Friday, May 1, 2026
How families can balance technology with real-world connection
Children's Mental Health Action Week begins May 3 with this year's theme, Beyond the Screen: Education, Prevention, Connection.
With about one in five U.S.
children facing a mental health concern, pediatricians are encouraging families to take a closer look at how phones, tablets, and gaming shape mood, sleep, and relationships.
Small, consistent changes at home — not big ones — make the biggest difference.
Drowning is the leading cause of injury death for kids ages 1 to 4. Four-sided fencing, arm's-length supervision, and life jackets near open water are the basics that save lives.
Babies under 6 months should stay in the shade. Older kids need broad-spectrum SPF 30+ reapplied every two hours, plus hats and UV-protective clothing on bright days.
Devices in the bedroom shorten and disrupt children's sleep. The AAP recommends a media-free bedroom and no screens for at least one hour before bed.
May is Bike Safety Month. Helmets should sit two finger-widths above the eyebrows, with side straps forming a V under each ear and a snug chin strap.
Despite recent changes to the federal schedule, the AAP continues to recommend routine immunization against 18 diseases — including flu, RSV, hepatitis A and B, meningococcal disease, and rotavirus.
Use Children's Mental Health Action Week (May 3-9) as a prompt to refresh your well-visit workflow: confirm validated screeners (PHQ-A, SCARED) are firing for the right ages, that warm-handoff pathways to behavioral health are current, and that families leave with a one-page family media plan. A short, scripted screen-time question added to rooming can surface concerns parents may not raise on their own.
Source: AAP Mental Health Initiatives; Bright Futures, 4th Edition
