If you live in a college town, you can be forgiven for coming to the conclusion that everyone in said town is gifted. Nay - a genius!

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 27 (HealthDay News) -- Compared to mothers who don't spank their children, mothers who've spanked their child in the past year are three times more likely to use harsher forms of punishment.

That's the conclusion of a new study from the Injury Prevention Research Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

(HealthDay News) -- It's important for a child to learn to be independent and care for himself. But how do you know when a child is old and mature enough to stay alone?

In general, a child younger than age 10 probably isn't ready. But when it comes to older children, the Nemours Foundation says the time may be right to forgo a babysitter if your child:

* Feels comfortable with the prospect of staying alone.
* Shows a sense of responsibility with chores, doing homework, and following rules and directions.

The adventure continues...

After the competition I joined up with Dan, Ethan, Bonnie (my mom), Pam (Dan's mom), Al (my assistant coach and teammate), Dr. Summers (my Chiropractor and massage therapist) and his wife LeAnne and son Sean for a wonderful dinner at the Bank of America "hometown hopefuls". Greg Bishop of the New York Times joined us as we reflected on the days events. His article made the front page of the sports page! Check it out...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/sports...

I can always tell when a parent of a child I'm treating is a smoker. The examination room is just filled with smoke - not too different from the experience you'd have if you walked into a bar or restaurant that still allows smoking. My style is to ignore it until the very end of the visit - sneaky, I know! I just forge ahead trying to not inhale too much air. I have to admit, there have been times I've had to find excuses to leave the room to get a few smoke-free breathes of air!!

SATURDAY, Aug. 23 (HealthDay News) -- With the start of school here, the American Lung Association is advising parents of children with asthma to follow a simple checklist to ensure this sometimes debilitating disease doesn't hinder their child's academic year.

Almost 11 percent of school-age children have asthma. Annually, these students miss some 13 million days in the classroom because of asthma, making it one of the most common reasons kids are absent from school.

The American Lung Association also urges parents who have children with asthma to:

It is important for kids to be physically active, and play individual or team sport(s) if they choose. What is the line between "sport" and "extreme sport", and if your child showed a preference for an "extreme sport", would you let them participate?

For instance, if you think about safety, would you allow your child play: tennis, baseball/softball, basketball, BMX bike racing, snowboarding, kid's motorcycle racing, football, ballet, chess (just kidding)...

The CDC has a great feature online article on school safety, and includes tips on helping kids to continue practice safety measures when you are not there. The article includes a wide range of topics, from (helping to) prevent unintentional injuries to building respectful (and nonviolent) relationships:
http://www.cdc.gov/Features/SafeSchools/

A few tips that I thought were particularly helpful:

A part of me feels like I must be crazy but here it is -

I plan to give my child a cell phone when he starts kindergarten next year. Most people think I'm a little loopy but it's for his backpack (not in class, or when/where the school forbids them, obviously) and for emergencies.

The cell phone is restricted, meaning he can only call/text me or his Dad (or 911) and one other trusted family friend. There are phones and highly restricted plans specially made for children.

MONDAY, Aug. 4 (HealthDay News) -- Getting too little sleep or not spending enough time in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is associated with being overweight among children and teens, a new U.S. study.

For three consecutive nights, researchers assessed the sleep patterns of 335 youngsters, aged 7 to 17. They looked at total sleep time, time spent in REM, and time it took to fall asleep. Body-mass index was checked at the start of the study, and 45 participants (13.4 percent) were overweight, while 49 (14.6 percent) were at risk for becoming overweight.