Lifecycle: Health and Mental Well-being for Children Transcript
Dr. Elizabeth Meade
Particularly outdoor movement time I think is super helpful, but anything is great when they don't have that time, they just they're unhappy, right, they're grumpier. They're just having a hard time kind of focusing and they're having a hard time regulating those emotions. We see tons. Benefits in all really all areas of life, and I think especially when it comes to that sort of executive functioning and cognitive load that kids have, that physical movement can be so important, particularly if we have kids that have ADHD or other sort of learning challenges or differe. We really do see a big, big, big effect when we allow kids time enough to move their bodies.
Jennifer Semenza
Hello and welcome to talk with the Doc's life cycle. Our goal for this series is to help you boost your know how so you can take charge of your healthcare and enjoy better outcomes and quality of life. Needs visit Providence. To find general practitioners and specialists in your area and the latest in health care news. I'm Jennifer Samenza, your host and today's show covers healthcare for kids aged 6:00 to 12:00. We want to give parents the knowledge and tools to help ensure their kids get the right healthcare they need for those crucial growing years. My guest today is Doctor Elizabeth. She's a board certified pediatrician, practicing pediatric hospital medicine in Seattle, WA, and a speaker for the American Academy of Pediatrics on social media and Youth mental health for parents with children on social media. Meade has also recorded a talk with the Duck Wellness brief to provide parents useful advice and tips to help kids safely. Social media, Doctor Mead, welcome and thanks so much for joining us.
Dr. Elizabeth Meade
Thanks so much for having me.
Jennifer Semenza
You bet. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and the work you do for Providence and what brought you into this field?
Dr. Elizabeth Meade
Sure. So I am a board certified pediatrician and pediatric hospital medicine doctor and I've been at Swedish for 15 years, which is sort of wild. But primarily taking care of children in the hospital and then also newborns. I'm also a lactation consultant and a child and family sleep consultant, so I have a lot of passion. In the arena of justice, helping support families and helping families thrive together.
Jennifer Semenza
You are the perfect guest for us for this topic today, so we're going to start by discussing some general health questions. That many parents have about children in this 6 to 12 year old age group. So let's start with what are the key development milestones that children should be reaching at these ages?
Dr. Elizabeth Meade
Well, this is a really big age range, so there are lots of different milestones that happen depending on sort of when we're talking about from kind of a social and emotional standpoint. I think early in this range, children really start to show more independence, their parents. They start thinking a lot more about future and kind of understanding what that means and not just necessarily living in the moment. And then they really begin to care about friendships and being accepted and and the social milieu that I think is really different than younger children who. Have so much awareness around that. Very young children really center on themselves and so in this age range, at 6:00 to 12:00, we start to see kids really exploring what their role in a community, a classroom, a family looks like and how they sort of relate to people other than themselves, which is really. Than our toddler friends and our presch.
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Dr. Elizabeth Meade
And then later in that age range, I think kids really start to become a lot more aware of their own. They might be showing signs of puberty, particularly when talking about girls, and then they start to have a lot of increased complexity around friendships and peer relationships and peer pressure and attraction to other people. So I think because so much of that independence grows during these years, we really want to focus on safety and teaching kids really how to be safe and navigate the world with all of this new autonomy that they're experiencing for the first time.
Jennifer Semenza
And if they're falling behind on on reaching some of those normal milestones, when should a parent reach out to their child's physician?
Dr. Elizabeth Meade
You know, milestones are interesting because they have a big range of what's normal. So I think that it often can be difficult for parents, and even for pediatricians to sort of know well what's just a kid who's on the early side side of a milestone and what's a kid who's actually sort of having a delay. I think it. Not to compare our own kids to other kids that we know. So parents really should be reassured that it's normal for a child to learn to read at 4:00, and it's normal for a child to learn to read at 7 for the first time. A lot of these things do have a pretty wide spectrum of age ranges that's considered to be within normal. But that said, I think if a parent parents really know their kids best and so parent ever has a concern about their child's development, they always should reach out to discuss it with that child's Dr. We can sort of do a deeper evaluation and maybe pay closer attention to that development and to start to. Do a little more surveillance. If we're needing to see that child more often to sort of understand if we're missing something or if there's something that needs to be evaluated more more strongly.
Jennifer Semenza
I imagine it's a real comfort for parents to hear that there is a wide range of what's considered typical too, so that's got to be very, very comforting for them.
Dr. Elizabeth Meade
I hope. You know, I think I have three children and I think that. It's hard not to compare our kids to other kids, and it's hard not to compare our kids to our other kids of our own, right. I think that it is really important for parents to remember that children are very different in terms of when they reach milestones. Ever is interviewing for a job or applying to college, and someone asked them when they started reading or when they were. So, you know, I think just for us to remember that there's two sides to this coin. And one side is that we should be really reassured that there is that broad spectrum and the other side is that again, if you have a gut feeling concerned that something's. Right. Please bring it up with your child's. Because we know that you're around your child all the. We see them, you know, a few times a year, maybe once a year, if they're. So we really do want to know if you feel like, gosh, something is just not adding up or it feels like something is behind really where I feel like it should be.
Jennifer Semenza
Yeah, yeah, that's great. I know that this is kind of a wide range of ages between 6:00 and 12:00, but one of the vaccinations and health screenings that we should be scheduling. With his time.
Dr. Elizabeth Meade
So most kids by this point will have had their sort of four to six year boosters. There's a set of booster vaccines that we give again between 4:00 and 6:00. Some people call them sort of the kindergarten shots. And so by the six to twelve age range, you know, most kids have had those. If they're missing anything, it's certainly a great time to get caught up on that. So other than you know, things like flu shot each year or covert boosters, that next batch of sort of routine childhood vaccines typically happens at the end of this age range. Somewhere around 11 or. 12 and that includes at Booster and Tdap stands for tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis. Those are three significant illnesses that we prevent against with that one. There's also a vaccine usually given to prevent against meningitis, and then the HPV vaccine, which prevents certain types of cancers from occurring that can be given starting around 9 or 10. But if your child hasn't have it, you had it yet, and they're due for those 1112. And that's another one that will get offered to as well. And then sometime during those years, they'll probably have their lipid panel. So we'll check cholesterol sometime at least once in this age range. And then yearly kids will typically get a blood pressure screening, and during this time they'll also have vision and hearing screening at their family doctor or pediatricians office.
Speaker
That's.
Jennifer Semenza
Helpful. I know that sleep is kind of one of those things that's really of the utmost importance for for kids. But how important is sleep? How much should they be getting and do you have any tips for parents on establishing healthy sleep habits?
Dr. Elizabeth Meade
Well, fortunately or unfortunately, it is so important, and I certainly, you know, I say this as a pediatrician, but also as a sleep consultant. It just is really, really important and I almost hate telling people that sometimes because I think they're looking for someone to say, oh, it's not that big of a deal. Kids didn't sleep enough because none of us are probably getting as much sleep as we should. And certainly when we look at national data, especially in teenagers. None of our teenagers are getting as much sleep as they really should be getting, and I think for adults this can really be a struggle too. So kids in this age range, these kind of school age kids, we typically aim for somewhere between 9:00 and 12:00 hours. Depends on how old the child is, but also on some individual factors for that child in particular. And it is very, very, very. So it really has a lot to do with kind of overall physical health with mental health, with emotional regulation, school performance. And just feeling well, making healthier food choices, it impacts so many things in our life. And so it really is one of those foundational pieces that I always help families try to work. If it's a struggle, I think consistency of routine and avoiding screens for that time right before bed, especially that kind of hour before bed, making sure kids are going to bed early enough to support that 9:00 to 12:00, depending on how early they have to get up for. And then if your child is in this age range and they have a phone or another device really trying to keep that out of the bedroom at night, or at least turn notifications off, or put it on do not disturb. Are just some of the things that we can sort of start with as a baseline for establishing. Of those good sleep habits.
Jennifer Semenza
Yeah. And I know that you know, a lot of parents especially, I mean, and I did this as my kids got older. I would let them stay up late on school night or on on weekends, and then, you know, when school was in session. Of course, you know, go back to a normal. A better routine is that something that's actually productive for them or helpful or is that keeping them from establishing good sleep patterns.
Dr. Elizabeth Meade
Unfortunately, it's not great for sleep habits or for sleep debt, but that doesn't mean we should never do it, right. Should be fun and. Also, we don't want to be really cracking the whip on making sure that we're rigid about this, but we do want to have those good habits and those foundational practices. So establishing those good habits in general then gives us the flexibility to kind of throw them at the window on occasion, right? If there's a fun event, there's a school dance. We're on a vacation. There's a time change. It is then we can have some flexibility there, you know, or if they're not getting enough sleep during the week, let's say, letting them catch up a little bit on weekends can be helpful. But what I don't love is when we push that bedtime and say like, oh. They can just go to bed 4 hours later than they normally do because they can sleep later in the morning. Unfortunately for parents, children don't really work this way, so they can't just go to bed later and sleep later. Most of the time, if kids are sleeping later on weekends, for example, it's usually because they need more sleep than they're getting overall. So I think it's fine. The short version, that is. I think it's fine to let kids sleep in on the weekends if your schedule allows for that. But ideally we still want to get them to bed within about an hour of their normal. So if they sleep longer, great. But trying not to push it so that we're really pushing that bedtime super super late.
Jennifer Semenza
Yeah, that makes sense. Really makes sense. So let's switch gears a little bit and talk about physical. We know that it's really important for kids to be physically active and as it is for everybody. So how important is regular physical activity for a child's health and also not only just their physical health but also their cognitive health and development?
Dr. Elizabeth Meade
I mean, it's super important. Really it's like. It's one of those things that I think is one of the most important things for children and for adults, frankly, to be healthy, and it doesn't have to be organized sports or exercise programs, but it just needs to be time every day for movement, some kind of move. That makes your child happy. And as you mentioned, absolutely it impacts our physical health, but also mental and emotional health levels of anxiety and depression. It really when we establish healthy habits like healthy sleep or time for movement. That tends to flow into other parts of our life, and we start making healthier choices in other areas. So I think this really is one of the most important things for kids that we can ensure they're getting enough time to move each day each week.
Jennifer Semenza
Sounds like a we can't really overstate the importance and and the benefits of regular physical activity.
Dr. Elizabeth Meade
Yeah, that's. And I think any parent will agree with that. You know, I think we know as parents like when our kids are cooped up and they don't have time to move, particularly outdoor movement time I think is super helpful. Anything is great when they don't have that time. Just they're unhappy, right? Grumpier, they're. They're just having a hard time kind of focusing and they're having a hard time regulating those. So we benefits and really all areas of life. And I think especially when it comes to that sort of executive functioning and cognitive load that kids have, that physical movement can be so important, particularly if we have kids that have ADHD or other sort of learning challenges or. We really do see a big, big, big effect when we allow kids time enough to move their bodies.
Jennifer Semenza
Yeah. Are the types of physical activities that are most beneficial for kids in this age group, or does it just? Does it not really matter? Long as they're active.
Dr. Elizabeth Meade
I truly don't think it matters to be honest, as long as it's a safe activity and they're moving their bodies and having fun and hopefully again getting some outdoor time as part of that also. So I'm really in favor of whatever type of movement kids want to do again, as long as it's safe and it's sort of an age appropriate activity.
Jennifer Semenza
Yeah. And does that help them also manage stress and mental health issues?
Dr. Elizabeth Meade
For sure, we see this in kids and adults too. That people who make time for physical activity really do. It plays a critical role in helping us feel less stressed and sleeping better and generally kind of. More resilient and feeling more reserved and more equipped to take on the challenges that we have every day in life.
Jennifer Semenza
Yeah. And I know that, you know, as an adult, we're told that it helps with issues like heart disease. Is that also true for kids? And when they become adults, does it help prevent some of that?
Dr. Elizabeth Meade
Yes. So establishing these habits really early when we're talking about nutrition or exercise, that is enormously helpful in impacting the lifelong sort of health trajectory that we have. That being said, I also don't want people to feel like it's too late, right? I think sometimes we feel certainly as adults and sometimes with our children, like, well, I haven't done this for 10 years with my kid and maybe doesn't matter. And I would say it's never too late to really start some of these healthy habits. And children are very plastic and very malleable and really develop habits super easily often. So I think it's something that you haven't been focusing on with your family or your child is just. Too late to start.
Jennifer Semenza
That's so that's that's great to hear. I know that we hear scary stories about kids that are overdoing. So what are the warning signs that a child might be over exerting themselves during physical activity?
Dr. Elizabeth Meade
Yeah. So in this age group, if we're seeing kids specialize in a single sport too early, we can definitely start to see some negative consequences. Typically that looks like what we call overuse. So kids that are doing repetitive movements like dancers, gymnasts, baseball players, swimmers at really any sport, if they're really focusing and specializing and they're spending a ton of time on that single sport early on, we do see higher levels of burnout, higher levels of stress and also more. Overuse injuries. So for kids who do play sports you, we're recommending that if they're highly committed to 1 sport in particular, that they're taking at least one or two days a week and then two or three months a year off from that sport in order to just RECO. And explore other interests. So you know, some of our patients are playing at a very high level and they feel this pressure to really do it the entire year. We find that if they have two or three times in the year where they just take a month off and they're having at. One or two days a week where they're off from that sport, it's enormously helpful. And not only helping their bodies, but also those levels of burnouts and stress. And then usually we don't recommend that kids kind of specialize in a single sport, really drill down until about 15 or 16. At that point, I think if kids are super committed to 1 sport, it's OK to let them specialize as long as we kind of continue to. Let them have those downtimes. We also see when we look at the data and I think this is what a lot of parents wonder about is that, you know, does it benefit my child in terms of getting better at something to specialize really early? And we actually find that no, when we looked. The literature and the data it shows us that kids actually have a higher chance of playing at an elite level if they didn't specialize too early. Wow, until they were 15 or 16, they did other. They did other activities that were fun for them that also kind of helped with their general level of athleticism and physical activity that those were kids who actually have a higher chance of going on to play at college or beyond.
Jennifer Semenza
That's really encouraging. So I want to move on to a topic that many parents find exhausting and one that kind of often causes a nightly battle around the dinner table. Chat about eating healthy. How important is a well balanced diet for kids to their overall health and and what does a well balanced diet look like for for this age group?
Dr. Elizabeth Meade
Well, this is just one of the most challenging things, isn't? Because I think as a parent, I know the struggle, I mean that's The thing is a well balanced diet is really important in general. And I have 3 kids and I get. I know how hard it can be, so I also want to say we do our best and that's our best, right? We don't want meal time to be a battle. Don't want it to be stressful for anybody? That is one of the shortest ways that we have to create picky eaters is if we make the dinner table a battle zone so we don't force, we don't join the Clean Plate Club. Don't tell kids you have to. Three bites of this. The rule. We it's our job as parents to offer nutritious options to make sure there's at least one food in every meal that we know a child likes or will eat. Kind of a safe food for them. And then we let kids take the reins and decide how much of each of those things they're gonna eat now. Doesn't mean that they just get to have ice cream for dinner every night, right? We're putting food on the table that we know offers them nutrition and value. And they're choosing how much of those things to eat, and we don't become short order cooks. We don't make separate meals. Now, all of this caveat is I'm talking about neurotypical children and children that don't have significant food avoidance or extreme pickiness, right? Sort of a different category. But I also think it's important to remember that we just kind of want to take that 30,000 foot. So we want to think about the cumulative nutrients our kids are getting and we don't have to worry that every single meal is perfectly balanced as a standalone. Sometimes it's just going to be pizza and maybe some like carrot sticks on the side, if we're lucky, right? It's going to be a birthday cake and a birthday party, and that's all they had for the day. But we want to really take that that high level view and think well, if I think about all the food that my child eats in a week, for example, does it feel pretty balanced? I think if yes, then you're doing a great job.
Jennifer Semenza
I love to hear that there's a little bit of leeway and you can give yourself grace. You know, perfection is not expected. Great to hear.
Dr. Elizabeth Meade
Yeah, and certainly perfection is the enemy of the good. So I think that sometimes we shoot ourselves in the foot too, because we. Feel like, well, this one meal isn't perfect or you know, I'm not doing everything right. Not getting my child to eat green vegetables every single day. I give up and we know that it's all about progress and not perfection, and so we really want to encourage to just again have those healthy options that we offer. Know kids have to try a new food. An average of like 10 to 15 times before they start to like. And so I think people often give up too early, when really we just need to keep at it, make it super low pressure, make meal time and the dinner table a happy place for the whole family and know that even most picky children will get better with time.
Jennifer Semenza
I'm here with Doctor Elizabeth Meade, a board certified pediatrician in Seattle, WA, and a speaker for the American Academy of Pediatrics on social media and Youth mental health. Today we're discussing what parents of children aged 6 to 12 need to know about proper medical care and the crucial role of sleep. Physical activity and a balanced diet in their overall health.
Dr. Elizabeth Meade
Tell us what are three healthy and easy snacks to keep around the home? You know, three healthy, easy snacks that I love to keep at home for kids, but also for adults, for myself included. I think 1 is washed and cut. Up vegetables and. We are so much more likely to grab something when it's ready to eat. It doesn't require prep. It's sitting there. Nice and and. Um, perfect for us in the fridge and kids are the same way. The second thing I love to keep around is muffins that are either sweetened mostly with applesauce or banana. A little Maple syrup. A lot of times I add almond flour for extra protein and fat and then maybe some berries for some produce as well. And then the third thing that I think is super easy for people to have around is crackers and veggies and hummus. This crunchy, creamy, salty kind of all in one. It gives us a lot of good nutrition and it's really easy for kids to grab for them.
Jennifer Semenza
And suddenly I want a snack. Let's talk about. What are the key nutrients that children need to have optimal growth and development?
Dr. Elizabeth Meade
Yeah, well. Like adults, kids, there's macro nutrients and. And so the macro nutrients that we think about our protein, fat and carbohydrates and kids actually need less than we. I think adults, especially in this country, are very hyper focused, often on protein and getting enough protein and there's lots of benefits to that. For adults who are trying to lose weight or gain muscle, it's really important to make sure that they're getting enough. But kids do not need as much as we think. So in this age group, kids only need probably about 20 to 5 to 35 grams of protein a day. Children certainly are typically having more of their calories come from carbohydrates, and that's very appropriate for their level of activity and running around that they're doing hopefully each day. And then there's some of those. And so these are things like iron and zinc and magnesium and other things. And the reality is most kids who have a semblance of a balanced diet will actually be fine in the micronutrient camp.
Jennifer Semenza
That's great. How can I ensure that my child is getting enough vitamins and minerals and and then also recognizing the signs of a deficiency? And how is that determined if they need supplements?
Dr. Elizabeth Meade
Yeah. So again, most kids who are eating some variety of diet or relatively typical, you know, very diet that includes some produce of some kind, are actually doing fine in the micronutrient area. Most kids actually don't need, like a multivitamin for. Example, there are some things that can be exceptions to this, so we do see iron deficiency, not unusually in kids who might not be eating a lot of meat or green vegetables like dark leafy greens, which are a lot of the ways that we can get good iron. And then vitamin D, especially here in the Pacific Northwest, we certainly are at risk for low vitamin D. Those are a couple things that I. Just chatting with your doctor to, you know, see if it's warranting getting a test or if your child might benefit from a supplement. And then if your child does have pretty restricted eating, then you can always talk with your pediatrician or family doctor about whether a vitamin might be helpful, or whether there are other ways to get some of those micronutrients. But. Kids are not going to need. Multivitamin I think iron and vitamin D are kind of the two most common things that we would think about supplementing in children.
Jennifer Semenza
Yeah. When do food allergies begin to show up? And what are some of the signs that a child might have food, food. Yeah.
Dr. Elizabeth Meade
You know. Children who have food allergies will have shown signs by this age. So often it presents in infancy or kind of early childhood, but certainly can happen at anytime. So if you have a child who's consistently having a physical. Reaction of some sort when they're eating a food. So typically a food allergy might look like hives, right? Might look like difficulty. These are kind of some of the more severe symptoms, but children also sometimes will just vomit after they eat a particular food, and that's kind of their sign. So kids who are having unusual rashes, who are having hives that are coming, who are having any sort of difficulty breathing after they're eating a certain food, or if they're having nausea or vomiting after they're eating a food, then those are things that certainly would indicate to look. A food allergy and see if it's there. There's also celiac disease, which certainly can present in this age group, and that's a true gluten allergy, a wheat. Allergy and those children typically will present with kind of vague symptoms to be honest. A lot of times it's just abdominal. Maybe they're not growing so well. They're feeling kind of bloated or they just don't feel that well in general. So if your child is having any sort of gastrointestinal symptoms, it's definitely worth talking with their doctor to see if it might be an allergy condition.
Jennifer Semenza
Does diet impact a child's mental and emotional well-being? If it does, how can a parent recognize those issues?
Dr. Elizabeth Meade
I believe that it absolutely does. I think the more Whole Foods and the fewer kind of ultra processed foods that we eat, the healthier and less inflamed our bodies are and that certainly contributes to mental and emotional health as well, but. You know, it's also very. So a ton of this is genetics and life circumstances and identity and the social support that people have, their economic support that they have. Those all play enormous. I think it's relatively unusual for specific foods to cause sort of consistent behavioral or emotional issues in kids, but stability of blood sugar for sure. And we, you know, we talk about that kind of sugar crash all. Time and there is an element of reality to that which is that we're having big spikes and then big dips in our blood sugar. That doesn't feel good for anybody. And often children are not able to identify why it doesn't feel good. Just know that they're sort of emotionally dysregulated and having a hard. So I think you know, focusing on kids getting enough protein, enough fat, some of these nutritious foods that we're talking about, not just doing a lot of sugar sweetened stuff and nothing else with it that can help kind of mitigate some of those spikes and dips in the. Sugar.
Jennifer Semenza
Yeah, and that's a great transition to to our next series of questions. How can a parent differentiate between normal behavior changes and potential mental health concerns?
Dr. Elizabeth Meade
It's very challenging sometimes in this age range, these 6 to 12 year olds to tell the difference between normal behavior changes and potential mental health concerns. I think that this is the time when we see a huge amount of development and behavior changes that are within the normal range. Really shouldn't worry us. But parents know their kids best, and if you feel that your child is struggling, you should always bring it up with their healthcare team. That's their physician or someone else. Some of those red flags we might pay attention to if kids start having really big changes in sleep patterns, if they're suddenly doing worse in school or they're not enjoying friends or activities that they really used to love or have any kind of very sudden changes in behav. Don't have an. That's a really good time to check in.
Jennifer Semenza
Can you offer advice to parents about talking with their kid about mental health and in an age appropriate way?
Dr. Elizabeth Meade
Yeah, I think this is just start early and often. I mean that's one of the most important pieces of advice that I can. So that means that this making this just a regular part of conversation that we have in our family goes a long way to opening up that door for kids, knowing they can really come to talk to you about that stuff, but also being open if you bring it. I think that when we don't have these conversations starting early age or we don't have them regularly, it feels like this huge spotlight on kids. When we say I'd like to sit down and talk to you about. Out. You know your mental health or about your feelings like that can feel like a lot of. For kids. So I think for. Kids, we just keep it. We say things like sometimes we have big feelings that can feel really hard or really scary. That ever happened to you? And for older kids, we can get a little bit more. But again, I think keeping it just a regular part of the conversation and not this big sort of pressured sit down can be really helpful. One thing that often is a great sort of gateway question is to ask kids about their peer groups. Instead of saying you know, are you experiencing this, or are you having difficulties with this? Saying something like, gosh, you know, a lot of kids your age start to have more stress or more worry around this time. You noticed that in any of your friends. That can often lead to having this really non pressure general conversation about it. Then that child feels like they can start to. Up about their own experience.
Jennifer Semenza
I love that it really like you say it takes the spotlight off of them. That's great.
Dr. Elizabeth Meade
I mean, no one wants to sit. And be grilled. So I think kids especially and so I think that just again making it this general conversation, this is the thing that I notice in other kids your age or 6th graders, you know, seem to always kind of struggle with this. Your experience with your friends and then when they open up, we can say, well, gosh, how do you know? Are you doing with that?
Jennifer Semenza
Great advice. What are some of the common behavioral health issues that might arise during this this time?
Dr. Elizabeth Meade
Yeah. So often at this age, we see things like ADHD, learning differences and other types of neurodiversity that are sort of coming to light as children are starting to be expected to do. In school. So a lot of kids who have kind of done okay in kindergarten or early elementary, then as they get older and there's more pressure, there's more work to be done and they're switching classes. There's a lot more to keep track of. They might start to notice that they're struggling. And so this is a common age range where we start to think about some of those learning differences and often are finding kids that are having symptoms of attention. As well. This is also a time where kids are really exerting a lot of independence and it's very age appropriate, but they're sort of pulling back from. Parents and family. And so, while that's developmentally normal, I think that could feel hard and sad for parents. And so you know, that's something that parents may notice as well and just sort of wonder, how do I deal with this and and. Know normal and what do I do about it?
Jennifer Semenza
Yeah. And is that something that the parents should talk with the kids about or or talk with the physician? Do they address those concerns?
Dr. Elizabeth Meade
Yeah. Again, I think this is one of those things where you know, we want to talk to our kids about this early and often. And and I think it's OK to say to your child, you know, I know that you're 11 or 12 and you kind of want. Do your own thing more and it it just bums me out a little bit and I'm you know, I'm happy for you to have independence. But I just want you to know how I'm feeling. Feeling that is always, I think appropriate to do. If you feel like your child is withdrawing in a way that doesn't feel sort of typical to you. They're really pulling back. They're not wanting to talk about anything. They're wanting to spend a lot of time alone in their room and like truly not interact with you at this age. That's maybe a little bit less typical and that's something you might want to talk with your child. About for 16 year olds, that's a little bit different, but for that 6:00 to 12:00 you know, if we're seeing really major withdrawals from kind of social systems and support, that's something to pay attention to.
Jennifer Semenza
Yeah. And I imagine that kids have different symptoms of stress and anxiety than adults do, obviously. So what are the signs that parents should be watching for that their child might be experiencing stress or anxiety?
Dr. Elizabeth Meade
A lot of times this looks like changes in. Maybe changes in school performance? Again, not wanting to engage with friends or activities that they previously really love. Of changes in appetite certainly can can present when we have anxiety or depression or other kind of mental health challenges, and then with children specifically, we tend to see a lot of bodily complaints that actually really are related to stress or anxiety. Kids will say I've got a headache or my stomach hurts or I just don't feel well. I don't really want to go to school and it's kind of this vague. Feeling of not feeling well and often for kids, this translates to headache or stomach. That's kind of their go to. So if we're noticing that suddenly our child is having a lot more of those complaints, for sure, we want to make sure there's nothing medical happening, but also just know that that can really be a sign of anxiety or other sort of. Health issues as well.
Jennifer Semenza
When should parents seek professional help from somebody like a child psychologist?
Dr. Elizabeth Meade
Yeah, I would say the first step is always your child's healthcare. So they can really help you kind of assess the situation. They can see what other testing or treatment or professional input might be needed. And so that's always a great place to start. Some of the red flags that we've talked about where your child might need a little bit more assistance is again, if they're really disengaging with things that. Cried at them. A lot of joy and sustenance. So if they're not engaging with friends, if they're not wanting to do any sort of activities outside of the family structure, or even within the family structure, if they're having changes in appetite or sleep that are significant. Certainly if you ever suspect that your child has a true mental health disorder, meaning like they have significant depression, or they're concerned that you're going to, you're concerned that they will hurt themselves or something like that. That's an emergency, and they certainly need to be evaluated right away. And I think in general, your child's Dr. is a great place to start to just help you. Is this something we see that's normal for this age group, or is something that does need some more input?
Jennifer Semenza
Yeah, another significant issue we know can cause stress and anxiety in children. Is social media use.
Speaker
Who is more?
Jennifer Semenza
We felt that this topic was important enough for its own episode, so for our listeners out there, we've invited Doctor Mead, who's also a speaker for the American Academy of Pediatrics on social media, and Youth Mental health, to record an episode on this subject. So you can find that episode by subscribing to talk with a doc on your favorite podcast platform or on our website, which is talk with a DOC podcast dot transistor dot FM. Doctor me. This has been a great conversation. Is there anything else you want to talk about that we haven't mentioned?
Dr. Elizabeth Meade
I think just that it can be really hard to be a parent and it can be really hard to be a. So I solidarity to all of the parents out there that are getting through these complicated years. I'm right there with you and you're doing a great job.
Jennifer Semenza
Such a great conversation, doctor. Me. Thank you so much for your time today.
Dr. Elizabeth Meade
Thank you so much for having me.
Jennifer Semenza
I would also like to thank everyone for joining us today on talk with a dock life cycle. We hope we have provided you with valuable insights and a deeper understanding of why good Healthcare is so essential to having a happy and healthy kids. And don't forget to listen to doctor means Wellness brief episode about creating a safe social media experience for your kids. We hope today's episode has provided useful information and a better understanding of why good Healthcare is essential for maintaining healthy and happy children. To get continued information on other important healthcare topics, please subscribe to talk with the doc on your favorite podcast platform. You can connect with us on Facebook, TikTok and X at Providence and on Instagram and LinkedIn. Under Providence Health systems for additional information about this and other. Related topics, please check out the Providence blog at blog.providence.org. To learn more about our mission programs and services, go to providence.org or download the Providence app. To access all this information and more. Be sure to tune into our next episode where we talk to Doctor Danielle curator about the health care issues adolescents face. Here's a sneak peek of our next episode.
Dr. Danielle Curitore
Start to see that your body is changing. There's lots of different changes that hormones will will provide, such as sometimes our friend acne. You might get a little bit of a pimple outbreak. You might also sometimes see that your body changes. In its shape and size. And you might start to have different areas that start to get curves in women and. You start to get a little bit more muscle mass, so starting to navigate that once again when you're dealing with what seems to be social norms and social media, it's really important to know that these are normal changes that everyone and no one has perfect skin all the.