KidsHealth prides itself on being the most visited website for behaviour, development and health information. The scope of this information starts before birth and goes well into the teenage years. KidsHealth was created in 1995 by the Nemours Foundation’s Center for Children’s Health Media, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving children’s health. An editorial staff, made up of a number of paediatricians and other medical experts, carefully reviews all content on a regular schedule to ensure that it remains as current as possible.
KidsHealth is actually four websites in one. The homepage of the website provides site links designated for specific users. The user categories are: Parents, Kids, Teens and Educators. A Spanish language version is also provided for the parent, kid and teen sites. Each category homepage displays a basic search box near the top that allows users to search for a particular topic. A quick search for the term “flu” yields 350 results. Each result is marked to indicate the user category to which it belongs. Underneath the search box, located in the left-hand column for the parent, kid and teen sites, is a listing of topics that users can browse. These topics include general Health, Safety, Food and Nutrition and Behavior among other options. The kid site also includes a number of movies and games, as well as quizzes.
The educator site offers resource guides for teachers categorized by grade level. The resource guides are available in PDF format. With the exception of the Preschool Child Guide, there are no Spanish language versions of the information available at this time. The site also links to videos and experiments located on the kid and teen site. There is a homework tab that provides links to homework help mini-sites for kids, teens and parents.
KidHealth is an extremely useful and informative website that is available for free. It provides complex medical information in a dependable, unbiased format that is easy for users to understand. Although it does not take the place of an actual visit to the doctor’s office, it is highly recommended as a first stop for information and advice concerning a number of family health topics.
