I’ve been heartbroken this week.

There was a stabbing at a high school track meet not far from here. A place where teens should be running races, cheering for friends, and making memories turned into a crime scene.

At the same time, the Netflix show Adolescence is blowing up, and for good reason. It’s raw and real. It doesn’t shy away from the messiness of being a teen today—loneliness, peer pressure, violence, and the constant pull of social media.

As a pediatrician, I’m seeing more families asking questions about youth violence. It’s easy to feel helpless—but you’re not.

How to stay engaged and help your teen avoid violent behavior:
1. Stay curious. Ask about the show your teen is watching. Watch it with them. Talk about what’s real and what’s not.
2. Stay connected. Eat together when you can. Car rides are golden—no phones, just you and them.
3. Stay safe. Ask how your teen’s school is handling conflict and safety, and advocate if something feels off.
4. Stay consistent. Teens need boundaries just as much as love—even when they act like they don’t.

How to help your child avoid becoming a victim of youth violence:
1. Know their circle. Ask who they hang out with and where they spend time. This isn’t being nosy—it’s being wise.
2. Teach exit strategies. “If things feel off, it’s okay to leave.” Give them permission and a plan.
3. Model confidence. Help them practice setting boundaries and speaking up, even with friends.
4. Watch for red flags. Sudden withdrawal, anxiety about school, or unexplained injuries should always be taken seriously.
5. Don’t ignore gut feelings. If your teen seems off, trust your instinct and start the conversation.

Being a teen is hard. Parenting a teen can feel even harder. But you don’t have to do it alone.

We can’t bubble-wrap the world. But we can equip our kids to walk through it safely.

Resources

Cook Children's Health Care System shares these resources for families.

How to cope with traumatic stress

How to help children and teens manage their stress

How to Help Children Cope With Trauma - Child Mind Institute

Acute Stress Disorder in Children: A Quick Guide

The national suicide/crisis hotline (call, text, or chat options): 988 Lifeline 

He’s not hurt and had a presumably bright future in the NFL.

Why did he retire?

In light of the recent focus on repetitive trauma, concussion and brain injury, he decided that it was in his best interest to stop playing football.

Consider it this way: After years of playing football, starting a very young age, succeeding in high school and later at the University of Wisconsin, he reached the pinnacle of his sport and decided it was better to walk away than to keep playing. Granted, he’s only one player and many, many more will continue to make the decision to go back to training camp in July.

Most football players will never reach that point where they’ll have to decide if the NFL is right for them. I played junior high football, but didn’t move on to high school. I like to tell myself that I was making sure I was protected from injury for tennis season (truth was, I was probably a little scared of being small and getting hit by bigger high school kids. Sorry for lying, Coach West).

If you look at the research,  it seems like cumulative trauma is the issue. The older and bigger you get and the longer you play, the number and the force of the traumas increase. The rules are changing in an attempt to make the sport safer. But, I’m sure many of you read this and worry about your young football players.

My sons haven’t asked to play football yet. At 5 and 3, I think the level of risk for concussion is higher when I pick them up and throw them as high as I can in the air barely grabbing them before they crash into the ground. But living in the middle of Texas, football countr,y and having an older son built like a perfect tight end and having little brother with a canon for an arm, I am sure that is a conversation we will have some day.

I wonder if someday we’ll look back on the days when football was played and think, “I can’t believe that they used to do that to themselves.” Or, will the sport look so different that we will barely recognize it?

What about you? Do you have concerns about your sons playing football?

It’s the problem that many families have faced, but people rarely talk about. It can leaving you feeling like you are out on an island all by yourself.

Guess what? You’re not as alone as you think.

Here are the percentages of kids who are still wetting the bed at various ages:

• 5 years- 15 percent
• 7 years - 10 percent
• 10 years - 5 percent

Up until 10 years of age there is probably at least another boy or girl in your child’s class at school who is going through the same thing, it just doesn’t come up at the PTA meeting.

For the most part, the problem is just delayed maturation of a child’s ability to stay dry. This is evidenced by the fact that almost every case eventually resolves on its own without treatment. While the maturation may not happen fast enough for parents who are changing the sheets every morning (or even in the middle of the night), for most, it will happen.

If you want to blame someone for the problem, blame genetics.

There is often family history of delayed nighttime dryness. This is tricky to prove because this could be simply a result of the fact that it is so common. There have been some studies implicating genetics as a possible cause.

Some people will describe their children as “really deep sleepers,” but most kids are and it’s probably a bias based on the fact that most families with kids who are dry through the night don’t try to wake their kids up for anything.

So when should you call the doctor?

• The child is starting to wet after a period of being dry.
• The child has day-time accidents as well.
• The child has burning or pain with urination.
• The child is excessively thirsty and urinating frequently.
• The child has associated constipation.
• The child has other associated symptoms for which you are concerned.

There are some basic strategies to use in order to help your child stay dry:

• Limit or stop fluid intake after dinner.
• Have the child go to the bathroom regularly during the day and several times close to bed time.
• Children should not receive caffeinated or sugary beverages.
• Move toward underwear as soon as reasonable.

You can talk about further interventions with your pediatrician. Here's some advice I give parents:

Bedwetting alarms that wake children when they have wet the bed are the most consistently proven method to resolve bedwetting.

Medications for use with bedwetting can be used for temporary dryness, but have not shown to be effective for eliminating bedwetting long-term. Once you stop the medicine, it tends to come right back.

Most cases of bedwetting will resolve on their own, you should not blame yourself or your child. Punishment does not work!

About the author

Justin Smith, M.D., is a Cook Children's pediatrician in Lewisville . View more from The Doc Smitty at his Facebook page. 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.

That’s great. I appreciate all the efforts to protect the well-being of those players.

But today, I want to focus on our youth and how to make sure injuries can be prevented at the 14 and under level. In 2012, the City of Fort Worth estimated 10,000 volunteer coaches managing youth sports teams throughout the Fort Worth and Tarrant County, under the age of 14. The report said “most of these coaches are parents or other family members who have not been specifically trained on how to coach youth sports or youth sports safety.”

Sports activities help children and adolescents stay fit, learn about teamwork and develop self-confidence. However, with the number of youths participating in sport activities increasing, the rate of injuries is also steadily rising for this group. Each year, approximately 775,000 children under the age of 15 are treated in emergency rooms for sports injuries across the nation.

How can injuries be prevented?

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, it is recommended that children wait until 6 years of age before participating in team sports. Young children could sustain injuries because they do not understand the concept of team play. In addition to age, sports injuries can result from not following recommended procedures for the young athlete before, during and after their sporting activities.

Here are nine recommendations for lowering the risk of injury to the young athlete.

1. Get a sport physical from a physician for your child.
2. Coaches/instructors/athletic trainers should have annual education on specific sporting activity and guidelines.
3. Make sure your child has well-fitted safety/protective equipment and shoes.
4. Have an Emergency Action Plan in place and practiced as a drill.
5. Follow a pre- and post-practice/game dynamic warm-up program.
6. Take the time teach the correct technique of skills.
7. Take rest breaks and drink water frequently during activities.
8. Know the signs of overtraining.
9. Maintain good mental health.

If you are coaching youth sports or you are the parent of a youth participating in sports, please read all of the “young athlete’s injury prevention guides” from our experts at Cook Children’s Sports Performance Orthopedic Rehab Team Specialists.

Additional training for coaches both recreational and professional:  City of Fort Worth Training Video complete with a pre/post-test.