Eleven to Fourteen Year Well Visits

Healthy Lifestyles

• Help your child establish a daily oral health routine of brushing and flossing.  Continue dental appointments twice yearly with your dentist and follow his recommendations for fluoride.

• Support a healthy weight by talking about the importance of a healthy diet and regular physical activity.  Role model both of these and get the whole family involved.  Eat together as a family as much as possible. 

• Offer colorful fruits and vegetables.  Provide 3 or more servings daily of low fat milk or low fat dairy products.  Serve lean meats and other sources of protein and iron.  Limit high fat and low nutrient foods and beverages.  Avoid soda.

• Drink plenty of water.

• Support your child’s self image by making positive comments on the things she does or has learned not just on physical appearance.

• School will involve computer time, so limit screen time as an activity and find something to make you sweat every day.

• Do not smoke or use other forms of tobacco.  Stay away from second hand smoke.  Children this age are faced with a great deal of peer pressure.  Praise your child for positive behaviors.

Parenting

• Family responsibilities change with age.  Your child should be expected to help out at home.  This is the time when everyone must work together to maintain positive family relationships.  You need to be a resource your child will come to for help and advice.

• Parents should clearly communicate rules and expectations and be consistent in enforcement.  Rules should be in place for curfews, riding in a car (who to accept rides from, never riding with someone who is impaired, etc.), how to keep you informed of your child’s whereabouts.   

• Parents should know your child’s friends.   

• Help your child learn to make good choices in friends, extra curricular activities, dress, and media.

• Spend time together.  Support your child as an independent person.  Talk about a variety of topics; not just difficult or unpleasant topics.   

• Help your child explore activities, other than academics, that truly interest your child.  Explore art, drama, dance, music, volunteering, construction, gardening, sports, lifesaving or babysitting classes, developing new skills, etc.  Your child may not be interested in the

things you were.

• Have discussions so your child can see situations from different perspectives.

• School is important.  Praise positive achievements and successes.  Monitor and guide your child.  Check to see if homework is done.  Follow up with your child’s teacher if problems exist and work with the teacher to make a plan.   Help your youth learn to set priorities and plan ahead.  Encourage reading and writing.

• Everyone experiences stress in their lives and must learn to deal with it.  Watch for signs of depression, irritability or boredom.  Anxiety can cause performance and behavioral problems at school and home.  If you are concerned about your child’s behavior, moods, mental health, or substance abuse, please talk with your pediatrician.  Tell your pediatrician if your child feels sad, depressed, hopeless, nervous, or is frequently angry.

• Parent prescriptions and liquor in the household should not be readily accessible.

 

Puberty

• Talk openly with your child about physical development.  Answer questions about puberty openly and honestly.

• Talk to your child about your knowledge, expectations, and values about dating, relationships, sex, marriage, parenting,  and family,  These subjects need to come up frequently, not just once.  Help your child learn to say to unwanted advances and discuss how to stay out of

uncomfortable situations.

• Make sure your child has the facts about sex and contraception.  Abstinence from sex, is the best way to prevent pregnancy and abstinence for sex, including oral sex, is the best way to prevent sexually transmitted infections.  If you are not comfortable talking openly about sex or contraception as a parent, ask your pediatrician to recommend reliable resources.  

• When dating, no must mean no.  It is okay to say no.  Healthy relationships are built on respect, concern, and couples doing things both like to do.

• Talk to daughters about questions they may have about their periods.

Safety

• Always wear a safety belt in a car.

• Always wear a helmet for cycling, skateboarding, etc.

• Children under 16 years old should not ride on or drive an ATV.

• Always wear protective gear when playing sports.

• Always wear water flotation clothing or an appropriately fitting US Coast Guard approved life jacket when engaged in boating or water sports.

• Make sure your son or daughter knows the plan about how to get help if their ride has been using drugs or alcohol or if they feel they are in an unsafe situation.

• The best way to keep your adolescent safe from injury or death from guns is to never have guns in the home.  Adolescents should not know the location of keys to locked gun cabinets. 

• Talk to your child about any violence in their school.  Encourage your child to talk about bullying, stalking, verbal abuse or threats.  Get school officials involved right away.