Parenting

As school starts this fall, foreign exchange students in Wudaokou may find plenty of Chinese tutors ready to help with their putonghua at the drop of a hat, but what about local middle and high schoolers who could use a boost with their algebra? Or for that matter, their French?
 
 

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You may want to look at the packaging twice the next time you take out Over The Counter (OTC) medication for your child.

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Back to school.
 
This simple phrase will most likely trigger reactions in your teen. Some may be excited to escape the general sluggish atmosphere of summer break, while others are quite content to be living in the moment. I can say that I know as well as anyone the feeling of going back to school as a teenager. In a week, I’ll be heading back to perhaps the most demanding year of my high school career.

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So your child is young? He can’t sit still? Do adults call him immature? Your child might have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Or not.

 Last week, a Los Angeles Times article expressed doubt over the accuracy of diagnosed ADHD cases in young children. Research conducted by Michigan State University suggests that 1 million children in the United States could be misdiagnosed with ADHD. The study shows that a main cause for this is simply because of age. Younger children in the classroom tended to be more frequently labeled with ADHD.

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Last week’s New York Times article (What Is It About 20-Somethings?, Aug 18, 2010) on the alleged phenomenon of young people in the US who are either unwilling or unable o cut the cord and assume full-blown adulthood (i.e. financial and domestic independence) has succeeded in ruffling a few feathers.

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Harvard Girl: Liu Yiting, Yale Girl and From Andover to Harvard are only a few of the “how I got my child into an Ivy League school” parenting books that have popped up around China in the last decade. In the first widely acclaimed of these guides, Harvard Girl: Liu Yiting, her parents describe that when Liu was a child, they would make her hold an ice cube for as long as she could to build stamina. Liu was also told to practice jumping rope until she won a competition at school as well as complete her elementary school work in the noisiest part of the house to develop concentration abilities. A storm of similar books followed, snatched up by parents who believed parenting techniques that worked for the parents of “successful” students might work for their own children.  
 
The one-sided knowledge of the aforementioned parenting tips (as well as Liu Yiting) has been ubiquitous in China ever since Harvard Girl was published in 2000. Until now.

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The conclusions of a recent survey conducted by Shanghai Morning Post accounted for 85 percent of 452 people believing breast milk to be the best dairy substitute for infants.

 
Working Shanghai mothers devoted themselves to breastfeeding as well, buying breast pumps to use at work and then bringing the breast milk home after work. Online shops reported a rise in sales of equipment used to preserve pumped breast milk.
 

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The Global Times and other Chinese media outlets have announced free measles (ma(2) zhen(3), 痲疹) shots for kids from September 11-20 for "children from 8 months old to 14 years old at 535 vaccination sites and 178 hospitals" due to an anticipated outbreak this fall.

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These days there is an overabundance of sunscreens on the market: Creams, sprays with or without retinol, with SPF30, 50, 100! How do you choose one that is safe and effective for you and your loved ones? Here are a few tips to keep in mind.
 
A good sunscreen should block out both UVA and UVB light, in other words it should be labeled as broad-spectrum. Most sunscreens do a good job of blocking UVB, but aren’t so great when it comes to UVA.

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As we explore in our newest magazine issue, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) recommends that mothers rest at home for an entire month following the birth of their newborn. This recovery time, called yuezi in Chinese, includes other edicts on the mother’s behavior, such as a diet marked by the consumption of “hot” foods and a lack of immersion in cold water (read: bathing). Although some of these traditions are no longer followed religiously, those who can afford it now have the option of yuezi centers that are specifically designed to cater to mothers and their infants within the recommendations of TCM.

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