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You can help working parents manage the day-to-day demands of their lives by providing them with mental health tips for their children. The payoff for doing so can be large: Studies demonstrate a close relationship between mental health and physical health. The list of tips?some as fundamental as urging parents to seek professional help if they sense a problem with their child's psychological well-being or balance?comes courtesy of the National Mental Health Association, as part of Mental Health Awareness Month in May.

Poison control centers receive a call every 15 seconds about an accidental poisoning, and records of the National Safety Council reveal that more than 50% of two million poisoning incidents each year involve children less than 6 years of age. To increase awareness of the danger to children of accidental poisoning from pesticides and household products, National Poison Prevention Week was observed March 19-25.

In a trend that pediatricians should note carefully in their management of children with atopic dermatitis (eczema), dermatologists likely will exercise more caution in prescribing the topical calcineurin inhibitors (TCIs) Elidel cream (pimecrolimus, Novartis) and Protopic ointment (tacrolimus, Astellas Pharma) in response to the Food and Drug Administration's decision to add "black box" warnings to these drugs' labels, an expert pediatric dermatologist told the publication Dermatology Times recently.

Parents have another good reason to make sure their child gets a good night's sleep: Recent research suggests that children who do not get enough sleep may be at higher risk of becoming overweight than those who watch too much television or never exercise.

A rise in asthma exacerbations and hospitalizations in the fall is related to the start of school and a subsequent increase in viral infections among children. Attempting to improve asthma control and reduce the transmission of infections as school starts could reduce the annual September asthma epidemic, according to research published in the March 2006 issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (JACI).

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