Teens and texting

Do your kids text? A new survey shows texting is a great way for you to connect with your teenager. Psychologists say texting is opening up lines of communication and has a positive impact on teenagers and parents. Of course, this survey was performed by a cell phone company(Samsung Mobile), but still, it's an interesting concept. The survey revealed that text messaging has broadened the lines of communication for many parents and teens, with over half of those reporting it has actually improved their relationship.

Here are the facts from the survey:

• On average, teens send 455 text messages each month and receive 467 – that’s approximately 15 text messages sent and 16 messages received each day. Almost six in ten (57%) moms and dads who text, say their teens have helped them become better texters.


• Nearly seven in ten (68%) American parents communicate with their kids by text message. Nearly six in ten (56%) teens report that they communicate more often with their parents since they began texting.


• Over half (53%) of texting teens think their relationship with their parents has improved because of text messaging. More than half (51%) of parents who text with their teens agree that they communicate more often with their kids now than they did before they began text messaging.

What do you think about this concept? Is texting helping the parent/teen relationship or is it leading to less verbal communication?

-NewsAnchorMom Jen

Fiber drink for kids

I am constantly trying to find things for my kids to drink that are healthy and don't have a ton of calories or fake sugar. We do a lot of milk and water, but that gets old. My four-year-old usually asks for juice. So, when I saw this new drink for kids, I had to post about it to see if any of you have tried it. It's called Froose. It supposedly tastes like a smoothly, but is made out of organic brown rice.

Denise Devine came up with the idea because she wanted to give her own kids a healthy alternative to the ever-popular juice box. A 4-ounce box of Froose contains three grams of fiber,whole fruit concentrate and eight grams of sugar. Froose is gluten-free, so it's safe for kids with a digestive disorder called Celiac Disease and for kids with autism on a gluten-free diet.

It costs $30.00 for 40/4.23 oz boxes.

Here's the Froose.com website.

The medical company Medstar compiled these Fast Facts:

• Only about 20 percent of U.S. children get the recommended daily levels of fruits and vegetables.
• Many fruit juices have added sugar and are not necessarily a healthy food choice for small children.
• A new drink for children, called Froose®, is made from 100 percent fruit juice concentrate and organic brown rice syrup.
• A box of Froose juice has 80 calories, zero fat and cholesterol and three grams of fiber.

So, have you heard of this? Have you tried it? Does it sound like a good option to you?

-NewsAnchorMom Jen

Reading problems with kids

If your kids are having trouble reading, this story could be the answer to your prayers. There is a little known disorder that impacts about 50 percent of kids who are slow readers, but children in the U.S. are often not tested for it. Irlen Syndrome is most often misdiagnosed as ADHD.

Here's the story from CNN:

"It was like pulling teeth. Seriously, that's how it would look at it. He just hated to read," said mom Priscilla Klaus. Priscilla couldn't understand why her son had such an aversion to reading. She even had his eyes tested only to find out there was nothing visibly wrong. He was later diagnosed with Irlen Syndrome.

"You Can Learn" Director Carla Jay said, "It's not eyesight. It's what happens from the eyes as it delivers it to the brain and they actually see too much information when it's a black and white or a high contrast." And for those who have Irlen Syndrome, that makes reading a confusing, and even painful experience. Priscilla's son Drew said, "I just didn't want to do it. I would just say no. I don't want to read anymore because it would give me way bad headaches."

Some children get headaches, and some even become nauseated as words become
rivers of ink and pages begin to spin. Many children will see rivers which means the way the word breaks up in the background looks like rivers or cracks running down the page. Jay said," Irlen Syndrome can also cause pages to become fuzzy, some children see in double vision and in a few children the whole page will spin or move up and down and kids with Irlen syndrome don't understand that not everyone sees books as they do. I'll have parents call back and they'll say he is so relieved. He's so happy. He thought he was dumb all of these years. He had no idea that the page was moving around for him and not for everyone else."

The treatment for Irlen Syndrome is simple: remove the sharp black and
white contrast. "If they do have Irlen Syndrome, we get out colored overlays or
colored gels and determine which color calms the page down for the child," said Jay. Now, ten year old Drew sees the written word through rose colored glasses,
specifically made for him and he likes reading a lot more.

Here are the signs to look for:

• These children may not like to read.
• They cover their eyes or shade them while reading.
• They love a story but not if they have to read it.
• They rub their eyes or their eyes water.
• They get sleepy or have headaches while reading.

-NewsAnchorMom Jen

Kid's sleep questions

If your kids aren't sleeping through the night, you're not alone! I have an interview set up with pediatric sleep specialist Dr. Sarah Zalleck next Tuesday (4/22/08). This is your chance to get some answers and some suggestions. Just post your sleep questions as a comment and I will get her opinion next week. If you have already emailed me questions, I will take those with me as well. Lets hope we all get some sleep soon!

-NewsAnchorMom Jen

Teens sending nude pictures on phones

Can you believe this? Teenagers are sending nude pictures and even videos on their cell phones and they don't think there's anything wrong with that? My kids are too young for this, but I think I would get my child a phone without the ability to take pictures!

Here's the story we ran on HOI 19 today:

Forget about passing notes in study hall. Central Ohio school officials say teens are now using their cell phones to send nude pictures of themselves to each other. The principal at Columbus' Olentangy Liberty High School says the situations have left him speechless.

He says the teens don't see anything wrong with sharing nude pictures of themselves by cell phones. A detective from the F.B.I. cyber crime task force says he has seen everything from a strip tease to explicit sex sent by cell phone.

He says the content sometimes makes its way to Internet web sites for others to see. Experts say teens often don't understand the dangers. They suggest parents pay attention to their kids' phones.

Why are teenagers doing this? I would love some insight. Low self-esteem? Peer pressure? Bad parents?

-NewsAnchorMom Jen

Girl Fighting

This issue of girl's beating each other up, recording the instance and then posting the video on you tube has got to stop. If you haven't heard much about this, here's the latest from ABC News.

People are paying attention. With more than 80 thousand videos of girl fights now on you tube, there seems to be a movement, enough is enough. Some teens are now posting comments about the videos telling these girls they are doing something wrong. One teen said, "You give our generation a bad name." Some
of the postings speaking out against the teens are getting tens of thousands of viewings, a couple over a million.

Eight Florida teenagers stood before a judge Friday for their alleged roles in the beating of 16 year old Victoria Lindsay. All eight are being tried as adults and could face up to life in prison, but now they're also being tried by their peers on the very site where the video was posted. "It's just really sad that someone could be so cruel to someone so viciously cruel to someone, " said one teenager on you tube.

Dozens of teens and parents are creating video messages lashing out at the teens and others responsible for the growing violence on the Internet.
"This is why I'm scared of my generation."
"Have we really lost our values that much? !"
"You're going to beat on another girl over myspace. How freaking pathetic
are you? uh? seriously? and I'm speaking to all you girls out there."
"I think it's terrible and appalling."
"I don't want to see my generation go down like that."
"I think this is a result of the lack of parental control."

When 19 year old Linda Chavez watched the Florida beating on her local news in New Orleans, she was so disgusted she posted a two minute monologue. "I was just shocked I couldn't believe it, This was something that was planned that is what upset me the most. Kids shouldn't be doing these things, so I just had to say something. In 3 days Chavez's posting had more than a million views. "I still cant believe I've got over a million hits. Many of the responses that I have gotten is that I'm so glad, they're glad that I am young and I stand for what I believe in. As Victoria Lindsay continues to recover, 7 of her alleged attackers were bailed out of jail over the weekend, one even by the Dr. Phil Show.

Psychologist Dr. Susan Bartell said, "The kids who are putting these videos up on the sites are getting responses from everywhere in the world. People all over the world are able to see what they're doing and are validating what they're doing. And it's fueling them to fight more, it's fueling them to bring their fights to a higher level."
And some tired of the violence say they just hope it serves as a wake up call for society.

If you haven't seen this video and want to look at it, here you go. It's very disturbing. I talked to my kids' teenage babysitter today about girl fighting. She said she can't imagine anything like that happening here in Peoria, IL. That was a relief to hear. I hope the cases we have heard about on the news lately are isolated instances.

-NewsAnchorMom Jen

A possible cause of Autism?

Dr. John Shoffner, an associate professor at Georgia State University presented findings from a retrospective analysis he did on 37 kids with autism. He found one in five kids on the autism spectrum have mitochondrial defects, meaning the muscles don't get the energy they need.

Dr. Shoffner is quoted in the Washington Post: "If you're talking about 20
percent of kids with autism, that's a whole lot of children, and may represent
an important segment of the autism spectrum disorder population. And we may be
getting a foothold into the underlying cause of autism spectrum disorders," he
said, adding, "This is a really important step forward that lets us put effort
into understanding the mechanisms of disease."

Of the kids in Shoffner's analysis, 65% showed mitochondrial defects. Shoffner said it's not fair to say 65% of kids with autism have the defect because the kids he studied had been referred to him because their doctors suspected something else was wrong.

Here's the full story from the Washington Post.

Remember Hannah Poling, the nine-year-old girl from Georgia who has autism and mitochondrial defects? The Court of Federal Claims conceded that her pre-existing mitochondrial disorder was aggravated by her immunization shots, and that her rare condition lead to her having autism-like symptoms. Dr Shoffner's analysis is bound to stir up some more talk on this issue. What does it mean if Hannah's "rare" condition isn't so rare? And Does mitochrondrial disease play a role in the development of autism?

-NewsAnchorMom Jen

Losing a Family Pet

Have you ever had a pet die? I still remember when my first dog died and we went up to my grandparent's house and buried her. She was so cute. She had big, floppy black ears. I cried and cried.

We don't have any big pets now. We do have fish. I know they don't really count, but we do have to feed them and I get attached to everything. My son's first goldfish died a few years ago. I remember seeing him floating at the top of the fish bowl. It was so upsetting to me that we didn't get any new fish for two years! And my dad is the one who brought fish back into our lives, not me.

My mom's dog, Allie, just died a few months ago of cancer. That was very traumatic. I am glad I couldn't be there when they put her down. It's just so sad!

It's hard for adults to handle the death of a pet, how do you help your kids cope?

I found this story from the medical company Medstar:

When a pet dies, it’s like losing a member of the family. Fortunately,there are resources to help you cope with the sorrow. Susan McVie has to put her dog to sleep after discovering he had cancer. She said,
“Everywhere I went, he was behind me. if I walked from one room to the
other and I had to stop because I forgot something, he would bang into
the back of my legs. I promised him when I first knew this was gonna’
happen that I wouldn’t let him have a bad day.”

A pet’s death can be heartbreaking and fill you with guilt, but there are places to turn for help - starting with your veterinarian. Veterinarian Dr. Nancy Soares said, “Coping mechanisms, we deal with it a lot here. we can provide people with pet support groups online or by live telephone.” While there's no shortage of books on the topic, you may also find comfort putting your -own- thoughts down on paper. Dr. Soares said, "Everyone accepts it a little bit differently, but everyone has to go through it differently. kids' emotions run the gamut when a pet dies, depending on their age."

1. Encourage them to talk about their feelings. Dr Soares said, “Some
   children can act out and grieve about it. Other children don’t cry about it, but
   you’ll find out weeks later something might happen on the playground and that’ll
   bring about their emotions of the loss of their pet.”


2. Don't let your kids ignore the other pets in the house. The
   four-legged members of the family can also grieve. Dr. Soares said,
   “They’ll be lethargic, they won’t want to eat, they won’t want to play with
   their toys.”
3. Give your kids time to cope. Susan McVie said, “You know you’re never gonna’ forget them, you just learn to go on.”

Mourning deeply for a pet is normal, but if the feelings last more than a few
weeks, it could be a sign of a bigger problem. Check with your doctor if you're
concerned.

Fast Facts: More than 60% of American homes have at least one pet. Last year, more than $41.2 billion was spent on animal purchases and
care. Pets are great companions and provide unconditional and faithful support
to their owners. One study found 30% of cat and dog owners experienced severe
grief after the loss of their pet.

Audience Inquiry: Your veterinarian or local Human Society can provide regional resources to help families dealing with pet loss.

For General Information and Support:

American Animal Hospital AssociationThe American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Pet Loss Hotline: (877) 474-3310
American Veterinary Medical Association

The Association for Pet Loss and Bereavement www.aplb.org

The Delta Society
The Humane Society of the United States

How did you handle the loss of a pet?

-NewsAnchorMom Jen