Fatherhood, Skeptically

The TV is on a lot at my house; it's one of the things I worry about a lot. For instance, I'll throw on something I've seen before that is kid friendly (more often than not some Sci-Fi show like Star Trek ) when I'm doing chores. The boys don't usually pay attention, unless the theme songs are playing; they love those. But sometimes they do, and then I worry if I'm setting them up for failure. There's precious little published on the effects of screen time on children; both physically and psychologically. Early this year, a review  was published discussing the effect of screen time on obesity rates in children. As nice as it would have been for this to shed some light on any potential dangers, it seems to only have provided minimal understanding. In light of this I thought it would be worthwhile discuss this paper and to overview the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommendations concerning screen time. As I alluded to before, the study doesn't ...

Today, we're talking about something that I've noticed is a fear among many parents. It is a fear that starts with the letter "F." But it's not a swear word, oh no. Today, we're talking about fluoride. You may think that fluoride is a somewhat closed case; limited to a minority of conspiracy theorists. But this is sadly not the case. Just recently, a study focusing on the effects of removing water fluoridation in the city of Juneau, Alaska was published. The short is that it caused a lot of cavities at great expense to the public. I also hear a lot from various sources that parents fear their kids coming into contact with fluoride. Generally, this comes from two sources: toothpaste and water. There seems to be much less fear surrounding toothpaste though; and all the arguments generally stem from the water fluoridation concerns. Based on that, I'd like to focus on water and discuss the fears, logical missteps, and data associated with them. From what...