Deal with the Bully

Bullied children show signs of depression, anxiety, isolation and are at risk of suicide. Researchers in England have set out to prove that bullying alone is responsible for these feelings and not the social settings (poverty and poorer neighborhoods) in which these children live.

The research team looked at over 1,000 twin pairs from a nationally representative group of children in England and Whales and found just over 100 where one child was bullied and the other was not. In that subsection of twin children, the bullied child showed significantly more signs of internalized issue. Read more on the study here.

Here are some great resources for dealing with bullies:

• Dealing with Bullies
• How Kids can put Bullies in their Place - without force of violence
• Dealing with Bullies and How Not to be One

Cold Medication and Kids

It is estimated that over 7,000 children are admitted to the emergency room each year due to overdose or adverse reactions to over-the-counter cold medication according to the CDC. According to this Reuters article two thirds of the cases involved children that took the medication without supervision.

Strangely, the article describes that these medications have not been proven to benefit young children:

Evidence suggests parents want to give these drugs, including cough suppressants, antihistamines and decongestants, to their children, even though they have never been shown to benefit young children.

The fear is that even if these medication are taken off the market, that parents may try to substitute adult medications in their place according to the CDC. The issue, then, is with the packaging. The article goes on to say:

Companies that make the drugs might consider changes to packaging to keep small children from getting into the medications, which are often flavored and colored to make them more appealing, Schaefer’s team said.

Another measure is that parents should not encourage their children to take the medication by describing it as tasting like candy. This may lead to children taking the medication unsupervised. And, obviously, you should keep all of your medication out of the reach of children.