In about a week, the big yellow buses will be back on the road, signaling the start of the year for most public school children in the Richmond area.
Parents may be relieved to be getting back to a routine but a little anxious about a back-up plan for when the unexpected happens.
Sick days are one of those unforeseen events. A healthy start to the school year is one way to keep your child's sick days to a minimum.
Sandy Lee Chung , a Northern Virginia pediatrician and mother of four, helps patients and their parents focus on the basics of healthy habits by remembering 9-5-2-1-0.
It's a catchy memory aid to describe basic health practices that can have a big impact. The numbers, Chung said, refer to:
Nine hours of sleep a night;
Five servings of fruits and vegetables a day;
Two hours of screen time maximum a day;
One hour minimum of exercise a day;
Zero sugary beverages.
"Those five things are what your child needs basically to stay healthy," said Chung , a member of the board of trustees for the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth, a state-supported organization focused on reducing teen smoking and child obesity.
"For parents, they can use 9-5-2-1-0 as a guideline for what you are trying to do for your children," Chung said.
Parents, she said, shouldn't assume their kids are getting adequate physical activity time at school.
"When you look at the amount of exercise children get in school, it's not much," Chung said. "In some counties they get only 15 minutes for recess.
"We also find if kids get the opportunity after school to have an hour of activity, they are much more able to focus on homework," Chung said. "Play first, have a snack, then get focused on homework."
There's still time to make sure kids are healthy going in because, like clockwork, pediatricians' offices in a few weeks will be filling up with coughing, sneezing kids.
"For the first two weeks of school my office is very quiet," said Chung, who practices in Fairfax. "There are very few sick kids. Usually at about two weeks the viruses have had enough time to incubate and spread. Suddenly there is a large surge in visits."
Chung offered another simple piece of advice.
"Teach them how to wash their hands," Chung said. "That is where we carry most of our germs."
Here are a few more things to know as kids get ready for another school year.
Kids may feel like they are being poked and prodded to no end, but it's all for a good cause.
The typical back-to-school physical checks weight, height, blood pressure, medical history, immunization history, vision, hearing and other things. It's more involved for kindergartners entering school for the first time and for children new to a school system.
Most school systems post the blank school health entrance forms online.
Kenneth Lucas Jr., medical director of the Patient First Medical Center on Parham Road , said parents have brought in kids for physicals as late as the evening of the first day of school or the day after. Patient First does urgent care for adults and children, but does primary care for children 7 and older, and adults.
"We do get the people who simply forget or don't realize the schools are serious that a child is not going to be enrolled unless they have this series of papers filled out," Lucas said.
Many insurance companies, he said, require physicals to be done by the child's pediatrician or primary care provider in order to be covered.
Physicals required of student athletes may have sports-specific components and are usually less involved, Lucas said.
"We will do those for anyone that comes in," he said.
Virginia has new rules regarding student athletes and concussions, said Doug Cutter, a physician with CJW Sports Medicine .
Kids playing in Virginia High School League-sanctioned sports must have parents sign a waiver that explains the symptoms of concussions.
"The Department of Education has mandated that each county establish a concussion-management team," said Cutter, who also works with Chesterfield County schools.
"The purpose of this mandate is to increase awareness to coaches, parents and the kids about the signs and symptoms" of concussions, he said.
Concussions are caused by a blow to the head. Symptoms can include headache, neck pain, nausea, dizziness or tiredness, or a dazed feeling that persists for several days or weeks after the injury.
There are concerns that concussions are going unrecognized or that kids are returning to play before they are healed, risking long-term problems.
"The law says K-12, but only talks about student athletes," Cutter said. "The assumption there is that student athletes are those kids who are in high school playing VHSL sports. Chesterfield County is taking it further, taking it to mean any sanctioned extracurricular activity by the school system. That means a running club in elementary school, that means absolutely any middle school athletics, and not just the VHSL stuff."
Cutter said that as students return to practice and play, reconditioning can be an issue.
"Some kids come in fully conditioned. Some haven't done anything all summer," he said.
"Those kids who are out of shape are probably going to get more injuries."
Richmond ranks as one of the worst cities in the country when it comes to allergies and asthma.
Linda Hudgens, chairwoman of the Central Virginia Asthma Coalition, said returning to school can exacerbate asthma symptoms.
During summer, students sometimes stop taking their medications the way they should. Hudgens, a registered nurse and certified asthma educator, said many parents don't understand the difference in control medications that should be taken every day, whether or not a child is showing symptoms, and rescue medications that provide quick relief during asthma attacks.
"If they have recurring asthma, the controller needs to be given every day," Hudgens said.
" The controller medication is the one that keeps that at bay, from having flare-ups. If they don't take it, obviously it's not going to work when they have symptoms."
The school environment can be full of asthma triggers for some children.
"They are going back to a school that may have been closed up in the summer. A lot of the time classrooms will accumulate a significant layer of dust, which is released in the air as soon as the air conditioning is turned on. If there is carpet on the floor, there could be mold. Even the cleaning products can be problematic, triggering asthma flare-ups," Hudgens said.
Other possible triggers include animals in the classroom, hairspray and perfumes, and secondhand cigarette smoke on the clothing and skin of staff and students.
"It's amazing how quickly an aerosol or chemical can put you into an asthma attack," Hudgens said.
"If you are a child who doesn't have their inhaler, it can result in a major emergency very quickly."
Hudgens advised parents to make sure they work with their child's doctor to develop an asthma action plan for the child and to make sure the school has a copy of it. The plan details what is to be done if a child displays symptoms of an attack.
"We don't see them as much as we should," Hudgens said, referring to the plans.
For the first time in many years, Virginia public high school students will participate in a survey this fall that asks whether they are engaging in risky health behaviors such as using illicit drugs or smoking.
The survey is Virginia's version of the federal Youth Risk Behavior Survey, a national questionnaire that also inquires about the use of alcohol, seat belts, exposure to violence and sexual activity.
The survey, to be given in grades nine through 12, is anonymous and voluntary for students, and parents can review the survey before it is given, according to a state Department of Education memorandum to division school superintendents.
Schools must notify parents at least 30 days before the survey is to be given.
A total of 37 randomly selected schools in 26 school divisions will be asked to participate in the survey. At each school, three to five randomly selected classrooms will participate. The survey has 96 items and takes one class period to complete.
State health officials say the survey data will be aggregated and used for planning, curriculum and policy development, and other official uses.
Hours staring at a computer screen or textbook can be hard on the eyes. If a child's grades suddenly fall without explanation, vision problems could be to blame.
The Virginia Eye Institute has some tips for recognizing vision problems in children. If a child:
Source:
No comments:
Post a Comment