Pregnancy and pediatric "advice" comes from all directions when you're a soon-to-be parent, and most of it is scientifically dubious. In part one, I examined the potentially harmful suggestions my wife and I received from friends and family. This time, I'll cover the less deadly but still ridiculous recommendations.
Parents & Kids
When you have a baby on the way, everybody has "helpful" advice that isn't all that helpful. Most of it, in fact, is downright useless, and some of it is potentially very harmful. We'll start with the latter and revisit the useless in part two of this series.
Could your parents' social circles increase or decrease your lifespan? Are some really born with a “silver spoon” in their mouths?
With our first baby on the way, my wife and I were tempted to buy into common activist tropes about pesticides and food safety. Here's how we checked our fears as parents-to-be.
Whatever you might think of our educational system, there can be no doubt that almost a year of remote “learning” will turn out to be disastrous. That's especially true for those already educationally disadvantaged. The science increasingly says that schools, especially elementary schools, are not superspreader sites. Are we willing to follow the science?
"I disagree with @CDCgov on their very tough & expensive guidelines for opening schools. While they want them open, they are asking schools to do very impractical things. I will be meeting with them!!!"
That, of course, is President Trump's summary of the CDC guidelines for opening schools. It ignited a predictable political back and forth fueled more by politics than facts. Let's take a minute to see what they recommended. You decide how tough they are.
It has been some time since my children were in school, even longer since I was in high school let alone elementary school. One of the first realizations from COVID-19 was how our public schools have become the daily source of food for so many of our children. Education and feeding the hungry have become so intertwined. How has COVID-19 changed school and child care? These images are from a report by McKinsey and Co, Charting the path to the next normal.
The EPA does not regulate indoor air quality; its purview is the great outdoors. However, we spend a great deal of time inside. A new study looks at children: vulnerable individuals who may spend the most time in that environment. But does the study clear (or pollute) the air on indoor air quality? Let's take a look.
The Centers for Disease Control says that the “American food supply is among the safest in the world.” But a read of some recent news reports about toxic metals in baby food may have you feeling somewhat concerned. So what's really the state of the supermarket aisle? Let's take a closer look.
Some parents are reluctant vaccinators. That's because of the sheer number of immunizations recommended for their infant in the first year of life. Anti-vaxxers have broadened that argument, suggesting and that there's no scientific basis for the schedules. Now, it's more complicated than their alarmist memes, but why let facts get in the way of a viral meme, right? Spoiler alert: the anti-vaxxers are wrong.
Parents and children reading together - the idea may conjure up images of a child safely snuggled in bed sharing a quiet moment with Mom or Dad. But when the book is an e-reader, a new study suggests the scene is more reminiscent of two kids fighting over who gets the remote control.
Homebirths, formerly the norm, have been replaced by hospital births. Some say it needlessly medicalizes a normal human activity. A new study looks at whether home births in low-risk situations result in harm.