Category: Health

Important information about your 7-8 year old

Family

Ask your child about their school, activities, and about their worries. Tell them to talk to you or an adult if they are being bullied. Make a quiet space for your child to do their homework away from the TV. Maintain family routines, and try visiting parks, museums and libraries regularly. Be sure to spend separate special time with your child if there are other siblings.

Development

Help your child deal with their emotions by modeling good behavior and habits. Discuss rules with your child and talk about consequences. Give your child chores and let them do things for themselves. Watch for body changes in your child and answer any questions they may have about their changing bodies.

Health

Do not allow more than 1 hour of screen time a day. Monitor what they are watching and tell them not to share personal information online. No TV in the bedroom or meals in front of the screen (phone, tablet, TV). Daily exercise is important for your child. Make it a family routine to play outside every day. Your child should brush their teeth twice a day and floss once a day. As your child gets older, they will still need plenty of sleep. They should sleep 9 to 12 hours a night.

Eating

Make sure your child eats 3 meals and 2-3 healthy snacks a day. Teach them to eat when hungry and stop when satisfied. Have snacks ready for your child like fruits, vegetables, turkey/cheese roll-up, and plain or vanilla yogurt (avoid snacks like yakult or danonino). Children need 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Half of every meal should be fruits and vegetables. Limit juice to 4 oz a day and no soda. Make sure your child is eating a healthy breakfast.

Safety

When riding in the car, your child should always be using a booster seat in the backseat. When riding their bike, they must always wear a helmet. Get to know your child’s friends and teach your child about peer pressure. Teach your child about “stranger danger”. Tell them that no adult should ask them to keep secrets and no one should touch/see their private parts. Remove firearms from home or lock the firearm and ammunition in separate locations. Your child should wear sunscreen when outdoors.

Poison Control: 1-800-222-1222

After Hours and Weekends
After 4:00 PM and before 8:00 AM
For medical advice when People’s is closed call After Hours Nurse line at 512-478-4939

Download PDF here.

Important information about your 6 year old

Family

Talk with your child every day about school and encourage them to share their worries. Let them know they can talk to you or an adult if they are being bullied. At this age, your child should have simple chores. Teach your child to help others and discuss rules and consequences with your child.

Development

Teach anger management. This will help your child deal with emotions and prevent aggressive behavior. Some examples are going for a walk, talking, or drawing to calm down. Give your child plenty of affection and read with them every day. Praise your child for good behavior and for doing things on their own. Allow up to 1 hour of screen time a day (phone, tablet, TV). Do not let your child eat in front of the TV or tablet. No TV in the bedroom.

Health

Good hygiene is important. Your child should be washing their hands often after playing outside, using computers/phones, or playing with pets. Children should brush their teeth at least twice a day and floss once a day. Help your child brush their teeth after them. Schedule dentist visits every 6 months. Take your child to the park or have them play outside every day. Make sure your child sleeps 9 to 12 hours every night.

Nutrition

Your child should eat 3 meals and 2-3 healthy snacks a day. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day! Give snacks like fruit, vegetables, turkey/cheese roll-up, and vanilla or plain yogurt (avoid snacks like yakult or danonino). Give your child milk and water instead of juice or sugary sports drinks. Eat together as a family. Children learn by example so remember to eat healthy in front of your child.

Safety

Teach your child to be cautious around cars and never to cross the street alone. Enroll your child in swimming lessons. Have your child wear sunscreen when outside. They should always wear a helmet when riding a bike. Teach your child to be safe around adults. Tell your child that no adult should ask them to keep secrets and no one should see/touch their private parts. Remove firearms from home or lock firearm and ammunition in separate locations. Test smoke detectors monthly, and make sure to replace batteries every year.

Poison Control: 1-800-222-1222

After Hours and Weekends
After 4:00 PM and before 8:00 AM
For medical advice when People’s is closed call After Hours Nurse line at 512-478-4939

Download PDF here.

Healthy Eating for Preschoolers

Get your child on the path to healthy eating.

Offer a variety of healthy foods.MyPlate graphic from choosemyplate.gov
Choose foods from each MyPlate food group. Pay attention to dairy foods, whole grains, and vegetables to build healthy habits that will last a lifetime.

Be mindful of sweet drinks and other foods.
Offer water instead of sugary drinks like regular soda and fruit drinks. Other foods like hot dogs, burgers, pizza, cookies, cakes, and candy are only occasional treats.

Focus on the meal and each other.
Your child learns by watching you. Let your child choose how much to eat of foods you provide. Children copy your likes, dislikes, and your interest in trying new foods.

Be patient with your child.
Children enjoy food when eating it is their own choice. Some new foods take time. Give a taste at first and wait a bit. Let children serve themselves by taking small amounts. Offer new foods many times.

Cook together.

Eat together.

Talk together.

Make meal time family time.

Download Checklist

Healthy Basics: Be Active

Have fun moving your body!

Being active can be fun! Find something you like to do with your friends and family and… HAVE FUN!

Remember: you need to be active for one hour each day. It doesn’t have to be all at once.

Examples:

Dance | Walk | Skate

Join a team | Hike | Play

Kick a Ball | Run | Swim

How can I be active?

Being active is moving around or exercising!! It is moving your arms and legs enough to make your heart beat hard and fast. It gives you energy and keeps you healthy!

Why be active?

  • Being active makes your heart strong and healthy!
  • Being active keeps you from gaining too much weight.
  • Being active makes your bones and muscles strong!
  • Being active cheers you up and helps you feel good about yourself.

Get moving!

  • Get up!
  • Turn off the TV
  • Put down the video games

Healthy Basics: Eating Healthy

Be Smart: How to Eat Healthy

  • Eat slowly. Chew each bite well.
  • Turn off the TV when you eat.
  • Sit down to eat.
  • When you can, eat with your family.
  • Eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day.
  • Choose healthy snacks:
    • Raw vegetables
    • Piece of fruit
    • Yogurt
    • Low-fat cheese

How much food is good for me?

A plate of too little food

Too little food

A plate with a healthy amount of food

Just right

A plate overloaded with too much food

Too much food

Eat Right to be a Healthy Kid of Any Size

Eat all kinds of food each day

  • Over half your body is made of water!
  • Choose water instead of soda or juice.
  • Drink low-fat or skim milk.
  • Chips and sweets are treats – try not to eat them more than once a day.
  • Eat lots of fruits and vegetables every day.
  • Make your plate a rainbow!

Why is it cool and smart to eat healthy foods?

  • To make your body strong
  • To help you grow
  • To let your brain grow
  • To give you energy to play
  • To help your body heal

Children of all body sizes can be healthy

Size is not the same as health. Talk to your health care provider about what size is right for you.

Do you know why children are different sizes?

Your size depends on many things:

  • What you eat and drink.
  • The kind of work or play you do.
  • The size of your mother and father.

Making fun of someone’s size is never OK. Healthy children come in all sizes!

Important information about your 5 year old

Family

Talk to your child’s teacher when possible. Encourage your child to tell you about school and if they are being bullied. Have your child do small chores or ask them to help around the house. This will teach responsibility. Timeouts should be used as quiet time for your child in a neutral area of the house (one minute for each year of age) with no toys or distractions. Make sure not to talk to them while they are in timeout but be sure to explain to them why they were in timeout.

Development

At this age, your child may have trouble controlling his/her anger. Teach them to talk about their feelings when they are upset. Praise your child for good behavior and give them plenty of affection. Your child will want to be more independent so allow them to do things without help. Have your child follow rules at home in preparation for school. Let your child pick books to read for bedtime.

Health

Limit screen time to no more than 1 hour a day. This includes tablet/phone time as well as educational TV shows. No eating in front of the screen (phone, tablet, TV) and no TV in the bedroom. Encourage the entire family to play together outside every day. Your child should be washing their hands often after playing outside, using computers or phones, and after playing with pets. Children should brush their teeth at least twice a day with pea-sized amount of toothpaste. Brush their teeth after them up until they are seven years old. Make sure your child is getting a good night’s rest. They need 10 to 13 hours of sleep. Lack of sleep will make your child fussy and cranky.

Nutrition

Give your child 3 meals with 2-3 healthy snacks a day. Make sure they eat a healthy breakfast every day. For snacks, give your child fruit, vegetables, turkey/cheese roll-up and plain or vanilla yogurt (avoid snacks like yakult or danonino). Give your child milk 2-3 times a day and limit their juice to 4 oz a day and no soda. Teach your child to eat when they are hungry and stop when they feel satisfied.

Safety

Your child should still sit in a booster seat. Teach your child about bus safety and to never cross the street alone. “Stranger danger” is an important lesson for your child. Tell your child that no adult should ask them to keep secrets and no one should touch/see their private parts. Never let your child ride a bicycle without a helmet. Your child should wear sunscreen when playing outside. Teach your child how to swim and always watch them around water. Install smoke alarms in your home.

Poison Control: 1-800-222-1222

After Hours and Weekends
After 4:00 PM and before 8:00 AM
For medical advice when People’s is closed call After Hours Nurse line at 512-478-4939

Download PDF here.

Tips for your 5 year old child

HELP ME BE HEALTHY.

At this checkup, my doctor will:

  • Test my vision and hearing.
  • Ask how I play with other kids.
  • Ask what I like to do.
  • Ask what I eat.

Ask my doctor questions:

  • What does my doctor think about my weight?
  • Some doctors will want to screen me for cholesterol and anemia. What does my think?

TAKE CARE OF MY TEETH.

  • It might be time for my six month dentist visit. Call and set up a visit for me.
  • I might be fussy because I have new teeth trying to come in. My dentist can check and say what’s going on in my mouth.

HELP ME BE SAFE.

  • Help me learn the difference between friends, helpful peo­ple, and strangers. When we go to a place where there are many people, show me who the helpful people are, like police, clerks at the store, lifeguards at the pool, or park workers at the amusement park. Just in case I can’t find you, I will know a safe person to ask for help to find you.
  • Be careful about having matches and lighters around the house. I like to try to do what I see you do with the matches and lighters. People my age have been known to start fires playing with these. Don’t smoke around me.

PLAY WITH ME, IT HELPS ME LEARN.

  • Let me have a friend over so we can play games together.
  • Read with me. Help me learn to read my name and the words on street signs and labels on containers.
  • Play guessing games with me. Pretend to do something and let me guess what you are doing.
  • Make different expressions with your face and let me tell you what feelings I see on your face.
  • Let me have a job to do around the house like setting the table, putting clothes away, or helping you do something else.
  • Teach me our family’s name, my phone number, and my address. If you and I can’t find each other at the park or store, I can ask someone to find you.
  • Teach me what the healthy foods are.
  • Show me how to answer the phone and make a phone call, especially in case of an emergency.
  • Help me pick the TV programs I watch. Remember, I copy the language I hear and the behaviors I see.

WATCH HOW I GROW.

Watch for me to:

  • Hop on one foot.
  • Dress myself, zip zippers, button buttons, and comb my hair.
  • Play board games and card games with others. We take turns and follow the rules.
  • Copy two solid lines that cross, so it looks like a plus sign ( + ).
  • Name at least four colors.
  • Name at least two shapes like a circle or square.
  • Be able to follow directions that tell me to put something in, on, under, or behind something else. For example, “Put your book on the bookshelf.”
  • Draw pictures. When I draw a person, it has at least three parts.
  • Speak so you can understand most of what I say.
  • Hear when you talk to me and hear you call me from another room.

Some skills are easy for me. Other skills are harder.

Talk with my teacher about what’s easy and hard for me to do. If you have questions or think I need some help because of some things I can’t do, please ask my doctor, nurse, teacher, or someone in the special education office in my school dis­trict.

In these first 5 years, we both have learned a lot. There is much more for us to learn.

I will need you to take some time to:

  • Listen to what is happening in my life each day.
  • Look at the papers I bring home from school.
  • Help me understand how important it is to pay attention in class.
  • Help me do my school work.
  • Talk to my teacher.
  • Support me and encourage me to do the best I can do.
  • Tell me that you are proud of me when I have done the best I can do.

I will probably do better in school if:

  • I know you care about the work I do at school.
  • I know you think school is important.
  • You help me with my school work.
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Tips for your 4 year old child

HELP ME BE HEALTHY.

At this checkup, the doctor will:

  • Weigh and measure me.
  • Check me from head to toe.
  • Test my vision.
  • Give me a few vaccines. I will need to get some vaccines before I got to kindergarten. Ask if there are vaccines I need now.

Take my health journal with us so we can write the date I got my vaccines.

Notice what I’m able to do.
If you think I’m clumsy and fall a lot, if I don’t talk or play with others, or if i don’t enjoy moving around, you might want to talk to my doctor about this and have me checked. Call for an appointment now!

TAKE CARE OF MY TEETH.

  • It might be time for my six month dentist visit. Call and set up a visit for me.
  • I’m still too young to brush my teeth by myself. Help me keep my teeth clean.

HELP ME BE SAFE.

  • Teach me to be very careful in a garage or storage area. While ours may be safe, other people’s garages or storage areas may have insecticides, paints, equipment, and other things stored that are dangerous to me. Explain to me that garage door openers are not toys and that I’m not to play with a garage door.
  • Practice crossing the street and walking through parking lots with me. I’m short. People can’t see me in their rearview mirror when they are backing up. I need to be by your side, holding onto your hand or your clothes.
  • Make sure I wear a helmet when I start to ride a bicycle/tricycle.
  • Remember, I still need to be watched and can’t be left alone.

HELP ME DEAL WITH MY FEARS.

I might be afraid of monsters, snakes, or many other things. Don’t force me to get near some­thing that scares me. If I’m afraid of the dark, use a night light or leave the hall light on.

PLAY WITH ME, IT HELPS ME LEARN.

  • Let me use play dough. I like to make it into shapes. cut it with cookie cutters, and roll it.
  • Let me tear or cut paper and paste these pieces onto another piece of paper.
  • Let me tell you the stories from my favorite books.
  • Play listening and guessing games with me. Make the sounds of differ­ent animals and let me guess what the animal is. Another guessing game is to find something that I can see, describe it for me, and let me tell you what it is.
  • Let me trace in the sand or do a finger painting.
  • Let me help make and serve our snacks and meals.
  • Take me to the zoo, library, and other places that have special events just for kids my age.
  • Let me help you do things around the house so I can learn how to be a helpful family member.
  • Make an obstacle course with boxes, chairs, and tables, and let me find my way around all these things.
  • I should not watch much TV. One hour is the most I should watch in a day – it doesn’t matter if it’s a video or a TV show. I should be active and learning how to do things. The TV that I watch should help me learn. Watch my favorite TV program with me. That way we can talk about it. Don’t let me watch shows that upset or scare me.

WATCH HOW I GROW.

I’m always learning and trying.
I will learn some things faster than other things. If you have questions about what I can and cannot do, talk to my doctor or nurse. Call my preschool or Head Start teacher or the Special Education office in our school district. If you’re worried about how I’m doing, don’t wait for my next doctor visit. Call and ask now. The sooner we find out if there is something to worry about, the better it will be for me.

Watch for me to:

  • Put on my t-shirt all by myself.
  • Tell you the names of my friends.
  • Wash my hands with soap, rinse them, and dry them with a towel.
  • Use a normal tone of voice.
  • Ask you many questions.
  • Copy a line that goes up and down on my paper after you show me how to do it on your paper.
  • Copy a picture of a circle.
  • Tell you what I need If I’m cold, tired or hungry.
  • Tell you how I use something when you ask me to talk about something I use almost every day. For example, “What do you do with a fork?”
  • Point to a picture of something you are describing to me. I can answer questions like “Which one says meow?” or “Show me what flies!”
  • Stand on one foot for a few seconds.
  • Jump forward with my feet together.

You may notice that I also:

  • Know at least one color.
  • Use sentences with four or five words most of the time.
  • Brush my teeth.
  • Take care of myself at the toilet.
  • Play with other children.

REGISTER ME FOR KINDERGARTEN.

Call a school near where we live. Ask when and how you can register me for kindergarten.

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Healthy Basics: Healthy Teeth Bright Smiles

How do I keep my teeth and mouth clean and safe?

  • Brush teeth twice a day every day
  • Use toothpaste, floss and rinse with water
  • Get help from a grown-up
  • Eat and drink healthy meals and snacks
  • Avoid sticky and sweet snacks
  • Visit a dentist!

Dental Health means keeping means keeping your mouth and teeth clean, safe and free from germs

Why is it important?

  • Helps you chew your food, talk clearly and smile brightly.
  • Prevents holes in your teeth and bleeding from your gums.
  • Prevents pain in your mouth.

Brushing your teeth keeps you healthy.

What do I need?

Toothbrush laying on blue background

Toothbrush

Toothpaste laying on blue background

Toothpaste

Floss laying on blue background

Floss

How to Brush your Teeth

Child applying toothpaste onto toothbrush

STEP ONE

Put toothpaste on brush.

Child brushing teeth with toothbrush

STEP TWO

Gently brush teeth on all sides, gums, and tongue. Rinse.

Child mouth with floss between teeth

STEP THREE

Floss between teeth to remove food bits.

Child rinsing mouth with water

STEP FOUR

Rinse well two or three times.

Smiling child after brushing teeth

STEP FIVE

Smile!

Pediatric Symptom Checklist (ages 4-17)

These pediatric symptoms can indicate behavioral issues in your child, you can use this checklist to see if you may need to request any services.

Example checklist:

  • Fidgety, unable to sit still
  • Feels sad, unhappy
  • Daydreams too much
  • Refuses to share
  • Takes things that to not belong to them
Download Checklist