💻 Virtual Parent Workshop: Summer Injury Prevention Tips Every Parent Should Know
🧠 Behavioral Health: How to Recognize Eating Disorders in Children & Teens
Bonus Resource: Four Eating Disorders Parents Should Know
🏊 Kids Wellness: An ER Doctor's Top Water Safety Tips for Summer
⚾ Affordable Family Fun: Join Us at the Kids Health & Safety Expo | Long Island Ducks Game (June 18)
RESOURCES & SUPPORT
💙 Coping After a Tragic Event: Online Guide for Families
Video: Recognizing Suicide Warning Signs in Children and Teens
Summer CARE: Resources Coming Soon
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Summer is a season filled with outdoor adventures, sports, playground fun, and family activities. Unfortunately, it's also a time when preventable childhood injuries become more common.
Join Stony Brook Children's Hospital's (SBCH) CARE Initiative for a virtual Summer Injury Prevention Workshop featuring pediatric orthopedic surgeon Brian Lynch, MD. During this informative session, Dr. Lynch will share practical tips to help families reduce the risk of common summertime injuries and keep children safe while staying active.
Topics will include:
🚲 Bicycle, scooter, and skateboard safety
⚽ Sports injury prevention and safe play
🛝 Playground and backyard safety
🌳 Outdoor activity precautions
Parents and caregivers will also learn how to take simple steps to help children enjoy a safe, active, and healthy summer.
🗓 Date: June 24
🕕 Time: 6:15 pm
💻 Location: Virtual (Microsoft Teams)
⏱ 45 minutes + Q&A
Don't miss this opportunity to hear from one of SBCH's pediatric orthopedic specialists. We hope to see you online! ☀️
Meeting ID: 218 581 912 399 20
Passcode: Kj2uG6Jz
Dial in by phone
Phone conference ID: 958 239 254#
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Eating disorders are more common than many parents realize. They often emerge during the pre-teen, teen and early college years and affect not only girls, but boys and transgender youth as well.
According to Allison H. Eliscu, MD, Division Chief of Adolescent Medicine at Stony Brook Children's Hospital, eating disorders can stem from anxiety, fear of normal body changes during puberty, social media influences and family attitudes about food and weight. "No one issue or one anxiety causes eating disorders," she says. "We often see family trends of either significant weight loss or a relative who likely had an undiagnosed eating disorder."
Parents should not assume a child will simply outgrow concerning behaviors. "The longer an eating disorder persists, the harder it is to make changes," says Dr. Eliscu. "If you see red flags, get help. An eating disorder isn't going to go away on its own."
Understanding the Spectrum
"When I talk to patients and parents, I tell them that eating is a spectrum," says Dr. Eliscu. "On one end there is perfect eating, which nobody does. On the other side is severe anorexia or bulimia. Most people fall somewhere in between." The key, she says, is a person's relationship with food.
A healthy relationship with food can be challenging because eating is woven into everyday life — birthday parties, holidays and social outings often revolve around meals. "Avoiding food or eating situations can turn social interactions into stressors and lead to isolation," Dr. Eliscu says.
How Parents Can Help
Here's what you can do to foster a healthier relationship with food:
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Avoid excessive focus on dieting and weight. Many children absorb messages about body image from adults around them. Try to limit conversations that center on weight, dieting or appearance.
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Teach Kids About Social Media. Social media can create unrealistic expectations about body image. "Nobody posts a picture that doesn't look good, right?" says Dr. Eliscu. "Many of the pictures teens see online are computer-generated or modified in ways they can't recognize. They're chasing the pursuit of that fake thinness."
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Don't label foods as 'good' or 'bad'. Instead of creating forbidden foods, try to normalize balance and moderation. Restrictive attitudes toward food can sometimes contribute to unhealthy eating patterns and guilt around eating.
When to Seek Help
If your child suddenly becomes highly restrictive with food, skips meals, obsessively exercises and counts calories or experiences significant weight changes, seek guidance from your pediatrician as soon as possible."
Don't think your kid is being healthy when they've cut out every single dessert or snack, and are exercising twice a day," says Dr. Eliscu. "Getting that restrictive isn't healthy."
Early intervention can make a difference.
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Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (AFRID) can start after a bad reaction to a specific food — a choking episode, food poisoning or a vomiting episode – which leads to avoiding that food. It can affect anxious children and teens who worry that certain foods may cause unpleasant symptoms, such as bloating, nausea, or vomiting.
It may also be linked to a lack of interest in eating or sensitivities to a food's texture, temperature, smell, or appearance. While ARFID can occur in children considered to be picky eaters, it is more complex than that.
ARFID symptoms could include stomach pain, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea after eating. As a result, kids and teens with ARFID may begin avoiding specific food or even entire food groups. While AFRID may lead to weight loss that is typically a consequence of the disorder, not the main driver of the behavior.
Anorexia nervosa involves significant intentional weight loss. These patients often make excuses for missing family meals. “High schoolers might tell their parents, "I'm skipping dinner because I'm going out with friends and we're eating later," says Dr. Eliscu. Then they go out with their friends and say they ate dinner at home.
Cutting their food into tiny pieces and moving it around their plate — so it looks like more was eaten — can disguise restrictive eating. They check labels, count calories and only eat certain foods with a certain number of calories. “Consulting calorie count apps or a smart watch to see how many calories they’ve burned or steps they’ve walked that day are other telling behaviors,” Dr. Eliscu explains. Another red flag is wearing large clothing to conceal shrink bodies and always being cold.
Bulimia nervosa involves binging (eating large amounts of food in a short period of time) followed by purging to try to prevent weight gain. Bulimia is harder to spot since patients tend to be normal weight or overweight, both of which can go unnoticed. Signs of this disorder include heading for the bathroom right after eating to vomit, spending long periods in the bathroom, showering immediately after eating and running water to mask purging sounds.
Binge Eating Disorder involves eating large quantities of food secretly, often over short periods of time. Signs that might alert parents to a possible problem include finding wrappers hidden in teens’ rooms, hearing them eat in the middle of the night, or noticing that food quickly disappears. “Common times to binge are right after school when they might be home alone or at night after their parents go to bed.” says Dr. Eliscu.
“People with the disorder often feel ashamed or guilty after a binge and may try to compensate by severely restricting their food intake," she explains. "But that restriction can intensify hunger and cravings, making it harder to control eating later and leading to another round of binge eating."
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Summer means backyard pools, enjoying the beach, boating or participating in water sports. It also means more incidents of drowning.
In 2024, drownings in Suffolk County increased by 60 percent. While experts aren't certain why, the trend underscores the importance of vigilance around water.
Jacqueline Bober, DO, a pediatric emergency physician at Stony Brook Children's Hospital. says the numbers hit them hard last summer. "Most of the children that needed emergency treatment came from swimming pools."
Factors that contribute to drowning include: lack of swimming ability, inadequate supervision, failure to wear life jackets, lack of barriers that prevent unsupervised access to water, alcohol use, and certain medical conditions such as seizure disorders. Local YMCAs offer inexpensive swimming instruction, Dr. Bober notes.
Drowning risks also vary by age. Children ages 1 to 4 are most likely to drown in home swimming pools. For children ages 5 to 14, drownings occur most often in pools and natural bodies of water. Among teens and adults, lakes, rivers, and oceans account for most fatal drownings.
Water Safety Tips for Families
In 2025, SBCH was designated The Medical Center of Excellence in the first ever Suffolk County Drowning Prevention Alliance, a team of regional stakeholder committed to reducing drownings. Follow the tips, below, to stay safe:
Designate a water watcher. Children should never be left unsupervised near water. During pool parties and family gatherings, hire a lifeguard or assign a responsible adult to focus solely on watching swimmers — in 20 minutes shifts. "Taking turns throughout the day ensures each watcher has fresh eyes on what's happening in the water."
Water watchers should avoid distractions such as cell phones, alcohol, and lengthy conversations.
Install proper barriers. Four-sided fencing with self-latching gates can reduce the risk of drowning by as much as 83 percent by preventing young children from accessing pools without supervision.
Know your child's abilities. Children with developmental disabilities may face increased drowning risks and often benefit from enhanced supervision and specialized swim instruction. Children on the autism spectrum, for example, are at significantly higher risk.
Remove temptations. Pool toys should be removed when the pool isn't in use so children are not tempted to enter the water alone.
Be aware of water hazards. At beaches, swim only in areas with lifeguards present. Learn to recognize rip currents and follow all posted warnings and flags.
Wear life jackets. Children under age 12 must wear a U.S. Coast Guard approved lifejacket while on a boat or watercraft in New York. Adults should lead by example.
Don’t drink alcohol. Alcohol use is involved in up to 70% of deaths associated with water recreation, almost a quarter of ER visits for drowning, and about one in five reported boating deaths. Alcohol and water sports are not a good mix.
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Bring the whole family for an evening of fun, baseball and learning about health at the annual Kids Health & Safety Expo hosted by Stony Brook Children's Hospital at the Long Island Ducks game!
The first 2,000 fans receive a free custom baseball cap! Enjoy Interactive exhibits, hands-on activities, giveaways and the opportunity to chat with healthcare professionals from a variety of pediatric specialties. From Lyme disease doctors to sleep specialists, it's a fun way to learn about keeping children healthy and safe while cheering on the Ducks.
Stony Brook Children's Hospital is proud to be Suffolk County's only children's hospital.
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When a tragic event affects a school or community, it is normal for children, teens and adults to experience a range of emotions, including sadness, anxiety, fear, anger or confusion.
Even those who were not directly involved may be affected by hearing about the event, seeing media coverage, or knowing someone who was impacted.
You should know that these reactions are common and that support is available. Talking openly, maintaining routines, limiting exposure to distressing news coverage, and seeking help when needed can all promote healing.
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Looking for support and connection this summer? The CARE Initiative will be offering a variety of virtual and in-person summer programs for parents as well as middle school students, high schoolers, and youth experiencing school avoidance.
These groups provide opportunities for participants to build skills, connect with peers, and receive support in a welcoming environment throughout the summer months.
Stay tuned! We'll share program details, schedules, and registration information in next week's summer programming post.
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