Helping Parents Succeed
THE importation of cheap and potentially dangerous toys has increased fivefold since 2000, with scores more presumably slipping under the authorities’ radar.
An analysis of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s recall data shows 56 imported products designed for toddlers and babies were removed from retailers’ shelves over the past 12 months, compared with just 10 products in 2000.
Full report: Brisbane Times
Myths abound about the myriad ways you can influence your baby’s intelligence. For some, it begins before birth and you’ll see enthusiastic parents eager to produce a prodigy playing music to the expectant mother’s belly. Once the baby’s born, the education continues with background classical music playing while the infant is drifting off to sleep, and also during bath time and meal time.
Whether or not classical music is able to influence a human being’s intelligence at any age is something scientists commonly debate. What’s more clear is that babies truly enjoy music for its rhythms, its varying pitches and the general mood-enhancing qualities that come along with it.
Author Marcus Buckingham in his book Now, Discover Your Strengths explains that intelligence is something that is developed even before birth, but there isn’t any real evidence to suggest that its influence can be greater or lesser just because there is lovely music playing in the outer world.
Many things in a human’s development are learned. Sucking one’s thumb is an instinctive behavior that takes place even in utero, the same as for scratching, yawning and puckering lips. Punters over the generations have even tried to claim that thumb sucking is variously a sign of high, or low, intelligence, depending on whom you ask. That’s hardly fair, is it?
The key to the benefits of classical music for babies seems to be more about creating a positive environment in which learning is easier and more enjoyable. Musical scientists could extol the virtues of complicated compositions and try to have us believe that if a baby tunes in to the depths and complexities of the arrangement, his intelligence will benefit. The question is, how is such a thing measured?
Another argument is that babies commonly fall asleep while listening to classical music. That’s not entirely a bad thing … particularly for his parents, desperate for a few moments’ peace. But one thing that has been proven is that sleep is enormously beneficial to brain development and if a classical piece can lull a restless child to slumber land, then one can attribute better intelligence to symphonies and arias.
Playing classical music in the home or car as a consistent aural backdrop pays dividends in other ways too. If the other occupants enjoy it, a naturally calm and pleasant ambience will be the result. A happy home is one where children thrive and whose brains are not cluttered with negative messages, hindering the way for learning and understanding.
Furthermore, when a baby is exposed to positive sensory experiences, the enrichment of parental and sibling bonding is enhanced.
One of the nicest things about classical music is that it comes in a wide array of styles. You probably wouldn’t play Wagner to your infant unless you want a cranky, ill-tempered child on your hands. But pop a CD of the Masters such as Bach, Mozart or Strauss into the stereo and watch your tiny loved one thrill to the strains of some of history’s most amazing musical works of art.
© Reggie Lee. Used with permission.I didn’t plan to write this but Char’s Weary Parent Group Writing Project prompted me with the idea of writing something significant that I’ve learned when I was a teen.
Writing about this topic gives me the opportunity to look back and remind myself what I went through. So that I can appreciate more what I have now and refocus on what matters most.
My life as a teen was a turbulent one. Also, it was the lowest moment of my life. Nothing could be worse than that.
That happened when my father was ill. Mind you, it’s not a sickness that could be cured within days. My dad was lying in the bed for about a year.
Because of my dad being the breadwinner of the family, our income suddenly stopped. We could depend on our savings but with the meager salary my dad made, the funds were running low very fast. Imagine the life of no income for 12 months and my mom had 4 children to feed.
It’s not easy for the whole family. Being the eldest in the family, I had to work part time in a nearby factory after school. Not much but at least enough to help lessen my mom’s burden and cover my own expenses.
I was not as lucky as my friends who didn’t have to work like I did.
But I was fortunate in the sense that I learned the meaning of being tough in the face of adversity.
I learned the importance of money and the lack of it.
I learned the meaning of unconditional love when my mom chose to stay on even though she had a choice to abandon us.
I learned the meaning of perseverance no matter what happens. Every cloud has a silver lining.
I learned to appreciate what we already have and eliminate crave for what we don’t have.
I learned the fact that everything in life has ups and downs. One day you can be healthy. Other days you can be sick.
I learned the importance of being on your own feet. The world doesn’t owe you anything.
I must say it’s not easy for me to go through this test of life while one’s supposed to enjoy what a teen had to enjoy. But that’s life.
That was like more than 20 years ago. People say you come out a tougher person after an adversity. You know what, it’s true.
[Read more…]
A deadly gene’s path can hide in a family tree when a woman has few aunts and older sisters, making it appear that her breast cancer struck out of nowhere when it really came from Dad.
A new study suggests thousands of young women with breast cancer — an estimated 8,000 a year in the U.S. — aren’t offered testing to identify faulty genes and clarify their medical decisions.
Guidelines used by insurance companies to decide coverage for genetic testing should change to reflect the findings, said study co-author Dr. Jeffrey Weitzel of City of Hope Cancer Center in Duarte, Calif. Testing can cost more than $3,000.
Source: BostonHerald.com
[Read more…]