Parents, do you know what your teen is doing after prom?
Are you worried that your child will drink or do drugs? Is he (or she) bringing contraception with on that special night?
What about graduation? Are you prepared for what's to come next?
Graduating from high school is a time of excitement and adventure for many young people, but also a time filled with uncertainty.
In addition, the end of high school means transitions to college, jobs, the military or out of the foster care system.
All of these situations bring up things to think about regarding general well-being, health concerns and diagnoses and medications.
Adolescent medicine specialist, Cora Breuner, MD, FAAP, shares prom and graduation tips for parents, including ways to deal with possible high-risk choices. This may not be the time for you to be your kid's friend.
Dr. Breuner attended Medical School in Philadelphia at Jefferson Medical College with a Residency in San Diego at the Balboa Naval Hospital. She served as a transitional intern, consisting of 6 months internal medicine followed by 6 months of surgery training. Following this Dr Breuner was the general medical officer on the destroyer tender, USS Acadia, ported in San Diego. She entered a 3-year pediatric residency, serving as Chief Resident the final year. She spent the next two years as a general pediatrician in Japan, where she volunteered as a pediatric consultant in Navy clinics throughout Japan and Korea. Dr. Breuner then spent a year working in Pakistan caring for Afghan refugees where she taught soldiers to be medics in their military and local communities.