“If your teen is demonstrating a degree of shyness that is making life difficult or they’re unhappy with how they’re feeling, it’s time to act,” says Marc D. Skelton, a California psychologist. “It’s a red flag if they’re not engaging with a core group of friends.”
The average teen tends to have four to six good friends, says Indiana University psychology professor Kathy Johnson…

Studies show 40 to 43 percent of people consider themselves shy, says Bernardo Carducci, director of the Indiana University Shyness Research Institute. But the feeling is more intense in teens.

Sometimes, it takes a change in environment, a mentor or good role-modeling from parents or even peers to help teens improve their social skills.

Parents also need to expose children, starting in early childhood, to situations where they can develop social skills — sports, drama, school activities, volunteering, she says.

Source: Seattle Times
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/health/2003501115_healthshyteens31.html

Forget the stars — it’s the Sun that holds the key to your health and future happiness

Where and when you are born really does affect what happens throughout your life. But it has nothing to do with what is mapped in the stars or whether you are Taurus, Aries or Libra. It has everything, instead, to do with one star in particular, the Sun.

Research shows that the latitude of your birthplace and how much solar radiation you were exposed to in the womb affects your health, wealth, happiness, longevity and creativity. It is because one type of radiation emitted by the sun, ultraviolet (UVR), is believed to cause genetic changes in the developing baby that may have a shaping effect, either beneficial or harmful. It could explain why many of us believe that common characteristics and fates are shared by those born at the same time of year.

For example, researchers at the University of Rostock, in Germany, have analysed data to see if the month in which you are born affects how long you will live. It does. Their research found that your chances of living beyond 100 were up to 16 per cent higher than average if you were born in December, but if you were born in June, your chances were 23 per cent lower…

Happiness

Happier people are more likely to have been conceived in the summer, according to a Vienna University study. Meanwhile, a study at the University of Tokyo found that people born between December and February were more likely to be disagreeable than those born at other times of the year…

Intelligence

Winter-born children are bigger and brighter than those born in summer. Psychiatrists and anthropologists from Harvard and Queensland universities tracked the development of 21,000 boys and girls over seven years, and found seasonal variations in intelligence, weight, height and head size.

Source: Times Online
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8122-2521642,00.html

Without a doubt, there are many children without parents who need loving families, but adoption of unrelated children is rare in Japan, partly because of doubts that placing them in an unfamiliar home environment is better than raising them in a public welfare facility…

Adoption is less common in Japan than in some Western countries. In 2004, family courts recognized only 322 adoptions of children under 6, according to official statistics. There were also 998 children over age 6 adopted the same year.

By contrast, in 2004, 5,360 children in England and Wales found new families. In Germany the figure was 5,064. And as many as 1.6 million children under 18 found new homes in the United States.

Many factors can affect adoption rates, including legal differences and cultural notions of family. But a big reason for the small number in Japan is that there are few children considered good candidates for would-be parents…

Adoption of kids from overseas is meanwhile practically unheard of in Japan. In the United States, by contrast, 13 percent of adopted children were born in another country. In Germany, such children make up nearly a third of the total.

Source: Japan Times
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20061230f2.html

More than a third of disadvantaged 3-year-olds in Chicago and other major U.S. cities are overweight or obese, according to a new study that supports the notion that the struggle with obesity often begins in early childhood.

Hispanic children from low-income families were most at risk, with 44 percent either overweight or obese, compared with 32 percent for white and African-American children from similar households.

The study’s authors at the University of Wisconsin-Madison also identified several practices that may protect kids from excessive weight gain, including breast-feeding for at least six months and not allowing children to take a bottle to bed…

Experts said one lesson from the findings is that parents should take advantage of the window of time when they have the most control over their children’s diet. After age 3, when kids start choosing more food on their own, their eating habits may already be set.

Source: Chicago Tribune
http://tinyurl.com/2urg8z

In her speech, Rimm explained that 50 percent of our nation’s children are underachievers, adding, however, that underachievement is learned behavior and can be “unlearned.” She urged parents to get involved with children so that we can set positive environments in which achievement can be learned. Rimm encourages parents and children to work and play together to keep good things happening.

The use of authoritative parenting will allow children to gradually be empowered to make their decisions, and when they can do so responsibly, their freedoms, choices and responsibilities will grow as will their achievements…

“Resist putting children on a pedestal; too much praise conveys impossible expectations. Children have to learn to be resilient #– they have to learn to deal with failure and dissatisfaction,” she said.

Source: Times and Democrat
http://tinyurl.com/3xjm8h

While these initiatives are to be commended, I cannot understand why both parents and grandparents of existing or former pupils of local primary schools have not been asked to volunteer to listen to children reading and help with basic number work.
There must, surely, be a wealth of knowledge and life experience to tap into, with parents and grandparents. Likewise, this group would be only too willing to help their local primary schools…

The Public Accounts Committee report of December 8 on Improving literacy and numeracy in schools in NI has recognised the worth of parents. Point 10 in the Conclusions and Recommendations section states: “Parental involvement can have an important impact on the educational attainment of children. Huge gains can be made in literacy and numeracy attainment levels if parents received more encouragement to work with schools in support of their children’s education and opportunities were taken to engage parents to provide educational development in the home”.

Source: Belfast Telegraph
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/letters/article2106352.ece

Dr. Denloye said: “In recent times, we noticed more children coming with tooth ache and when you take their medical history, you will find they are the type that takes lots of sweet things ,biscuits, carbonated drinks, chocolates etc. The tooth ache arises due to holes that were created in their teeth as a result of the consumption of sugary things. “A case whereby parents don’t give proper meals and they end up buying all sorts for them” she said has contributed to even children of about two years of age now coming to dental clinics, complaining of tooth ache.

“Children shouldn’t be allowed going to bed with meals containing sugar-bread, cake, cocoa drink or chocolate. Because they keep chewing at times till they sleep off, all of these tend to hasten the development of holes and if at all, they must have all any of these it must be immediately after a main meal, preferably after launch. “Even ideally, parents should make them clean their mouth after every meal, and where not feasible in the afternoon because they may still be in school, they should do it before going to bed and after breakfast. Brushing with the tooth brush is very essential.

For children less than six years of age, it is the responsibility of parents to clean their teeth for them while those above six years of age can be encourage to brush their teeth under parental supervision and hopefully by 10 years, they would have fully mastered how to do it on their own”, she said. “They need an amount of toothpaste of the size of a groundnut” she said adding “this is effective for cleaning and removal of plague. For children who will swallow the paste, all they need is a smear because it is the brush that really does the work of cleaning not the paste. All the paste ensures is freshness of breath and addition of fluoride.

Source: Nigerian Tribune
http://www.tribune.com.ng/28122006/hlt1.html

The research on the importance of early childhood education is becoming more and more convincing with each research study conducted around the world. It is now a safe assumption to make that the earlier we can expose children to language, the better their long term academic achievement will be. That is not to say that pre-kindergarten programs must become so highly structured with academic learning that we forget that young kids need to play, socialize, and learn the many natural facets of growing up. Rather, the more we learn about children and their brain development, the more we know that there are critical windows of opportunity for children to learn language that unlocks learning puzzles in a child’s future…

Ron Ferguson, of the Minority Student Achievement Network, claims through his research that infants as early as 9 months of age are capable of cognitive development. Ferguson also says that the family environment and exposure to language are the biggest factors in cognitive development, which translates into achievement success in later years.

Source: thepaper24-7.com
http://tinyurl.com/39g97p

… By taking time to read with their children, parents can help put them on a path to healthy, successful lives, says IWK Health Centre pediatrician Dr. Sarah Shea.
She co-edited a special issue of the journal Paediatrics and Child Health called “Learning to read: What physicians need to know — and do — about children’s literacy.”

As well as advising doctors, the journal encourages parents to read, talk, babble and sing with their babies…

“Sometimes people are a little bit skeptical about reading to babies so young,” she said. “But we really see the difference when parents are coming in with their second baby and they’re so excited to see us because they know the difference that it has made in their child’s life.” …

“Once we describe that their baby’s brain contains all the cells that they need for life, but the connections haven’t been made yet, I think that has an impact with them,” Ms. Laramee-Jones said.

Source: ChronicleHerald
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/549237.html

“There are so many food choices out there, almost every social event is focused on food, and people are not active enough,” said Bonnie Kruse, food and nutrition manager for St. Anthony’s Memorial Hospital in Effingham. “All you hear about are eating low-fat foods, but you can do that and still consume a lot of calories. Calories are too easy to consume, and we don’t have enough ways to burn it off.” …

With the trend of two working parents becoming more common, family activities, which are essential for a healthy lifestyle, have been decreasing over the years, Etchason said.
“Take time to play with your kids; get involved in things like swimming lessons, soccer, basketball or running,” she said. “If a child is not involved in an organized sport, get out and play hide and seek, tag, jump rope; go to a park, try trails in different areas in parks or go on bike rides.” …

“It amazes me how much soda consumption has gone up, while milk consumption has gone down,” said Laura Sechrest, director of food and nutrition services at St. Mary’s Hospital. “Twenty years ago, a teen boy drank two times as much milk than soda; that has basically reversed.”

Sugary drinks, such as soft drinks or sugar-packed juices, should be avoided at all costs, Arzon said. Fast food is another area that gets people into trouble with weight management.

“We recommend trying to pick meals that don’t exceed 500 calories,” Kruse said. “That seems like a lot, but if you can get a whole fast-food meal for under 500, you’ve done pretty good.” …

Getting children to eat a variety of healthy foods is usually easier said than done. It takes 15 attempts for a child older than 4 to try a new food, and 10 attempts when the child is younger than 4, said Etchason, pointing out it is best to introduce new foods to children early in life.

Kruse said the easiest way to get children to try new foods is for parents to set a good example.

“Making your children sit at the table until they finish their plate, those days are gone,” she said. “During meals, all you can do is try to prepare a food in a way that is tasty and offer it to the child to taste. Making a big deal of it is not helpful.”

Source: Pantagraph.com
http://tinyurl.com/38xvfc