Danny, a sixteen-year old, came into my office exhibiting signs of depression. No wonder, his mother had just fled the household to escape her abusive husband. In this situation, it seemed Danny ought to make an escape as well. He, unfortunately, felt trapped in a "toxic" environment, tied to...

This Huffington Post article by Barbara Graham strikes upon a similar theme as I recently wrote about in my blog . Graham argued for letting grandparents speak their minds regarding parenting. I called for parents not to abuse grandparents' generosity by enrolling them as their kids' personal...

I recently gave a presentation in Chicago and took the opportunity to see a long time high school friend, Ernesto Moreno. We keep in touch by phone and e-mail, but we have not seen each other for over twenty-five years. We each have two children, a girl and a boy,...

Recently, the Santa Fe New Mexican mentioned how the current economy is causing a rise in the number of cases of domestic violence. Of course, domestic violence abounds no matter the state of the economy. We will always need to take steps in the hope of recognizing and preventing...

As a pediatrician, I happen to see many sports injuries each year. Football used to be the most common cause of injury, but these days I see just as many for basketball, baseball, and cheerleading. I am even seeing kids as young as six years of age, whereas in...

NASA astronaut Jose Hernandez remembers his days in the migrant fields as dirty, dusty, and sweaty. How well I remember those same feelings, having also worked in the fields throughout childhood. As Jose mentions, summer vacation was not a time to rejoice. We knew our time off from school...

On July 26th, Diane Schuler drove her SUV directly into an oncoming car, killing eight people. The media, cable stations, and even People magazine have been all over this story for weeks.

On August 10th, eight people were killed in another tragic yet preventable

An article by Carine Nadel on "America's Worst Mom," Lenore Skenazy, recently caught my attention. Skenazy's book: Free-Range Kids, Giving Our Kids the Freedom We Enjoyed Without Going Nuts With Worry, details a great model for parenting.

As a pediatrician, I am very aware of the dangers and...

A recent AP article showed that a gap in achievement scores still exists between whites and blacks. This is true for all minorities, including Hispanics. According to the Education Department report cited in the article, unprecedented efforts to improve minority achievement have failed.

Experts say the problem stems from...

Kathleen Sebelius, our new Health and Human Services Secretary, made headlines the other day at a "Weight of the Nation" conference when she said that about 33 percent of American kids today are overweight or obese.

But in my Central California pediatric practice, the figure...

Our Rotary club had an interesting and thought-provoking speaker today, given California 's current budget crunch. It makes you wonder whether we could be spending our tax money so much better, especially in the area of reducing juvenile crime and keeping kids out of prison.

The...

I was on hospital duty a few days ago when a woman in labor came into our local hospital with two very serious problems. First, she wasn't due for another 14 weeks. Second, she was a drug user, which was the reason for the early onset of labor.

Her...