Limiting Kids’ Exposure to Violence, Guns

Counseling from doctors can help to reduce children’s exposure to violence and guns, a study found. Just before well-child visits, parents answered a survey. Questions dealt with discipline, media use, and home storage of guns. Then doctors talked about the survey. They advised parents to put cable locks on any guns kept at home. They advised using timeouts instead of spanking. They said kids should have a two-hour daily limit on media use. Parents were surveyed again one month and six months later. More of them reported use of gun locks and media limits. Timeout use did not change. The study was published July 7 in the journal Pediatrics.