School bags can hurt your (child's) back!

In India school time invariably means huge school bags (back packs) stuffed with heavy books. In spite of various recommendations from time to time no steps have been taken to reduce this back-breaking load for children.
Here are a few tips to prevent back pain due to heavy school bags

• Because narrow straps can dig into shoulders, choose a backpack with wide, padded shoulder straps and a padded back.
• Make sure that only books that are needed are carried, ask the child to prepare the bag according to next day’s time-table at night…too often in a hurry in the morning the child carries all the books resulting in a heavier bag.
• Parents can minimize the risk of injury by making sure that children do not over-pack their backpacks. A child should never carry a pack that weighs more than 10 percent to 20 percent of his or her weight.
• Children should be taught always to use both shoulder straps. Using only a single strap can strain muscles and may increase curvature of the spine
• Another recommendation is to use all compartments of the backpack. Place the heaviest materials nearest to the center of the pack.
• Use a small school bag, this will prevent a child from cramming it with useless items
• Periodically remind your child to clean out trash and remove old papers and homework.

These tips are based on the latest American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations as published in Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, August 2004

What's in a NAME? ........A lot if its my baby!

Hi,
Normally I create original content for my website, but today is an exception.
I keep on getting requests by parents for helping them name their child. Since the Internet is a great source of information for finding out about almost anything, I decided to provide a collection of links for naming your baby. A brief description is provided for many of the websites that I have personally visited. I have limited myself to Indian baby names at the present, since that is where most of my requests originate from. As usual suggestions are more than welcome!
Indiaexpress: Small list of Sanskrit names with meanings categorized alphabetically. Fast loading with a clean interface
Babynamesindia: A collection of around 3000 names (claim to be one of the largest collections of Hindu names), lots of invasive ads, but the site loads at a fair speed
Nameandfame: An interesting site, lots of names including mythology, around the world and a ‘rare names’ section, nice tips for naming babies, and trivia like the commonest names in Bangalore! Fast loading, has interesting tips, though the design could be better. A valuable resource nevertheless!
Indiaparentinglinks: Nothing in the world of Internet is unique; it’s all been done before! A collection of links to various baby names sites (worldwide). Has its own set of baby names too, but not really unique in any aspect.
Indiaparenting: A slickly designed website, needs free registration though.
Nriol: Extensive baby names collection including the common and the uncommon too
Sanyal: A small collection of names, all names load on a single page and no meanings given
Sulekha: An Indian name search engine, nice design and well executed, has interesting choices like unusual names, multiple syllables in name search etc., definitely recommended!
Shaivam: Interested in Hindu holy names? The site has a lot of really difficult to pronounce mythological names, with a South Indian bias. Good collection nevertheless. But if you are looking for a ‘regular’ name give this one a miss!
Sysindia: A decent collection of South Indian Names, no meanings though!
Indiaserver: Has a combination of Hindu & Muslim names.
Indastro: Good collection of baby names, no meanings though. Also has baby name collections from different countries
Indianchild: A small collection, interesting names, has a collection of Sikh names too, plus a page on Naamkaran ceremony
Iomx: Too many ads, not too many names, not recommended
Indiayogi: If you want an online (paid) astrologer consultation for naming your baby look no further
Yahoo directory: Baby names from the world!
Indianastrology: Baby names, horoscopes through email and more!
Pdom: If you want to book a website for your babies’ name, this is the place to go. Did you know the most common 100 Indian surnames? Visit for some trivia, but not if you are seriously name hunting.
Jnjbaby: A very pretty site, with lots of interesting material on pregnancy and baby care like individual immunization schedule for your baby, SMS reminders for vaccination etc. A good collection of baby names, marred by lots of popups ads. Recommended
If you want to read from paper books rather than from the computer here are a few recommendations:
Penguin book of Hindu Names by Maneka Gandhi
What's In Your Name? Indian Baby Names and Their Roots
by Vimla Patil, Naishadh Patil
Babies' Names from the Indian Sub-continent (Family Know How Series)
by Vimla Patel
In case these books are not available in your nearby bookstore you can always purchase them online from Amazon

Kids say the darndest things!

Being a pediatrician has its positives, you can mix with business with pleasure!
What I mean is that in an office practice most of the children that I see are either mildly ill or scheduled for a healthy visit, and it can be fun interacting with them.
Plus they come up with some real 'truthful' answers! Check these out

Question to a 5 year old: Do you go to school?
Answer: No
Why not???
Because its the summer holidays!

Question to a 2 year old: So how was your birthday?
Answer: ( after some cajoling by parents): Happy!

Question to 5-6 year old: So do you stay in chandigarh?
Answer: Nope.......
Puzzled redirect question: So where do you stay?
Answer (matter of factly): At my home

As I say,
ask a dumb question........................
get a kid's intelligent answer!