Browse by Tags

• Charm School for the Modern Kindergartener

  It’s a sad state of affairs when children have to receive formal training to learn to bus their dishes at the mall. According to the Boston Globe, etiquette classes are becoming increasingly popular amongst youth as young as four—or I suppose I should say, amongst their parents, since we all know no healthy kindergartener wants to spend his time away from school learning to use a salad fork. According to one wise eight-year-old, an hour-long class feels like “5,000 hours." Read More... Posted Apr 07 2008, 01:50 AM by Hannah Tennant-Moore with | with no comments Filed under: Etiquette, child development, manners, charm school, overscheduling children

• The Serious Side of Play

  I kept waiting to get my pat on the head this morning while I was reading the New York Times Magazine cover story on taking play seriously. I just knew I'd be congratulated for not overscheduling my children. The author was certain to conclude my kids' preschools were excellent choices -- devoid of any emphasis on academics and early reading and Suzuki violin classes as they were. But no pat. No congratulations. Likewise, no admonishments or wagging fingers that my children aren't being adequately enriched. What I learned from the piece is that there's still so much to learn about play -- why kids (and other animals) do it, what the benefits of play are, whether a lack of play harms, and whether totally undirected play is better than directed play (there's no evidence that it is!).   Read More... Posted Feb 17 2008, 06:01 PM by Madeline Holler with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: research study, New York Times Magazine, play, child development, playing, NYTimes, importance of play

• Kids Learn More By Talking Your Ear Off

  Hey! Take your headphones off, moms (dads, too, but the article doesn't mention you so either you are considered superfluous in this research or you're not necessary, but in either case you're required to give the necessary moral and emotional support in this important process or risk never having sex again), and listen up: You have to listen to your kid more. I'm sorry, I know they tend to ramble on (that's putting it mildly; you'd rather stab the side of your head repeatedly with your iPod than be subjected to the detail in which your enraptured five-year-old can recount all the pros and cons of her herd/zoo/farm of each of her approximately 4500 stuffed animals), but you're helping them learn simply by listening.   Read More... Posted Jan 24 2008, 11:11 AM by Karen Murphy with | with no comments Filed under: parenting, child development, learning, listening, problem-solving

• Growing Up Online

  I tend to play down the effect of computers on kids, probably because my oldest is only 6. But she likes to do stuff on the computer -- take care of her Webkinz, check out PBS websites. I'm fooling myself if I think that's where it all begins and ends. Sooner than I know it, she'll be all over IMing, and Facebook and whatever else will no doubt come along to grab her attention, ask for her personal details, dumb down her education, etc. Tonight, a PBS Frontline airs the documentary Growing Up Online, which looks at all the different angles of kids and the Internet and their parents who are often in the background feeling (as I do) fully in control but actually are not.   Read More... Posted Jan 22 2008, 04:09 PM by Madeline Holler with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: PBS, internet, internet safety, children and parents, children and porn, child development, kids health, child abuse prevention, children and media, children and education, documentary, internet goodness, internet scams, child rearing, child pornography, internet use, frontline, internet and kids

• Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics

  As much as some Baby Daddy bloggers want to turn the whole child development milestone hoo-ha into a grudge match, Dr. Lawrence Kutner advises all parents to just take a big step away from the charts. It turns out that where your kid falls on any curve is mostly irrelevant and has little influence on the type of human being they grow into.  Read More... Posted Jan 17 2008, 12:30 PM by Adrienne Martini with | with no comments Filed under: child development, Madeline Holler, baby daddy, steve almond, charts, percentiles

• Block Makers: Behold! Blocks Make Kids Smart

  Before I give you the details of this study, or even tell you what it’s about, I’m going to give you the surprise ending first: bullshit. Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit. Here’s the study: Researchers found that playing with blocks helps young children gain language skills. Why the doubt? Why the hostility? Read More... Posted Oct 03 2007, 01:12 PM by Madeline Holler with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: research study, toys, educational toys, child development, language acquisition

• Research Shows Kids Needs More (Healthy) Fats in Diets

  A recent Nutrition Journal study showed that kids burn through fat quicker than adults do, due to the growth process and quicker protein synthesis, and that fat is needed in their diets to support normal development.  Besides being an energy source, fat helps produce cell membranes and eicosanoids (compounds that help regulate blood pressure, heart rate, blood vessel constriction, blood clotting and the nervous system.)  Dietary fat carries fat-soluble vitamins —  A, D, E and K — from food into the body, and it also helps maintain healthy hair and skin, protects vital organs, and keeps the body insulated. For all those reasons and then some, far more fat is required by a child's body than an adult's: kids 3 and older should be getting 35% of their daily calories from fat, while babies and toddler should be getting up to 40% of their calories from fat (adults should get no more than 20-35% of their daily calories from fat). So, how do you know if your kid is eating enough fat?  Well, you can start by talking with your pediatrician, and checking your child's progress on the growth chart.  If the kid is on track - most kids are - great.  If your kid needs a little help in the fattening up (oh, what I wouldn't give to hear my doctor say that to me!), try experimenting in the kitchen with foods that are high in poly and monounsaturated fats, and omega-3 fatty acids.  Foods like:  - Avocados (guacamole, chilled avocado soup, mango/avocado salsa)  - Nuts (nut butters are a staple, but nuts can also be great when toasted and tossed into stir-frys, salads, and pan sauteed veggies).  -  Oils (I cook anything that can be cooked in butter - from eggs to veggies to pancakes - in vegetable oil, and it's also great on salads, with your choice of vinegar, and can be slipped into a smoothie, or mixed with herbs and drizzled over bread or rice.)  - Fish (Okay, this one is probably the hardest.  Salmon burgers?  Herring donuts?  Mackrel pie?  Just kidding.) Other great, kid-friendly sources of fat include dairy products, meat, and fried lard.  Gotcha again! Posted Sep 04 2007, 10:08 AM by Alisyn with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: fat, child development, growth charts, diet and exercise, kids bodies, dietary fat, healthy fat

• Potty Trained Before Preschool? It Could Happen

  My younger daughter fought the potty tooth and nail until she awoke on the morning of her third birthday and announced "I wear panties now". Almost two months and only a handful of accidents later, we're rolling right along. Of course, one of those accidents occurred this morning on a practice run at the preschool she'll be attending this fall ("I was too busy", she confided on the way home). Part of the problem, according to potty training guru Teri Crane, could be that we recently moved into a new home (although frankly, I think the change was part of the solution: new house, new rules). Among other reasons to step back from the training process include recent family upheavals such as death and divorce, or major changes in the caregiving situation. On the other hand, if your child is highly verbal, clearly understands the expectations, and is staying dry for significant periods of time, there's a good chance you can be successful here. Teri Crane's famous for her Potty Train Your Child In Just One Day method, which...I tried. But unlike Teri the self-proclaimed Potty Pro, I'm just a potty amateur. Maybe Teri could have figured out exactly why my chatty, physically advanced in every other way, independent child, whose friends are all proud potty-goers, just wasn't having it until she could have it on her terms. I'm personally just glad she turned out to have terms at all (those terms included jelly beans, I'm not ashamed to admit). Posted Jul 18 2007, 06:58 PM by Patti with | with 8 comment(s) Filed under: preschool, potty training, child development, teri crane

• Parents Are the Biggest. Dorks. Ever. And We Love Every Minute of It

  I danced in a grocery store Friday afternoon. And played air guitar. I may or may not have made facial expressions that may or may not have been mistaken for an "O Face." I was too excited to tell. But I definitely uncurled my thumbs and kicked my legs out like Elaine Benes. It was a sad, disturbing display of rhythmic paralysis that could only mean one thing: I'm a parent. And I'm a dork. USC Daily Trojan columnist Jean Guerrero says such displays of I'll-never-grow-up-Peter-Panisms may just be the cure-all for societal ills. Skip if you want to. Sing if you must. Screw social conventions. Just do it. I remember the social angst of high school and college. Even throughout my twenties I tried my best to fit in and, sadly, did. But once I had a child, it was like my Dork Flag unfurled itself and started waving in the breeze. I dance in stores. I sing on the sidewalk. I skip daily. Emmeline loves to dance and shake her arms about, so I jump on any chance to see her boogie, such as our Friday afternoon display of disco air guitar. Proudly wearing a Dork Merit Badge might seem like a big leap for the younger set, as evidenced by the column's call to dork arms. But isn't that what parents do all the time? Isn't that why we're here? Posted Apr 23 2007, 03:08 PM by Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!) with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: parenting, parents, child, behavior, kids who rock, parenthood, child development, kids playing

• Is Day Care Really Bad For Kids?

  This is one of those stories that spreads like wildfire: the latest in-depth study reveals that kids in daycare are more likely to be problem kids when they reach elementary school. I have a tendency to raise a Spock-like eyebrow at such studies; even a layman like me can look at the data and wonder if the report accounts for variables, or if the media is merely focusing on a juicy part of the story to catch the reader's eye. I know - crazy talk. Turns out I'm not the only one scratching his head at the validity of both the study and the media's take on it. I was all set to fire off a heated screed over what I think is a lazy effort by both the group conducting the study and the reporters who misrepresented the information, but Slate's Emily Bazelon beat me to it. Bazelon offers up an in-depth look at the real meaning behind the study, and asks some pointed questions of the study's author, Margaret Burchinal. I don't like spoilers (if someone had told me that Nikki and Paulo weren't really dead on last night's Lost, I'd have been pissed), but Burchinal drops a bomb of a quote. She says:   "I'm not sure we communicated this, but the kids who had one to two years of daycare by age 4½—which was typical for our sample—had exactly the level of problem behavior you'd expect for kids of their age. Most people use center care for one or two years, and for those kids we're not seeing anything problematic."  The rest of the article is eye-opening, and well worth your time.  Like a lot of you out there, my kid's in daycare. We got lucky - his teachers are great, the center's affordable, and Lucas really seems to enjoy it. Still, we deal with enough bullshit from people who look down on us for putting our kid in a child care center. Although I hope more folks take a skeptical look at the spin being put on that study, those attitudes that will no doubt be reinforced by this example of bad journalism aren't likely to change any time soon.   Posted Mar 30 2007, 08:35 AM by JasonAvant with | with 6 comment(s) Filed under: parenting, kids, school preschool preparation, education, research study, school, educational, Slate, schools, child care, study, bad children, studies, child development, parenting experts, baby development

• Back-to-School Special: Playboy Erasers

  Playboy cocktail shakers. Playboy high ball glasses. Even Playboy bottle stoppers. If you want to look the part of a hip, swinging, 1970s-era wild and crazy guy, these products are for you. But Playboy pencil erasers? Who, pray tell, are these for? Forgive me if I'm a little late on this story -- it was all the rage in Britain a few years back -- but I just found out about it through Alpha Mummy's list of the seven worst sexy toys for children. It seems some company is marketing Playboy erasers for teenage girls. How nice. My daughter is not yet 1, but I'm already dreading the back-to-school shopping experience if this is going to be a part of it. What can I expect to find in a few years? Playboy binders, Hustler Trapper-Keepers, Penthouse Pencils? Every young girl should be so lucky. Thankfully the story says teenage girls themselves staged protests against the products, so maybe there's hope after all. Posted Mar 07 2007, 07:02 PM by Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!) with | with no comments Filed under: school, teenagers, Britain, pornography, children's products, media influence, children and porn, child development, porn

• A Toddler at Six Months?

  Poor Connie Robinson. The English mama probably thought she had a few more months of precious, peaceful immobility, but her son Reuben had other ideas. After starting to crawl at four months, Reuben's already walking at six months old. Six. Freaking. Months. Old! Reuben's big sister Yazmin was an early walker too, but  she had the generosity of spirit to wait until she was nine months old, at least. I have personal sympathy for Connie--my now-four-year-old was crawling and cruising the furniture at six months, although she didn't feel like letting go of the coffee table until she was nearly one. Still, she was able to get anywhere (and anything) she wanted, and it was wayyyyy too soon for my tastes. But Connie's taking Reuben's strides in stride, and enjoying his status as the playgroup superstar.   According to experts, about half of babies walk by the age of one, with a few walking sooner and most catching up by 18 months. Reuben's a little extraordinary.   Posted Mar 07 2007, 08:20 AM by Patti with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: united kingdom, child development, walking

• How I'm Grooming a Super Athlete

  When I was very young, I was sure I was going to be a great hockey player -- if only the professional leagues allowed players to wear used white roller skates their Aunt Melissa gave them. I was that good. A few years later, it was baseball. And then adulthood came and I've become a professional observer. If only I had been groomed properly. The New York Times Magazine explores how super athletes are groomed from a very young age. A Russian tennis camp, for instance, drills technique and repetition as a way to bolster hand-eye coordination and also to more properly "hard wire" the brain cell coating -- myelin -- that speed up signals. Do something enough times, and the coating acts less like dial up and more like a T1 cable, according to the theory. Read More... Posted Mar 04 2007, 07:21 PM by Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!) with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: children, behavior, sports, New York Times Magazine, child development

• Kids Today Think They're So Special

  My daughter loves the mirror. Any mirror. Get her within eyesight of one and she drools. Bring her closer, and she smiles. Leave her alone with one, and she tries to eat it. I don't think it's narcissism; I think she's just weird. A recent study says college kids think they're so special -- too special. We're apparently raising a generation of self-centered narcissistic brats who love eating mirrors and controlling the universe, according to these researchers. Only something called authoritative parenting -- whatever that is -- can get us back on the right path. Elisa over at Mother Talkers has the right come back. Asked if they feel special, what do you expect students to say? "No?" Then we'd have problems. While I whole-heartedly agree with the recent New York Magazine parenting article -- the one about praising hard work over inate ability -- I still think David Brooks is behind this latest study. I can just imagine him adjusting his monocle and shaking his fist at my daughter's latent narcissim, "Kids today!" Posted Feb 28 2007, 05:03 PM by Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!) with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: parenting, behavior, parenting issues, studies, David Brooks, child development

• When Children's Underwear Says "Wink, Wink" There's a Problem

  The American Psychological Association released a study that -- surprise, surprise -- says young girls today are bombarded with sexual imagery that throttles their self-esteem and could actually make them dumb. Or at least perform poorly on tests when wearing bathing suits. Seriously. It's in the study. From racy blogs to stupid dolls, thongs for 7 year olds to underdressed pop culture figures, girls face a tsunami of images and messages that could lead children to act sexually like adults and adults to act like children. Of course, it's not too late to protect childhood. While the association calls for more study, it also offers some get-real talking points for parents. I've written about this before, probably too many times, but it's good to know I'm not the only one that finds it more than a little odd that some children's underwear says "wink, wink." Posted Feb 27 2007, 03:02 PM by Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!) with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: parenting, Sex, child, behavior, protecting children, girls, beauty contests, beauty, studies, sexuality, child development, girl's issues

• News Flash: It's Good for Kids to Spend Time with Their Parents

  Here we go again, yet another study telling us what parents with even an iota of common sense already know:  it's good to spend time with your kids.  It turns out there is science behind what most parents know and do without thinking about it; that is, they love and pay attention to their children, especially when the children are very young.  Research suggests that at birth, our brains are only about 15% connected, and that the remaining 85% becomes wired through the various types of sensory input we receive in our first three years of life.  Input like being hugged, read to, played with, talked to, and otherwise nurtured and supported will likely result in a well-adjusted child who is flexible, empathetic and intelligent.  On the other hand, if those connections are made through negative, chaotic or fearful experiences, the child will fail to develop important characteristics like warmth and empathy.  In other words, continue doing what you've been doing.  But now you know the reason for it, other than the simple fact that you love your child and it feels good. (Unless you were looking to raise a Jeffrey Dahmer, in which case please don't tell me.) Posted Feb 26 2007, 01:07 PM by Karen Murphy with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: children, nurturing, love, child development