Family relationships are under increasing threat as parents struggle to reconcile the demands of work and caring for children, according to a poll published today.

Over one in three adults questioned as part of a big inquiry into modern childhood thought a preschool child would be harmed by their mother working…

Today’s research, commissioned by the Children’s Society, found that 61% of adults believe parents do not get enough time with their children.

Yet almost half of those questioned said they had to put their career first, even if it affected their family life, despite evidence from children defining a happy home life as one in which they spent time together as a family…

Source: Guardian Unlimited
http://society.guardian.co.uk/children/comment/0,,2128152,00.html

Of all the magical powers wielded by Harry Potter, perhaps none has cast a stronger spell than his supposed ability to transform the reading habits of young people. In what has become near mythology about the wildly popular series by J. K. Rowling, many parents, teachers, librarians and booksellers have credited it with inspiring a generation of kids to read for pleasure in a world dominated by instant messaging and music downloads.

And so it has, for many children. But in keeping with the intricately plotted novels themselves, the truth about Harry Potter and reading is not quite so straightforward a success story. Indeed, as the series draws to a much-lamented close, federal statistics show that the percentage of youngsters who read for fun continues to drop significantly as children get older, at almost exactly the same rate as before Harry Potter came along…

Young people are less inclined to read for pleasure as they move into their teenage years for a variety of reasons, educators say. Some of these are trends of long standing (older children inevitably become more socially active, spend more time on reading-for-school or simply find other sources of entertainment other than books), and some are of more recent vintage (the multiplying menagerie of high-tech gizmos that compete for their attention, from iPods to Wii consoles). What parents and others hoped was that the phenomenal success of the Potter books would blunt these trends, perhaps even creating a generation of lifelong readers in their wake…

Some reading experts say that urging kids to read fiction in general might be a misplaced goal. “If you look at what most people need to read for their occupation, it’s zero narrative,” said Michael L. Kamil, a professor of education at Stanford University. “I don’t want to deny that you should be reading stories and literature. But we’ve overemphasized it,” he said. Instead, children need to learn to read for information, Mr. Kamil said, something they can practice while reading on the Internet, for example…

Source: New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/11/books/11potter.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2

America used to be the tallest country in the world…

By the 1960s, most northern and western European countries caught up with and surpassed the U.S. Young adults in Japan and other prosperous Asian countries now are almost as tall as Americans…

Being tall doesn’t make you smarter, richer or healthier. But the factors that make you tall — a nutritious diet, good prenatal care and a healthy childhood — benefit you in other ways.

That makes height a good indicator for economists measuring how well a nation provides for its citizens in prime growing years. With one simple statistic, economists essentially can measure how well a society prepares its children for life…

Like many human traits, height is determined by a mix of genes and environment. Experts agree that, aside from African pygmies and a few similar exceptions, most populations have about the same genetic potential for height.

That leaves environment, specifically the environment children experience from conception through adolescence. Any deficiency, from poor prenatal care to early childhood disease or malnutrition, can prevent one from reaching his or her full height potential…

“American children might consume more meals prepared outside of the home, more fast food rich in fat, high in energy density and low in essential micronutrients,” wrote Komlos and co-author Benjamin E. Lauderdale of Princeton University. “Furthermore, the European welfare states provide a more comprehensive social safety net including universal health care coverage.” In the U.S., an estimated 9 million children have no health insurance…

Source: Houston Chronicle
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4970075.html

The warehousing of children in the guise of “care” or, even more implausibly, “early learning” (”That means the blocks have letters on them,” joked one staff member I spoke to recently) is something more and more parents feel distraught about. The research is now undeniable that babies and younger toddlers do not thrive in child care. Yet the business world does not want young parents to have time off work…

In Britain, the Blair government’s attempt at being mother-friendly consisted of building a vast number of new day-care centres. But the news out of Britain in May was stunning.

Almost a quarter - 22 per cent - of the country’s nursery places are unfilled. Day care has gone out of fashion. British families are making the sacrifices that enable them to stay home when their babies are small.

The reason is not hard to find. A slew of research, from large and well designed studies, has found that too much day care harms under threes in several ways. Lacking one-to-one care, the fine interactions between a loving parent or family member and a baby or toddler do not happen…

Care-raised babies don’t all become psychopaths, but they are measurably more anxious, aggressive and disobedient as they move through preschool and the primary grades. We even know why this is so. The stress hormone cortisol, measured in a baby’s saliva, doubles if they are placed in care, and it is still elevated even months after they start…

Britain is now introducing one year’s paid parental leave. But even before the change only 7 per cent of children in British nurseries are under one, and only 18 per cent of these go full-time. This follows the pattern in Sweden, where parents demanded proper maternity leave in the early 1990s, and got it. In that whole country today, there are fewer than 500 babies in day care. Australia has tens of thousands…

Source: Sydney Morning Herald
http://tinyurl.com/2jvc5x

Young people in Switzerland are more violent than 20 years ago and tough measures are needed to rectify the situation, according to the Swiss public…

A survey published in three Swiss newspapers on Sunday revealed that 71 per cent of respondents believed young people in Switzerland were more aggressive today than 20 years ago and 73 per cent thought they were less disciplined.

The reason for this decline was clear, according to those asked: parents and society, which were blamed by 76 per cent and 69 per cent of people respectively.

When it came to solutions, two-thirds of the 1,100 people surveyed across Switzerland for SonntagsBlick, Le Matin Dimanche and Il Caffè believed a clip around the ear or a smack on the behind was acceptable.

Regarding wider measures, 55.7 per cent thought it was better for mothers to stay at home after having a child, 80.3 per cent thought parents of aggressive children should attend parenting courses and 55.9 per cent thought foreign youths who are convicted of a crime should be expelled from the country – along with their parents…

Jürgen Oelker, a professor of education at Zurich University, thinks calls for tougher measures against youth violence are “misguided” and that more discipline in school and at home does not help regarding youth violence…

Oelker rejected demands for greater strictness. “For centuries children were made to wear a dunce’s cap and stand in the corner. There were really tough disciplinary techniques that hindered learning.” …

Source: Swissinfo
http://tinyurl.com/2s48qy

It is an act millions of new moms do everyday. But when it comes to breast-feeding, some argue there is a time and a place for it.

The topic is a provocative one for parents and even those without children…

“We have a lot of ambivalent feelings about breasts being used to feed because we see them as sexual objects,” said ABC News parenting contributor Ann Pleshette Murphy…

Bruce-Low said occasions exist where she can cover up, but there also are times when it’s impossible. She recalled how aggressive onlookers were on a few occasions when she was unable to cover herself…

… Now, 46 states allow woman to nurse in public or at least exempt them from prosecution.

But, public opinion hasn’t caught up with the law. A recent study found 57 percent of Americans said women should not have the right to breast-feed in public. Seventy-two percent said it was inappropriate to show a woman nursing on television…

For many mothers, it may ultimately be a health issue. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends babies should be breast fed up to one year. It said the health benefits include fewer food allergies and a stronger immune system…

Bruce-Low said it is important for more woman and people in general to see mothers nursing in public, calling it a natural thing…

Source: ABC News
http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/Health/story?id=3378982&page=1

A rogue protein, interleukin 6 - produced when a pregnant woman is fighting a viral infection - may help trigger mental illnesses such as autism and schizophrenia in the child, US neuroscientist Paul Patterson said yesterday.

Professor Patterson, speaking from an international neuroscience conference in Melbourne, said schizophrenia and autism resulted from a combination of environmental factors such as the mother’s health and genetic predisposition.

Professor Patterson, from the California Institute of Technology, said that when a pregnant woman contracted respiratory infections such as influenza during pregnancy, there was a greater risk the fetus’s brain would be permanently altered, leaving it prone to the possibility of mental illness later in life…

“Pregnant women shouldn’t feel that their child will definitely wind up with schizophrenia because they have been sick, but Brown’s work shows they should definitely try to take as many precautions against getting sick as they can,” he said.

“Catching the flu when you’re pregnant is not a good thing, and does increase the risk of adverse consequences for the fetus.” …

Source: The Australian
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22080530-601,00.html

A generation of parents is spoiling their children’s lives. They’re called helicopter parents — mothers and fathers who hover over and smother their children. Chances are you know them — perhaps as well as you know the person in the mirror.

They plot their kids’ schools, classes and extracurricular activities — before the children are born.

They gripe about a teacher and swear their child does no wrong, even when the child is caught pushing another child down the stairs.

They sit in on their kids’ college interviews and pick their courses.

They even call their adult child’s bosses — at home…

“They make the child ill-equipped to deal with reality,” says Mount Saint Mary psychology professor Paul Schwartz. He’s had to deal with more than one coddled kid of helicopter parents, who, after years of hearing “nice job, nice job” from parents who made his bed, did his homework and bugged his coaches, now shows up late for class six or seven times in a row.

“What’s he going to do when he gets a real job and he gets fired for being late?” asks Schwartz, who specializes in adolescents. “Call his parents?” …

At some point, you must let go, say the more than dozen psychologists and educators interviewed for this story.

They agree they’ve seen more helicopter parents in the last five years than the past 25 — combined…

Helicopter parents don’t let go. They replace the umbilical cord with a cell phone — often giving their kids wakeup calls in the dorm.

In the process, they stunt their kids’ growth. “The feeling that comes from struggling and succeeding is lost,” says Schwartz of Mount Saint Mary. “If your parents baby you, it devalues you and your self-esteem.” …

Source: Times Herald-Record
http://tinyurl.com/3224ce

Jo Frost has made a successful career out of teaching parents how to get their children to behave through loving but firm discipline, and her coaching is aired nationally on the ABC television show “Supernanny.” …

“Everybody who watches the show, they say, ‘Oh my word, look at these children. Look how they are behaving. Look at the parents. What are they are thinking?’ But I don’t see that,” she said. “By the time I get to the house, what I am seeing is the manifestation of things that have gone completely wrong because of a reason: a circumstance, an opinion, the way somebody has behaved.” …

She often asks that parents keep their anger or frustration in check and remain calm while disciplining their child until he or she accepts the punishment…

… In each episode, Frost constantly encourages the parents to continue to place their children in the “naughty corner” for a few minutes, or whatever other punishment is at hand, until the child calms down and acquiesces.

Children on the show tend to improve their behavior after first challenging the new way of doing things. Often the changes appear harder on the parents than the children…

Frost has almost two decades in the child-care industry and has authored two best-selling books on parenting and has another book, “Confident Baby Care,” set for release next month. Much of her advice is also available on her Web site, www.jofrost.com.

“It’s important to be a parent who parents,” Frost said…

Source: North County Times
http://tinyurl.com/2uotb5

Cut to modern-day India. Where DINKs are realising the importance of having or adopting at least one child. Enter the single child, who is, more often than not, born after both parents turn 30. Now junior here leads an interesting life. “He’s the centre of his own universe. The parents are paranoid about him coming to any harm, so they protect him with all they have and give him all he wants,” says ad man Prahlad Kakar. As a result, there’s a whole lot of hyper-parenting — a child-rearing style in which parents are intensely involved in managing, scheduling, and enriching all aspects of their children’s lives.

Market researchers have a name for the kid who is deemed by his or her peers to be the coolest in school or the neighbourhood — the alpha pup. More often than not, the alpha pup is an only child — spoilt for choice and pampered to the core. And so, what junior wants, the whole family gets. “Pester power rules. Each time a child’s face lights up, a brand strikes gold. Kids drive sales, single kids even more,” explains Kakar…

China parallel?

Will India see a generation of Little Emperors all its own? “Probably not,” says sociologist Shiv Viswanathan. “For starters, the one-child norm was enforced in China, whereas in India it’s an informed choice. And those who’re opting for only one child are usually professionals who have thought out the decision. Of course there will be the guilt of not being able to give that one child the time and attention it deserves, leading to a consumerist generation that gets what it wants. But we in India play too easily to stereotypes… A generation of single children will make for interesting characters. But far more than being selfish, there will be greater social changes such an increased emphasis on peer groups.” …

Source: Times of India
http://tinyurl.com/2m9sqe