DFWChild Podcast

As you do your Christmas shopping, we look at how you can find toys that can grow with your child as opposed to ending up sitting at the bottom of the toy bin. Busy Toddler's Susie Allison has several suggestions. You can find great gift guides for kids of all ages and lots of fun holiday events on the seasonal section of DFWChild.com

While the holidays might look a little different during a pandemic, traditions are still important. We talk with Laura O'Reilly, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who specializes in counseling, about why traditions are so important for children developing family bonds.

The holidays usually mean family get together, but like most things in 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic is making those plans a little complicated. We talk to Dr. Carla Garcia Carreno, an infectious disease specialist at Children's Health in Plano, about what you need to consider when making your plans.

In this week’s Podcast, our Creative + Content Director Heather Vance Devers speaks to Amanda Lang as a supplement to our November DFW Child Magazine Feature about Medically Fragile Children. Lang a Dallas Mom, whose 6-year-old daughter Virginia has Rhett Syndrome. Rhett Syndrome is a rare genetic neurological disorder that occurs in one in every 10,000 female births. It leads to severe impairments that affect nearly every aspect of a child’s life: the ability to speak, walk, eat and even breathe easily.

When Jessica Boesmiller got a terminal cancer diagnosis she knew she wanted to start making as many memories with her family as possible, but one big wish seemed out of reach until a non-profit based in the DFW metroplex reached out and told her they wanted to grant her wish. Ally's Wish has made big dreams happen for more than 150 terminally ill moms and their families over the last six years. For more information on Ally's Wish visit https://allyswish.org.

We talk with the founder of a DFW moms group about how moms can connect, the benefits of an internet support group, and it's important to also have face to face mom friends. We also hear from the author of the book Self Care for Moms about six different types of self care, and why it's important you do all of them.

Your relationship with your partner is one of the most important in your life, but strong marriages don't happen by accident. They take work, particularly after kids enter the picture. On this episode of the DFW Child Podcast, Dr. Kara Shade, Dr. Harville Hendrix and Dr. Helen LaKelly Hunt discuss common relationship pitfalls, ways to prioritize your relationship with your partner and strategies for communicating during difficult conversations.

When Elizabeth Cardone’s son woke up and suddenly couldn't walk, she was terrified. Doctors diagnosed him with Acute Flaccid Myelitis (AFM). While AFM is rare, it's caused by a very common virus. In this week's episode, we talk with Elizabeth about her family's story and a DFW doctor who is one of the leading physicians studying this condition. We'll tell you what the signs are, and what the latest research says.

Autism diagnoses are more common than ever, but actually receiving the diagnosis for your child can be a long and difficult process. We got some insight from Monica Piper, a Collin County mom whose son was diagnosed at age 2. Monica is also a board-certified behavior analyst (BCBA) and the founder of Stepping Stones, a service that provides in-home therapy to individuals with special needs. She spoke to us about the first signs she observed in her son, the road to his diagnosis and early therapies. This podcast episode is a supplement to our September DFWChild issue.

Parents everywhere are trying to take care of their kids while working from home, and those are the lucky ones. For moms and dads who need to work outside the home, the childcare issues are even more dire. Several studies show the effects of this are disproportionately affecting working moms, magnifying the gender gap - but there could be some silver linings. This episode takes a look at the problems and some possible solutions.

Summer is almost over, but like just about everything in 2020, that doesn't mean what it used to. The COVID-19 pandemic has created a lot of uncertainty about if, how, and when school buildings will open their doors. We talked with several parents, educators, teachers unions, a learning environments researcher and a homeschool group to give you as clear a picture as possible of all of the options and help you make the decisions that are best for your family.

This week on the DFWChild podcast, we’re talking about expanding your family. How COVID-19 is affecting pregnant moms, what you need to be aware of if you are thinking about trying to get pregnant right now, some tips on how you can support new moms when you can’t be there in person, and how the pandemic has impacted the adoption process.

While reporting on several different topics regarding pandemic parenting for this podcast the one thing that has come up in every single conversation is how COVID-19 is affecting mental health. It doesn't matter if their kids are two, twelve or twenty-two- parents worry about how their kids are handling the isolation, stress and anxiety brought by so much change and uncertainty. We talked with Licensed Professional Counselor Kim Peterson and Dr. Kia Carter, who runs inpatient psychiatry services at Cook's Children's Hospital, about what parents should look out for and what they can do to help their kids cope.

As states start to reopen in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic, parents face tough challenges trying to decide who much to "open up" and with whom. Michelle Lambert has struggled trying to decide if she should send her kid back to daycare or not, and parents everywhere have similar questions. We talked with pediatrician Dr. Justin Smith about some of the things parents should consider and what questions they should ask any business they plan to send their kids to.