Pediatric health Archive

Watch our timely "Parenting in a Pandemic" Zoomcast. Claire McCarthy, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and senior faculty editor at Harvard Health Publishing, discusses parenting children and teens when the outlook is cloudy for many favorite summer pastimes and jobs. She also offers pointers for staying safe as state restrictions lift, takes a look toward return-to-school in the fall, and explains what is and isn't known about a rare complication of COVID-19 called multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C).

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented many new challenges for people with autism spectrum disorder. Adapting to wearing face masks and the experience of a COVID-19 test are particularly challenging, but there are strategies that can help these individuals meet the challenges.

After a couple of months of sheltering in place, and with warm weather upon us, your children probably have plenty of excess energy. Here are five suggestions for activities that will get them moving — and there’s nothing stopping parents from joining in.

Reduce your stress levels and maintain a sense of normalcy during and after traumatic events.

For most Americans, 2020 has already been a rough year — and it's not even half over. A pandemic, natural disasters, economic decline, and, for many, the loss of a job have taken a toll on their mental health.

"Stress is particularly acute when you're experiencing a situation that is outside of your control," says Dr. Kerry Ressler, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. "You may feel stuck, frozen, or helpless." After a traumatic period, even when things settle down, it can be difficult to move on and regain a sense of normalcy.

Everyone has the occasional "senior moment." Maybe you've gone into the kitchen and can't remember why, or can't recall a familiar name during a conversation. Memory lapses can occur at any age, but aging alone is generally not a cause of cognitive decline. When significant memory loss occurs among older people, it is generally not due to aging but to organic disorders, brain injury, or neurological illness.

Studies have shown that you can help prevent cognitive decline and reduce the risk of dementia with some basic good health habits: