Centennial HS Girl Shaves Head for Cancer Research

Delaney Karnes, 17, raised $700 for childhood cancer research.

Centennial High School junior Delaney Karnes went back to school on Monday sporting a different hairstyle. The 17-year-old spontaneously shaved her head bald to raise money for childhood cancer research over the weekend. Moved to participate in the St. Baldrick's Foundation fundraiser at The Harp Irish Pub on Sunday, March 10, Karnes ended up collecting $700 toward research, said Lynn McIntyre, who attended the event. "Her mother said she has a heart for helping people," McIntyre said of the local student, who wants to study cosmetology after high school. Including Karnes contribution, approximately $50,000 was raised during the St. Baldrick's event. "She sure had a great deal of confidence and courage," said McIntyre. "I was so proud of …

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Classic Books to Share with Your Children for Valentine's Day

From 'Charlotte's Web' to 'Where the Wild Things Are,' share these classic books with your children and encourage their love for reading.

“Where’s Pa Going with that Axe?” The Enduring Quality of Children’s Classics By Anita Silvey Courtesy of James Patterson's Read Kiddo Read Foundation The opening line of E. B. White’s Charlotte’s Web— “Where’s Pa going with that axe?”—has now been read by adults to eager young listeners for more than 60 years. Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time and Ezra Jack Keats’s The Snowy Day have been picked up with enthusiasm for more than 50 years. For 75 years, parents have shared The Hobbit, and this year Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are turns 50. These books and others like them (Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Virginia Lee Burton’s Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, and L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables) bring …

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How to Talk to Your Kids About the Newtown School Shooting

An expert shares advice for parents who are trying to explain the Newtown school shooting to their kids.

In the wake of the Sandy Hook school shooting tragedy, parents are wondering what to tell their children about what happened and how to help them process what they may be hearing from friends, on television and via social media. Lauren Hutchinson, LMFT is a child and family therapist and parenting consultant with a practice in Bellevue, WA. She says step one for parents is to “turn off the TV”. “We don’t want to have the TV playing in the background all the time. It isn’t helpful and the news is traumatizing for kids to watch.”   For kids age seven and younger Hutchinson says, “you want to shield them from the media coverage completely and parents should not initiate a conversation about the event because kids this age cannot make sense of…

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Children’s Headaches are Rarely Linked to Vision Problems

New study out of New York refutes previously thought theories.

Parents are often mystified by the cause of their children's headaches. A common assumption is that headaches might be related to poor vision, indicating a need for eyeglasses. But, a recent study says otherwise. New research presented at the American Academy of Ophthalmology's 2012 Annual Meeting in Chicago found that even when children’s headaches strike during visual tasks like homework, vision or eye problems are rarely the cause of kids’ headaches. The study was conducted by pediatric ophthalmologists at Albany Medical Center in New York State to help provide more reliable answers for parents, family doctors and pediatricians who face this common health question. The researchers reviewed medical records of children under age 18 who …

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Revved Up Kids Teaches Children Self Defense Technique

Upcoming classes will be held Saturday, April 21, at East Roswell Park for six through 10-year-olds and girls ages 13 and up.

With the recent rash of attempted child abductions around the metro area, some local parents are looking for ways to keep their children safer. Many believe they've found it in Revved Up Kids. The organization is offering several single session self-defense classes this coming Saturday, April 21, taught by Revved Up Kids experts at East Roswell Park.  The first session, a three hour class from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. for 6-10 year olds, calls for parents and kids to attend together. Parental involvement is important since most young children won’t retain the lessons unless they are continually reinforced, say the experts at Revved Up Kids. The training provides the foundation and the parents have the tools to keep reinforcing the learning at home…

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Back to School: How to Help Your Children Cope

Parents have a big task in front of them as children return to school after a long summer of non-school activities. Here are some tips and ideas for how to smooth the transition.

Kids recently returned to school and many parents are calling my offices concerned about their children exhibiting symptoms of anxiety and other behaviors indicating this time of transition can be a tricky one. For many children this is a time of excitement and an end to a boring stretch of time away from friends and learning. For others it's the end of three months of free-for-all fun, vacations and sleeping in.  Either way, it's a time of transition and parents can be an effective agent in assisting with this process. In my practice as a therapist and parent educator I see how important it is for children to have a predictable routine that includes quality and consistent periods of sleep, well rounded nutrition and a sense of …

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Fall Important Season for Child Water Safety

Experts gathered at North Fulton Hospital in Roswell on Tuesday to increase awareness about drowning dangers to children.

Because it is past Labor Day, adults stop thinking about pools and water safety. But at an awareness event on Tuesday, held jointly between North Fulton Hospital, Rural/Metro Ambulance, the Roswell Fire Department and Sen. John Albers, experts suggested that this is a dangerous time for kids around pools and other bodies of water. “We want to keep children’s safety on the forefront of our minds,” said Reg James, division manager for Rural/Metro Ambulance. “Backyard and neighborhood pools are still open.” For U.S. children five to 14 years of age, unintentional injury is the leading cause of death. Drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional-injury deaths among children, following motor vehicle accidents. It is also the third most…

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What To Do: Homeschooling

Tips on checking out home school as an option.

When my sister told my family she was planning to home school her children, we were all kind of confused. My siblings and I had gone to both public and private schools and we didn’t really understand what was wrong with doing the same for our kids. Our first thoughts went sadly recalled typical, movie stereotypes where the kids were socially awkward, shy and hard to get along with because of being, what many call, too “sheltered.” But going to college and meeting quite a few home schoolers changed all of that in my mind. So if you’re thinking about going the home school route, here are some things you should know.  

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Deena C. Spell

5:37 pm on Thursday, August 4, 2011

Thanks for sharing!   more ›

Helping Kids with Their Worries

Parents can help their kids cope. Here are some practical tips for managing anxiety.

Q. My 6-year-old daughter has a lot of worries. She worries about things that don't make a lot sense. Is there anything I can do to help her or should I take her to see a therapist? A.  Everyone worries. Everyone has a level of anxiety at some point in their lives.  It's normal for kids to fret. Some kids fret more than others.  When the worries get to the point where basic functioning is interrupted, it may be time to seek professional support from a children's therapist. There are some things, though, that parents can do to help so that maybe therapy won't be necessary. 1.  Do not laugh, dismiss, criticize or negate your child's worries.  Let's say your daughter comes to you in tears after the bedtime routine and says, "Mommy, I'm really…

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Roswell Youth Baseball Association Begins Evaluations Next Month

The non-profit association, which oversees recreational baseball in Roswell, starts its season back up in August.

The Roswell Youth Baseball Association (RYBA) is looking forward to another great season, beginning in August.  RYBA, an affiliate of the Roswell Recreation and Parks Department, defines its mission as providing "a safe, healthy, and enjoyable environment while learning to play baseball, with an emphasis on the development of each child into a better person." The non-profit association is holding player evaluations on Saturday, August 20. Practices begin the following weekend on Saturday, August 27 and games begin Saturday, September 10. The league is open to children and teens ages 7 - 18 and costs between $120 - $195, depending upon residency and age.  The group's spokesperson, Steven Eppinger, said kids often come back season after …

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