Kids' Wellness Matters Podcast Ep. 22: Raising Kids in a Screen-Filled World

This episode is for families who want to foster healthy relationships with digital devices. Alyssa Cohen, MD, MSc, a pediatrician and health services researcher at Lurie Children's, explains the positive and negative impact media may have on child development, offering practical strategies for balancing screen use in the daily lives of families. Dr. Cohen also explains why not all screen time is created equal and offers practical tips for setting boundaries and building healthy habits.

“Screens are not a bad word in my book. There are definitely moments where they're very necessary, but I think that the issue arises when we're using screens to calm kids down consistently to the point where they don't develop other coping skills that don't involve having a screen.”

- Dr. Alyssa Cohen

Show Notes

• Dr. Cohen explains four different types of screen time: passive consumption, interactive engagement, communication and content creation. She says not all screen time is equal and focusing on content quality is essential.
• Some screen time can be educational and help foster social connections, but Dr. Cohen warns against excessive use which can lead to sleep disturbances, reduced physical activity and language development issues.
• Creating a family media plan can help adults and children develop health boundaries. Dr. Cohen recommends following the American Academy of Pediatrics’s Five C’s of media use: 
• Child – Consider the individual child’s needs and development. 
• Content – Assess whether the content is educational or harmful. 
• Calm – Avoid using screens as the primary coping mechanism for distress. 
• Crowding Out – Ensure screen use does not replace essential activities like sleep and exercise. 
• Communication – Foster open discussions about screen habits and concerns.
• Parents’ own screen habits shape children's behavior. Dr. Cohen suggests that parents model appropriate usage for their children while monitoring the child’s screen time.
• In her research, Dr. Cohen found that most parents supported frequent monitoring of social media, particularly for children aged 11 and older and that younger parents, aged 35 and under, were more likely to support frequent monitoring, likely due to their own familiarity with social media platforms. She says parents should educate themselves about social media platforms and set rules to reduce potential dangers.
• Finally she reminds listeners that balancing screen time with non-screen media like books and audio content is also a great way to maintain a healthy balance of media consumption.

Transcript

[00:00:00] Dr. Nina Alfieri: Welcome to Kids Wellness Matters. I'm Dr. Nina Alfieri.

[00:00:07] Dr. Rob Sanchez: And I'm Dr. Rob Sanchez. We are both parents and pediatricians at the world renowned Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago.

[00:00:15] Dr. Nina Alfieri: On this show, we'll chat with a wide range of experts about caring for children from newborn to young adult. Because Kids Wellness Matters. Hey, Rob.

[00:00:30] Dr. Rob Sanchez: What? Oh, sorry. I was just looking at my screen. Were you saying something? Screens are everywhere, Nina. I, you know, I'm human. I was scrolling.

[00:00:35] Dr. Nina Alfieri: Oh, you were doomscrolling. 

[00:00:40] Dr. Rob Sanchez: It happens, right? I mean, how often do we try and think about this, especially not just as pediatricians, but as parents. We're always thinking about screen time. It's a ubiquitous topic, right?

[00:00:48] Dr. Nina Alfieri: Yeah I feel like you're never fully dressed without the blue glow of something in your face these days. But yeah, screens are all over the place and I think this episode I'm really excited to air because we got to talk with Dr. Alyssa Cohen from our own beautiful division here in general pediatrics at Lurie. She is an incredible pediatrician and has done quite a bit of research on media use and screen time amongst a lot of other wonderful work. And really we talked today about how to develop a healthy relationship with screen time. You know, I think screen time gets a lot of bad press, but there's also some good things about screen time, right? 

[00:01:24] Dr. Rob Sanchez: Yeah, and it's something that like, it's around us, you know, it's something that I probably didn't grow up quite as much with, right? We had TV and movies and things like that. But it feels a little bit different with iPads and phones and other types of screens that are there. And it's always good to be able to kind of run it past or get a sense of, what's the best way to go about doing it. We probably all been in situations where you try a bunch of different stuff with your child. And sometimes, you know, a screen is just the easiest one just in simple situations. I don't know. Can you relate to that?

[00:01:50] Dr. Nina Alfieri: Yeah, for sure. I'm like laughing thinking about how many times we've been in a restaurant or airplane where we like put the post its up and she plays with stickers, post its, then crayons. Then we do the snacks and then, you know, we play with something else and then we put the pom poms in the cups and finally my husband and I look at each other, we're like, it is time for the iPad and we go for it. But they can be useful in certain situations. It's just it helps us as parents sit down and think intentionally about having a plan for how and when we use them so that you them kind of in the right situations. And then you fill that time that could be used with other things like books.

[00:02:25] Dr. Rob Sanchez: I mean, travel is a big one. Airplanes, absolutely. So hard, but also just like other things that you can do together, right? Family movie night or watching a show together, for certain times that can be really great. I know, like, I love watching Magic School Bus with my kiddo. That's a big fun one, is that a big thing in your household?

[00:02:40] Dr. Nina Alfieri: I have to admit, I, as a parent and a pediatrician, I'm a huge fan of Daniel Tiger and Sesame Street for all kinds of learning, but especially the social, emotional learning, like the songs about teeth brushing, potty time you know, going to school and how grownups come back. So I think media can be really helpful actually in teaching kids a lot of things. And in our family, every Friday night we do family movie night where we'll sit down together and have snacks, and it's a really special time after we've all finished a busy week to just get together and just enjoy the time together. So, it's fun.

[00:03:12] Dr. Rob Sanchez: And your conversation with Dr. Cohen sounds like it's going to be fantastic. I really look forward to listening in and learning, you know, how to go about using screens with my little ones. 

[00:03:23] Dr. Nina Alfieri: Today, we have Dr. Cohen, who I'm very lucky to get to work with and have known for many years. Dr. Alyssa Cohen is an attending physician here at Lurie Children's Hospital and a health services researcher at the Stanley Manne Children's Research Institute at Lurie Children's. Dr. Cohen's research aims to address adversity and promote positive experience in the lives of youth. She's particularly interested in the role of social and digital media in adolescent mental health, and we are thrilled to welcome you to the show. 

[00:03:52] Dr. Alyssa Cohen: Thanks so much for having me, Nina. It's fun to be here with you.

[00:03:55] Dr. Nina Alfieri: Thanks for being here. Well, let's talk a little bit about why you joined the beautiful field of pediatrics and then how you came to study the role of social and digital media in the health of children. 

[00:04:05] Dr. Alyssa Cohen: Pediatrics has just been the most joyful career. I'm sure you would agree. And as someone who was so formative in my early years of training, I have you to thank as well. But I was so lucky to find that kids are just the ideal population to get to work with and learn from. I think it's such a special role we get to play as their pediatricians. And I have found that in both clinical and research activities, they make me smile every single day. So social and digital media came into my purview as I started talking to teenagers in the research capacity about things going on in their lives. And especially some of the adverse experiences that they had, learning about things like news events and things that were hard for them to understand. So much of that information came to them by way of social media that I realized I needed to learn more so that I could be a better support to them. And so I've been really lucky to do work in this space and it's definitely an area that's a hot topic, so I appreciate the chance to chat with you about it today.

[00:05:05] Dr. Nina Alfieri: Yes, absolutely. And as a parent myself, I am always interested in learning how to have a healthier relationship with screens because they're everywhere. So, I'm thrilled to talk about this with you today and learn from your expertise. So, to kick us off not all screen time is equal. So, I've heard that recent studies have shown there's four major categories of screen time. Can you walk us through the different types of screen time and tell us a little bit about your interpretation or the utility of each of them. 

[00:05:32] Dr. Alyssa Cohen: So I completely agree, not all screen time is equal, and I think big picture we are moving away from the concept of screen time as you know, just a number or an amount of minutes or hours that we're spending looking at a screen because it is screen time is so much a facet of our daily lives, but the way that we interact with screens can look really different. So some screen time is passive, meaning you might be mindlessly scrolling, watching a show. You're the consumer of the media and you're not really giving anything back to the screen. Then there's more interactive opportunities to interact with the screen, so playing games, doing problem solving, kids might find that there's something that involves their input, and that's a little bit more of an active process. Then there's screen functions that are focused on communication, so video chatting, using social media, texting, those kinds of things. And then on the other end of the spectrum is content creation where you're the one putting something out into the screen creating a video, creating a piece of art or something that you are going to share through, interactive or digital media venue?

[00:06:36] Dr. Nina Alfieri: That was a helpful breakdown. You know, we do talk about screen time as one construct, but it's really helpful to think of it in all these different ways. And you alluded to this idea that screens are a part of society. And, you know, I've heard a lot of concern around screen time and social media use, but just in a positive light, are there benefits for it? And I'm saying this a little bit as a mom who loves Daniel Tiger, help me out here. 

[00:06:59] Dr. Alyssa Cohen: Absolutely. Yes. So, the screens are part of our daily lives and there's so many ways that we can use them to help us connect with each other. I think that social connection is a really important part of digital media and screens. We also are able to share a lot of really important information through digital media. So there's obviously an endless amount of information available on the internet, but we can also send that back and forth within our trusted networks and kids are able to learn from digital resources as well. So much of school work happens on a screen these days too. And then kind of taking a big picture look at it. The online world is a place where communities can be built and are able to help kids expand their worldview and be exposed to perspectives beyond what they might see in their physical world, their daily lives. So I think that there's really an opportunity for learning and social emotional development when we're able to find that high quality content that broadens kids' worldviews.

[00:07:54] Dr. Nina Alfieri: I love it. Shout out to Elmo and Sesame street. I'm sure we'll talk about that later. Excessive screen time is really becoming a common concern in American culture. And this of course affects kids too. According to Common Sense Media, the amount of daily screen use not including school or homework, for teens is as high as seven and a half hours, and for tweens is almost five hours. Whoa. So what do we know about the impacts of screen time on child development? Is there evidence that certain categories of screen time are better or worse for kids?

[00:08:26] Dr. Alyssa Cohen: Definitely. So, screen time is, like we mentioned, a culmination of so many different types of interactions. So, when we're able to use screens for high quality educational content, that can build skills in kids. That can give them avenues to express their creativity, to solve problems, to practice things like reading and math. When we think about excessive screen use, we really need to break down what are the activities happening on those screens and how are those affecting the child. On the flip side, sometimes screens can hinder language skills because they're reducing or replacing interactions that might be happening in person that are important for kids' development. So when we look at screen time as kind of a monolith, we're missing the details that can be found in the specific interactions kids are having with their devices and with digital media. I think that's where we start to run into sleep disturbances, decreases in physical activity, changes in people's self esteem. Those types of things have been associated with screen time. We really need to drill down on what are the interactions that kids are having with screens that are leading to these health effects and the things that we now link with excessive screen time.

[00:09:31] Dr. Nina Alfieri: And there's so many things to think about when it comes to digital media. So if parents are interested in talking with their kids about it, what approach do you recommend? How do we open up and have that conversation?

[00:09:42] Dr. Alyssa Cohen: Yeah, so I think I kind of alluded to the fact that there's just so much to think about with this topic. If screens were a one size fits all experience, then we'd better be able to come up with a one size fits all solution to their potential health effects. But because that's not the case, we need to have a way of thinking and talking about them that helps us cover those broad categories of use and the potential effects that it has on kids. So, the American Academy of Pediatrics recently started a center of excellence on social media and youth mental health. And a framework that they put forward that I find really useful for just organizing your thoughts around social media and screen time use is called the five C's. So those stand for first child, who is your child? What is the effect that screens are having on them and their daily lives? How might it play into other things that are going on with their socio emotional health? The second C is content, so getting back to are we consuming high quality content that has the opportunity to teach us something, or is the content more passive viewing or potentially contains things that could be negative for kids health, such as violent imagery. The third C is calm, thinking about whether you're using screens or devices to calm kids down and could that be replacing other coping skills that are more adaptive for them? The fourth one is crowding out. So thinking more about those health behaviors that screens could potentially be replacing in a kid's life. This to me brings up things like sleep, sports and physical activity. Those in person relationships that they have with friends and family, we want to make sure that screens aren't taking the place of any of those things. And then the fifth one is communication. So how are you and your family communicating about media? Is there a safe place for kids to bring up concerns when they have them, or for you to be able to troubleshoot when issues might arrive related to their screen use?

[00:11:31] Dr. Nina Alfieri: A helpful framework to begin to break down this big topic of screen time. So I appreciate you bringing that up. And I'm definitely going to use that in my own family. And going off that we know that screen time recommendations change as kids get older. So what's your recommendation on how parents can set appropriate limits for kids that kind of go hand in hand with their age and their development and what's going on in their life?

[00:11:56] Dr. Alyssa Cohen: There's such a cool opportunity to work together as a family and come up with a plan that's going to work for the people who are in your child's life, so the American Academy of Pediatrics again has a great resource for this. It's called the Family Media Use Plan. There's a link to it online. You can Google it. And it walks you through a template that you can customize to your family. You choose little avatars. You can put in your name and your kids names and then go through a variety of different categories of potential boundaries and limits that your family thinks would be useful to set around screen time, around media use. An example of this is screen free zones. Are there places in the home that we're never going to use screens? The dinner table is a good example of this. What I like about this is that you can work together on it and it doesn't feel like it always needs to be a top down approach where you as the parent are imposing these limits without the input of your kids in a developmentally appropriate way. It's also a nice reminder to us as parents that we should be following some of these rules for ourselves, too. So, I encourage folks to check that out and use it as fodder for conversation to think about what might work for your family.

[00:13:03] Dr. Nina Alfieri: I love that. And I'm kind of giggling here because we, one time we told Mia, our older one of course,, that we don't have screens at the dinner table, and every time we accidentally leave the TV going with the news on, she screams at the top of her lungs, No TV at So it's funny how kids feel that sense of ownership and kind of buy into it. And so I like this idea of sitting down together to make that. When starting a family media plan parents might need to break some habits. And I'm looking at myself having used a screen at restaurants and airplanes before, which by the way um, survival is important. So if you got to do it, you got to do it. But how can we rethink how we're using screens to our advantage during these times where it's a little harder? Do you have any advice on how to kind of balance or reconcile that?

[00:13:47] Dr. Alyssa Cohen: Absolutely. so screens are not a bad word in my book. There is definitely moments where they're very necessary, but I think that the issue arises when we're using screens to calm kids down consistently to the point where they don't develop other coping skills that don't involve having a screen. So, there's some research that shows that by giving kids devices or videos to calm down, it can actually end up backfiring in the end because they don't do the emotional learning that they might otherwise do to move through those tough moments. So, we wanna help kids learn how to identify their emotions using words to express what they're feeling, and then encourage them with positive reinforcement to use other coping skills outside of providing a screen. And if you are going to use a screen in those moments to calm down again, the third C of those five Cs in the framework I mentioned earlier. Try to choose some content that provides them with a strategy they can use without the screen. So, I'm thinking about a video that might teach them breathing exercises or calming exercises in an age appropriate way. Something that will continue to serve them even when the screen is no longer in front of them. Whenever possible, offering them choices is also a really good strategy. Make sure you're okay with either one of the choices so that you don't end up having to say no later. But I think that those are some ways that we can use screens in a way that is instructive and gives an opportunity for learning and to continue to provide positive reinforcement for non screen coping strategies so they will continue to develop in that way.

[00:15:20] Dr. Nina Alfieri: Love that. That's great advice. So I'm thinking about our family and how we use screens and like you said, you know, they're kind of everywhere and at the end of a long day, I think it's really easy to open Instagram and start scrolling. So when you're talking about the family media plan, something that you made me think about was my own use of media at home. Can you talk a little bit about parent screen time? And how that impacts the parent child interaction and any advice for parents, because we're also navigating this like highly intensive media world.

[00:15:51] Dr. Alyssa Cohen: Definitely. Yeah, it is so hard to practice what we preach, right? I think it's become so automatic in many ways that sometimes it takes a little person's voice in your head saying, wait a second we talked about not having screens to remind you that's something. My own daughter's only eight months old. And she is so interested in the brightness of my phone screen that I've had to start leaving it outside of the room because I didn't realize how often I was turning it on and she just immediately goes for it. So I think just using that family media plan as an opportunity to reflect on your own use. Cause you're going to be the example that your kids want to follow. If they see that you're struggling to separate from your own screen. That's an opportunity to have a conversation as a family. Be open in an age appropriate way about how it makes you feel and how it might make them feel. You know, you don't need to necessarily go into the ins and outs of the properties of social media with a toddler, but certainly talking about how habits can be hard to break and we want to make sure that we're continuing to live in the present moment so that we can enjoy spending time together as a family.

[00:16:55] Dr. Nina Alfieri: Love that. As kids get older, there's different risks to consider with screens, such as social media use and thinking about all the content and people and things that they're exposed to on some of these sites and apps. Around up to 95 percent of teens report using a social media platform. And in 2023, the Surgeon General actually issued an advisory about the effects of social media on youth mental health. So I think this is something that is in everybody's mind, whether you're a pediatrician or a parent or a teacher. What can we take into consideration around social media for older kids?

[00:17:29] Dr. Alyssa Cohen: Yeah, so I think social media has been such a hot topic lately and the way that it's covered in the news and the headlines that you see sometimes don't paint the whole picture because I think that like we mentioned earlier, social media is also not a monolith. It is something that affects people differently and we certainly know and want to be aware of the potential risks that it could have, especially to adolescents who are going through such a period of growth and identity formation that they could be particularly vulnerable to some of the things that they see on social media. But also let's be open to the idea that it could be a really positive thing in their lives. So I think as pediatricians and as parents, we have the opportunity to help them make decisions that are going to support them and support their health and just use social media in a really safe and positive way.

[00:18:20] Dr. Nina Alfieri: Is there a certain age where kids can start consuming social media? How do you advise parents like approach that from an age perspective?

[00:18:27] Dr. Alyssa Cohen: I think it's a child dependent thing and taking the kid's development, maturity, what they're being exposed to into account is always the first step. The minimum legal age to have an account on many social media apps is 13 years old. And that's something that is set by Congress, but not every 13 year old is ready to be in social media, especially with some of the content that they might be exposed to. I think the best thing that parents can do is really have an open conversation and continue to reassess how ready their teenager might be for using social media what things they're hearing about it. And once they do start using some of these apps, having a plan to check in about how things are going, what things they're being exposed to, and what questions or concerns they might have. So this is another place where that 5Cs framework I think is a really good place to start. You know, you don't need to go through it like a checklist, but kind of think through those topics in deciding when is the right time to open your own account and how can we continue to troubleshoot as things move along.

[00:19:32] Dr. Nina Alfieri: That's really great, tangible advice that we can use in everyday life with our teenagers. And I want to talk a little bit about parents now. So, parents' thoughts and feelings toward social media monitoring really vary greatly. And you published a study in 2023 that looks specifically at factors influencing parent perspectives on monitoring their children's social media use. Can you tell us a little bit about this study and what it revealed?

[00:19:57] Dr. Alyssa Cohen: Sure, yeah, this was fun work thinking a little bit about how parents conceptualize social media monitoring for their teens and tweens. So the parents that we surveyed, we found that the majority of them did agree with frequent monitoring of their kids' social media activities. And we were looking specifically at parents of children who were 11 and older. But we did find that there were some interesting differences among parents. So, who did and didn't agree with monitoring. Interestingly, the younger parents, so those who are 35 years and younger, were more likely to support frequent monitoring than those who are older than 35. To me, this just speaks to their own familiarity with social media platforms and what they might have experienced in their own accounts.

 My big takeaway from this study was that parents are interested in being a source of support for teens who are navigating this big world of social media, but their own experiences might influence how and when they ask questions about social media platforms. So if we can equip parents with the information they need to ask the right questions and have open conversations with their teens, then we're setting them up for success.

[00:21:03] Dr. Nina Alfieri: Awesome. And I think this is really great to think about early because when you're in the moment, formulating that conversation can be hard. So I really appreciate that you're taking the time to talk about it today so I can think about having that conversation too. I want to talk a little bit about cell phones now and I'm thinking about a few weeks ago, I was in New York and I was on the train and literally every single person had their phone out. And I was like, wow, we live in such a digital world and having a cell phone is like your gateway in so many ways. And I'm thinking about how helpful it is for me to navigate from here to there, look up a recipe. But for teenagers, many teens are using a cell phone to access social media and other online content and I'm hearing a lot of mixed advice, you know, wait as long as possible before giving your child a phone. Give it to them at this age so they can call you for a ride. What are some signs of phone readiness and how are parents to approach this? It's such a hard question.

[00:21:58] Dr. Alyssa Cohen: Yeah, no, I think that's a great question and something that comes up so often. There is a resource again through the AAP, I keep shouting them out, but it's because there's some really good content that they have put out into the world. A phone ready quiz where you can consider things that are individual to your child. So there's not going to be a magic number that works for every single family. But thinking about your teen, are they responsible about things like homework? Have they demonstrated that they can kind of take care of a device like a cell phone? How well do they follow other tech rules around other devices like tablets, televisions, computers that are in the home How conscientious have they shown that they can be? Are they able to say sorry if they hurt a friend's feelings? Are you as a parent ready to support them in this use? And have you, like you said, thought a couple steps ahead to how we're going to choose the apps that we're using on that phone, set boundaries like screen free zones in the home. I think all of those things should come into play. And the sooner that you start having those conversations, the better.

[00:22:59] Dr. Nina Alfieri: So Alyssa, I want to talk a little bit about the safety aspects of social media because I know that's something that, unfortunately, as parents, we do have to think about.What are some ways you recommend talking about safety with kids surrounding social media?

[00:23:11] Dr. Alyssa Cohen: Yeah, really in this arena, I think knowledge is power. So the more that parents know about the social media platforms and the specific kind of utilities of those platforms that their kids are using, the better they can anticipate what kinds of unsafe content or interactions their kids might be exposed to. So there's some things that can happen across a variety of different types of platforms. I'm thinking about things that are really focused on content sharing like Instagram TikTok, but also some of those platforms that are more related to video games such as Twitch or Discord you know, being open minded to the types of interactions that could be happening across a wide variety of social media venues. Some general rules that I think are reasonable to set for all of those interactions are to know ideally who the people are that you are talking to, not share personal information such as where you live or your full name and not sharing photos of yourself. Just some basic ground rules that I would make sure all kids know before going into any of these potentially interactive media platforms. What about you? What kinds of things do you like to talk to your patients and families about?

[00:24:20] Dr. Nina Alfieri: Yeah, I totally agree with all of that. And I think for me, it's so hard because we don't want to scare kids. But as parents, we do hear these stories and you always want to protect your kid. and so for me, the biggest pieces of advice that I think are helpful are setting clear rules about the way that kids use social media, so setting rules about what kind of pictures are safe to share and which ones aren't like you said, not sharing personal information like your address or any financial information and helping kids understand what's appropriate for someone online to be asking of you. This kind of goes hand in hand with just helping create happy habits and enjoying life, but it's often safer to post pictures later after you've been somewhere. And so trying to take pictures and enjoy life in the moment, but use social media after the moment, that can also be a safety mechanism too. And I totally agree with downloading apps and understanding which apps have features that allow for direct messaging with your child. That can be on apps that are a little surprising sometimes. There are apps that look like they're for one purpose, but they really also allow direct messaging. And that can be sort of surprising.   

[00:25:22] Dr. Alyssa Cohen: Yeah. You can play around with the apps yourself, make your own account just to see what those features are and how people are able to interact with your child. The other resource that I want to shout out, Common Sense Media commonsensemedia. has a set of Parents Ultimate Guides to a variety of different platforms. Like you said, not all of them look like social media on the surface, but these will let you explore how people are able to interact with your kid who might be using these platforms and give you some tips about how to set them up safely.

[00:25:51] Dr. Nina Alfieri: Awesome. Well, Dr. Cohen, thank you so much for all of the great advice that you shared with us, especially for the really practical tips that are going to help me and my conversations and hopefully will help other parents who are listening to this too. Can you send us home with a couple of take home points?

[00:26:06] Dr. Alyssa Cohen: I think my take home points are that screens are not a monolith and they're not all bad. Same thing goes for social media and cell phones. Think about your kids and your family and how we can use digital media to support the goals that you have and keep everybody safe and healthy. The other thing to remember is that there's ways to consume media that don't involve screens. So, audio media, books, the original media, these are all things that I really want to make sure people are continuing to use and love. Because while our devices have become so advanced, there's still something really special about listening to a song or reading a book with all of the screens turned off. So I would encourage families to check out those resources from the American Academy of Pediatrics that I mentioned. There's a great question and answer portal on the Center of Excellence website as well. And start the conversations in your own family. Think about how you can make your relationship with screens as positive as it can be.

[00:27:03] Dr. Nina Alfieri: Awesome. Thank you so, so much.

[00:27:05] Dr. Alyssa Cohen: Thanks for having me, Nina. This is great.

[00:27:07] Dr. Rob Sanchez: Thanks for listening to Kids Wellness Matters.

[00:27:10] Dr. Nina Alfieri: For more information on this episode and all things kids wellness, please visit LurieChildrens.org