American Academy of Pediatrics

Monday

Bethany Mandel

Is your kid ready for a phone? AT&T thinks so

What would it do to the credibility of the American Heart Association to accept a sponsorship deal with McDonald’s to give nutritional advice? What about the American Lung Association taking cash from a tobacco company to talk about healthy habits? It sounds far-fetched, but that’s exactly what the American Academy of Pediatrics just did.   Healthy Children, the official parenting website of the American Academy of Pediatrics, has sent out a few tweets that read: “Are you considering a cell phone for your child? What age is the right age? Find out by answering ten short questions.” The link is a co-branded campaign between Healthy Children and the cell phone company AT&T.

phone at&t

Friday

Karol Markowicz

Why are we making kids under 12 mask up?

Yesterday, the American Academy of Pediatrics released an embarrassment of a statement urging kids under 12, who can’t yet get the vaccine, to keep wearing their masks. AAP president Lee Savio Beers said in the statement, ‘Children under age 12 are not yet eligible for the vaccine, so it’s smart to be cautious and careful, especially when they are playing with friends, accompanying their parents to the grocery store, attending school or camp, and in any other situation in which they are around groups of people, some of whom may not be fully vaccinated.’ Notice there is no reference to a study or any data that supports the assertion that masks on children are at all useful. There aren’t any.

mask