How to handle a bully

FROM CBS: (CBS) Jaylen Arnold knows how it feels to be different. He's had Tourette's Syndrome for most of his nine years. As CBS News correspondent Kelly Cobiella reports, it makes his body twitch even though his brain is telling it to be still. Most times Jaylen can handle it. Last February Jaylen's twitches got worse, much worse.

It started when the kids at a new school began to bully him. "What did they say," Cobiella asked Jaylen. "You're a weird kid," he said. "You should just go back to where you came from." "How did that make you feel?" "Really sad, like real sad."

"I made a Web site called Jaylen's Challenge.org. It's about stopping bullying and so far it's working," he said. Jaylen's father, Harold Arnold said, "The emails started coming in by the hundreds, and probably thousands and I said 'this thing is taking off.'" In fact, so many people were inspired by Jaylen's story, that schools across the country wanted him to talk to their students and teachers too. Jaylen's advice for bullies? "Sit down and stop bullying," he said. And before long, he caught the eye of Hollywood and actor Dash Mihok.

"I saw this kid with Tourette's and this beautiful, sweet, loving soul who was being absolutely incredibly brave and it really touched me," Mihok said. He was so touched that he flew out to meet Jaylen and lent his own star power to Jaylen's cause. Dash knows how hard life can be for Jaylen - because he's been through it. Dash grew up with Tourette's too. "To have someone inspire you to be who you are and be unapologetic about it," Mihok said. "It's beautiful."

In the seven months since Jaylen launched his Web site he's given out more than 4,000 wristbands that say "bullying no way," to students and even a few stars - including Leonardo DiCaprio. Jaylen said his big dream is to "stop bullying forever." "He has Tourette's to help other people," his mom Robin said His dad Arnold is, "super proud. He's the best kid." Jaylen can't change the way his body acts, but he's ok with that. He said he doesn't get picked on anymore, because "all my friends defended me."

I love this story because dealing with bullies is really tough. I find it hard to determine whether someone is bullying my kindergartner or he is just sensitive. And it seems like everyone has different advice. At this point, I tell him to tell the other kid he doesn't like it when he acts that way and he doesn't want to play with him anymore. Other parents I talked to say to tell my kid to hit him back. That sounds awful, but when your kid gets picked on, you may feel a little different about what should be done. How do you handle bullying?

-NewsAnchorMom Jen

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Can cereal prevent the flu?

FROM MSNBC:Kellogg's is coming under fire for it's claim that CoCoa Krispies "helps support your child's immunity." Kellogg's added the claim on the front of the box in May after the swine flu first appeared. Kellogg's told NBC it isn't trying to capitalize on the flu epidemic. The company says it has increased the amount of Vitamins A,C and E found in the cereal.
Dr. Nancy Snyderman says the idea that eating cereal in the morning can boost your immune system and prevent the flu is based on flimsy science. Just last week the "Smart Choices" food label was dropped after the FDA questioned the marketing tactic.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Do your kids eat cereal? Which ones do they like that are healthy-if any?

-NewsAnchorMom Jen

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Are birth control pills the best option?

From the New York Times: Nearly a third of women who start a new type of birth control stop within a year, according to one recent study, largely because of changes in their insurance coverage. All methods have some side effects. And the current crop of intrauterine devices, or IUD’s, despite having a nearly perfect efficacy rate, have been slow to catch on, experts say, partly because more doctors need to be trained in inserting them. As a result, whether to promote their particular brand or to encourage better compliance, many birth control manufacturers and doctors are promoting the noncontraceptive benefits of contraception. Whether it’s reducing the risk of cancer, improving the health of mothers-to-be, easing cramps or enhancing complexion, it’s nice to have a medical excuse for using birth control.

Hormonal contraceptive methods use manufactured estrogen and progestin in different combinations and deliver them in a variety of ways — through pills, shots, skin patches, implants, IUDs and vaginal rings. Studies have shown that all those methods reduce the risk of ovarian and endometrial cancer. Some may also help protect against osteoporosis.

Using contraception can also give women a chance to get healthy before they conceive — to stop smoking, lose weight or lower their blood sugar.

Today’s marketing of the “no-bleed” or “extended regimen” pills, all variations on the original pill, plays down the breakthrough bleeding that can occur, according to some skeptics. And while some advocates argue that these newer contraceptive techniques are likely to cause no long-term problems since, historically, women spent most of their reproductive years either pregnant or nursing so had far fewer menstrual periods than women today, the health effects of going for months or even years without a period remain unknown.

I haven't decided which birth control method is best for me long term. I would love to know what you are using and why. It seems like there are risks and benefits to all of them. A part of me says being on hormonal birth control for the next 15 years probably isn't the best thing for my body.

-NewsAnchorMom Jen

Are you having an Acne Emergency? Call Soderstrom Skin Institute at 674 – SKIN… we treat acne seriously. With over 35 years of experience, Soderstrom Skin Institute will provide a personalized program to help you get your acne under control. Untreated acne can result in permanent scarring. Don’t suffer any longer! Evening and weekend appointment are available and in most cases you’ll be seen within one week.

Is Yelling the new Spanking?

How many times a week do you yell at your kids? Some experts say yelling is the new spanking. Many parents these days have chosen not to spank after several studies showing it causes psychological damage. Does yelling do the same thing? If so, I'm in trouble. I do try not to scream at the kids, but it happens sometimes. I don't believe any parent who says time outs always do the trick. However, after reading this article, I will pay closer attention to how loud I am disciplining the kids. I won't aim for "never" yelling, but I will certainly think about it and step out of the room more often.

FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES:Numerous studies exist on the effect of corporal punishment on children. A new one came out just last month. Led by a researcher at Duke University’s Center for Child and Family Policy, the study concluded that spanking children when they are very young (1-year-old) can slow their intellectual development and lead to aggressive behavior as they grow older. But there is far less data on the more common habit of shouting and screaming in families.

One study that did take a look at the topic — a paper on the “psychological aggression by American parents” published in the Journal of Marriage and Family in 2003 — found that parental yelling was a near-universal occurrence. Of 991 families interviewed, in 88 percent of them a parent acknowledged shouting, screaming or yelling at the kids at least once (though it didn’t specify how many did it more often) in the previous year.

“We are so accustomed to this that we just think parents get carried away and that it’s not harmful,” said one of the study’s lead authors, Murray A. Straus, a sociologist who is a director of the Family Research Laboratory at the University of New Hampshire. “But it affects a child. If someone yelled at you at work, you’d find that pretty jarring. We don’t apply that standard to children.”

Psychologists and psychiatrists generally say yelling should be avoided. It’s at best ineffective (the more you do it the more the child tunes it out) and at worse damaging to a child’s sense of well-being and self-esteem.

“It isn’t the yelling per se that’s going to make a difference, it’s how the yelling is interpreted,” said Ronald P. Rohner, director of the Ronald and Nancy Rohner Center for the Study of Interpersonal Acceptance and Rejection at the University of Connecticut. If a parent is simply loud, he says, the effect is minimal. But if the tone connotes anger, insult or sarcasm, it can be perceived as a sign of rejection.

Professor Rohner noted that while spanking is considered taboo by the major medical and psychological associations, there are still some religious and conservative groups who support it as an effective disciplinary tool, believing that the Bible explicitly allows it.
-NewsAnchorMom Jen

Are you having an Acne Emergency? Call Soderstrom Skin Institute at 674 – SKIN… we treat acne seriously. With over 35 years of experience, Soderstrom Skin Institute will provide a personalized program to help you get your acne under control. Untreated acne can result in permanent scarring. Don’t suffer any longer! Evening and weekend appointment are available and in most cases you’ll be seen within one week.