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Study: Spanking Kids Leads to More Aggressive Behavior |
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Parenting
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Written by Administrator
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Tuesday, 13 April 2010 |
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Disciplining young children is one of the key jobs of any parent — most people would have no trouble agreeing with that. But whether or not that discipline should include spanking or other forms of corporal punishment is a far trickier issue.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) does not endorse spanking for any reason, citing its lack of long-term effectiveness as a behavior-changing tactic. Instead the AAP supports strategies such as time-outs when children misbehave, which focus on getting kids to reflect on their behavior and the consequences of their actions. Still, as many parents can attest, few responses bring about the immediate interruption of a full-blown tantrum like a swift whack to the bottom.
Now researchers at Tulane University provide the strongest evidence yet against the use of spanking: of the nearly 2,500 youngsters in the study, those who were spanked more frequently at age 3 were more likely to be aggressive by age 5. The research supports earlier work on the pitfalls of corporal punishment, including a study by Duke University researchers that revealed that infants who were spanked at 12 months scored lower on cognitive tests at age 3.
"I'm excited by the idea that there is now some nice hard data that can back up clinicians when they share their caution with parents against using corporal punishment," says Dr. Jayne Singer, clinical director of the child and parent program at Children's Hospital Boston, who was not involved in the study.
Full story: Study: Spanking Kids Leads to More Aggressive Behavior
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Parenting Books: What Do They Recommend, and What's Missing? |
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Parenting
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Written by Administrator
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Monday, 12 April 2010 |
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Parenting books often forget parent-child relationships.
Visit any bookstore, or go to Amazon.com or the Internet versions of Barnes & Noble or Borders, and you will find self-help books by the dozens and dozens. Of the various kinds of self-help offered, you will find remarkable numbers of books offering to help you learn parenting, both in general and for specific family and child characteristics. Lots of people buy parenting books and some people read them; reader comments on line suggest that some readers like them. But there always seems to be a market for a new one, so maybe the books aren't all that helpful after all.
A recent article in the Scientific Review of Mental Health Practice examined the content of some parenting self-help programs and compared them with evidence-based parenting programs (Sorge, G.B., Moore, T.E., & Toplak, M.E. [2009]. Comparing the content of parenting self-help programs with evidence-based parenting programs. SRMHP, 7, 26-36). Sorge and his co-authors looked at 15 popular self-help parenting books and compared the suggestions and information they gave to the content of treatment programs (that is, programs that are not "self-help") such as the Incredible Years and the Parent-Child Interaction Therapy programs-- programs whose effectiveness is supported by research evidence.
Many of the self-help programs did recommend some strategies that were also in the high-quality treatment programs. For example, they frequently encouraged parents to pay attention to and praise good behavior; to try to remain calm rather than displaying angry responses to children; to enforce consequences for misbehavior whether at home or otherwise; to respond to misbehavior immediately and consistently; and to use time-outs in response to misbehavior.
But the self-help programs infrequently encouraged some parenting strategies that good treatment programs use. For instance, not many suggested that parents show interest in the child's play or follow the child's lead rather than directing play; not many suggested shaping child behavior by rewarding small steps in the right direction; not many suggested engaging the child in stimulating learning activities; and not many warned against giving too many or unnecessary commands to children. Sorge and his co-authors noted that the self-help programs generally did little to encourage building the parent-child relationship or using the relationship as a foundation for discipline. The authors were concerned that the self-help programs seemed to suggest that one program can deal effectively with every family's problems, and that lack of success must result from failure to carry out the program as instructed.
Full story: Parenting Books: What Do They Recommend, and What's Missing?
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Modern parenting is rubbish |
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Parenting
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Written by Administrator
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Tuesday, 30 March 2010 |
There are few subjects that unite the middle classes more than bad behaviour in schools. Because although no one comes out and says it — it wouldn’t quite be form — the debate rests on the cosy assumption that the middleclass children are the victims and the working class the aggressors. As the well-heeled mother shelters her precious from the masses at the school gate, muttering “I blame the parents”, what she means is, “I blame poverty”. When did you last see a Boden family subjecting themselves to the wrath of Supernanny?
It is time, says Mary Bousted, for that to change. This woman — an academic, mother and the first female general secretary of a leading teachers’ union, is breaking ranks. She wants to smash that smug assumption, and make parents, people, politicians of all kinds wake up and change their ways. Why? Because after a lifetime of rearing and teaching children, she has suddenly started to see something new. Some of the 160,000 members of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers are meeting at their annual conference in Manchester today, and they tell her they are suffering from a disturbing development.
Children are arriving at school lonelier, less able to share, to respect and to wait than ever before. Their middle-class parents often “buy them off” with screen-time instead of the hard knocks of traditional family life. When the screen becomes the electronic babysitter, the parent stops laying down the law. And the indulged child, she tells me in her London office, is the unhappy child.
“Is the problem of bad behaviour confined to a particular class? No it is not. The middle classes are not exempt.”
That is the assumption, I say, isn’t it?
“That is the assumption. But there are new forms of inappropriate parenting that prevent young people achieving what they are capable of. I am concerned that some children are the product of benign neglect in the home. It’s not cruel: the family when they do meet up might get on quite well. But children are in danger of leading increasingly isolated lives. That is a problem that crosses the social divide. I think some commentators can over-focus on the problems of a particular section of society.”
Bousted is a provocative, passionate, parenting traditionalist, and that’s quite a surprise. Not just because she heads a teachers’ union, so often the refuge of the loony left, but because she doesn’t resemble the scary schoolmaster she can sometimes invoke. She has got a funky haircut and laughs ruefully about her own difficulties as a working parent.
But that old-fashioned school-master? He is in there somewhere, the spirit of her late father, a headmaster of a primary school in Bolton.
What would her father — who started his career in the 1930s — see as the main difference in today’s classrooms? “In some ways it was more difficult. I was in a class of more than 40 pupils at my father’s school; that was quite normal. The spending on education was not huge, which meant traditional lessons, a lot of sitting at your desk and getting on with your work. But certainly the teacher’s professional judgment was respected. My father was a kindly man but there was no questioning his authority, none whatsoever.”
Full story: Modern parenting is rubbish
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Parents Choosing More Unusual Baby Names Now |
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Trying to Conceive and Pregnancy
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Written by Administrator
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Thursday, 25 February 2010 |
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Celebrities aren't the only ones giving their babies unusual names. Compared with decades ago, parents are choosing less common names for kids, which could suggest an emphasis on uniqueness and individualism, according to new research.
Essentially, today's kids (and later adults) will stand out from classmates. For instance, in the 1950s, the average first-grade class of 30 children would have had at least one boy named James (top name in 1950), while in 2013, six classes will be necessary to find only one Jacob, even though that was the most common boys' name in 2007.
The researchers suspect the uptick of unusual baby names could be a sign of a change in culture from one that applauded fitting in to today's emphasis on being unique and standing out. When taken too far, however, this individualism could also lead to narcissism, according to study researcher Jean Twenge, of San Diego State University.
Full story: http://www.livescience.com/culture/baby-names-uncommon-100224.html |
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Having a family the best thing, Tiger Woods says |
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Parenting
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Written by Administrator
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Tuesday, 15 December 2009 |
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WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Having a family was the best thing that ever happened to him, Tiger Woods said in a major interview recorded before he became embroiled in a sex scandal.
The interview, for the pay-television Sky network, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, was conducted in Melbourne last month and broadcast in New Zealand on Tuesday.
The broadcaster had intended to screen the interview on December 25, but brought it forward after the world number one said last Friday he would be taking an "indefinite break" from golf and admitted to infidelity in his marriage.
The interview, conducted by respected sports broadcaster Murray Deaker, principally focused on Woods' relationship with his New Zealand caddie Steve Williams, although Deaker did ask Woods about his family.
"Family first and golf second. Always be like that?," Deaker asked.
"Always," Woods, who was mostly stony faced throughout the interview, replied. "It has been great actually. It has been the best thing that ever happened."
Woods said he learned family values from his mother Kultida.
"She was the disciplinarian in our family. You would think with my Dad (Earl) being a former Special Forces operative he would be the tough guy, but no, he was the softy.
"My mum was tough," he added while breaking into one of his few smiles.
Woods said since becoming a father he now had less time to devote to his game, although time management skills he learned at Stanford University, where he had to juggle study, fitness training, practice and playing, had been invaluable.
"I learned a lot at Stanford and certainly it has applied once I had a family.
"I don't practice as much as I used to. I don't spend as much hours on the golf course as I used to.
"My focus is so much more intense than it used to be, because I don't have the time.
"Whatever I have to get done, is in a shorter amount of time."
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BE1A920091215 |
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Many babies born this century may live to 100 |
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Health and Fitness
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Written by Administrator
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Tuesday, 13 October 2009 |
LONDON - Most babies born in rich countries this century will eventually make it to their 100th birthday, new research says.
Danish experts say that since the 20th century, people in developed countries are living about three decades longer than in the past. Surprisingly, the trend shows little sign of slowing down.
In an article published Friday in the medical journal Lancet, the researchers write that the process of aging may be "modifiable."
Full story: Many babies born this century may live to 100 |
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The welcome darkness of the new 'Harry Potter' |
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Fun Times
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Written by Administrator
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Wednesday, 22 July 2009 |
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Warner Brothers has squired along the "Harry Potter" films with mostly smart decisions, and the arrival of No. 6, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," does nothing to derail the series' momentum. David Yates, who ably directed 2007's "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," returns for a second go-round; he’s currently also directing the two-film adaptation of the last of the books, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." |
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Debbie Rowe does not want Michael Jackson's kids, but is mulling bid for custody anyway |
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Adoption
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Written by Administrator
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Wednesday, 15 July 2009 |
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Debbie Rowe told a backstabbing pal "Hell no!" to the idea of raising the two kids she bore ex-hubby Michael Jackson, bombshell e-mails she reportedly wrote reveal.
"Do I want the kids? Hell no! Does it look good for me to ask for them? Absolutely," she wrote July 5 to friend Rebecca White, ExtraTV.com reported. "I don't want to look like the woman who gave away her kids."
Rowe, 50, is considering a custody bid for Prince Michael, 12, and Paris, 11, as her lawyers discuss private settlement options with grandmother Katherine Jackson, sources told the Daily News.
Michael Jackson's youngest child, Blanket, 7, was born to a secret surrogate. Full story: 'Hell no!' Debbie Rowe does not want Michael Jackson's kids, but is mulling bid for custody anyway |
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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009): Review |
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Fun Times
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Written by Administrator
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Wednesday, 15 July 2009 |
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“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” the latest big-screen iteration of the global phenomenon, is merely the sixth chapter in a now eight-part series that, much like its young hero, played by Daniel Radcliffe, has begun to show signs of stress around the edges, a bit of fatigue, or maybe that’s just my gnawing impatience. Not that the director, David Yates, doesn’t keep things moving and flying and soaring, his cameras slashing through the gloom that has settled onto this epic endeavor like a damp, enveloping fog and at times threatened to snuff out its joy as terminally as a soul-sucking Dementor. Full story: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) Watch trailer here |
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Swine flu fears close more summer camps |
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Health and Fitness
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Written by Administrator
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Wednesday, 15 July 2009 |
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The American Lung Association has advised its affiliated camps to close, including one in Colorado that was scheduled to begin next week. Champ Camp in Ward was a traditional sleep-away weeklong camp for boys and girls with asthma — no campfires allowed. The decision came after four campers were hospitalized when they became sick at an affiliated camp in Julian, Calif., said Heather Grzelka, spokeswoman for the Washington-based Lung Association. Grzelka said the association has about 50 affiliated camps nationwide, but that they are not run by her group and that she wasn't sure how many would close. Full story: Swine flu fears close more summer camps |
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No holds barred: How divorce scars children |
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Divorce
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Written by Administrator
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Monday, 13 July 2009 |
The author relates his own story about the impact of divorce on him when he was a kid. It's a unique perspective from how we should look at divorce and the scars divorce left on children:
I was eight years old when my parents divorced, and it scarred me so deeply that I thought I would never fully recover. While I have been able to work through its issues over the years, it has in fact left a lasting impact on the person I have become and is the principal reason that I have endeavored so much in the field of human relationships, trying to figure out how to keep a man and woman happily under the same roof for the duration of their lives. I was always puzzled at how so many of my friends, whose parents were divorced, were either neutral on the topic or actually happy that their parents divorced, thinking that everyone was better off.
But how could children not be scarred by divorce? The people whose love is responsible for your very existence have now drifted apart, rendering a big question mark on your life. You become a cynic who believes that life is made up of pieces of a puzzle that don't ultimately fit. You begin to question the whole notion of love. Love is the glue that keeps a man and woman together, but you never saw it function. So you begin to question if there is such a thing as lifelong commitment. No wonder then that children of divorce statistically have a 50 percent higher rate of divorce themselves.
Full story: No holds barred: How divorce scars children |
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