The Very First HKP blog

The first blog is probably the hardest one to write. I guess I can start with why I am so passionate about what I do at Healthy Kids Pediatrics. I think the name of my practice says a lot. Many of you do not know that my son, Chris, actually helped to name my practice as we were brainstorming at the Rough Rider Baseball game one Saturday night. I still have the notebook that I used to jot down all my ideas about what I wanted to create in a practice.

I became so frustrated with issuing prescriptions for this and that, without really affecting the child's overall health and wellbeing. Well checkups seemed to be more about the shots at the end, then about teaching parents about nutrition and how to keep their child well. Pediatrics has changed since I started practicing 11 years ago. It seems like we do more to put bandaids on diseases then we do to cure them. We offer more drugs and procedures then we offer ways to restore one's health.

I wanted to make a stand in my own community for the wellbeing of children in ways that I felt I could not do in my previous practice. I wanted to bring a wellness model of medicine to Frisco, one that teaches parents how to get their families on the right track by addressing issues such as nutrition, exercise, and achieving balance. I have a very strong nutrition message. Why?

Because kids are growing up not knowing what is healthy and what is not. I am a mom too, and I know first hand how hard it has become to feed our kids a fast healthy meal and still have time to help with homework, play, get baths done, have any time for your spouse or significant other. Oh, did I mention time for yourself too?

I have brought practical parenting to the forefront of my checkups and have created a simplistic guide to nutrition for kids and parents. Our incredibly processed food diets, devoid of nutrition, but chalked full of calories is a major contributor to the scarey trends I see in children's health such as the increase in diabetes, obesity, ADHD, and behavior problems. I am here to make a lasting difference in these kids lives, not by giving them medicines for everything, but by teaching them and thereby empowering them to take control of their health through lifestyle changes that embrace health and wellness, not disease.