Many parents now know of the particular importance of reading aloud in the first 12 months of life; and also how crucial it is in the first four months when the learning pathways are laid down in the brain. They are aware that during a read-aloud session children’s brains develop at a great rate, thanks to the thrilling combined stimulation of words and pictures, touch and smell.

Of equal weight to brain development is another highly positive fact: reading to our offspring creates unique opportunities for a child and an adult to find out who the other person is. Sharing a book with a child is an enchanted time, a time away from the workaday world, a time when parents and children fall in love with each other. The brain and the attachment develop simultaneously: it’s the solid beginning of psychological health and educational success. But who cares about all that stuff? …

All these woes take root in the first five years of children’s lives. In a long-term experiment in England children were ranked on their first day of school from best to worst on the basis of their awareness of books and stories, and their skills as readers and writers. They were then monitored regularly until they finished school. The result was as depressing for teachers as it was alarming for parents. Throughout their schooling, most of the children remained in whatever “literacy position” they’d been placed in on their first day. What happens before school is therefore crucial, since it sets the stage for the rest of a child’s life. The literacy ranking was able to be changed only for those children fortunate enough to have had a truly outstanding teacher in their first year at school.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald
http://tinyurl.com/36ye76

Earlier this month, Umile was certified as the North American record-holder for memorizing digits of the mathematical constant. He spewed out 12,887 digits, to be exact - a feat that took him 3 hours and 40 minutes.

For those whose math skills are a little fuzzy, that’s the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter…

He professes not to be a math whiz. A filing clerk for a company that handles Medicare bills, he never studied trigonometry and did not attend college. Yet it is clear he has a passion for numbers and puzzles, not to mention a relentless determination and the ability to ignore those who thought he was a little strange.

But why pi?

Because it’s there. Because he wanted to explore the limits of the mind. And because he wanted to hit one for the home team.

Upon surfing the Internet one day in 2004, he found the world-record list and saw that it was dominated by Asians and Europeans. He decided the United States needed another representative…

Umile is far short of the world record of 43,000 that van Koningsveld cites on his list, held by Krishan Chahal of India. He’s even farther from the 67,890 digits listed by the Guinness World Records, a feat accomplished in China.

Source: Ledger-Enquirer
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/nation/16579077.htm

“In most monogamous species, the dads are really good. It’s just taken to an extreme in titi monkeys because the moms are kind of bad,” Bales said. “Sometimes you watch a titi monkey mom and you feel like she doesn’t like her babies.” …

The researchers have applied for a grant to compare the children of these titi monkeys with those of “bad” dads, the ones who groom their youngsters less, carry them less often and have a lower offspring survival rate.

In time, they’d like to know not only what creates the healthiest kids, but also whether there are ways to undo the damage inflicted by poor parenting.

Ultimately, Mendoza believes the neurobiology of monkey relationships - what’s happening in the brain when boy meets girl or when a baby arrives - will provide a key to understanding human health.

Source: Kansas City Star
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/breaking_news/16571371.htm

“Preventive dental care has greatly improved the oral health of American children,” states Kimberly Harms, D.D.S., American Dental Association consumer advisor and general dentist from Farmington, Minn. “It is now possible for many children to reach adulthood without ever experiencing tooth decay and that is why good oral health practices should begin in infancy and continue throughout adult life.” …

The ADA recommends regular dental check-ups, including a visit to the dentist within six months of the eruption of the first tooth, and no later than the child’s first birthday. Preventive care such as cleanings and fluoride treatments provide your child with “smile” insurance. Routine dental exams uncover problems that can be treated in the early stages, when damage is minimal and restorations may be small. When necessary, dental radiographs (X- rays) are taken to see how the teeth are developing and to spot hidden decay.

Source: Yahoo.com
href=”http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/070129/cgm025.html?.v=78

Giving birth naturally increases the risk of minor brain haemorrhages in newborn babies, according to a study. Brain scans of babies aged between one and five weeks showed small ruptures in blood vessels in or around the brain are common, affecting one in four children born naturally.

Babies delivered by caesarean section showed no signs of even minor bleeding.
In most cases, the haemorrhages are harmless and heal naturally, but larger ruptures can affect brain development, leading to seizures, or problems with learning or coordination.

Source: Guardian Unlimited
http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,,2001561,00.html

My children may have had their umbilical cord severed at birth but they immediately attached themselves to a nurturing cable that suckles them, feeds them, entertains, distracts and informs them. Like a million other young men and women of their age, they are physically attached to an information tube: they text each other instead of speaking, tap out messages on their PDAs or mobiles even if the person is right beside them, and seek answers from a screen rather than open a book…

The omnipresent mobile phone, computer screen, Google, Internet Explorer and all the other gateways to the entirety of human knowledge are all wondrous developments and will be of great benefit to us all, but each is diluting this generation’s self-reliance…
Increasingly this generation is losing the joy of studying books, maps, papers or other non-electronic devices: they are missing the framework of reflection and the joys of browsing and inquiry on which our society has been built. One day they will have to learn the new adage that data isn’t information, information isn’t knowledge, and knowledge isn’t wisdom.

Previous generations learned to learn through trial and error, through research, through questions and uncovering the answers. Once, students had to be like Sherlock Holmes, observing and pondering and sifting through the evidence to find the answer; today, students are more selectors than detectors, and download the answers in the absence of clues.

Source: The Australian
http://tinyurl.com/2tk9×9

Expert says attitudes about discipline changing with each generation
Four decades ago, the vast majority of Americans — 94 percent — favored the use of spanking, telling pollsters it was sometimes necessary.

But now, polls show closer to half of Americans feel that way, said Dr. Murray Straus, co-director of the Family Research Laboratory at the University of New Hampshire.

Straus said his research shows the vast majority of parents of toddlers still spank, but he thinks people’s changing attitudes and the growing amount of information available on alternative methods of discipline will ultimately persuade many to stop. He said fewer people are hitting older children than they did in the past.

“It’s going to come into effect for toddlers, too,” he said…

Straus found that although there were demographic differences among parents who spanked older children, more than 90 percent of all parents of small children — regardless of age, race, religion or socioeconomic status — have at some point spanked, hit, slapped or used some other form of physical punishment.

Source: Contra Costa Times
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/politics/16560176.htm

Ivory Conley’s mother taught her to count by piling up beans and pecans on the kitchen table. Ivory knew how to add, subtract and multiply by the time she started school…

Most people are familiar with what the program does for children, Conley said. Youngsters enrolled in Head Start learn early education basics such as letters, numbers and color names. They also learn social skills necessary to transition to kindergarten and a formal learning environment.

Yet not everyone is aware of another Head Start priority — involving parents in their children’s education both at home and at school…

“Educating the parent is stability for the child forever, not just five years.” …

Another way Head Start empowers parents is by working with them to develop “dreams and wishes” for themselves. The word “goals” can seem too lofty to people with little or no reserves, Conley said. Yet everyone has a dream. With a little coaching, families can develop steps toward reaching that dream…

“It taught me the value of sticking by my kids, no matter what. As a parent, I’m responsible for my child — not the school district.”

Conley’s parents also were strong role models, she said. The late Riley and Othella West were passionate home educators, he passing on his love of language and she her love of math.

Source: Morning News
http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2007/01/27/our_town/012807conley.txt

This week, children will return to school with new rules regarding soft-drink purchase and healthier food options in canteens. Some think these changes are draconian and that the onus is on the parent to provide, not the school to decide. But I believe any change that helps parents help children make healthier choices is a change for the better…

Above all, clinicians have a duty to do no harm. Awareness of pejorative language is paramount. Is obese a useful, positive word in a pediatric or other clinical setting? I don’t use the term obese in my practice. A far more useful phrase is “above the healthiest weight for you”. This implies the goal is improved health for that individual, not simply conforming to a chart or society’s stereotypical views on beauty…

It’s likely that misguided efforts can cause harm; but it’s difficult to separate their effect from the endless barrage of insults our children receive from every media source, such as “gastro-porn”, or “fat-loathing” television reality shows which perpetuate the dichotomy of fat as evil (unhealthy, ugly and loathsome), and thin as ideal (healthy, happy, popular and perfect).

Such shows undermine parenting and weaken self-esteem, providing a formula for disordered eating…

The health of children as young as five can suffer as a result of their being overweight, and we know that the longer a person is overweight the greater the health risks. Thus helping a child become the healthiest weight for them as early as possible, or preventing overweight, shouldn’t be avoided because were afraid of causing harm.

Source: The Age
http://tinyurl.com/3623pu

For decades, a debate has simmered in the educational community over the best way to teach children how to read. Proponents of phonics, the “whole language and meaning” approach and other teaching methods long have battled for dominance, each insisting that theirs is the superior strategy…

… Connor’s paper shows that lots of individualized instruction, combined with the use of diagnostic tools that help teachers match each child with the amounts and types of reading instruction that are most effective for him or her, is vastly preferable to the standard “one size fits all” approach to reading education that is prevalent in many American elementary schools…

The researchers found that “the efficacy of any particular instructional practice may depend on the skill level of the student. Instructional strategies that help one student may be ineffective when applied to another student with different skills.” The trick, then, is to more precisely determine the reading skill level of each child and then find a way to cater the curriculum to each student’s individual needs.

“Instead of viewing the class as an organism, we’re trying to get teachers to view the students as individuals,” Connor said.

Source: ScienceDaily
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/01/070125173154.htm