Doctors’ Tips for Keeping Your Kids Healthy

Get Electronics Out of the Bedroom

What the doctor wants you to know: “TVs, computers, handheld games, iPods, and cell phones are stimulating, making it hard for kids to settle down for sleep,” according to Jodi Mindell, an associate director of the Sleep Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a coauthor of Take Charge of Your Child’s Sleep (Da Capo Press, $16, amazon.com). “They’re also engaging. Kids want ‘five more minutes’ to finish the game, pushing back lights out. With younger children, turn off the electronics an hour before bed. For teens, 30 minutes. And don’t leave them temptingly on the bedside table.”

Where she slacks off: “As a family, we’re not very good about exercising regularly. My daughter swims for school, but other than that we don’t enforce physical activity.”