Young children who watch more than two hours of television a day show clear signs of bad behaviour, lower social skills and disrupted sleep patterns, a study has found, writes Steven Swinford.

The researchers who carried out the study said the evidence against sustained television viewing was now so strong that parents should ration viewing for younger children. They also warned that having televisions in bedrooms posed particular risks.

The study adds to a growing body of research that suggests television can damage children’s health and development. Prolonged viewing has previously been linked to obesity, attention deficit disorders and linguistic problems.

Cynthia Minkovitz, associate professor of family health at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and one of the study’s authors, said: “It is vital for clinicians to emphasise the importance of reducing television viewing in early childhood.” …

Dr Aric Sigman, an associate fellow of the British Psychological Society and author of a book on children and television, said: “It is the greatest unacknowledged health threat of our time.

“Children are watching television at a critical stage in the development of the brain. They are being physically shaped, like a piece of clay, in response to what they are exposed to.

“The key stages of development are language acquisition and social skills and if they’re displaced at this time they may be irreplaceable.”

He added: “Television is isolating. Children end up spending years in front of a screen instead of speaking and socialising with real children. As a result, they don’t learn how to get on with other people. At the same time, faster editing with colours, zooms and a constant stream of images has been linked to a lower attention span.”

Source: Times Online, UK
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2558304.ece

This generation of fathers is more involved in child care than ever. NEWSWEEK’s Brian Braiker spent a year at home with his daughter. His report from the front…

In the last decade, the number of stay-at-home dads has tripled. “There’s been a fascinating cultural shift,” says Glen Palm, professor of family studies at Minnesota’s St. Cloud State University. “Fathers today put much more focus on nurturing and caring for their kids than on the traditional breadwinner role.” And they’re willing to fight for it: since the mid-1990s, the number of men and women suing their employers for family leave has soared 300 percent. Men make up a growing segment of that group—11 percent, compared with 5 percent a decade ago. Why take such a risk? A survey released earlier this year by Minnesota’s Department for Families and Children’s Services shows that men consider child care to be far more important than a handsome paycheck. Out of 600 dads surveyed, a majority said their most important role was to “show love and affection” to kids. “Safety and protection” came next, “moral guidance,” “tak[ing] time to play” and “teaching and encouraging.” “Financial care” finished last…

Source: Newsweek
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21047651/site/newsweek/

This is in response to Dr. Onkar Ghate’s column on Wednesday, Aug. 23, “Say no to self-esteem pushers” that blamed educators for a lack of self-esteem in their students. No way! It is time that parents accept responsibility for what they do - and do not do - with and for their children.

The greatest brain development occurs within the first three to five years of life. At birth, a baby has over 100 billion brain cells, but if the brain is not stimulated properly during those early years, the cells will not form connections (synapses) that are needed for the child’s healthy emotional and mental development.

These early years are just as important in building positive self-esteem. Every interaction that parents have with their children will either enhance or decrease their perception of themselves. In addition to providing the basic necessities, parents must also: provide a nurturing environment, give unconditional love to their children, appropriately praise their children for their accomplishments as they grow and develop, and firmly, yet lovingly, enforce logical consequences for negative behavior. When parents do this, then children will learn to respect and value themselves.

Educators can have an influence on a child, but rarely are they the primary determinant of a child’s sense of worth. Blaming educators for a child’s lack of self-esteem is as absurd as blaming them for a child’s early brain development, which occurs before that child ever sets foot in a classroom!

Parenting is the hardest job that anyone could ever have, and it DOES NOT come naturally. Since we are not born knowing every thing we need to know about raising children, we need to learn how to be effective caregivers. We learn many of these skills from our own parents, by our experiences, through observations of other parents and caregivers, by reading, attending parenting classes, etc…

Source: Hernando Today, FL
http://www.hernandotoday.com/letters/MGBS7G6757F.html

Kindergarten still is voluntary in California, and legislative efforts to make kindergarten mandatory are regularly defeated by home-schooling families and some religious groups. But for the overwhelming majority of children who attend kindergarten, the California Department of Education has clearly defined “academic content standards” that spell out exactly what children should know by the end of their first year of formal schooling.

The expectations are far more rigorous than the kindergarten of a generation ago. Among the skills students must master: counting to 30, writing words and brief sentences that are legible, understanding simple addition and subtraction, telling a story and distinguishing letters from words.

“We never expected students to read in kindergarten, and we used to think that they couldn’t write,” said Sharon Weight, who was instrumental in creating full-day kindergarten in the Campbell Union School District in 2000. “But it’s not true. Kids love to write. There needs to be direct teaching, and then plenty of time for them to apply what they are learning. With a half day, there was too much pressure. You don’t want to lose the songs and the music and the playtime.” …

In California, with many educators emphasizing the importance of preschool and students taking standardized tests by second grade, some teachers stress how crucial it is to make kindergarten a positive experience that sets the stage for a lifetime love of learning.

“You have to respect a child’s wonder in the world,” said Dr. Jerlean Daniel of the National Association for the Education of Young Children. “There’s a lot of fear that the uniqueness of kindergarten is getting lost because of the pressure of No Child Left Behind and the renewed interest in preschool. So how do you make sure that kindergarten is a high-quality experience? For some people, the answer is a longer day, but it’s important to look at how the time is being spent.” …

Source: San Jose Mercury News, USA
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_7023974?nclick_check=1

There wasn’t much to celebrate when the National Assessment of Educational Progress test results disclosed earlier this week.

The news wasn’t particularly good nationally, with scores that were largely flat as compared with the results two years ago, deflating some of the president’s arguments as America reconsiders the No Child Left Behind law…

There is one state that can look upon the results released this week with a great deal of pride and satisfaction, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. NAEP measures the scores in both reading and mathematics for the fourth and eighth grades…

The results are astounding. In all four categories, Massachusetts tops the list of all states, a feat never achieved by any other…

So is there some kind of “Massachusetts Miracle” to explain these impressive results? No, suggests Abigail Thernstrom, a former member of the Massachusetts Board of Education and co-author of No Excuses: Closing the Racial Gap in Learning. Just hard work and honesty in testing.

In an e-mail from Ms. Thernstrom she said, “Massachusetts NAEP scores are no miracle. They reflect the policies of a board of education that has been dedicated to a rigorous curriculum, tough assessments, and transparent results. The first scores on the state’s exams were shockingly low, but the board stuck to its standards, insisting that students could meet them and that teachers themselves had to work harder and smarter. The result: the Commonwealth is first in the nation on the NAEP tests.”

Massachusetts demands that its high school graduates pass an exit exam, a requirement that enrages the powerful and growing anti-testing movement. But this sets a high bar and a clear goal.

Along the way, Massachusetts, like every state under the No Child Left Behind law, tests its children in grades three through eight. But unlike many other states, the Bay State is unafraid to align their tests with the tough standards set by NAEP.

Real reform begins with the truth, and in Massachusetts, that strategy pays dividends as this week’s NAEP results demonstrate…

Source: New York Sun, NY
http://www.nysun.com/article/63554?page_no=3

Any expat moving to a foreign country with kids in tow has to decide what sort of education they are going to pursue. The options at either extreme are trying to replicate the schooling the kids would receive in their home country as closely as possible or shoving them into the deep end of their new home, with full immersion into a local school.

In Beijing there are a host of international schools catering to foreigners. Though there are many languages represented, the three biggest are all English language institutions boasting a veritable United Nations of students. Most expats, including us, chose to educate their children in a Western setting.

A small but growing number of expat parents in China make a very different choice, however, sending their kids to local schools. There are a couple of reasons that expats opt for local education. Most who do so are here long-term and want their kids fully immersed both culturally and linguistically. And most of them are “halfpats” — people who have come here on their own, meaning they are not blessed with the incentives-laden expat packages that generally pay for education. Most international schools cost about $20,000 per year…

… Many Westerners fear the Chinese school system because it is considered overly rigid, with strict discipline and an emphasis on rote memorization over creativity or critical thinking. Primary students can have hours of homework a night.

“I think kids should have time to play and be kids,” says Canadian Laura Johnson-Hill, whose seven-year-old daughter is enrolled at the French school (a more affordable international option) after attending Chinese preschool.

Others see it differently. For Irene Tanner, an American parent whose 5-year-old daughter attends a bilingual school, the academic discipline is a large part of the attraction. “Expectations are much higher and I think the kids are pushed higher,” says Ms. Tanner. “I understand that people don’t like it for the same reason but I don’t see anything wrong with a rigorous primary school platform.”

Still, Ms. Tanner moved her daughter from a purely Chinese school to a bilingual alternative in part because she was frustrated by her own inability to stay on top of the education. Though her spoken Chinese is quite good, she couldn’t understand the written memos or adequately discuss her daughters’ education with teachers or administrators. “You have to either be truly fluent in Chinese or willing to be a fairly passive participant in your child’s education,” she says.

Most expats who start out in Chinese schools eventually transfer to a Western option, unless the children plan to attend a Chinese university. Chinese high school diplomas are accepted at U.S. universities but people tend to pick an international curriculum to make sure the students receive sufficient schooling in relevant topics such as Western history. Whether their new curriculum is French, English, American or international, most of the kids find it easier than their old…

Source: Wall Street Journal - USA
http://tinyurl.com/3c3doe

Women in their 30s are exhausted by the demands of a career, motherhood and running a home, researchers say.

A study has found that these women believe this is their “hardest decade”, with many admitting to feeling stressed, missing sleep and skipping meals.

And in their 40s, when those who have delayed motherhood must cope with young children, are almost as bad.

According to the study, the pressure on these women is putting their health at risk.

About 85 per cent of those surveyed said they “frequently feel tired” and 59 per cent “feel tired all the time”. Only 25 per cent regularly get seven or eight hours sleep a night, while 75 per cent were “lucky if they get six hours”. Forty per cent usually slept less than six hours a night.

Meanwhile, the vast majority in their 30s and 40s are stressed out and have to snack their way through the day because they don’t have time to eat properly…

Marina Crook, editor of Top Sante magazine, which carried out the research, said: “When 30-something women say they are ‘tired and stressed out of their minds’, they probably are.

“Tiredness and stress are the ailments of our age and combined with a poor diet they cause low immunity and ill health…

Source: Adelaidenow, Australia
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,22501078-910,00.html

One of the world’s foremost neuroscientists has attacked educationists who use “tall tales” about how the brain works to influence teaching.

Sergio Della Salla, Professor of Human Cognitive Neuroscience at Edinburgh University, told delegates at the Scottish Learning Festival that teachers should be far more sceptical about the “hype of brain research”.

He debunked a range of brain learning theories, some of which are accepted currency in Scottish schools, urging educationists to use caution and wait for real evidence before accepting some theories.

He described scientific claims about “Brain Gym” – a resource in which many Scottish education authorities have invested – as “complete mumbo-jumbo”. He continued: “But is it completely bad? No. Kids moving around is good. My point is, why do they need neuroscience backing when the neuroscience they claim is wrong.” …

Professor Della Salla came to the defence of the French education minister Gilles de Robien, who provoked strike ballots among French teachers when he told them to abandon “global” or “look and say”-style reading methods in favour of a phonics-based methodology.

“Research shows that using the global reading method is much less efficient than the letter by letter method, and more dangerous for children with fragile reading skills. He changed the system overnight, but people in education complained. I don’t understand why if you know one system works better than the other one,” he said.

He was particularly dismissive of claims about “whole brain” learning; claims that people used only 10 per cent of their brain potential (“there is no 90 per cent there waiting to be used”); and that people who learned how to breathe through their left nostril could stimulate the right side of their brain (“pseudoscience mumbo-jumbo”)…

Source: Times Educational Supplement, UK
http://www.tes.co.uk/2437812

Children who have older brothers become more aggressive over time, on average, than those who have older sisters. Older siblings with younger sisters become less aggressive.

Children with older sisters who are very aggressive become more aggressive and older siblings with younger brothers showed fairly stable levels of aggression over time.

In sum, the presence of both older and younger siblings influences the development of aggressive behavior in adolescence. Having a brother or a highly aggressive sibling of either gender can lead to greater increases in aggression over time.

These findings are from researchers at the University of California, Davis, and are published in the September/October 2007 issue of the journal Child Development…

The study also found that older siblings who were aggressive tended to have younger siblings who were also aggressive, and vice versa. This association was found for sibling pairs with two boys, two girls, and one boy and one girl. Aggression in younger siblings also predicted increases in aggression in older siblings over time, and vice versa, though the extent varied according to each sibling’s gender.

Parents’ hostility also played a role in the development of aggression in their children. Family economic pressure predicted increased aggression indirectly, through its association with parental hostility.

“Understanding the factors associated with the development of aggression is essential to the design and implementation of effective intervention efforts aimed at decreasing aggression and its negative consequences,” notes Shannon Tierney Williams, a researcher at the University of California, Davis, and the study’s lead author. “These findings suggest that such interventions may benefit from including both siblings and parents in these efforts.” …

Source: EurekAlert, DC
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-09/sfri-aia092407.php

According to the National Education Association, research shows that the ideal number of students in a class is 13 to 17…

I know what some of you are thinking. Years ago teachers in Tennessee had classes of 45 students each. Many factors have changed.

One, the state of the family is no longer that two parents are present, one of whom in the “olden days” was most likely a full time homemaker available to the child as soon as he reached home at the end of the school day. Two, the “inclusion” laws stating that children with special disabilities attend class with all other children were not in effect at that time. Three, children failed until they reached certain benchmarks of competency. Four, strict discipline was enforced not only at school but at home.

School is not the same place it used to be.

Back to present circumstances, class size matters…

If you have never been involved with a kindergarten class, you should visit one some day. You’ll find a world unto itself. Each child believes truly that she or he is the only one who matters. Some cry; others have bathroom issues; some don’t get along with others; some believe tantrums get what you want.

Dealing with 17 kindergarten children at the time is a mammoth job. Teaching them is on an even higher plane. Trying to cope with 25 or 26 at the time is grounds for hysteria, in my opinion. God bless the teachers who take on this challenge every day!

First-grade teachers are also included in this category because they too have high hurdles daily. …