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Beyond Backpacks: The Hidden Health Priorities of Back to School
The transition from summer freedom to school structure affects every family differently. Whether you're celebrating the return to routine or mourning the end of family time, this critical period demands special attention to your child's physical, emotional, and social wellbeing.
Dr. Travis Engel joins us to unpack the essential health considerations often overlooked during back-to-school season. We explore why annual check-ups matter so much, even for seemingly healthy children, and how these visits help pediatricians spot developmental concerns parents might miss in day-to-day life.
Have you found creative ways to ease your child's transition back to school? Share your tips in the comments and help other parents make this season smoother and healthier for everyone involved.
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Hi and welcome to, and so Much More. We are in back-to-school season. I know so many parents are probably on one end of the spectrum or the other. They're either like so relieved and excited for the kids to get back into another swing of things or they're just really sad that they're not going to have their kids around all the time. I'm very careful to not assume that parents are in one or the other. It's a spectrum. But we are here with Dr Travis Ingle and we're going to talk about just this critical time for our kids' health in this back to school season. I know we woke up this weekend to like 60 degree temperatures and it felt real, like back to school season felt real for the first time.
Speaker 2:I don't know where the summer went. It feels like my kids just got out of school and we're already, you know, doing back to school shopping, and we'll start next week, so the middle of next week okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I feel like it's kind of like a rolling start with all the different um schools in our area and so, yeah, we're going back on the 19th, so we've got some time, but like this is like back to school. Shopping was this weekend and all the dentist appointments were today.
Speaker 2:We've got to get our physicals. My kids went to their pediatrician. The pediatrician's kids do still go to a pediatrician.
Speaker 1:See that it's so important and so we have just come up with a few things that I think are floating around our heads as parents this time of year, and it's like this mental checklist that we know has to happen, and sometimes I think we do it just out of habit. It's like, okay, these are the things we do and there's there's no why behind them, and I think really hearing the why behind back to school, health and safety and mental health, and it's just a good conversation to have with us, but then also it can help us have better conversations with our kids, and so we want to jump in, but first I kind of want to put more meat to that. So why is back to school season health critical in the pediatric world?
Speaker 2:Well, so there's a lot of feelings from kids going back to school. Even in my own home we have a variety of feelings with my daughter, who's really excited to get back into school and back into the routine of things and just very diligent about she kind of misses her social circle there and just really really into it. My son, who's had a wonderful summer and also has a lot of friends at school, is very much like now. I have to get back into the routine of things and I don't get to kind of plan my day around just whatever I want to do. So there's a little bit more trepidation there, I think.
Speaker 2:Back to school and the rhythm, like you said, kind of the checkboxes that most parents kind of get through, like we've got to get clothes, we've got to do this, we've got to do that, and part of that also includes usually getting our physical exam and making sure we're up to date on our preventative health care and things of that nature.
Speaker 2:So back to school just seems to be this kind of standardized time to just kind of reground. Let's make sure we have everything done that we get our year off and rolling in an organized way. So we tend to see in summer summertime. Late summer tends to be one of the busier times for pediatric offices as children get back in and get those physicals and stuff. So that just naturally has been just kind of the benchmark check-in time for a lot of kids to go back into their pediatrician. And, believe it or not, even though I'm a pediatric hospitalist and I deal primarily with sick children, the vast majority of kids are well enough that they can go through quite a few years in many cases and not see their pediatrician for an illness. So this is one of the regular times we get to check in with children. They're not ill and get to just do our routine, kind of are you well, are you healthy, where can we help you and what needs to be done over the next couple of years.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's such a good checkpoint and it it never ceases to amaze me every year that we come in for that, that visit. Um, so much has changed and and, and you don't realize our kids are growing right before us. You know, and so when we come in and we get those measurements and it's time to talk about you know, and so when we come in and we get those measurements and it's time to talk about, you know, different benchmarks that you have to do, whether that's for vaccines, whether that's for different physicals for different age groups and different grades you're going into, I know, if kids are doing sports, that's like a whole nother conversation. So let's talk about this checklist. So vaccines, checkups, even if your child seems healthy. There are just conversations that are so good that happen in these moments.
Speaker 2:So you know you mentioned earlier, our kids grow right before our eyes and even for me, you know, every day they grow just a little bit and incrementally over time they're much bigger than they were a year ago. So it's very difficult sometimes for parents to recognize areas of concern because we see these things on the daily and what's, you know what may be concerning to someone else, pretty normal for us. So that time for the pediatricians to check in and actually do this annual visit is an area where we can identify. Are there some developmental concerns, particularly in younger children? We look at are you meeting your developmental milestones? Are you where we would suspect you should be for speech, social and emotional development, reading, things of that nature. Also, looking at vision and hearing too, these things that again parents like well, I have to raise my voice when I talk to my child a lot, but I thought they just weren't listening. And then the pediatrician kind of clues in. It's like, well, maybe we let's make sure that our hearing is intact.
Speaker 2:You know you may realize there's a little bit of a hearing deficit or we may pick up on a visual deficit that maybe has been there for a while, but the parents just don't pick up on it, because the child's really good at adapting, you know and these things?
Speaker 1:they happen.
Speaker 2:A lot of loving parents have been very surprised that their child may have a hearing or visual deficit or have a developmental difference in certain areas, and it's not because they don't pay attention to their children or love them, it just is. You know, we see them every day and sometimes it takes an outside perspective to help us recognize these things. So we have that. We talk about what is routine preventative care and for many families in the area that does include vaccination. But I encourage every family to have a discussion with their pediatrician and their healthcare provider about what is right for them and what they want to do. We do have a recommended list and we follow the CDC recommended vaccine schedule and that's pretty set in stone.
Speaker 2:Once you get past about age six, the routine vaccinations become fewer and fewer each year, but there are certain checkpoints when children are in that nine to 13 year old range and then when we start talking about high school and going into college, there's a couple routine vaccinations that are recommended for those age groups that we want to discuss and really figure out what is right and what's in line with every family's kind of wishes and goals for their child.
Speaker 2:So we talk about developmental milestones vision and hearing screening, vaccination, routine preventative care. And then I always throw sports physicals in there as well, because any comprehensive routine physical exam should also cover you for sports physical participation too, with just a few modifications, a few things we have to add on. So many pediatricians, if you've had a full routine history and physical in the last 12 months, will go ahead and check off your sports physical at that time too. Okay so, which is important and we have a whole other, one of our other podcasts, when we talk about commodio cordis I think we did about a year and a half ago we talk about sports pre-participation physical screening, which is a good one to go back to if you're wondering about the importance of that.
Speaker 2:So, in addition to all of this, this is just a great time for the physician or advanced practice provider that your child sees to do a check-in and see what concerns your child has. For zero to six, those children don't have a ton of concerns. Usually, as children get a little older, they start to voice some concerns and then when we get into adolescence, we really want to make sure we're doing our due diligence and screening for any risk of anxiety, depression, mental health challenges that those children may be facing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I want to talk about some of those mental health challenges. I know, specifically, a lot of people refer to it as back to school anxiety, but you know, I think this time of year it's categorized that way. It's just anxiety overall. I know this is the first year that my daughter's going into middle school and she has some some social anxiety that came up in a conversation with her primary care provider. Social anxiety that came up in a conversation with her primary care provider and we talked with Teresa over at Efreen Hopkins and and it was such a good conversation and it was exactly what you said it was. My daughter initiated just a concern and it started a ball rolling and I was so proud of her for having that conversation. And so it's going to look different for every child. But how can we as parents be more in tune or aware to we'll call it back to school anxiety for right now, because that's just what we're dealing with how can we be more in tune with that?
Speaker 2:So I think it's important to understand that as parents, sometimes in the day-to-day hustle bustle of life like we can see that our children are anxious about something and then maybe be a little bit dismissive of it. And I'll speak for myself as a parent that sometimes I even have a hard time really discerning what is just. You're anxious about this right now. You're worked up about this right now. Let's just calm down about it and look like we've got stuff to do.
Speaker 1:Let's take a breath.
Speaker 2:Let's take a breath versus this is actually pervasive.
Speaker 2:This is a recurrent pattern of anxiety that you've kind of developed in relation to a specific trigger or specific circumstance.
Speaker 2:So anxiety about going back to school, anxiety about changing the routine from the summer or being involved with new groups, or particularly going from elementary to middle school or middle to high school, is a very normal occurrence.
Speaker 2:Are we experiencing something that's like normal for growth and development anxiety surrounding getting into new friend groups, things of that nature or are we in a pattern that is actually affecting my child's kind of activities of daily living? Is this anxiety so burdensome that now it has removed the joy, the fun, the ability to function in these areas? And if so, that's where we say, okay, we've kind of screened for how much of an issue this is. Now we need to act and formally diagnose and figure out what is the right entry point for treatment here. Is this something where therapy might be very beneficial a combination of therapy and maybe intervention by psychiatry? Or in some cases, children may need therapy, psychiatry and even medication management. Right, all every parent wants for their child is for them to be able to function to their highest capabilities without any negative impacts from things like anxiety, depression, mental health issues or physical health issues?
Speaker 2:Yes like anxiety, depression, mental health issues or physical health issues. So that's really like the. If I could summarize the conversation, and just very, very succinctly, that would be it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so much of what you're saying. I think again, it's going to look different for every child, but there's so many factors to consider, because I know something we wanted to talk about today is like nutrition and sleep and just my knowing myself. If I am not eating well and I am not sleeping well, my anxiety levels they rise, and my own, just you know. What I can handle in that moment is so dependent upon whether or not I'm taking care of myself yeah.
Speaker 1:And as these kids are growing, those needs change and have to adapt. So so I want to kind of transition to talk about, like going from summer to school is just so hard anyway. I mean my kids have been getting up around 10, 11 o'clock in the morning and so it's going to be. I mean we got to start doing that sleep. It sounds weird to say sleep training with teens, yeah right, you do Sleep training for school, and so what does that look like?
Speaker 2:Everyone's going to address this differently, but, like nutrition needs and sleep needs, I love that you brought this up because I think we really need to emphasize that normal sleep patterns change as children grow.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Right. So in younger children we talk about elementary school children really tend to wake up a little bit earlier, tend to kind of wind down in the evening a little bit earlier. That's why school start times and the conversation around school start times traditionally has been that elementary school students start earlier in the day and our middle and high school students tend to start a little later in the day. The circadian rhythm begins to shift for middle and high school students as they get a little bit older and they tend to want to sleep in a little bit more. Yeah, yeah, regardless of what time they've woken up or what time they've started their day or what activities they've done, their typical wind down period is not until later in the evening. So this whole idea of well, if we shift the day earlier for them, then they'll want to go to bed earlier, is not true.
Speaker 2:Their circadian rhythm is still set for them to wind down, in most cases around that 9, 10, 11 o'clock at night.
Speaker 2:Now this has been significantly impacted by the amount of access to screens and light that we're exposed to during the later parts of the afternoon and the evening, and what I will say is that wind-down period that is already happening late for middle and high schoolers is pushed back even later, particularly when they're scrolling on the phone, because they just don't cognitively kind of wind down or shut down a little bit. And we see this as adults. I guarantee you any adult listening to this right now you know that when you pick up the phone and you start scrolling as you're laying in bed, like that can significantly derail your transition into sleep.
Speaker 1:Yes, you look up and hours have passed.
Speaker 2:That's right and you're like, and then what happens is children begin to build an anxiety about gosh, it's one o'clock and I'm not asleep and I'm going to be tired and I only have four hours left to sleep. Now it's two o'clock and now I've only got three hours left to sleep. And, and now I've only got three hours left to sleep. And then this anxiety builds and it precipitates or propagates this process of more anxiety surrounding sleep which makes it more difficult to initiate sleep. So I can't this is a whole other podcast in and of itself state the importance of routine around the bedtime and later hours in the evening and how that promotes good sleep hygiene and transition into bedtime and adequate sleep in preparation for the morning.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes. So we were going to talk about this a little later, but I want to bump it up to right now, so appropriate screen time.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean, I don't even know how to categorize that, right.
Speaker 2:I mean, so this is the conversation we have too is like screens are ubiquitous. Screens are all around us, screens are everywhere. Screens are pretty pervasive in schools too, right? So how do we reconcile the fact that I told you, no, you can't look on a phone, no, you're not allowed on the computer, and they're like well, I was just forced to be on the computer for six hours in school, you know it seemed to be okay then. Why is it not okay now? So technology use in school certainly is a whole other conversation, and I think there's appropriate use of technology in school and then maybe an overemphasis in some areas.
Speaker 2:But as far as screen time goes, let's just talk about the basic nuts and bolts, about what good habits we can develop at home For zero to 18 months. Read to your children. Read to your children from a book that has pages in it that you turn, and that is a very good group activity that you do, where you associate. Look at us, we're sitting, we're both looking at the same thing and I'm helping interpret it for you and you're having a reaction to it and I'm interpreting that reaction. This social volley that happens when we read, back and forth between parent and child, is one of the most important communication development processes we initiate for them Zero to 18 months read. Don't do screens.
Speaker 1:And that's such precious time too.
Speaker 2:I mean we loved.
Speaker 1:The picking of the book before bedtime was just like one of my favorite transitions and traditions with my kids.
Speaker 2:Absolutely and again that social, that social volley, the social interaction, that happens when we both look at a common theme.
Speaker 2:I interpret it, the child looks, they know what I interpreted, they interpret it and it's just. It's a very important communication step that they have to learn from 18 months to two years. Screen time phones personal size screens we really don't recommend if we want to sit and watch a show together for 30 to 60 minutes where we both are are into not me looking at my phone while they watch a show, but we're both watching a show together engaging together and now we've gone from a book that we're having a social volley about to a show like look at the dog running.
Speaker 2:Is that dog running fast or is?
Speaker 1:that dog running slow.
Speaker 2:I love it and that's such an enjoyable time because, like then, your child's like, that dog's so slow and then you have this really nice interaction. So again, now we're making observations about a show we're both watching together. We're both seeing, from two months to about five years, one to two hours of screen time and that should be shared social screen time, not individual screen time. Again, not talking about a personal screen, but we're talking about watching a show on TV or something. Or, if it is a personal screen, we are there together engaging on that screen, not me sitting you there while I go do another task.
Speaker 2:I think and I don't want to stray too much into personal opinion versus professional recommendation, but there is literature that supports that the more time parents spend on screens, the less time they have with eye-to-eye focused interaction, where children watch your mouth, watch your eyes moving, watch your facial expression and how you convey emotion, does impact their emotional development as they begin to learn how do I express my emotion. If I can express my emotion quite well visually with facial cues and how I modulate and change my voice, that is more socially appropriate than when I'm mad about something or I want the attention I have to really kind of catastrophically like convey emotion to be so noticeable that it distracts someone to break their time away from a screen.
Speaker 2:So there's a lot of research into this area and I fully believe that we talk so much and we emphasize so much about appropriate screen time for children yeah we've really lost focus on conversation about what's appropriate screen time for parents yes, because, because you're modeling it oh, a hundred percent.
Speaker 2:And the any moment that I'm on a screen with my young child is a moment that I have not given them direct facial, like contact and eye contact and shown them. How do I convey emotion? By you know, by by smiling or by frowning right. Or by looking confused or shocked, right, how do they?
Speaker 1:learn these things.
Speaker 2:They learn them by looking at us. So appropriate screen time for children is important, but I really can't overstate the importance of appropriate screen time for parents too. And when you're talking to your teen about appropriate screen time, as you've just gotten annoyed because you weren't able to look at your, put your phone down and then you're immediately back on. That is a really tough conversation to have without a little bit of irony surrounding it, it's true, I mean and I am guilty of it myself.
Speaker 2:So please, if you're listening out there, don't take this as do as I say, not as I do, because I have to check myself often. There's no shortage of intrusions from that, from that device, into our life, right?
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and I'm, of course, not the expert in this conversation, but I will say that categorizing mentally for me, is this screen time because I, you know, I'm genuinely interested in what I'm watching, or is a screen time some kind of coping situation for me? And and really giving it a name helps.
Speaker 1:That's what we've started to really do in our houses like guys, are we doing this because we're bored or because, you know, we have shows that we watch together and we have so much fun watching those together and they're going to have shows that I'm never going to watch. Yeah, oh, yeah, yeah. But I think something we've been really intentional about talking about is, you know, watching something because you're bored, watching something because maybe you're upset and you just don't want to think about what's going on, and then watching something because you're genuinely interested in what it is.
Speaker 1:And having that category and be intentional about what you're turning on. So just a real life example. Yeah, because I do. I find myself in those situations where I've just scrolled and scrolled and scrolled and it's so good to just think about that. What kind of example am I setting for my kids?
Speaker 2:And I fully recognize that sometimes as parents we just have to get by, Like I just need the next 30 minutes to be uninterrupted, so that I can finish this test, especially with very, very young ones.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So you know I completely understand it and I certainly don't want anyone to think I'm casting judgment, because I've been there too. It's hard, but when that really starts to get problematic if we commit too much time to it, it's tough to break that cycle later.
Speaker 1:It could be at the center of a lot of frustration. I want to jump to nutrition. So what can we expect? Because I know you send your kids off to school. If they're eating lunch at school, there's a whole nutrition balance that's happening there. But then my kids will love to pack their lunch and I'll catch before they leave and it's like Oreos and a bag of chips and, you know, candy or sweets and I'm like, okay, how can I create a lunch here that's going to give them what they need, because it's not the school making sure they have everything checkboxed for them.
Speaker 2:Well, and what I would say, too, is be cautious about that, because the school lunches, while I think there is an effort made to make sure that they're nutritionally balanced, I mean kids pick what they pick right, yeah, they're not going to eat all of it all day, the lunch staff workers, the proverbial lunch lady right is not going to be there, you know, standing over you making sure you eat what you eat, yeah, over you, making sure you eat what you eat.
Speaker 2:And then the other portion of this, too, is, as children get older, lunch becomes much more social and sometimes they're just talking too much and they don't eat all their lunch anyway, and they don't eat.
Speaker 2:Yes, so I think, first and foremost, parents know their kids really well. Try to give your kid balanced options. Understand what the nutritional recommendations are from the FDA and the MyPlate is a very good depiction of that, where they talk about portion sizes and things of that nature. Give your kids a variety of options. I think giving them some autonomy and saying look for your vegetable today. Do you want carrots or do you want celery or whatever? Right, not, do you want a vegetable today? Because we know the answer to that generally right. So you know, giving them these controlled choices and these controlled options. And then, one thing that's been very important for us is I like to check their lunchbox when they come up. I just want to get a, get an idea of what they're eating. Yeah, what came back? What didn't you know, of course, if they're throwing it away before they you know before they come back.
Speaker 2:Obviously, we won't ever know. But I usually tell them like hey, if you're not eating it, just bring it back. If we can reuse it, we'll reuse it. If not, you know, we'll pitch it. But I also. If the carrots are coming back every day, right well, maybe I just need to change the carrots, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's so true. Yeah, so how can we equip them and better understanding what their body needs?
Speaker 2:So, first of all, talking about food, is fuel right? Food has, like two purposes in life. The primary purpose, the appropriate fuel for our body so that we're able to operate at our best, and then the secondary purpose is food is also extremely enjoyable, right and usually the most enjoyable types of food are the ones that we have to enjoy in moderation.
Speaker 2:Ice cream extremely enjoyable, right, but that's one of ones that we have to enjoy in moderation. Yeah, ice cream extremely enjoyable, right, but that's one of the foods we have to enjoy in moderation. You go out to a nice dinner, right, and things are cooked with like a lot of butter and a lot of salt and spices Very enjoyable, must be moderated. So one of the best bits of advice that was given to me when I was in residency and I stick to it to this day the outside of the store, which is pretty boring, right the outside four walls of the store, which is pretty boring bread, milk and dairy vegetables produce and then the checkout right.
Speaker 2:That's normally where probably 80% of where your shopping needs to be.
Speaker 1:That's really all you need, yeah.
Speaker 2:The middle of the store, which tends to be more exciting. Your snacks, your drinks, you know stuff like that. That probably is where you need to spend less time in most cases. So allow your kid to go to the store with you. Allow them some you know some autonomy in picking. You say, hey, we're going to have to go to school with a vegetable, let's pick what you want. If you want to try this one, we'll buy a small amount, you know, and we'll see if you like it, if you like that.
Speaker 2:That's great. That's a good idea. And they may wear it out after a while and want to change it up, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, inevitably Certain dips, hummus, stuff like that can make vegetables a little more exciting. You know, yeah, I keep going back to vegetables because that seems to be the problematic one. I will say fruits are good for kids too, but fruits are also a source of a lot of they're a natural sugar. So there are some kids my daughter in particular who would just I mean, she would eat the entire basket of grapes, if you let her.
Speaker 2:And that's not necessarily good either, right, so finding appropriate things that they will enjoy, letting them have a choice in picking those and then trying to stick within the guidelines of really published like experts, like the FDA and stuff like that is good too, yeah, and then do a check-in when they come back what did you eat? What did you like? What do we need to change up?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And then I love the idea of having them kind of prepare their own lunch, if they can. Under a little bit of supervision right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, my kids love that and of course I have to be there.
Speaker 1:Cause again, if I check you like you just never know what's going to leave your mind, but yeah, I think they love having just those little bits of responsibility a little bit more each year. I do want to talk, as we're finishing up, about just what's happening more inside the school, like I'm thinking about, like the physical education, sitting down all day versus wearing big, heavy backpacks and stuff like that, like the things we want to remind our kids of every year wash your hands, don't touch your face, don't touch every surface that is available.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think you know again. Good hand hygiene, trying to stay healthy for the year, stuff like that, things that we emphasize all the time are certainly are important when we talk about just trends. And how are children injured, or what are the major risks that children encounter by age? Right? So for children zero to one year old, which obviously they're not going back to school, but the most likely cause of unintentional or unexpected death in those children would be some sort of congenital or genetic anomaly, right, something wrong with the heart, something along those lines.
Speaker 2:From one to six, unintentional injury tends to be centered around drowning. Okay, so you know, we had wanted to get together earlier this summer and talk about summer safety, but it's still important because there are still kids swimming and going into next summer too. Drowning for children ages one to six is the leading cause of unintentional injury. Wow, all right. And I tell parents like if your child is going to die, the most likely cause is going to be drowning. Okay, it's not to scare you from ever going to a pool, but it is to emphasize the importance that if you are around a body of water, you must keep your eyes on your child.
Speaker 1:Pay attention, right yeah.
Speaker 2:From six to basically 19 years old, we start talking about motor vehicle injury and those look different based on what ages we're at. So children running into the street or not being aware of cars around them and getting accidentally hit, from ages six to about 11, or being hit on their bicycle, that's the major cause of injury from motor vehicle collision. From 12 to 15, 16, and beyond, really up to 18,. It's riding in cars like where you were in a vehicle that was involved in an accident, and that number increases as we get closer to 18. So the chances of having a fatal accident or having an accident that's going to cause pretty significant injury increase with the number of adolescents in the vehicle at the time.
Speaker 1:So that's why, if you look at the Virginia driving laws.
Speaker 2:They've been crafted in such a way where you are limited to the number of passengers you can carry until you've been driving for a certain amount of time. So we always talk a lot with our children now so my daughter's 13, she'll be 14 in December and my son is 12, almost 13 this weekend. We talk a lot with our children about, hey, certainly, riding home. As your friends get older and are able to drive, like riding home that's not the end of the world, but you must be careful in the vehicle. You must always wear your seatbelt and if your friends are not acting responsible when they're driving, those are friends you shouldn't ride with. We should never be checking the phone while we're driving. We should always be driving safe and we should always be really, really cautious, really cautious.
Speaker 2:And then we talk about firearm injuries and both intentional and unintentional and overdose substance abuse as we get into like the 16 to 18 year range. So just having kind of a handle on that. And I tell as a firearm owner myself, I tell parents all the time like if you have a firearm in your home, it is more likely to injure a loved one than it is to injure an intruder, and that is a that the statistics bear that out. So I don't say that as an alarmist and I don't say that as someone who who doesn't support owning firearms. Again, you know, I grew up in Texas. I own quite a few. I tell parents that to emphasize the importance of understanding that a firearm in your home, when not kept properly secured, is more likely to injure a loved one than it is to injure an intruder, and no one ever wants that to happen.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and I think about this time of year specifically when these friend groups are getting back together and I know that we have tons of friends over constantly, especially like right at the beginning of the school year everyone's excited to see each other and just make being aware of who was in your home and what is in your home, and having those conversations with other parents and, you know, sleepovers and things like that. It's just. I'm so glad you brought up specifically firearms in the home, because I think that that is a whole another conversation. I remember the first time having a friend over for my son to sleep over and the mom asked if we have any firearms in the house and I just respected her so much for asking that question and it gave me a whole new you know column, for here's how we should be communicating with each other when we're inviting these kids in our home to a safe space.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think sometimes parents recoil, may recoil like well, that seems a little bit like an invasive question or whatever. But honestly, if I'm asked that question I say yes and they're all secured in a safe and not accessible to the children. You know, and I would love for the conversation to turn to like I'm glad you asked, and I am a responsible firearm owner and they're all secured and I would make sure that we're. You know that they're safely put up. Kids don't have any access to them.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Because, at the end of the day, we all just want our children to be safe. So I would encourage people to engage in that conversation pretty open and honestly. You know, and don't take it as a it's certainly not a values judgment. It's just a question about keeping kids safe.
Speaker 1:You know I respected it and I welcomed it and I think that you know sometimes we operate from just a place of safety and just kind of an assumption that it's fine, we're having fun and, and I think you know, just being very intentional, like you talked about age groups, be aware of where your kids are falling and what is maybe the biggest danger to them. You know my kids are going to be riding their bikes to school and being very aware of that route and we've walked it a few times already just kind of getting it in their minds and where to look for cars, maybe go through those routines as you're coming up for back to school, yeah, just be aware.
Speaker 2:So so much context. I love it. As always, we've covered so much ground, so much information, so as we're closing up, what is one thing you feel like? Parents should prioritize.
Speaker 1:I know I always tell you, or one thing we haven't talked about, that you're like wait a minute that we should mention that.
Speaker 2:Everything, all of it. So build some excitement around going to school, like I understand, normalize the anxiety and and certainly don't be dismissive of it, um, but build some excitement and just understand like there are a lot of big feelings. Think about how, how you felt like if you're starting a new job and you're like I'm going in, I'm meeting a bunch of new people you know, and I'm in a new environment.
Speaker 2:This is how kids are approaching that. So the earlier we introduced the conversation about well, what are you worried about starting in school? Let's talk about that. We don't have to make it right. Sometimes that is just is what it is. You're right, it is kind of makes you kind of nervous to meet new people. Yeah, I hope a lot of people will be friendly, but I also know, you know you might meet some people you don't get along with, it's true.
Speaker 2:And then um talking about, well, what are some things you think you might enjoy, you know, yeah, what, what do you enjoy? And let's um try to maximize that. So I would. I I love building, just just gently, a little bit of excitement, you know, about going back to school, because, honestly, I'm ready to have kind of my house back during the day right now. I love summer, I love having them home, but, man, it's time for them to get back to school.
Speaker 1:It's time Back to school is here. Thank you, teachers.
Speaker 2:Also, I cannot express my thanks for the educators in my children's lives and all the time they spend with them. So I am worn out. After three months I cannot imagine nine months.
Speaker 1:We're going to push out some resources as well for those of you who are watching and please like submit some questions in the comments. What kinds of information I know we get to have, dr Engel, on a lot when it comes to this kind of realm of pediatric care, but also just you know all of the things that you need to consider health from all aspects. So let us know what you guys want to hear about and what you want to see, and I hope you'll join us next time on In so Much More Thanks.
