Although children rarely get any headaches, they do suffer from this just like an adult would. The causes are also similar to what adults encounter. Getting insufficient sleep, a change in the pattern of sleep, a change in environment, skipping meals, hormonal changes, watching or staying in the computer far too long — these can all trigger headaches with children. An environment where there is someone smoking can also do that. An infection will also result to a headache.

Some kids can cope well with medicines but there are others who may need more tender loving care when they get a headache and the condition persists.

Go to the doctor with our child and have her check, to rule out any other form of infection or sickness.

Continue to take the medicines prescribed by the doctor. These are usually acetaminophen or ibuprofen but make sure that your child is not allergic to any of these.

Give food richer in fruits and vegetables.

If your child has migraine, she will generally want to sleep rather than eat. Let the child rest or sleep in a cooler and quieter place so as not to aggravate this. Give her a cold compress as she is resting, allow her to breathe deeply.

If the pain is really persistant, a specialist may be needed to help the child with pain management. Children can also feel stress even at their age and a specialist may be able to help with reducing this.

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While there are a lot of talented musicians out there, it can be a lot harder to find some really family-friendly fare. Many musicians don’t cater to the younger set, and while many parents may love the tunes by the more popular artists (Lady Gaga, anyone?) finding something for both parents and their musical children can be frustrating.

Kidz Bop tries to make the differences a bit more livable, by taking many popular songs and changing some of the more questionable lyrics. While this works out for music that may not be great for kids, or at least a but more on the questionable side, many groups are still wondering if the idea is even a workable one. After all, having a nine year old singing about broken hearts and falling in love may seem a bit more ridiculous than many may be able to overlook.

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It’s so hard to know what to think in these cases, and I’m glad I’m not the judge who has to decide.  A 14-year-old boy in Tennessee is accused of raping and killing a 3-year-old girl.  Right now, the courts have to decide if the boy will be tried as an adult or not. 

Tennessee law seems have some gaping holes in it, leaving the final decision not up to the law so much as up to the judge.  Someone who’s 18 is automatically an adult.  Someone who’s 16 or 17 may be tried as an adult in certain cases.  And someone younger than that can be tried as an adult, if there’s rape or aggravated assault involved, but won’t be unless someone actively seeks to have them re-identified as such.

One consideration is that a 14-year-old, if tried and convicted as an adult, would go to jail, and while they are not put in the general population until they are 18, they also would not have access to the entire juvenile rehabilitation system that is in place for most teenage offenders.   If teenaged criminals are to have a chance to come back from their mistakes, they need access to education, medical care, counseling and mentorship.  But if a teen is tried as an adult, they won’t have access to those things.

This is a horrific crime, and there need to be serious and unbending consequences.   No punishment can bring back a little girl, or redeem the last terrible minutes of her short life.  But how responsible is a 14-year-old for an action like this? 

Some psychologists say they aren’t; they can’t truly understand the implications of their actions.  They just aren’t developed enough for that.  Is it right to punish a person for a crime he couldn’t fathom the full import of?  On the other hand, if a person is broken enough at this young age to hurt a tiny child so much, can he ever be fixed?  Will all the rehab in the world make him ready to rejoin society when he’s 21?

I guess those are the questions of the ages.  I’m not sure we’ve ever come to any satisfactory resolutions of these issues; I’m not sure we can.  I am sure that I did stupid things when I was 14, and would hate to have to pay for them my whole life.  And I am more sure than anything that I want my daughters and son to be safe.

I guess we’ll have to see what they decide to do in Tennessee. 

Image from sodahead.com

Image courtesy of Klahanie Chiropractic

For all the illnesses and injuries that kids do get, back pain is the one thing we don’t usually have to worry very much about.  Back pain is actually very rare in kids, and even when it does show up, it’s usually temporary and not very serious. 

The most common cause of back pain for kids is sports injuries.  This makes total sense; they run, jump, kick, climb, chase, tag…and fall.  My son slid off the slide and onto his back in the dirt just yesterday.  I don’t know if that qualifies as a sports injury…let’s just call it an activity injury.  But if we want our kids to  be active and healthy and learn the life lessons that go along with being on sports teams, we have to be prepared for a few more aches and pains, including back aches. 

Sometimes, though, when kids have back pain, it can mean something  more serious.  The potential seriousness is inversely proportionate to age, meaning that the older we get, the more stress we put on our backs, so the younger we are, the more likely back pain is to be caused by something serious, rather than just normal stress.  So, if your child is very young and back pain persists, you should take them to the doctor, because it could be something that will need treatment.

Here are some symptoms and causes of back pain in kids:

• Spondylolisis.  This is an injury of the spine most common to those athletes who bend their backs sharply, such as gymnasts.  It can either be a defect of the vertebrae, or a stress fracture on the vertebrae, and can usually be healed by taking a 4-6 week break from the stressful activity.
• Spondylolisthesis.  This is another vertebrae injury that results in two vertebrae sliding over each other and causing pain.  Again, it sometimes heals itself with rest, but if it continues to cause the child trouble, it is sometimes treated with surgery to fuse the sliding vertebrae once the child is an adult.
• Disk injuries.  These don’t start in the back at all, unlike falling or bending injuries.  These happen to kids in sports that cause them to land very hard on their feet, causing jarring to go up their legs to injure disks in their spinal column. The pressure from below often thrusts disks into each other, causing injury.
• Infections.  The possibility of an infection is one reason to take it very seriously if your child complains of back pain.  Diskitis is an infection that settles between the disk and the vertebrae and can do a lot of damage to both bones and internal organs.  If it’s a bacterial infection, antibiotics will be prescribed, and again, the child should rest as much as possible.  Also, other infections, such as kidney infections and appendicitis, may feel like a back ache to a child, and those should also be treated immediately.
• Tumor.  This is the scary one.   Spinal tumors are fairly difficult to diagnose, so the earlier you get started on figuring out the cause of back pain, the  better.  The good news is that spinal tumors almost never result in back pain, so if your child’s back is  hurting, it’s very likely they don’t have a tumor at all.  Still, get it checked out.  Obviously, something’s going on.
• Back strain.  This often comes from kids carrying heavy backpacks that might weigh half as much as the child does.  They sling them over one shoulder, rather than balancing weight across their backs by putting on both straps.  Backpacks do not cause scoliosis, but they can over work the muscles of the shoulder, upper back and lower back.

Kids don’t get very much back pain, so this isn’t something we’ll have to deal with a lot.  Even if they do have some, it’s usually just that they played too hard in their sport or activity, something that can be treated by a few ibuprofen, a warm bath, and a few days of taking it easy. 

But as with all things, it’s the exceptions to these general truths that cause the problems, so keep your eyes open for long-lasting pain or severe pain, and make sure to bring that to the attention of your child’s doctor.