Children deserve a voice in their own care. Looking back, one of the most important lessons I learned was that helping and forcing are not the same thing. Listening to my son's experience became just as important as trying to fix it.

A trip to the pediatrician told us that the rash that wouldn’t go away was eczema—also called atopic dermatitis. He said it was common. That many children have it and often outgrow it by the time they are six or seven. Nothing to worry about.