News and Features Related to Health & Parenting

Expert Panel Rejects Abstinence-Only Sex Ed

Nov. 6, 2009 -- There's no evidence that abstinence-only sexual education programs cut teens' risk of sexually transmitted disease, HIV, or pregnancy, a task force of public health experts finds. But the panel finds that sex ed that includes information about condoms and delaying sexual initiation d
Read Full Article
How to Handle Mothers Who Brag About Their Kids

"My kid must be some sort of math genius!" a mother of a preschooler said to Hilarie Atkisson as she watched her 4-year-old twin daughters and 2-year-old son on the playground after school. Another mom queried Atkisson about her twins' progress in reading: "Are your girls reading yet? Mine are alrea
Read Full Article
Stanley Tucci on His Toughest Role Yet

Award-winning actor Stanley Tucci -- best known for his roles in Big Night, Kit Kittredge, and Julie & Julia -- will be appearing in The Lovely Bones this fall. But at the top of his career, Tucci experienced the devastating loss of his wife, Kate Tucci, to cancer. WebMD the Magazine asked him about
Read Full Article
Car Booster Seats Cut Injury Risk for Kids

Oct. 19, 2009 -- Booster seats with proper belt positioning significantly reduce the risk of injury in children aged 4 to 8 who are involved in traffic accidents, a new study shows. The research reinforces previous studies that booster seats are important in preventing injuries and saving lives. It
Read Full Article
Cancer Signs in Teens Often Overlooked

Oct. 9, 2009 -- About three years ago, Jay Wheeler, now 17, started having serious headaches and becoming increasingly forgetful. Over the next four months, he was sent to detention 52 times; the British youngster kept forgetting to ask his mother to sign the slip, earning another detention. Jay’s t
Read Full Article
Supernanny Jo Frost's Top Three Tips for Parents

Supernanny 's sixth season kicked off this fall on ABC and -- thanks to Jo Frost and her super parenting know-how -- it's still the must-see show for moms and dads everywhere. But who is the real Supernanny? She's a down-to-earth woman who has learned from hard lessons in life, including the early d
Read Full Article
Teen Dating: What You Need to Know About "Hooking Up"

Jessica Stephens (not her real name), a San Francisco mother of four, has heard the term "hooking up" among her teenage sons' friends, but she's just not sure what it means. "Does it mean they're having sex? Does it mean they're having oral sex?" Teens use the expression hooking up (or "messing arou
Read Full Article
Healthy Guide to Eating Out

Family restaurants are a minefield of high-fat, high-calorie options. But Good Housekeeping has created a road map for finding nutritious food your kids will actually eat. By Sari Harrar It's a modern-day Norman Rockwell moment: After a hectic day, the family hops in the car and heads to a favorite
Read Full Article
Kids Who Get Spanked May Have Lower IQs

Sept. 24, 2009 -- Parents who spare the rod just might end up with smarter kids. Two new studies suggest that children who are spanked have lower IQs than children who aren't, regardless of where they live. In one study, researchers analyzed the intelligence scores of roughly 1,500 children in the U
Read Full Article
Too Much Time at Tanning Beds for Teens

Sept. 21, 2009 -- A new study shows most tanning bed operators don’t restrict teens’ access to indoor tanning beds during the first week of use as recommended by the FDA. The FDA recommends but does not require that indoor tanning bed operators limit teens to three or fewer tanning bed session in th
Read Full Article