ParentWonder

Helping Parents Succeed

Lack of Sleep May Lead to Fatter Kids

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Here's another reason to get the kids to bed early: More sleep may lower their risk of becoming obese. Researchers have found that every additional hour per night a third-grader spends sleeping reduces the child's chances of being obese in sixth grade by 40 percent.

The less sleep they got, the more likely the children were to be obese in sixth grade, no matter what the child's weight was in third grade, said Dr. Julie Lumeng of the University of Michigan, who led the research.

If there was a magic number for the third-graders, it was nine hours, 45 minutes of sleep. Sleeping more than that lowered the risk significantly.

The study gives parents one more reason to enforce bedtimes, restrict caffeine and yank the TV from the bedroom. The study appears in the November issue of the journal Pediatrics.

Lack of sleep plays havoc with two hormones that are the "yin and yang of appetite regulation," said endocrinologist Eve Van Cauter of the University of Chicago, who was not involved in the new study.

Full report: Lack of Sleep May Lead to Fatter Kids

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From A to ZZZZs: The Quick Guide to Preventing and Solving Baby Sleep Problems

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While your nightstand may be overflowing with books about pregnancy and birth, you may want to add a baby sleep book to that stack, too. Getting the sleep facts of life before your baby arrives on the scene can help you to be a more rested new parent. Here’s a quick guide to get you started.

Top Seven Strategies for Preventing Baby Sleep Problems

  1. Try to get your newborn to bed when he is sleepy but not overtired.
  2. Use the power of daylight to reset your newborn’s sleep-wake clock.
  3. Provide your newborn with a sleep environment that is sleep enhancing, not sleep inhibiting. Make sure your newborn’s sleep environment is safe, too.
  4. Start thinking about how you’re gradually going to teach your baby self-soothing skills. (You want to start teaching your baby these skills by the time he is three- to four-months of age—the time when babies are capable of learning about sleep associations.)
  5. Think about how you’re going to ease your newborn into a more regular sleep and nap schedule. (Pay attention to his evolving sleep-wake rhythms and you’ll start to see patterns start to emerge.)
  6. Avoid highly stimulating forms of activity right before bedtime or your newborn may be too wound up to go to sleep.
  7. Don’t forget to practice good sleep habits (don’t overdo it with the caffeine or the alcohol, particularly close to bedtime; and make sure you’re getting enough physical activity to be physically tired at the end of the day) and make sleep a priority for yourself, too.

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Raising Successful Children: An Interview with Anthony Spadafore on Nature vs Nurture

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We are going to talk about a very important topic. A topic that is also highly debatable: natural talents.

To help you shed some light and remove any confusion you have on this topic, we have a very special guest in this exclusive interview.

He is none other than Anthony A. Spadafore. Anthony is the Director of Pathfinders, a Senior Career Coach, author, and career columnist. The Alexandria, VA based coach has helped countless people to identify their natural talents and learn what careers fit them best.

Anthony SpadaforeNote that this interview is long and detailed (A big thank you to Anthony for his effort). If you’re in a hurry, we have highlighted main points of this interview in BOLD for easy browsing.

However, we advice you to read it in full as Anthony shares some very interesting personal stories that you can learn from.

Enjoy the interview!

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How to Choose the Right Toys for Your Children

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The market is flooded with toys for our children.

As a parent, it can be hard to decide which toys are the best ones to buy for them. Of course we want to get them the items they are excited about, but we also want to provide them with safe toys that they can learn from. It is important that your child has age appropriate toys.

Safety is a key concern when it comes to younger children and some toys that are out there. Always check for recalls on the toys you purchase for your children as well.

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Are we listening to our kids?

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“I don’t want to go to library.”

That was the reply I received when I asked my daughter about our plan to a local library.

I was shocked to hear the answer as J was totally enjoying herself in the last trip.

As a natural response, after getting such an unexpected reply from her, I was planning to give her a list of 101 reasons why libraries were good and she should change her mind.

Fortunately, I didn’t. Instead, I probed further.

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