Childhood Illness

It's cold and flu season. You know your kid should be eating healthy to stay healthy, but how? We'll give you the lowdown on which foods to give them, which remedies don't actually work, and tips on how to sneak healthy stuff into their meals.

By FamilyEducation Editorial Staff

Learn how to protect your child from meningitis.

To avoid Lyme disease, be sure to look for ticks on your children every day.

There is a vaccine available for Lyme disease, but it cannot be given to children under the age of 15.

Unfortunately, the signs and symptoms of meningitis aren't always the same with every child.

Although you cannot use the color of nasal discharge as a sole indicator of infection versus allergy, green mucus does point more toward infection.

Ringworm is spread to others through direct contact with an infected person or animal.

Find out how long children should stay away from a child diagnosed with mono, and what other steps are important.

Find out whether warts indicate a problem in your child's immune system.

If your child is on antibiotics, how long do you have to wait before they can return to school? For some infections, it's 24 hours, but that's not always the case.

Infection is the most common cause of pinkeye (also known as conjunctivitis), which is easily spread through direct contact with fingers contaminated by germs.

Zoster ("Shingles") is contagious only to those people who have not had chickenpox or the chickenpox vaccine. The course of this disease is usually mild and the prognosis good.

It's possible for your nine-month-old to catch chickenpox from her vaccinated sister, but not very likely.

A yearly flu shot is the best way to protect yourself against the types of influenza expected each year.

A germ from the Herpes family called Epstein-Barr Virus causes infectious mononucleosis. This virus is spread through the saliva (hence the term "kissing disease"); only occasionally by contact with blood.

By Gavin de Becker

A safety expert offers advice about how to best protect your child fromdanger or violence.

Abdominal pain is a very common complaint in children. Learn how to assess the significance of stomachaches.

Get information about toxic synovitis, an inflammation of the hip joint that occurs rather suddenly in young children.