Kids Pick Up on EVERYTHING

Want healthy kids? Relax and socialize more

Parents worry about BPA in plastics and chemicals in food, but when it comes to children's health, the real toxin is parental stress, because kids pick up on everything.

Research shows that children can "catch" their parents' stress just like they catch a virus, soaking up the stress that pervades a household until their developing nervous systems reach "overload." Then kids act-out, or get sick.

Award-winning author David Code explains the medical research showing how parental stress is a major risk factor in today's epidemic of child health problems, from allergies and obesity to ADHD, asthma, and sensory disorders. Parents need to know:

- Parental Stress Can Alter a Child's Genes Scientists have discovered that our genes are not set in stone. There is a kind of "on-off switch" on genes, called the epigenome. Stress hormones can switch some "good" genes off, and some "bad" genes on.

- Parental Stress Affects Almost Every Child's Health It's just a matter of degree. The higher the stress levels in the parents, the higher the risk that good genes will be switched off, and bad genes will be switched on during a child's development.

- It's Never Too Late Yes, stressed parents create stressed children, but the damage can be reversed. Research suggests that, when parents relax more, children display fewer symptoms. As one Duke geneticist remarked, "I've got goose bumps right now talking about it. You're looking at the book of life, how it's read and how you can change it."

Author David Code gives readers a "doctor's note," offering parents permission to relax, have fun and socialize more, so that our children can grow up healthier and happier. Edited by Sharon Begley, the former science editor of Newsweek, Code's book explodes the myth that good parenting is about giving your child more attention.

Our healthy relationships are the best gift we can give our children, and this book shows you how.