior.
References:
- Corriveau K, Goswami U. (2009). Rhythmic motor entrainment in children with speech and language impairments: tapping to the beat. Cortex, 45: 119–130.
- Gordon R, Shivers C, Wieland E, Kotz S, Yoder P, McAuley J. (2015). Musical rhythm discrimination explains individual differences in grammar skills in children. Developmental Science, 18: 635–644.
- Patel, A. D., & Iversen, J. R. (2014). The evolutionary neuroscience of musical beat perception: the Action Simulation for Auditory Prediction (ASAP) hypothesis. Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience, 8, 57.
Helpful websites:
*****************************************************************************************************************************
Written for teachers, educators, and clinicians whose work involves playing, talking or teaching children who would benefit from better executive function and social-emotional learning skills, 70 Play Activities incorporates over 100 research studies into printable worksheets, handouts, and guided scripts with step-by-step directions, to empower children to learn and behave better. “With 70 Play Activities we aim to improve the trajectory of children’s learning by integrating the newest neuroscience with activities children love!” With over 70 activities designed to improve thinking, self-regulation, learning and behavior, your tool-kit will be full and your creative brain will be inspired to craft your own meaningful exercises. 70 Play Activities is available at amazon.com
Is it Time to Start Feeding Baby Solid Foods?
There comes a time in every baby’s life when the food on your plate starts to look better than what she’s been eating. Is it time to start feeding your baby solid foods?
Here are a few questions to consider when coming up with an answer:
- Is your baby around 6 months old?
- Can she sit up with support and hold her head up on her own?
- Does she show interest in solid foods, say, by watching you when you eat and opening her mouth or moving it as if chewing along?
- When you offer her a spoonful, does she take it into her mouth and move her jaw instead of pushing it out with her tongue?
- Has she doubled her birth weight (to about 13 pounds or more)?
- Is she still hungry after eating a full meal of breast milk or formula?
If the answer to these questions is yes, your baby may be ready for her foray into solid foods.
First foods
In the past, parents were advised to start with a single-grain cereal and introduce solid foods in a specific order: rice cereal, vegetables, fruit, and then meat. We now know there’s no scientific evidence showing that introducing foods in a specific order is necessary. Of course, it’s fine if you want to introduce foods in the traditional order, but if you think your baby is interested in trying a different food first, that’s OK, too.
The following guidelines do still apply:
- Introduce new foods one by one, waiting two to three days between each new food to watch for an allergic reaction, such as diarrhea, rash, or vomiting.
- While they’re called solid food, your baby’s first foods won’t actually be solid. Instead, the foods will be soft or pureed – what we generally think of as baby food and find in baby food jars at the store. If you like, you can also puree food in a blender or food processor. Just make sure everything is reduced to the point that it no longer requires chewing. You can also mix in a little breast milk or formula to make your baby’s first solid foods more familiar.
- Offer small bites – half a spoonful or a smidgen on the end of your fingertip is enough. And don’t expect your little one to start feeding himself yet. That will come a little later when he’s ready for finger foods.
- If your baby balks, don’t force it. Back off and return to breast milk or formula for a while. There’s plenty of time for your baby to learn to enjoy solid foods.
- Don’t forget breast milk or formula. Just because your baby has started solid foods doesn’t mean he’s ready to be weaned. On the contrary, breast milk and/or formula will continue to be an important part of your baby’s diet until he’s at least 12 months old.
As you begin feeding your baby solid foods, remember that mealtime is not only for eating – it’s an important social activity as well. So as your little one takes his first tastes, make it a family affair and enjoy your meal together. Bon appetit!
When and How to Treat a Fever: a Pediatrician’s Perspective
Last updated on August 9th, 2026 at 04:33 pm
I have posted in the past about fever and many of the myths surrounding it (Kids Will Get Sick: 5 Facts a Pediatrician Wants You To Know). In this post I would like to deal with the causes, nature of fever, benefits of fever, and some “treatments”. It is one of the most common reasons people bring their children to the Emergency room and probably among the least significant reasons for doing so.
Fever is a symptom of an illness such as cough, runny nose, headache, and many others and, except for the discomfort of the associated symptoms (chills, achiness, drowsiness, etc.) fever, in and of itself, does not need to be treated. As far as what is the definition of fever, it depends on the age of your child or infant. Just about any fever in an infant less than 3 months of age is considered to be significant for the purpose of evaluation. As your baby/child gets older the level of fever at which the concern rises does so with the height of the fever and the associated symptoms. Beyond the immediate newborn period (up to age 3 months) fever (or better termed higher than normal body temperature) is generally considered to be over 100.4 to 100.5 Fahrenheit.
Fever is part of the immune reaction that your body goes through to identify the offending agent and muster the resources to fight off that agent. Some studies have shown that the presence of fever helps your body fight off the disease in a more rapid and efficient way. As such, it is easy to see that in fighting off an illness, the reduction of that fever for its own sake is not necessarily the best thing to do. As I mentioned in my last post about fever, if your child is very uncomfortable due to the presence of fever, it certainly is reasonable to give a medicine such as Tylenol or Advil, but not just because the fever is there.
In an effort to reduce fever by worried parents many methods have been tried; such as placing a child in a cold bath or sponging with cold water, even to go as far as placing ice packs in supposedly strategic places. This would seem logical at first blush but in fact, human beings have a very good method of warming a cold body, and that is shivering, wherein the muscles go into a hypermetabolic state producing heat by metabolic processes. It is possible to place someone with a fever in a cold bath and have him or her come out with a higher temperature than before the bath. So the reasonable approach to comfortably lower a fever is to undress a child with fever but not enough to stimulate chills or shivering, place your child in a warm (skin temperature) bath of only a few inches of water and sponge off your child frequently allowing for natural evaporative processes to cool the skin. Offer your child plenty of cool fluids that will do some cooling from within as well as keeping him/her well hydrated- fever will cause extra fluid loss through sweating and the hypermetabolic state. Do not wrap your child in blankets just to “sweat the fever out” as doing this may also inadvertently raise fever, and increase fluid loss and discomfort- certainly covering the child enough to relieve chills and shivering is appropriate for comfort.
In trying to determine whether someone who runs a lower than “normal” natural body temperature is running a fever, just use the reading you get with the thermometer as the difference between a normal temperature and one that “runs low” is very small and would not be significant medically. Furthermore body temperatures vary throughout the 24 hour day in the same person- so when that “normally low” body temperature was taken becomes important.
So you can almost expect fever to accompany any illness of an infectious nature whether mild or severe. Keep calm, it is not the fever that is important, but the appearance, behavior and the presence of certain other symptoms that your Doctor with be most interested in when you call his office.
Empowering Children Through Chores
Last updated on August 9th, 2026 at 04:33 pm
I am a woman who had three kids in three years and found myself at a crossroads one day. I was so used to doing so much for my children because they were so close in age but suddenly they were able to start doing some things for themselves. I knew I needed to take the time to show them how, which was a struggle for me. So many times it is easier to just do things yourself. We took baby steps of course, changing the toilet paper roll, making a sandwich, putting away laundry. It took patience and time (on my part and theirs) but I soon noticed how much it did for my children.
I found that giving them chores is not only rewarding, it really empowers them. It builds their self confidence and makes them appreciate things in a different way. Food tastes better when they make it, a clean bathroom stays clean longer when they are the one that has done the dirty work. Here are some other things I have found:
It Helps Them With Decision Making And Negotiation Since I have three kids and many chores that need to be done, I give them a list and let them decide who does what. Of course this sometimes backfires and when this happens they know that I will just tell them who does what and the freedom of them deciding amongst themselves is gone. For that reason they are able to decide and negotiate. If my daughter got a fun chore, like collecting the chicken eggs yesterday, she knows that it is fair to let someone else have that chore and she can tackle something else, like folding the laundry.
It Keeps Them From Being Bored I try really hard to teach my kids that if they are bored it is their own fault. Life is too beautiful and precious to find yourself bored. Besides, there is always windows that need to be washed and closets to be cleaned out. Knowing that keeps their imaginations and their bodies working.
It Changes Their Moods I have seen my kids go from being antsy and naughty to acting confident and capable after they have completed a chore. They seem so proud that they have accomplished something and perhaps learned a new skill. I especially remember a time when my youngest was helping me weed the garden. At first he was fussy, too hot and too tired to help but before long he started asking me several questions about the flowers and herbs that we had planted. He wanted to know how to take care of them, how you get the seeds, how long they take to grow. He now saved seeds from the fruits and vegetables that he eats, dries the seeds out and plants them himself the following spring.
It Makes Them Feel Good To Help Out It can be so rewarding for them to see how happy it makes me to have have help, but when they take charge and do something that contributes to the household they feel a sense of pride. I don’t want them growing up thinking that all the work has to be done by the parents. When they feel capable to do one thing, they are willing to try another. And eventually, they feel good enough to teach someone else. That is true empowerment right there. I have seen it spread to other areas in their life too. Helping others is an important life skill that I want my kids to embrace.
It Is Preparing Them For Their Future Most of life involves hard work. I don’t care if you are talking about relationships or trying to thread a needle. It also takes patience, kindness, prioritizing and concentration. Being responsible and held accountable for jobs around the house (no matter how small) has prepared them for some of that.
Of course, like all families, we have shed many tears and thrown tantrums when it comes to doing chores. Life is not always easy, and neither is vacuuming the floor on a Sunday morning when you would rather be outside playing with the neighbors. But it has been a constant in our home and not only is my life is easier because of it, my kids truly feel empowered because they know how to load and run the dishwasher, work the washing machine and take care of all of our animals. And I can only hope that that they will empower their children in the same way.
Research Reveals the Myth of Family Dinner Time as Cure-all
Last updated on June 14th, 2026 at 07:33 pm
The clock is approaching 6:00 pm and your household is frazzled. Half the kids are still at soccer practice. You have to pick them up in 20 minutes. The younger kids are in “witching hour” mode and running around crazy and begging for snacks. You haven’t yet considered what will be on the menu for dinner.
Does this sound like your house? Many times family dinner time can easily turn into stressful time. Yet, we hear all the time that families who eat dinner together reap great benefits for themselves and their children.
Most of us have heard all the research about how important family dinners are to kids’ long-term outcomes. Just a few years ago, journalist and filmmaker Miriam Weinstein wrote a book entitled, The Surprising Power of Family Meals: How Eating Together Makes Us Smarter, Stronger, Healthier, and Happier, in which she outlines the research that supports the role that family dinners play in kids’ lives.
Reading this research, it really sounds like family dinners are the magic bullet of family life. Family dinners have been associated with all sorts of positive outcomes for kids, such as less teenage delinquency and drug use, lower rates of obesity, greater emotional stability, and even better preparedness for reading. It sounds a little too good to be true. Something as simple as family dinners could make all these great outcomes appear in your family?
Well, it turns out that the “magic bullet” of the family dinner may be a little too good to be true. New research is delving deeper into the role that family dinners play in the lives of children. This research is not only compelling because of the insight it offers into family life, but it also illustrates a perfect example of the difference between correlation and causation in social science research.
In this new research, scientists used a huge national survey of adolescents. They consider the relationship between family dinners and three main outcomes:
- Teen depression,
- Teen alcohol and drug use, and
- Teen delinquency
At first, the study seemed to replicate previous work, with there being a strong correlation between family dinners and less teen delinquency. Then, however, researchers went one step further.
They controlled statistically for other factors that might explain these differences in families such as:
- How well parents monitor their children,
- How many activities parents do with their children, and
- Family resources
Not surprisingly, when these factors are included in the mix, the correlation between family dinners and teen outcomes drops dramatically. In other words, these other factors, not family dinner itself, can explain much of the effects we see. Family dinner time is “masking” these other factors.
So it turns out that family dinners are not the “magic bullet” that they were once considered to be. As is often the case in social science, the strong correlation between family dinners and teen outcomes did not mean that family dinners were the sole cause of this relationship. As this new research shows, the family dinner is really just a proxy for other positive things parents do with their children such as talking and engaging with them on a daily basis. The key component that seems to be influencing kids is this: connection and communication with parents.
Does this mean that you should give up on family dinners? Of course not!
Dinner time is still a great opportunity to connect with you kids, but it’s not the only way. In his popular book, The Secrets of Happy Families: Improve Your Mornings, Tell Your Family History, Fight Smarter, Go Out and Play, and Much More, Bruce Feiler discusses different ways in which families can connect throughout the day, not just a dinner.
Here are just a few ideas:
- If after school activities make dinner time difficult, have an early “dinner” at 4:00 for all who can join. Then later at night, have a family dessert for everyone.
- Family time does not always have to center around a meal—how about a walk when everyone gets home from school and work.
- Family storytelling and asking kids questions is key. Every family has stories from grandparents or funny tales from relatives.
- Start a “themed” conversation that happens most times the family is together. Ours is sharing “joys and challenges” of the day or week. Each person shares something that was a “joy” and “challenge” for that day. It is amazing all the good conversation this can start.
Research is clearly showing that “family dinner” is really just a proxy for family connection. Kids that feel safe, connected, and valued by their family are less likely to participate in dangerous activities like drug use, extreme risk-taking or delinquent acts. Furthermore, these kids tend to be happier and are less likely to be depressed.
Take the pressure and stress out of family dinner. Just aim to find a few minutes every day to connect with your family, in any way you can.
