What to do if you think your kid is mentally ill

Plus, the male pill? |

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SUBSCRIBE to TIME Magazine Greetings to parents and other newsletter enthusiasts, Spring is finally arriving to my part of the world, which means it's time to assess whether it's safe to clean and put away all the heavy winter coats and boots until next year, or hang on a little longer just in case you need them all again. I get this right so rarely that I often delay the process, and then sometimes don't get around to doing it at all. Then you get to pull out winter gear that has nine month old unwrapped candy in the pockets. Fun! On the other hand, I have also carefully stored clothing and gear and then brought it out to discover it no longer fits any of the children. Or even belongs to any of the children. You can't get it right all the time. Or even most of the time. May the laundry/storage odds be in your favor this year! I'm at belinda.luscombe@time.com or @luscombeland on Twitter. Feel free to follow me, but not necessarily my parenting philosophy. P.S. If you like this newsletter, please pass it on to a friend. And if you got it from a friend, sign up here for email delivery each Friday. You know, more or less. roundup May is children's mental health month. When a kid has a temperature or a persistent cough, we parents are in the doctor's office in no time. Mental health is more tricky. It's really hard to parse out what might be developmentally appropriate and what might be the early symptoms of a real problem. TIME's sister magazine Parents has taken a deep dive into the issue and there's a lot really helpful stuff, including this excellent piece on what to do if you think your kid might have an issue. Parents. Rates of autism are up. This does not necessarily mean that more kids are being born with autism. It could mean there are better detection and diagnosis methods. One problem that is still unsolved however, is that autism is hard to diagnose at an age when the most useful interventions could start. TIME ...and one more piece on mental health, specifically the most common diagnosis: ADHD. It's a maddening disorder for parents because it looks so much like laziness or lack of motivation or unruliness that some doctors question whether it exists. The New York Times has done a really solid job on the challenges and remedies of ADHD, which updates a really benchmark piece TIME did a few years back. PSA: Facebook has finally—finally!—introduced a feature that helps parents who think their kids' use of the app is out of control. There's a new sleep feature on the social media giant's messenger app for kids. (It should be noted that parents could also usefully explore their internet and cell-service providers' sites, because many of them offer a bunch of management tools as well.) After all, those who pay the providers should also be able to call the tune. TIME Longtime readers may recall how much I despise, loathe and resent the Juul, a new type of nicotine delivery system which is taking off among teenagers. It's a vape, so you don't actually inhale smoke it so much as vapor. But the "flavor" cartridges contain as much nicotine as a pack of cigarettes and they last only 200 inhales. Nobody argues about the addictive properties of nicotine, which is why the FDA has now started to crack down on these products. If you find a Juul or its cartridges or any type of vape in your child's possession, please break it in half and stomp on it for me. Thanks. TIME "In the United States alone, 45% of pregnancies are unplanned, and yet public health strategy to prevent them largely ignores 50% of the population." Now some scientists are trying to redress this balance by developing a male pill? Are we ready for it? TIME Read this if you are a mother who also tries to have a career and earn money. Laugh. Thank me later. The New Yorker PFFT: Parenting from Famous Types The famous-but-anonymous Australian mother whose 12 year old son used her credit card to go on a trip to Bali by himself. "There's no emotion to feel what we felt when he left, overseas. We were a mess. You've got a child in Indonesia by himself, who's as savvy as him, riding motor bikes, organizing his own little life over there."   To Unsubscribe You have received this e-mail because you are subscribed to this newsletter from TIME.com. Unsubscribe here. Update Email Click here to update your email address. Privacy Policy Please read our Privacy Policy, or copy and paste this link into your browser: http://timeinc.net/subs/privacy/td/policy.html TIME may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. For Further Communication Please contact parents@time.com TIME Customer Service 3000 University Center Drive Tampa, FL 33612-6408 Connect with TIME Find TIME on Facebook Follow TIME on Twitter Subscribe to more TIME Newsletters Get TIME on your Mobile Device Get TIME on your iPad Subscribe to RSS Feed