This week, Illinois gets a new governor and a new General Assembly. It also provides an opportunity to reflect on the substantial legislative gains on issues Illinois PTA supported affecting our children and youth in the areas of health, including mental health, safety, gun control, social and emotional learning, and special education. You can help … Continue reading Celebrating Legislative Successes in 2018—Children’s Health
Making Indoor Recess Active
Now that cold weather has arrived in Illinois, along with a bit of snow, many schools will be holding indoor recess. Parents for Healthy Kidsrecently featured an article on how to work with school administrators and teachers to ensure that indoor recess still gives kids the opportunity to be active. The article provides several tips … Continue reading Making Indoor Recess Active
Acute Flaccid Myelitis in U.S. Children
Families may have recently heard news stories about children suddenly developing weakness in their arms or legs. The condition, called Acute Flaccid Myelitis (AFM) is extremely rare (the chances of having AFM is one in one million), but the number of cases has increased sharply in recent years (396 confirmed cases from August 2014 to … Continue reading Acute Flaccid Myelitis in U.S. Children
Helping Your Child Cope with Stress
Life can be stressful at times, even for kids. Concerns about grades, peer pressure, friend issues, bullying, traumatic events, and more can lead to stress. Some stress can be productive—cortisol, the “stress hormone,” increases blood sugar, metabolism, and memory function, and provides a temporary boost to physical and mental ability. Those brief periods of stress … Continue reading Helping Your Child Cope with Stress
School Health Webinar Series—Programs, Fundraisers, and More
Action for Healthy Kids, a long-time partner of the Illinois PTA, has an ongoing webinar series focusing on school health issues. There are three live webinars scheduled for this year so far, and past webinars are available as recordings. The live webinars will also be archived for those unable to attend in real-time, so be … Continue reading School Health Webinar Series—Programs, Fundraisers, and More
Healthcare Transition Toolkit for Children with Disabilities
If you have a child with a disability, you have probably become very familiar with navigating and supporting their health care needs over the years. However, once your child turns 18, health laws turn much of the responsibility of that care over to your child. Youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities often face a variety … Continue reading Healthcare Transition Toolkit for Children with Disabilities
10 School Planning Tips for a Child with Food Allergies
If your child has food allergies, it is important to form a partnership with your child’s school to support them. Kids with Food Allergies (KFA), a division of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, has ten tips to help parents prepare for the school year with their child with food allergies. Communicate with the … Continue reading 10 School Planning Tips for a Child with Food Allergies
Teaching Your Child How to Use 911
As parents, we’re constantly on the lookout for our children’s health and safety. But what if something should happen to you or happen when you are not around. Do your children know how and when to use 911? An article from Kids Health, available in both Englishand Spanish, walks you through the process. The article … Continue reading Teaching Your Child How to Use 911
News from National Convention—Resolutions
At the 2018 National PTA Convention in New Orleans, delegates adopted one new resolution and amended another existing resolution. The first resolution addresses students with disabilities, while the second focuses on mental health programs and services. The links to the resolutions here are to the proposed text and amendments, which were only slightly modified by … Continue reading News from National Convention—Resolutions
Survey of Highlights Needs of LGBTQ Youth
In 2016, PTA adopted a resolution in favor of recognizing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) individuals as a protected class, noting that LGBTQ youth are frequent targets of harassment and bullying and have higher rates of isolation, depression, and suicidal thoughts and attempts than the general student population. This month, the Human Rights … Continue reading Survey of Highlights Needs of LGBTQ Youth
Identifying and Treating Heat-Related Illnesses
Summer’s here and the weather is already getting hot. As we spend more time outdoors, heat-related illnesses become a concern. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has a helpful list of how to identify the symptoms of various heat-related illnesses and what to do when you or a loved one shows those signs. … Continue reading Identifying and Treating Heat-Related Illnesses
Understanding Childhood Trauma
Childhood trauma is a scary term for a parent, and when many parents hear the term, they think of exposure to violence in the community or abuse in the home. But childhood trauma is much more than just those experiences, and research shows that 20% to 25% of all children in the United States will … Continue reading Understanding Childhood Trauma
Keeping Your Family Safe Outdoors
Summertime means more time outside, and that’s a good thing for both kids and adults. It also means making sure your family is safe from concerns that aren’t a problem other times of the year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have tips to keep your family safe outdoors dealing with: Sun Safety … Continue reading Keeping Your Family Safe Outdoors
Helping Your Kid Cope
Being a parent is stressful. Increasingly, being a child is as well. One of the skills we need to teach our children is how to cope—with setbacks, with disappointment, with feeling overwhelmed, and more. Coping skills are an essential part of becoming a resilient person who can deal with life’s ups and downs. To help … Continue reading Helping Your Kid Cope
Nurture a Love of Nature and Health with These Resources
Earth Day is coming up on April 22nd, and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences has a website to help nurture your child’s interest in the environment, science, and health. The site, Kids Environment Kids Health, provides resources for parents, teachers, and kids to explore these topics. Among the topics covered on the site … Continue reading Nurture a Love of Nature and Health with These Resources
What to Expect at Your Child’s Checkup
You might have obsessively read the What to Expect When You’re Expectingbook when your first child was on the way. Perhaps you’ve used PTA’s Parents’ Guides to Student Successto be informed about what your child will be learning each year and what questions you should ask your child’s teacher. As your child grows, having an … Continue reading What to Expect at Your Child’s Checkup
Helping Your Child When They’re Excluded
It’s a powerless feeling as a parent—your child is being excluded from a group at school, often a group they’ve been friends with for years. That exclusion is a form of bullying known as relational aggression, and can occur online and in person. It can include gossiping, spreading rumors, public humiliation, alliance building, and social … Continue reading Helping Your Child When They’re Excluded
USDA Provides School Wellness Policy Outreach Toolkit
Does your school or school district have a wellness policy? Chances are, they do, but families and even teachers may not know much about it. The US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service has created a Local School Wellness Policy Outreach Toolkit to help schools (or PTAs) engage staff and families on their … Continue reading USDA Provides School Wellness Policy Outreach Toolkit
National PTA Advocates for Gun Safety and Mental Health Services to Protect Children
Last week, National PTA released the following statement on our advocacy efforts on gun safety and mental health services. In addition to the statement, the 2018 National PTA Legislative Conference on March 13-15 will focus on gun violence prevention efforts. National PTA has also created two documents to help PTAs address these issues: Frequently Asked … Continue reading National PTA Advocates for Gun Safety and Mental Health Services to Protect Children
It’s Not Too Late to Get a Flu Shot
This year’s flu season is worse than usual, with diagnoses and hospitalizations continuing to increase every week and over 4,000 deaths last week (10% of all deaths) from influenza. To make matters worse, there is a lot of misinformation out on social media regarding the flu and the flu vaccine. The Centers for Disease Prevention … Continue reading It’s Not Too Late to Get a Flu Shot
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