Pediatrics is a great medical specialty. Its impact on its practitioners and on patients and their families can be long lasting. For me, the impact has been enormous. I have felt that I have a tremendous responsibility to children and their families. The practice of pediatrics has made me a better person. Parents seek medical care and trusted counsel from a respected health care provider with the following abilities—to listen, to diagnose, to provide care, to empathize, to be trusted, to prescribe, to recommend, and to treat their patients like one of their own. While pediatricians do not use holy water in their interactions, they do invest an incredible amount of professional experience and emotional energy as they engage in a partnership with their families.
I have always marveled at how my pediatric colleagues refer to their patients as “my children.” Initially, I found that to be a bit presumptuous. Families bring their children to the pediatrician for medical care, not to cede control of them to the doctor. But now I understand the derivation of the rationale. A physician actively engaged in the medical care of their pediatric patients really does (or at least should) invest their physical, mental, and emotional energy into the care of these children. Their patients effectively become “their children.” Years later when these children grow up and have their own children, pediatricians have the real privilege of seeing and often caring for this next generation. The pride in this continuing relationship can be as palpable as the pride that pediatricians who are grandparents have in their own grandchildren.
It is in this latter spirit that I have written a series of books1-5 (listed below)—to provide a legacy of thoughts and suggestions that could potentially have a positive lasting impact for—
- My children. My two sons are well into adulthood, and I am so proud of their advocacy for others and their realization of their responsibilities to seek out and help others. Their empathy for others has shone bright and will continue in the years ahead.
- My granddaughters. These young ladies, truly my children’s children, will hopefully heed the messages of their parents and carry the beacon forward. I am proud to light the flame.
- My patients. Parents place great trust in pediatric care givers, and in turn, these caregivers do treat their patients like their own children. I have always treated my patients as I would want my own children to be treated, medically and emotionally. So, it is not a stretch for me to say that my writings were directed at my patients (“my children”) and their children to come (“my children’s children”). I have hoped that these writings provide some guidance in the years ahead.
- All children. Lastly, my career has had many facets – young pediatrician who was deeply committed to excellence in diagnosis and treatment, young medical geneticist excited by the new practice of clinical genetics and its burgeoning science, middle age pediatrician realizing the need for a greater role in community advocacy, middle age medical geneticist providing genetic education guidance for my pediatric colleagues, and senior pediatrician coming full circle to provide administrative support for my fellow pediatricians engaged in pediatric training and to directly provide clinical care to a very special group of patients and families – children with complex health care needs. And, during this last period, I also realized that the vital role of advocating for children, of advocating on behalf of families and of advocating for community improvement is never done. I must be the voice for all children wherever and whenever I can. So, my writings are also aimed to support all children, not those even under my direct care. I also consider them to be “my children’s children” (the children and their subsequent offspring, the next generation).
I’d like to think that if I have been successful, I can thank my mother and pay her the ultimate tribute. The ultimate tribute for a parental job well-done is the internalization of positive values from one’s parent(s). They can make a difference in the lives of children for years to come. And I hope that is what has occurred with my books.
My mother was a remarkable woman. She was extremely dedicated to her two sons. My parents divorced when I was around 10 years of age. While we were a family of means based on the wealth of my mother’s parents, my mother had no substantive emotional support from her family and had to deal with issues of spousal alcoholism and my father’s propensity to verbal and physical abuse all on her own. Her ability to essentially strike out independently and to empathize with, care for, and genuinely love virtually everyone she met was indeed remarkable. I’d like to think that the values that I espouse now are those of my mother. But I didn’t know it at the time.
My mother was always engaged in her community and genuinely cared for her fellow citizens and for the life of the community. My mother wrote a significant journal entry (1, Chapter 2) during the turbulent 1960s with the Vietnam War and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. as the backdrop. She was called to action from the events of the day.
It appears that the events of Columbine in 1999 were a similar call to action for me. Since 1999, I have been on a journey, suggesting ways to raise young citizens in the years after Columbine or “the age of Columbine.” Events and powers beyond my control have beckoned me to act on behalf of others. I have welcomed the challenge.
These books are for parents who like my mother want to raise their children the right way—to be good parents and raise good citizens. So, I hope to provide a framework that can help guide parents in the raising and nurturing of their children. Healthy children (physically, mentally, educationally, financially and socially) are good citizens. Healthy children are our future. Oh—and, thank you, Mom.
Books –
- My Chlldren’s Children: Raising Young Citizens in the Age of Columbine [2013]
- All About Children (children’s book and illustrated by Jan Yalich Betts) [2017]
- Thinking Developmentally: Nurturing Wellness in Childhood to Promote Lifelong Health (co-authored with Dr. Andrew Garner, published by the American Academy of Pediatrics) [2018; 2nd Edition 2025]
- Conscious Parenting: Using the Parental Awareness Threshold [2020]
- What Really Matters: Find Meaning Amid Upheaval (co-authored with Michael Cogdill) [2026]