Tuesday was the first day of school for most young Canadians. And one in six of those kids comes from a household too poor to put nutritious food on their table, says Sara FL Kirk, a professor of Health Promotion at Dalhousie University. “This is why I, and others, have been calling for a national school food program to be established in Canada,” writes Prof. Kirk, who also points out that if children don’t receive proper nourishment at a young age, “the impact can last a lifetime.”

Besides going back to school, kids will also soon be back on the ice. As hockey season ramps up, parents should be aware of the risks that come with any contact sport. Kathryn Schneider of the Faculty of Kinesiology at the University of Calgary offers an excellent summary of sport-related concussions, including symptoms, treatment and the proper recovery period. It’s an article that every parent with a kid in sports should print out and pin to the fridge!

And finally, most Canadians have watched the North Korean crisis from afar, viewing it through a traditional political lens pitting the U.S. versus the regime of Kim Jong Un. But political scientist Charles Burton of Brock University says Canada must step up and become part of a joint international response to the unfolding crisis. “The time for boilerplate statements by Canada — expressing regret, urging restraint on all sides — has passed. The next border a Korean missile crosses could very likely be ours,” writes Prof. Burton, a former counsellor at the Canadian embassy in Beijing.