European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 29, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Children a health x a a Quot i a i. Of in Effes by Marianne and Stephen w. Garber and Robyn Freedman Spizman Cox news service i have a son who is very resistant to potty training. When he was 3 we began teaching him by having him sit on a potty chair at fairly frequent intervals for two to three minutes. He was excited about it and we had some Success. After about three Days he began to hold his urine until he was in pain and too full to be Able to urinate comfortably. I decided to Back off for three months. We started again but he will rarely sit on the potty without a fuss or lots of bribing. My paediatrician finds no physical problem. I am considering just getting rid of the diapers but i dread the puddles and dirty clothes. Help a . Dear . Although most children Are ready to be toilet trained for daytime control when they Are Between 2 and 3 years old some children Are not trained until age 4. Or. T. Berry Brazelton who investigated the toilet habits of 1,170 children Over a 10-year period found that without any pressure 80 percent of the children Between 24 months and 30 months Learned to use the toilet with no More than one Accident per week. More than 100 Learned after age 3 and 100 were 4 before they were trained. Your son is not quite 4, so done to be too discouraged. There Are Many reasons Why a child might take More time to become toilet trained. He May not have been ready when training first started. A child who is ready to be potty trained should be Able to a identify parts of the body potty training primer associated with urinating and making Bowel movements. A have words for these functions. A identify the urge to eliminate. A Tell whether he is wet or dry. A follow simple directions. A walk quickly to the bathroom pull clothing up and Down. A go several hours without wetting. A have Well formed bus rather than Many Small movements. First time parents sometimes equate toilet training with the Quality of their parenting and Start training too Early. Other times a child is particularly obstinate in a number of areas including toilet training. Finally there is the possibility a physical cause contributes to the problem. Although your paediatrician did no to note one he May want to refer you to a urologist since the problem persists. It is quite possible that if you Back off and keep your son in diapers he will eventually signal you that he is ready to try again. Expose your child to children who Are already out of diapers. At 3 years of age Many children in preschool activities will be out of diapers. Many preschool programs require a child to be toilet trained so discuss your concern with the administrators. Knowing your child a history teachers can support your efforts. When your son is ready to try again begin by placing him in training pants for Short periods. Reward any attempts to sit on the potty with stickers or other trinkets selected from a a grab  to encourage cooperation Supply a few new toys that Are Only available when he is sitting on the potty. From different Points in the House make a game of running to the potty pulling his pants Down and up very quickly. When he does go to the toilet correctly Reward him with a reach into the grab bag and a sticker on his personal potty Chart. As he progresses gradually increase the requirements for a Reward. Before you become too frustrated consider seeking the support of a psychologist or other professional. Toilet training is a Milestone. Your son will make it a and so will you. Marianne Daniels Garber an educational consultant and Stephen w. Garber a clinical psychologist and Robyn Freedman Spizman an author of books on educating and motivating children collaborate on a parenting column for the Atlanta journal and Constitution. Nightly flossing by Jane e. Brody new York times with childhood cavities on decline flossing is now the key weapon in the Battle for dental health. It is the rare child who does not know that brushing ones Teeth every Day is an essential part of dental health and most nights most children probably do Brush their Teeth before going to bed. But How Many floss flossing we now know is crucial to the Long term health of the Gums and underlying Bone that hold the Teeth in place. In the past no matter How Strong and healthy the Teeth periodontal disease was not noticed in children the big worry was cavities. Now that cavities Are in decline because of the use of fluorides and fluoridated water Many children still have their Teeth checked once a year for cavities but far fewer have the professional dental cleaning every six months that is crucial to healthy Gums. The result of this neglect could easily be a scare headline in a National tabloid a epidemic of gum disease strikes american  children with gum disease you better believe it the american Academy of period ontology reports that gum disease in varying stages afflicts most children and adolescents. The most common problem is gingivitis an inflammation of the Gums that is the first stage of periodontal disease. Gingivitis is marked by Gums that Are red and swollen and that bleed easily especially while the Teeth Are brushed. But while the More destructive forms of periodontal disease Are less common in children than in adults they Are by no Means rare. For example the Academy reported in a 1987 research paper on periodontal disease in children and adolescents that 5 percent to 9 percent of children from the Ages of 5 to 11 had patches of advanced periodontal disease and were in danger of losing one or More Teeth As a result. The Teeth involved Are no longer properly attached to the Gums and have lost supporting Bone. Among children in their Early teens the prevalence of advanced periodontal disease is usually far higher a from a Low of 5 percent to a High of 46 percent in some groups. Some children Are afflicted with a particularly virulent rapidly progressive form of periodontal disease called juvenile period otitis. This disorder which afflicts girls More often than boys seems to be inherited from the mothers Side of the family and can result in the loss of permanent childhood stress helping kids avoid burnout by mar Maushard Baltimore evening Sun the terrible Toos afflict children of All Ages. Too Many expectations. Too Many Media images of perfection. Too Many fears. Too much guilt brought on by too Many  these Quot Toosi douse the Energy and enthusiasm of too Many fired up kids. And they ignite another terrible too too much burnout a malady that has affected parents for some time and has now spread to their children some As Young As 7 or 8. Quot Twenty to 30 percent of kids experience some kind of burnout a says Joseph Procaccini associate professor of education at Loyola College in Baltimore and the author of two parenting books. Procaccini who has for at least a decade focused on Parent burnout a the subject of one of his books a is expanding his interest to the other Side of the family. Child burnout May be relatively minor and fleeting marked by a temporary Lack of interest in school or occasional temper tantrums. Or it May persist until a child feels trapped and begins dropping out a socially mentally even physically a from school or Home. Burnout happens when the demands on a child outweigh his Energy Procaccini says. There is however a delicate balance to work with. Imposing demands on children is not wrong it is in fact a Good Way to motivate them he says. When Energy and demand Are equal a person is performing at his Peak when those demands get out of hand burnout threatens. Quot unrealistic expectations Are the real culprit Quot in burnout he says. These expectations can come from within a person from parents and tellers from Peers and from the Media Caccini lays a Good part of the blame on Quot i think most parents overestimate h is abilities. Many parents will not accept g but an a a he  w group of parents out there just ,0 to get kids into programs soccer computer Camps language clubs or Tot classes. Wildren bombarded with unrealistic ands and expectations begin to believe heir parents love is based on their agents that it depends on How Well they do Ime thing or Many things Procaccini says. Burned out kid is an angry kid a says or Accini. Quot to Burn out you have to be on that fire is fuelled by frustration Over the it Between what a youngster assumes uld be Quot and what he knows  it re Procaccini sees television As a big Riutor. It is not the programs that affect Esters As much As the advertising that its them to Quot try to become something 3 impossible to become Quot he says. Anyone id younger has grown up with constant ies of perfection that Lead to Quot an awful lot  burned out child will also feel guilt which Accini describes As anger turned inward the disparity Between Quot should and  s anger eats away at a child a Energy he i balancing even further the Energy and scale. Child s unrealized expectations Combine the stresses that Are inherent in both Hood and family life. Quot stress is caused by Ige. Change is constant. Bodies change change people change Quot says Procaccini try Day in our lives families Are  Ith 40 percent of All american families King apart Many children have More than Normal share of change he adds. Even Wren from intact families have Quot a sense of ending loss Quot because they know so Many Wren from broken families hese natural and manmade stresses add to be possibility of burnout among children. Way or the 2 p the signs of it Are several says Procaccini fatigue. A child May become Quot abnormally sluggish physically and mentally lethargic. Irritability. Temper tantrums May become frequent or More intense than usual. Mental exhaustion. This is often characterized by forgetfulness especially of Well known facts. Paranoia Anc disassociation. These Mark the Quot serious stage Quot of burnout when a child is feeling trapped and May be questioning his values talking about dropping out of school or society and even threatening suicide. He cautions parents to Quot Factor out Normal types of behave or for their child before determining burnout. But if a Parent detects. Trapped feeling or paranoia Quot your child probably needs counselling Quot he says. What can a Parent do to prevent burnout Procaccini has a couple of suggestions. Parents need to show that their love is unconditional that nothing a child does or fails to do will diminish that love and that children do not have the Power to make or break their parents emotionally by their actions or achievements. Parents can also Foster a tolerance for ambiguity so children learn that life does not work like a math formula that just because they play a and play hard a they done to necessarily win. Quot we re not letting them know that in some areas you can be fourth or fifth Quot he says. Even the Best hitters in baseball Quot fail twice for each hit. The game of life is the same  a the Only Way to survive in the 90s, As adults is to Trade off Quot he says. For example if a woman gets an a plus this week As a Mother she May get Only a c in her workplace. She can to get an a plus in All facets of her life simultaneously he explains. Nor can her children. Parents can give their children responsibility for their own happiness by teaching them they can control their feelings rather than being tossed about by others actions and opinions. Quot teach children to establish their own criteria by which to judge  parents must also listen. Quot kids have reached the conclusion that their parents done to really know them Quot Procaccini says. And rather than telling their parents who they Are such youngsters suffer silently because they Are not the children of their parents imaginations. Hence Quot a lot of kids Are very lonely  Quot if you listen to your children you cannot fail As a Parent a he says. And although listening to children and teen agers can be stressful for adults out of the give and take will grow Quot an emotional Bond that is i  important for youngsters too Page 14 the stars and stripes Teeth even in otherwise healthy teen agers who practice Good Oral Hygiene. In a healthy Mouth All the Teeth Are anchored to Bone by an apron of gum tissue. When Teeth Are not adequately cleaned especially around the gum line and Between adjacent Teeth colonies of destructive bacteria can take up residence in glue like deposits called dental plaque and monday 0 gradually erode the gum tissue. This results in craters or periodontal pockets a areas of infection where the gum actually pulls away from the tooth surface. The number and depth of these pockets gives dentists a crude measure of the extent of periodontal disease. Unless reversed by professional treatment of the inflamed Gums the infection can Progress to the underlying Bone softening it and weakening the support for the Teeth above it. Periodic a rays can reveal Early stages of Bone loss. The Toothbrush is an excellent tool for cleaning the biting surfaces and fronts and backs of the Teeth. But As anyone knows who has tried to Brush out a wedged in bit of food the Brush is not adequate for cleaning Between Teeth. Nor is it very effective at removing debris from the Region where the Teeth meet the Gums. Hence the value of dental floss. Children a Teeth should be glossed nightly by an adult until the youngsters develop enough manual dexterity to do it himself. For some children this does not happen until they Are 7 or 8. Until then parents should supervise or perform daily flossing. The technique for flossing a child s Teeth is the same As for an adult. Break off an 18-Inch piece of floss waxed or untaxed Plain or Flavoured and wind most of one end around the Middle Finger of one hand. Then wind most of the remaining end around the Middle Finger of the other hand leaving a length of several inches unwound. Hold the floss tightly Between the thumbs and forefingers leaving about one Inch of firmly stretched floss Between them. Use a gentle sawing motion to slip the floss Between the Teeth taking care not to snap or Force the floss into the Gums. With the floss at the gum line curve it into a a shape around one tooth. Holding the floss firmly against the tooth slide it Back and Forth to scrape the tooth gently gradually moving the floss from the gum line to the biting surface of the tooth. Then curve the floss against the adjacent tooth and repeat the scraping motion. Then slip the floss out release some of the longer end and wind up the used part and moving from tooth to tooth repeat the entire process on the remaining Teeth. Scrape the floss downward on the upper Teeth and upward on the lower Teeth and Don t forget to floss the far Side of the last Teeth in the Mouth. Flossing is a habit most readily Learned in childhood. If flossing is made part of a child s daily routine from the first appearance of the baby Teeth the child will be far More Likely to accept it to eventually take Over the task and to continue performing it throughout life. But even the most conscientious flosser should visit the dentist at least twice a year for a professional cleaning. This removes the plaque that May have been missed and was allowed to Harden on the Teeth As tartar. Tartar provides a protective Home for the bacteria that destroy gum and Bone. It cannot be loosened by Home care and if it remains too Long on the tooth surface it can result in progressively More serious periodontal disease. Tober 29,1990 the stars and stripes a a a Page 15