Canadian Family, October 2008
What you should have on hand for your baby’s most common illnesses.
by Sharon Oosthoek
Toronto mother Armi Armesto is cautious about giving over-the-counter drugs to her baby and pre-schooler. “I don’t want to over medicate,” she says. “That’s my number one fear.”
Armesto was paying attention last fall when concerns over the safety of non-prescription cough and cold medicines for children made headlines. At the time, Health Canada reported “life-threatening adverse events, including unintentional overdose” in children under the age of two who had been given these medicines.
“I only give (three-year-old) Skyler something if he’s suffering and I wouldn’t give (two-month-old) Emma anything. She’s too young,” says Armesto.
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Canadian Family, September 2007
Now’s the time to get your teen on track for back to school
By Sharon Oosthoek
It’s a typical school morning at Maria D’alessandro’s Woodbridge, Ont. home, as her three boys communicate in grunts while she tries to herd them out the door on time.
“They drag their knuckles down the stairs. They’re troglodytes. They haven’t evolved yet,” laughs D’alessandro.
Mornings and teens have never really mixed, but now that summer is over, many will be battling to revert to their school-year sleep schedule. So how do you get your child on track while preserving your sanity?
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Canadian Family, April 2007
Great things happen when kids decide to do something about the environment.
by Sharon Oosthoek
Two years ago, a group of grade three students marched into principal Mike Quinn’s office at Bird’s Hill School in Winnipeg with a plan for planting a tree on a busy road beside their playground. It was just after Earth Day and their teacher had read them a book about how trees sequester exhaust from cars.
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Canadian Family, April 2007
A new vaccine can dramatically decrease the risk that your daughter may one day get cervical cancer.
by Sharon Oosthoek
Last fall, Brigitte Leclerc asked her doctor to immunize her daughters with a vaccine that protects against two strains of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) responsible for most cases of cervical cancer.
She knew from painful experience just what was at stake.
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Canadian Family, April 2006
Why your teen should have a cellphone
by Sharon Oosthoek
Is your teen constantly moping about not having a cellphone, laying it on thick with the everybody-else-has-one sob stories? Wendy Wright’s 16-year-old daughter, Colette, campaigned for a cellphone for two years before the Toronto mom finally gave in. Today, she reluctantly admits the phone has actually been good for both of them. “[Getting] it coincided with her first year of high school. Now that she’s going out more, she can call me and say that she’s running late or ask which streetcar to get on. I know she can haul it out and call 911 in a flash, too,” says Wright, who – like many parents of cellphone-sporting teens – finds the extra security a comfort.
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