In an era of health care when mothers are jailed for not medicating their children, vaccinations are justly under attack for the harm they can cause, and doctors are stating that the leading causes of death in our country can be prevented yet all research is geared toward anything but prevention, it can be confusing for a parent to know how to help their kids achieve health and how to educate their kids about health and what they can do to sustain it.  There's is nothing more important than children.  They are the ones that will carry on our legacies and shape the world of tomorrow.  So, if we are to give them the tools that they will need to succeed, it is important that parents have all the pertinent information.

For instance, did you know that unless a fever reaches 105 degrees or higher, then it should not be considered abnormal?  It's true.  Fever - or the body raising its temperature - is the first line of defense against infection.  It is a perfectly normal, healthy immune response, in which temperature rises to help kill the infection.  To interfere with it by taking fever lowering medication actually prolongs the infection by allowing it to spread. 

This is one of the many fallacies on display through media outlets, which also serve to push health care mediums that incorrectly define preventative health care.  Prevention is a foreign concept in our health care system.  Bayer Aspirin, for instance, is not proven to prevent heart attacks.  It is proven, however, to cause stomach bleeding.  It's that line of thinking that has American Pediatricians thinking that it's a good idea to put children on cholesterol lowering medications before they ever have issues with high cholesterol; a classic example of ignoring cause (obesity, lack of nutrition, and lack of exercise) in favor of treating the effect (rise in cholesterol level). 

We are, without question, an over-medicated society.  We consume 80% of the drugs produced worldwide, yet we make up just 5% of the world's population.  The above examples provide evidence as to both why that is and the reason that it is a problem.  The problem is that we don't know any better.  Well, with this generation of young people, we're going to start reversing this trend.  The majority of the focus in health care today is diagnosing adults and seniors with conditions so that they can be medicated as soon as possible.  If we put that focus on teaching parents and their kids what they can do to avoid developing conditions, then we won't be so over dependent upon drugs.

The best time to teach how to live healthy and active lifestyles is during youth!  Kids are like information soaking sponges; we should be maximizing that opportunity and imparting to them the key aspects of being healthy so that they can establish practices right from the go go that will benefit their health in the long-term.

Bottom line: most kids are going to follow their parents' lead until they learn otherwise.  So, as parents or future parents, let's make sure that our own knowledge of health is as fundamentally strong as possible, allowing us to pass it down to the next generation.  That's why we're doing Kids Day in America at the office: to provide an avenue for you and your kids to learn.

Thinking good things for you,

Dr. Chad