As we approach the season of gratitude followed immediately by the season of gift-giving and receiving, it’s easy to feel the whiplash of these two periods. These seasons can make for a tough ending to the year for parents and caregivers. There is an influx of desire and wants for all of us. Social media and other media are filled with things we hope we can have. We are consumed with wish lists right after we have given thanks for the blessings of the year. 

While the Thanksgiving holiday is set aside to reflect on all the good gifts of the year, research repeatedly shows that gratitude as a practice is beneficial for physical, mental and spiritual health. However, focusing on our blessings for one month a year isn’t sufficient. The practice of gratitude must extend beyond November to truly benefit everyone. Depression, sadness, and hopelessness are continually rising, especially among young people, yet research tells us that the practice of gratitude is a simple and effective way to combat the crisis we are facing. 

So how do we teach gratitude to our kids? I have a mix of personalities in my house. For one kiddo, “thank you” comes quickly and easily, while another sees the empty half of every glass and often misses the good. It can feel near impossible to convince my more negative kiddo that good things surround her. To be honest, if I focus on the things that are hard or that I dislike in life, I also feel quite overwhelmed, and it can be difficult to convince me to be thankful for any of the good things. This is why gratitude is a practice. And that is we need to do first… practice. 

Practice Gratitude

First, we cannot ask our kids to do things that we are unwilling to do ourselves. Start by practicing gratitude and then work with your kids to do the same. 

There are many ways to do this, but a simple gratitude journal is a great start. There are specific gratitude journals for kids and teens, or you can simply use a notebook. I spend time writing down three things I’m grateful for each day. If you do this every day, after a year, you will have a record of 1,000 things for which you are grateful. 

I have also heard of gratitude jars that families look through at the end of the year. It’s so encouraging to look back through a gratitude journal and see all the good gifts of life. 

You can also practice gratitude by asking about the highs and lows of the day. This is great to do in the car or at the dinner table. When we encourage each other to look for the good in the day or situation, it helps to retrain our brains to focus on the positive. This establishes healthy neural pathways. 

It’s also good to take a mindful moment and name things you are grateful for in a moment – cool air, a comfortable chair, the ability to take deep breaths. 

The practice of gratitude can be difficult to start, but once you begin, it can be a helpful practice in a world that often feels sad and burdensome. You quickly begin to realize that there are huge gifts and good even in the midst of the hardest of experiences. Gratitude leads to more joy and more hope as you acknowledge even the small gifts in the moments and days. 

Practice Generosity

When we take time to give things away, either to others or for others, we witness the practice of gratitude. 

Gratitude is contagious. Watching others offer thanks for our generosity helps us, as humans, to remember the good gifts we have been given and, in turn, to be thankful for them. 

We can help our kids practice generosity in lots of practical ways. We can help them pick out one of their toys to give to a child who may not have one or pass on clothes they no longer wear. We can encourage them to share with their peers and classmates. 

During this season, my family often chooses an organization to donate to so that our girls have the opportunity to practice generosity in a hands-on way. This year, they each filled a Samaritan’s Purse shoebox for a child. Continued generosity reminds us all to think of others. This often leads us to be grateful for the many ways that others have been generous to us. 

Serve Others

It is also true that when we serve others, gratitude often follows. The beauty of serving others, like generosity, is that the focus is taken off yourself and off material things. The focus is on other human beings. 

Serving combats the constant thought of wanting or needing more. Serving others often puts us in a place to see others’ vulnerability and struggles face-to-face. This leads to desiring to be more generous with our time and resources while simultaneously recognizing the good and important parts of our lives. 

Teaching our children to serve others also allows them to experience other’s gratitude and joy. This could look like visiting a shelter or nursing home, making dinner for a neighbor, offering to clean a house or mowing a person’s yard. Any time we prioritize serving others, we open space in our hearts to see the good in our own lives and the lives of others. 

Cultivating gratitude in our own hearts and in our children’s hearts does not happen overnight. However, with time and intentionality, we can help our children to grow in gratitude. What are some things that you are grateful for this year? Go share those answers with your kids and ask them the same question. 

Physician names in order of appearance: 

1. Dr. Diane Arnaout
2. Dr. Alice Phillips
3. Dr. Suzanne Whitworth
4. Dr. Laurie Gray
5. Dr. Bradley Mercer
6. Dr. Daphne Shaw
7. Dr. Kim Mangham
8. Dr. Eriel Hayes
9. Dr. Angela Hippeli
10. Dr. Diane Arnaout
11. Dr. Bianka Soria-Olmos
12. Dr. Samson Cantu
13. Dr. Ramon Kinloch
14. Dr. Kim Mangham
15. Dr. Alice Phillips
16. Dr. Suzanne Whitworth
17. Dr. Michelle Bailey
18. Dr. Laurie Gray
19. Dr. Ramon Kinloch
20. Dr. Angela Hippeli
21. Dr. Bianka Soria-Olmos
22. Dr. Daphne Shaw
23. Dr. Jason Terk
24. Dr. Bradley Mercer
25. Dr. Kim Mangham

What lessons has COVID taught me?

I have studied a lot in my life. Memorized countless pathways and scientific principles. But some lessons and points of medicine are learned the hard way.

Today is day 14/14 of my quarantine at home due to an exposure to COVID-19. I bet you're thinking that some sweet toddler coughed on me, but that was not it. I was exposed while transporting my mom to the hospital for what seemed like a gastrointestinal bug. Even the ER doc said, “Well, this does not sound like COVID but we will test just in case.” Guess what - it was COVID and soon my dad was also in the ER with symptoms and both were admitted to the hospital for treatment.

COVID wreaks havoc on the body of the vulnerable. From respiratory symptoms to GI, to impairment in simple thought processes, it hits patients hard. My studies had taught me all these things. What I had read about, but not experienced though, was the pain it creates for families.

When those you love need you the most, all you can do is call or FaceTime. When you want to hold their hand and tell them you love them, you can’t. The second they get a positive test result you are separated from them.

We have been lucky. Thanks to the great care my parents received they are out of the hospital and regaining strength at a regional rehabilitation hospital. The caregivers there estimate it will take daily therapy for three weeks to get them strong enough to return home. I know, however, many others in our community were not so lucky and this holiday season they will have empty seats at their tables.

So, what has COVID taught me?

I have learned to appreciate every moment with family, even over an electronic device.

I have learned how much I depend on others in times of crisis, including family, friends, hospital workers, case managers and complete strangers brought into our lives out of crisis.

I have learned how important it is for us all to take great care to protect our most vulnerable.

This Thanksgiving, my family has a great deal for which to be thankful. At my home, we are celebrating small. Over turkey and dressing this year, we will dream and plan for future celebrations when this time is behind us and we will be thankful for all who will be there with us to celebrate.

For many of you, we've walked through multiple public health concerns together over the years.

• Ebola
• Enterovirus 68
• SARS

And my major message has always been:

Let's have perspective. Let's stay calm.

But today is not that day.

We are eight months into this pandemic. We are all tired. Tired of the isolation. Tired of masks. Tired of the news about COVID-19. I get it. It's exhausting.

In Tarrant County, we are at peak levels like we haven't seen since our worst time in July. The peak is rising steeply to nearly 2,000 cases per day. Even at our worst in July, the numbers were around 700. In addition to cases, hospitalizations are rising significantly as well. This is happening in much of the country. And it's not just affecting adults anymore. While still less common, healthy children are being hospitalized as well.

And the biggest problem is that this rise in cases and growing fatigue of COVID-19 restrictions fall on the second and third week of November, right before Thanksgiving. And frankly, I am terrified of what is going to be happening in the first few weeks of December. I'm terrified for my patients, my colleagues, my family, our schools and teachers and so much more.

We can't have a normal Thanksgiving this year. We have to do it different. Make adjustments to keep your family healthy, to keep our schools open, to keep our hospitals able to function. Be the person in your family who speaks up or leaves if you don't feel like things are being done safely. Zoom, masks, outside, just with your household--just do something different.

For the sake of all of us, we have to.

Medical Director of Infectious Diseases, Suzanne Whitworth, M.D., hosted a Q&A with reporters today about this latest update.  

What’s the capacity like at your hospital?

We have devoted 10 beds to COVID-19-infected intensive care patients. So those 10 beds are available. We have two or three of them occupied right now. I believe the most we've had occupied in the ICU with COVID-19 at one time is five. We have plenty of room to expand and we are okay. The volume of children in the hospital with COVID-19 is much less than the volume of adults. We are almost at capacity for our floor COVID-19 unit. We have 20 beds there and 17 patients in those beds, but we are already looking at which other unit we can add so that we should have plenty of room for our patients. We're not worried about running out of beds.

Just hearing the amount of children that are in the hospital is gut-wrenching enough, but I'm wondering what those children are like right now. What are their symptoms? How are they feeling?

I think our children are like most of the children hospitalized nationally. We have some children in the hospital who are not very ill. They need oxygen for a day or two, and then they go home and they're fine. We have some children who are really more ill with COVID-19 pneumonia. Those children we've been treating with remdesivir, and dexamethazone, we have some that wind up in the ICU with COVID-19 infection. We have some children who have the multi-system inflammatory syndrome, that MIS-C that you've read about. We've reported about 21 to 24 of those to the health department so far since the beginning of the pandemic. And I believe we have a couple of those kids in the hospital currently, too. Some of those children are even sicker and require ventilation in the ICU also. So it's really a full spectrum.

Did you expect this exponential growth in cases and is this something you’re anticipating going forward?

We have been very hopeful that this would not happen like all the rest of the world, but it has. And we do think that the number of children that will require hospitalization over the next few weeks or months will very likely go up. We think this will increase.

Are you planning on adding additional beds?

I think we will have to change a little bit of what we're doing. I am not fearful that we will not have enough beds, period. I think we will have plenty of beds in the hospital, but we want to maintain areas that are devoted completely to COVID-19. We have one area completely devoted to COVID-19 on the floor and one in the ICU. We're probably going to need to add another floor unit to take care of COVID-19 patients over the next few days or the next week. So we look at which units we can do that with based on air flow and staffing and those kinds of issues.

What are your feelings moving forward into the holiday as we're dealing with this and what are your fears?

It's hard for me to imagine a way that this is going to get better before January or February at the earliest. My fear is that at this moment, we have so much more community disease. When people gather at Thanksgiving and Christmas, I'm worried that our more vulnerable populations will get sick. Right now, the people that are ramping up the numbers of COVID-19 infections are younger, and many of those do not require hospitalization. So at the moment, our hospitals are getting full, especially the adult facilities. I'm worried about those adult facilities and their capacity, but we're okay in pediatrics.

The problem I see could get worse if over Thanksgiving, there are family gatherings where elderly people become exposed and more of those require hospitalization. My fear about the holidays is that we will increase disease and then increase hospitalization at a time when many of the adult facilities are already maxed out. My sincere hope is that there will be minimal family gatherings and minimal disease transmission over the holidays. We haven't had holidays during a pandemic, so we really don't know how it's going to go. But I'm hopeful that everyone will continue to do their social distancing and masking and staying six feet apart and hand-washing and all of those kinds of things that we've been talking about since the beginning, so that things won't get worse during the holidays.

A lot of parents are wondering if children are getting infected at school or if they're actually getting infected at extra-curricular activities. What are your thoughts?

The numbers of kids that are believed to have gotten infected at school really has not been bad. We had been concerned about how kids in schools would do. I know there have been outbreaks with football and volleyball and some other team sports. And I think the classroom has gone probably better than what we expected. The problem that you run into is that kids are together all day at school, wearing a mask, six-feet apart and often behind Plexiglas shields. And after that, the parents feel like it's normal to say, they're at school together all day anyway, let's have the birthday party. What they don't realize is the birthday party is unmasked because people are eating, several parents show up at birthday parties who would not normally be in the same space, and I worry that it is more, the extracurricular events than it is actually in the classroom.

I think a lot of people were under the impression that kids don't get COVID-19. Not true?

We are living proof that that is not the case. We know that we're really lucky that children do not get as sick in high volumes as adults do. But certainly kids get sick and certainly kids get intensive care unit sick with this disease. Absolutely they can. We are very fortunate we have not had any deaths here. It is my understanding that there have been a couple of deaths in the Texas Panhandle. Certainly there are isolated cases with pediatric deaths in the country.

Biggest takeaway that you would hope people would take from hearing these statistics today that you guys have the most patients at one time?

Overall, things are worse. And when you look at the population of America, we have so many people that remain at risk. It isn't just the elderly. It's thought that 150 million American citizens have a pre-existing condition that puts them at risk for severe COVID-19 disease. That's almost half of our population. So even though it's the holidays and even though we're tired of staying home and wearing masks every time we leave the house, we just can't stop it. You just have to keep wearing your mask because you never know if you're carrying this virus asymptomatically, you could be putting other people at risk. When you're out in public, begin to think about standing six feet away from whoever you're talking to. Many people already have, but make it your habit to stay feet away from other people, and wear your mask. I think we just have to be more aggressive and do that more thoughtfully and not stop over the next few months.

Have you seen children without underlying conditions become hospitalized with COVID-19?

Yes, we have seen perfectly healthy children come into the hospital who have COVID-19, who wind up on a ventilator and life support. That does happen. It's not a high number, but you can't say that children are not at risk. That has happened here and it does happen.

First of all, families need to discuss risks and benefits of traveling by car or plane. I understand the desire to see your grandparents at Thanksgiving and Christmas. My own Grandma is in an assisted living center and I have had very little contact with her over the past six months. We don’t want our relatives to spend the holidays alone, but we also don’t want to put them in any unnecessary risk. So, do we stay or do we go?? There is no “correct” answer to that question. We want to cherish time with our relatives, especially the elderly ones, but need to be cautious if visiting older or immunocompromised family members.

If you choose not to travel, having a small intimate family holiday will be a nice change from the normal, sometimes stressful, celebration. You can FaceTime or Zoom other family members and still be engaged at mealtime, present opening, cooking favorite recipes, and even coordinate games together. Technology affords us the opportunity to stay close, even when we’re far away.

Ideas for a socially-distanced holiday:

• Cook a family recipe and host a contest on who nailed it the best: presentation, taste, closeness to “how Grandma makes it.”
• Gingerbread house decorating contest.
• Play games: My family was laughing so hard we couldn’t speak when we played the Heads Up! game on our phones last year. Grandma nearly peed herself laughing when her clue was “monkey” and all adults ran around the kitchen acting like crazy animals at the zoo!
• Make a shared album for photos/ videos and upload pictures daily for the rest of the family to see and enjoy.
• Purchase themed family pajamas and put on a fashion show.
• Holiday light or tree decorating contest.
• Scavenger hunt/treasure map.

If you choose to travel, I recommend smaller groups visiting older or immune compromised family members. This is not the best year for a 50 person family reunion. Stay in the largest home available and spread out. Wear a mask for close contact inside and when cooking. Wash hands more frequently. Weather permitting, eat and socialize outside. Who wouldn’t love making s’mores in a fire pit?!

Ideas for safe traveling during the holidays:

• When driving: many fast food restaurants do not allow customers inside for potty stops, so be mindful to stop at rest stops or gas stations. Wear your mask inside, wash your hands very well, and have hand sanitizer in the car. Pack snacks and drinks and limit unnecessary pit stops.
• If travelling by plane: pick the first flight of the day when the plane is the “cleanest.” Pack plenty of snacks so you don’t need to purchase in the airport; I advise fruit & veggie squeeze packs, trail mix, crackers, cereal bars, practically enough to be a mini meal if needed. Use antibacterial wipes and hand sanitizer often. Keep your mask on the entire time you are in the airport and on the plane.

In this unprecedented year, holidays may look different. Decide on what will work best for your family this season and be safe no matter what you choose.

The blog post to girlscouts.org seems all the more timely and important because of the many allegations against well-known celebrities and politicians.

“Holidays and family get-togethers are a time for yummy food, sweet traditions, funny stories, and lots and lots of love,” the blog read. “But they could, without you even realizing it, also be a time when your daughter gets the wrong idea about consent and physical affection.”

During a recent Facebook Live event, Cook Children’s posted on the #MeToo movement and child sexual abuse, Denise Coover, a trauma-informed specialist and family therapist, made a similar point. While the emphasis of the blog was on girls, Coover said it was important for parents to share the same message with their sons.

“When kids are little we’ve got to be careful to not override children’s instincts to not immediately go and hug people they don’t know,” Coover said. “Sometimes parents will say, “Oh go and give [her] a hug.” Well first of all they don’t know me and they don’t want to give me a hug. We should allow kids to make that decision on who they feel comfortable being close to. Sometimes we override that and say, ‘Oh they are being rude. Well, no they are not. They don’t know me.”

Joy Crabtree, clinic manager of Cook Children’s Psychology Clinic in Southlake, said that especially with the holidays coming up and your kids seeing people they may not normally be familiar or comfortable with, to prep your children in advance before you arrive to the family dinner or gathering.

“So, if they are being pressured for a hug or kiss, they can say, ‘I do high fives instead,’ for example. The more prepared kids feel in advance, the less stress they will feel and more confident, no matter the situation,” Crabtree said.

The blog urged parents to not insist their daughter go give hugs to an aunt or uncle if the child seems hesitant. The concern is that this establishes a precedent for when the child grows up and may “set the stage for her questioning whether she ‘owes’ another person any type of physical affections when they’ve bought her dinner or done something else seemingly nice for her later in life.

The blog points out that these are scary times and that sadly adults do prey on children and “teaching your daughter about consent early on can help her understand her rights, knowing when lines are being crossed, and when to get help.”

The article recommends parents:

1. Give your child space to decide when and how to show affection.
2. Don’t force your child to give affection.
3. Teach her if she doesn’t want to give someone a hug to not be rude, but use words to express how she has missed someone, say “thank you with a smile.”
4. Give high fives, fist bumps or air kisses.

Click here to read the full blog.

But too many Thanksgivings end up with huge fights or arguments in front of the kids. The past few months have been especially volatile with an election that could spark opposing sides.

As parents, as hard as it is sometimes, we have to be the grownups. Research from children of divorce shows us that it’s not so much conflicts between adults that are particularly problematic, stressful or damaging to kids, but it’s witnessing conflict without seeing a peaceful resolution.

Whether you are upset over who did or didn’t get in the White House or you are still holding a grudge from a loan that never got paid back, kids need to see us demonstrate the concept of agreeing to disagree while maintaining mutual respect for one another.

We can provide our kids with a good example of learning to listen, genuinely hear, and appreciate another’s perspective even when our ideas may differ. Our unique personal experiences shape our passions, feelings, thoughts, values and opinions. As such, it is impossible for us all to be the same, which is really what would be necessary for us to all agree all of the time. It takes all kinds of people with all kinds of interests and values to make our world work. If we didn’t have such a variety, everyone would be a chocolate ice cream-loving, brussel sprout-hating, mystery-reading , female veterinarian … which means our animals would all be very healthy but our grocery stores would always be low on our favorite treats and the library would have nothing interesting to read since all the books would be about curing sick animals.

Plus, there would also be no turkey on the Thanksgiving table.

So teaching our kids that variety truly is the spice of life because it enriches our experience is critical. At the same time, helping our children understand that even the best chefs make mistakes and use too much of a flavor at times which overwhelms the dish … it’s too spicy … is important too. Sometimes, parents and other grownups are like this when they share their feelings and their passions with others too intensely. We become very protective of our beliefs and opinions, expressing them too loudly and too harshly when we don’t feel heard. Kids really do love it when grownups admit their mistakes. When we are able to accept responsibility for our own lapses in self-control and emotional regulation (scaring or hurting others feelings because we got carried away), we are showing those relationships are important and worthy of mending by seeking forgiveness and reconciliation.

Kids need to see that the important adults in their lives can disagree and still accept, include and love one another.

With young children, consider using ideas/concepts that are familiar, meaningful and relevant to them. Rather than focusing on political, financial, social, or religious issues, you might talk with them about preferences they share with their close friends, as well as things they might disagree about.

For example, “You believe that plain cheese pizza is the best, and you love to go rock climbing. Your best friend loves pepperoni but is afraid of heights and prefers soccer. Your other friend loves cheese, thinks pepperoni is OK, and is bored by everything but video games and Legos. You think pepperoni is gross. “

Who’s right? Is there a right and wrong? Do your feelings about your friends change because they like different things than you do?

The idea you want to help them learn is that everyone’s thoughts, feelings and values are valid and should be treated with respect even when we don’t happen to agree. It’s also important to keep on loving and accepting others who don’t agree with us, even when that same acceptance is not being given in return. Our value does not change just because someone else tells us so. You wouldn’t agree if someone told you your eyes were rainbow colored … that would be silly! You don’t have to agree if they tell you what’s important to you is wrong either.

About the author

Whitney McGee, Psy.D, is a licensed psychologist at Cook Children's. Cook Children's Behavioral Health services provides a broad range of care that focuses on children from ages 3 years through 17, and their families. As part of family-centered care all of our professionals are qualified both through education and experience to work with children who have behavioral and emotional challenges. Our psychiatrists are board certified in child and adolescent psychiatry and our psychologists and therapists are all licensed independently in Texas. Locations include Denton, Fort Worth, Hurst, Lewsville, Mansfield and Southlake. 

To access any of our services, please contact our Intake Department. To expedite your call, please have your child’s date of birth and insurance information ready.

On behalf of my family, I would like to congratulate you on your retirement and successful career. I know that you changed the lives of many families but I wanted you to know how much you changed ours.

From the very beginning, I trusted you and you never failed William. Maybe it is experience or maybe it is luck; I have nothing but confidence when I think about all the times you were called to consult on his case or help him through surgery. My first memory is when you put in his PD (Peritoneal Dialysis) catheter. So much was at stake for this boy in renal failure. Not only his life, but a family who wanted him to live. I asked to pray with you and the anesthesiologist before the procedure. I still remember the way you took off your surgical cap and bowed your head. Thank you for praying with me even when I could not understand myself through fearful stuttering.

The standard measuring system for a kidney transplant is your fist. I can still see you holding your fist to Will’s tummy to show me how much more he needed to grow. Every month we would work for each advance in height and weight. I remember showing up for a check-up like a student eager to have her project graded. You were as excited as I was for 10.2 kg and a torso that could hold a kidney the size of your fist. At 20 months old, you and your team transplanted a kidney in my son that “pinked up right away.” I can still see your smile and hear you answers to our rapid questions. Our son went into your OR in renal failure and came out with the first normal renal panel in his life. Thank you for guiding us through those months and thank you for all of the beautiful stitches.

William was your patient, but we are his family. Thank you for repeating your opinion over the phone with my husband when he had to be at work. Thank you for letting grandparents ask how a procedure had changed since they had children. Thank you for letting us interrupt your sleep, schedule, and rounds over and over because Lord knows Will loved to do something interesting at 3:45 on a Friday afternoon. Thank you for listening to me. Thank you for looking me in the eye when the news was not the best. Thank you for rejoicing when the news was momentous.

I have no idea how many lives are changed because of your work. But I know how much better the world for our family is because you were in it.

God bless you and keep you, may His face shine upon you.

Katie, Chuck, Will and John Spiekerman

Warren and Lori Carver

Chris, Kathy and Jacob Carver

Charlie and Vicki Spiekerman

Dana Walraven, manager of Community Health Outreach at Cook Children's and coordinator of the Safe Kids Tarrant County Coalition, gives these 5 tips:

1. Preparation is key. Plan ahead to see how many and how old the children are that will be at Thanksgiving. Then, pick out toys/activities appropriate for several ages and keep the others out of reach.

2. Create an activity area for children to play, equipped with appropriate toys and activities.

3. Designate an adult to supervise the children. Adults can share this responsibility to reduce holiday stressors

4. Do a quick walk-thru to identify any red flags throughout the home, and in children’s reach: whether it be toys, poisons/medications, unsafe electrical outlets, doors accessing pools, etc.

5. Always ask guests to lock their car doors, so children don’t play hide and seek and get locked inside. Child heat stroke can occur even during cooler months.​

About the source

Dana Walraven is the manager of Community Health Outreach at Cook Children's and coordinator of the Safe Kids Tarrant County Coalition. Being a parent is tough. We want you to know that you are not alone. We've compiled tips, resources and practical advice on a variety of safety and prevention topics designed to help you raise a safe and healthy family. Visit our Cook Children's Safety and Prevention Center today.

I won’t be thankful that I can’t sleep in due to my 3-year-old alarm clock.

I will be thankful for extended breakfast with that 3 year old and big smiles for the blueberry bagel.

I won’t be thankful for traveling in a car with 3 children (under 5) who won’t sleep by my plans.

I will be thankful that when we get there they will be with family that loves them (and for the human hurdle):

I won’t be thankful for battles over eating new and different foods.

I will be thankful for three healthy children whose business and spunkiness brighten every day.

How can you survive this week?

• Be flexible.
• Allow a little extra screen time.
• Don’t stress if they don’t eat all their food.
• Remember that a few days off their nap schedule won’t ruin their chances at Harvard.
• What are you thankful for this week?

Parenting presents many challenges and sometimes it takes a little extra effort to remember those things that we can be thankful for.

Start with some simple things…

• Health - If you child is healthy, start with that. If your child is sick this holiday season, we pray for quick healing.
• Time - Extra time sometimes means extra conflict. Your kids don’t want perfection, they want you present, so just be present.
• Fun - With added stress due to family visits, it’s easy to lose the fun for your kids. Plan an activity for them, play a game or start in impromptu dance party.

About the author

Justin Smith, M.D., is a Cook Children's pediatrician in Lewisville . He attended University of Texas, Southwestern Medical School and did his pediatric training at Baylor College of Medicine. He joins Cook Children's after practicing in his hometown of Abilene for four years. He has a particular interest in development, behavior and care for children struggling with obesity. In his spare time, he enjoys playing with his 3 young children, exercising, reading and writing about parenting and pediatric health issues.