Despite the surge of women into the work force, mothers are spending at least as much time with their children today as they did 40 years ago, and the amount of child care and housework performed by fathers has sharply increased, researchers say in a new study, based on analysis of thousands of personal diaries…

The researchers found that women still do twice as much housework and child care as men in two-parent families. But they said that total hours of work by mothers and fathers were roughly equal, when they counted paid and unpaid work.

Using this measure, the researchers found remarkable gender equality in total workloads, averaging nearly 65 hours a week…

Many couples delay having children to a point later in life when they want to spend time with those children. People who are uninterested in raising children can opt out of parenting altogether, by using birth control…

Social norms and expectations have changed, prompting parents to make greater and greater investments in child-rearing. As couples have fewer children, they feel pressure to rear a perfect child…

On average, the researchers said, employed mothers get somewhat less sleep and watch less television than mothers who are not employed, and they also spend less time with their husbands.

Source: Times Daily
http://tinyurl.com/2yo424

Baby boomers often are called “helicopter parents” for hovering around their children from the cradle to the college campus. They’re devoted parents on the whole, but new research suggests that their high expectations may be setting up their children for disappointment. A study that tracked changes in high school seniors’ educational and occupational plans from 1976 to 2000 found that teens in 2000 were more ambitious than their earlier peers and often were unrealistic about career goals and their own abilities…

“Encouragement and being there for your teenager and saying you believe in them are all wonderful things, but those messages need to be balanced with something about the chances and what your alternatives are,” Reynolds says…

Unlike Gen-Xers, who had to adapt to technology, millennials grew up with computers and view technology as a tool rather than something to protect their children from, Robinson says…

New immigrant families tend to be much stricter than those who have lived in the United States longer, says professor and author Steinberg. “As the ethnic makeup of America changes, so will parenting.”

Source: The Tennessean
http://tinyurl.com/2hacry

Recent research from Chile first established a direct link between brain volume and IQ. Put simply, the larger the brain, the higher the IQ. Given that 70 percent of our brain growth occurs in the first two years of our lives, the Chilean research showed that malnutrition in early childhood is likely to have a devastating effect on later mental performance…

There’s nothing wrong with wanting the best for our own children; it would be unnatural to wish otherwise. But next time you upgrade your child’s laptop or book those extra tutoring sessions, spare a thought for the millions of children whose fingers will never touch a keyboard — kids who will be lucky to learn basic literacy and math.

Source: Indianapolis Star
http://tinyurl.com/25567c

It’s a tense cycle that Lancelotta and others who work with young children are recognizing repeatedly these days — stressed-out parents begetting stressed-out children…

Children overloaded by stress can react to it differently based on their personalities and age. Pre-school children may experience more sleep and eating disturbances, nightmares, fear of the dark and clingy behavior. School-age children tend to act out, becoming increasingly belligerent or hyperactive. Adolescents often respond to it like adults, with anxiety, depression, anger, fear or disillusionment…

In the long run, it’s parents, and not children, who may have to make the biggest changes in their lifestyles. Children have incredible resiliency already built in and people tend to exaggerate how vulnerable they are, says UM’s Shaw. The biggest impact on them is often how their parents respond to stress because stress is ”very contagious,” Shaw says.

Source: Miami Herald
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/15747908.htm

The dire shortage of international school places in Hong Kong is the consequence of a global phenomenon: the huge and rapidly rising demand for international education.
The economic rise of Asia and other parts of developing world and the growth of international commerce have drawn millions of people to the expatriate life, and they have brought their children with them. Prosperity in developing countries is also manifesting itself in higher educational aspirations among local people. Many want their children to benefit from the better quality education and college opportunities available within the international school system…

The biggest problem is simply a teacher shortage in the main source countries, like the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia. Teachers of physics, chemistry and information technology are the hardest to find.

Source: International Herald Tribune
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/09/29/news/ateach.php

I’ve been treating, educating and caring for children for more than 30 years, half of that time as a child psychiatrist, and the changes I’ve seen in the practice of child psychiatry are shocking. Psychiatrists now misdiagnose and over-medicate children for ordinary defiance and misbehavior. Temper tantrums are increasingly being characterized as psychiatric illnesses.

Using such diagnoses as bipolar disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and Asperger’s syndrome, doctors are justifying the sedation of difficult kids with powerful psychiatric drugs that may have serious, permanent or even lethal side effects…

“Many clinicians find it easier to tell parents their child has a brain-based disorder than to suggest parenting changes,” said psychiatrist Jennifer Harris, quoted in the January/February issue of Psychotherapy Networker.

Parents and teachers today seem to believe that any boy who wriggles in his seat and willfully defies his teacher’s rules has ADHD. Likewise, any child who has a temper tantrum is diagnosed with bipolar disorder. After all, an anger outburst is how most parents define a “mood swing.” Contributing to this widespread problem is the doctor’s willingness to accept, without question, a parent’s or teacher’s assessment…

Elizabeth J. Roberts, a Murrieta resident and a psychiatrist who treats children and adolescents, is author of Should You Medicate Your Child’s Mind?…

Source: Mercury News
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/15729933.htm

According to the child development experts at Parents as Teachers, even infants are learning math! Babies learn through their sense of sight, sound, smell and touch. Holding a rattle and encouraging your baby to reach out and grasp it will help her develop spatial reasoning related to geometry. Clapping to music and encouraging your baby to bounce to the beat teaches intervals which relate to number concepts…

Math is all around us. Parents can make available to their children materials that help promote math knowledge, such as blocks, puzzles and shape sorters.

By adding a new twist to everyday experiences, parents teach their children how to make connections with the world of numbers and maybe even develop a love for math. Preparing children early will help set them up for later success in school and life.

Source: Southaven Press
http://www.godesoto.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=10741

“Tummy time is actually very, very important for key development,” says Kathy Martin, an assistant professor in the Krannert School of Physical Therapy at the University of Indianapolis. “It’s basic, it doesn’t cost any money, you don’t have to have any special equipment to do it.”

Martin is not advocating plopping babies on the floor and allowing them to scrounge alone. Rather, she says, parents should supervise their little explorers.

Not only will such exploring help to develop motor skills, it also hones cognitive skills and depth perception, studies suggest…

“The thing that matters most is just spending time with baby,” says Angela Tomlin, a clinical assistant professor in pediatrics at IU School of Medicine…

Positive responses from adults build infants’ trust and encourage them to engage in social interaction, says Tomlin, who heads the Indiana Association for Infant and Toddler Mental Health.

Source: Journal Gazette
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/living/15721850.htm

Lord Layard, 72, the Labour peer who is leading the inquiry into the true state of childhood in Britain, said the increase in working mothers — full and part-time — was an irreversible social trend…

One recent study claims that British children have the lowest quality of life of any in western Europe, despite the UK’s increasing wealth and prosperity…

… “One of the huge problems for mothers is that in order to be successful in a career, you too often have to work long hours. We need to get away from the macho culture where your performance is judged on how long you work rather than the quality of your work.” …

Critics say there is increasing evidence that women who head back to work change their minds after a few years.

They say women do not face a glass ceiling but rather a “maternal wall”, with mothers deciding that the job of bringing up their children is more fulfilling to them than continuing their climb up the career ladder.

Others argue that in expensive cities like London, couples have little choice but to work full-time.

Source: Telegraph.co.uk
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/10/09/nmacho09.xml

New research dismisses fears that children encouraged to take extra classes feel stressed and says they do better at school and reap benefits in later life…

Children who take part in after-school activities such as drama and football get better exam results, have a stronger relationship with their parents and are less likely to smoke or drink than those who do not, according to a major new piece of research into young people’s lifestyles.

The findings contradict claims made by some parenting experts and child psychologists that ‘over-scheduling’ by competitive mothers and fathers is producing a generation of children who end up bored, depressed, neglected and feeling that they are not good enough.

‘Our research shows that children who take part in organised activities benefit developmentally. They are healthier, judging from their academic performance and indicators of psychological and emotional wellbeing and self-esteem, as well as from their use of cigarettes, alcohol and drugs, and their parent-child relationships,’ said Joseph Mahoney, an associate professor in the psychology department of Yale University in the United States, who is the report’s lead author. ‘They are more competent than other children, better adjusted, less prone to antisocial behaviour such as dropping out of school, getting arrested or substance use, and they function better in the classroom.’

The evidence shows that what some deride as ‘hyper-parenting’ and ‘hothousing’ by ambitious parents is a myth and that young people who spend time in such pursuits enjoy a range of benefits at the time and in later life, according to Mahoney…

The study will come as a relief to parents, especially in homes where both parents work. Some parents are now reviewing whether they should continue to send their children to classes to learn a language, or play a musical instrument, or improve their sporting skills, because they fear such cramming may inadvertently be damaging their development…

Source: Guardian Unlimited
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1890325,00.html