Some kids get “rulered,” while others are “whupped” or “popped.” Sometimes they get “cuffed,” “drubbed,” “blipped” or “boxed.” The semantics don’t matter, said Jordan Riak; it’s all a spanking, and, according to the longtime corporal punishment abolitionist, it’s unacceptable by any name, anywhere.

“The public is in denial,” he said. “You have to invent funny words to keep it from being serious. It’s cartoon language: ‘Oh, I’m not violent, I just gave him a butt-warming.’”

Riak, 72, is a retired teacher who has dedicated about three decades of his life trying to convince people that sparing the rod isn’t spoiling the child and using it can cause mental scars for life.

It’s a movement that has gained ground, particularly when it comes to corporal punishment in schools. The practice is now outlawed in 39 states, with legislation drafted by Riak leading to California’s ban in 1987.

“It has to start in schools,” he said. “If (teachers) do it, it represents authority, it represents the government condoning it. Parents say, ‘What’s wrong with it if the government can do it?’ And schools use the excuse, ‘What’s wrong with it if they do it at home?’ One hand washes the other.” (…)

“(Spanking children) is the same as husbands hitting their wives 75 years ago,” he said. “They’re supposed to honor and obey, and if she serves the coffee cold, well, then she gets a slap to remind her.”

He found his crusade when he moved his family to Sydney, Australia, in the 1970s. His 8-year-old son came home from school one day, terrified at seeing a classmate in tears after being struck across the palms for misbehaving.

“I was amazed that this was going on,” he said. “I was raised in New Jersey, a state that banned corporal punishment (in schools) when Abraham Lincoln was president. Even my mother thought it no longer existed in civilized nations.”

Riak went to the school and asked to see the switch that was used. He then refused to return it.

“I told the headmaster, ‘This is a weapon. It has no business in schools, and no business being used on children.’” Riak said. “Then I called all the media outlets and told them I’m turning myself in to the Paddington Police Station for the theft of government property.”

Riak took the publicity stunt and ran with it, often posing for photographers in his yard, burying the headmaster’s switch. (…)

At home, Riak’s son said his father set an example that he follows with his own children, ages 1 and 4.

“There are rewards for good behavior and a lack of rewards for behavior that isn’t good,” said Oren Riak, 42. “I could never imagine hitting our kids. If I raise my voice to my daughter, it’s shocking to her. I’d never raise my hand, that’s crazy. A grown man raising an open hand to a 40-pound girl is just nuts.”

Jordan Riak called spanking a lazy method of parenting: “If (children) are not listening, find a more skilled way to get their attention. If parents are looking for a one-sentence solution, they’re going to be disappointed. Parenting is a major commitment, and there should be lessons, like a driver’s education course before you can get behind the wheel. It should be as essential.” (…)

Riak acknowledged that people resent being told how they should raise their kids, and he gets his fair share of hate mail.

An excerpt from a December e-mail: “Without properly and thoughtfully applied stern discipline, (not useless timeout peter pan fantasy crap), a child will grow to be a disrespectful and anger filled person. … Don’t even think you’ll come into my home and tell me that I’ll not spank my child, you may just find yourself getting a season of applied leather education for yourself.”

Source: Bloomington Pantagraph, USA
http://tinyurl.com/2xp8jt

It’s terrific that MySpace has committed to making the social networking site safer for teens in an agreement with 49 states’ attorneys general. But a few of the “new” promises seem unrealistic at best.

Creating software for parents to block kids from joining social networks may be okay for ‘tweens, but once kids hit teen years, social networking is so much a part of the way they interact with friends when school is out, that forbidding them to join is foolish, shortsighted, and simply a bad parenting move. Tech-savvy kids will find a way around a total ban at friends’ houses, the library, anywhere a computer is available.

As for the proposed goal of deleting all registered sex offenders from MySpace, it’s tough to do since you can use any name and age to create a MySpace account. Creating a database of email addresses supplied by parents who don’t want their kids to create accounts is pointless, too, since kids are pretty adept at creating several web-based email addresses. And age verification for kids is not an easy system to put in place.

The good news is there already are some effective privacy precautions and safety tips at teens’ fingertips. They just have to use them. And parents need to find them and read them. Good judgment will always be the best defense against online predators and bullying tactics. Parents need to talk to their kids about how be smart and safe online, not forbid them from going there.

Here’s a look at the safety measures already available on the two most popular social networking sites for teens, MySpace and Facebook.

MySpace: You have to look for it, but scroll to the bottom of the MySpace home page and you’ll see “safety tips.” There, you’ll find lots of info for parents and teens about how to social network safely on MySpace. Click the “safety settings” tab and you’ll find step-by-step instructions for … (…)

Facebook: Facebook provides so many options for privacy settings, you have to work at it. But that’s not a bad thing; teens just need to believe privacy is worth spending time on. This is a good thing for parents and kids to do together. The word “privacy” is at the top right-hand corner of the Facebook home page. Click on it, and you’ll be able to adjust your privacy settings as you like them. (…)

So while we wait for more developments to arise from the MySpace/attorneys general pact, make use of the tools already in place to keep teens safe on these popular social networks.

Source: Yahoo! Tech, CA
http://tinyurl.com/2l633g

Most people know it from experience: After so many hours of being awake, your brain feels unable to absorb any more–and several hours of sleep will refresh it.

Now new research from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health clarifies this phenomenon, supporting the idea that sleep plays a critical role in the brain’s ability to change in response to its environment. This ability, called plasticity, is at the heart of learning.

The UW-Madison scientists showed by several measures that synapses — nerve cell connections central to brain plasticity — were very strong when rodents had been awake and weak when they had been asleep.

The new findings reinforce the UW-Madison researchers’ highly-debated hypothesis about the role of sleep. They believe that people sleep so that their synapses can downsize and prepare for a new day and the next round of learning and synaptic strengthening.

The human brain expends up to 80 percent of its energy on synaptic activity, constantly adding and strengthening connections in response to all kinds of stimulation, explains study author Chiara Cirelli, associate professor of psychiatry.

Given that each of the millions of neurons in the human brain contains thousands of synapses, this energy expenditure “is huge and can’t be sustained.”

“We need an off-line period, when we are not exposed to the environment, to take synapses down,” Cirelli say. “We believe that’s why humans and all living organisms sleep. Without sleep, the brain reaches a saturation point that taxes its energy budget, its store of supplies and its ability to learn further.” (…)

“Taken together, these molecular and electro-physiological measures fit nicely with the idea that our brain circuits get progressively stronger during wakefulness and that sleep helps to recalibrate them to a sustainable baseline,” says Cirelli.

The theory she and collaborator Dr. Giulio Tononi, professor of psychiatry, have developed, called the synaptic homeostasis hypothesis, runs against the grain of what many scientists currently think about how sleep affects learning. The most popular notion these days, says Cirelli, is that during sleep synapses are hard at work replaying the information acquired during the previous waking hours, consolidating that information by becoming even stronger.

“That’s different from what we think,” she says. “We believe that learning occurs only when we are awake, and sleep’s main function is to keep our brains and all its synapses lean and efficient.” (…)

Source: Science Daily
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080120160658.htm

State Education Minister Rod Welford has blasted parents for failing to socially educate their children and has ordered teachers to pick up the slack.

Mr Welford said today’s teenagers were the most “under-parented generation in our history” and dramatic changes were needed to stem bullying, drug and alcohol abuse, depression and other youth behavioural problems.

Announcing a controversial “social and emotional” education strategy to start in state schools this year, Mr Welford said teachers would be asked to play a bigger parental role.

“Parents have dropped the ball,” Mr Welford said. “No one wants to admit it, but as a society we have outsourced child-raising in ways where kids are missing out on learning those basic skills of life.”

The minister, who has a 21-year-old daughter, wants educators to help schoolchildren cope with anxiety, failure and bad behaviour – lessons, he says, many no longer get at home.

But the Queensland Teachers’ Union yesterday slammed the idea, saying teachers should not be expected to replace parents.

“Schools should not be seen as the easy fix to this problem,” said union president Steve Ryan. (…)

Mr Welford said change was needed because “under-15-year-olds in Australia are the most under-parented generation in our history”.

“This is not necessarily a criticism of parents, but a function of the changing society,” he said.

“Kids are not getting this mentoring in the early years in the way we all once did . . . boys especially are at risk. It is our responsibility to help them grow up.”

The minister said there shouldn’t be resistance from teachers to his new learning plan because “they are already doing it”.

“Traditionally, the education community would say, ‘Now hang on, that’s the parents’ role. I am a teacher, I want to teach them the three Rs, I don’t want to have to do that’,” he said.

“Well, I have two responses to that: first, the greatest teachers have always been mentors of the whole child, not just the academic one; and second, I don’t think we have a choice. (…)

Source: NEWS.com.au, Australia
http://tinyurl.com/264y24

People have been trying to figure out why we sleep for almost as long as we have been conscious of being awake, tossing and turning in the dark.

After a few restless nights, most of us can’t even think straight. We are less able to make sense of problems, make competent moral judgments or retain what we learn, even though studies show our brain cells fire more frenetically to overcome the lack of sleep. Lose too much sleep and we become reckless, emotionally fragile, and more vulnerable to infections and to diabetes, heart disease and obesity, recent research suggests.

Yet scientists probing the purpose of sleep are still largely in the dark. “Why we sleep at all is a strange bastion of the unknown,” said sleep psychologist Matthew Walker at the University of California in Berkeley.

One vital function of sleep, researchers argue, may be to help our brains sort, store and consolidate new memories, etching experiences more indelibly into the brain’s biochemical archives.

Even a 90-minute nap can significantly improve our ability to master new motor skills and strengthen our memories of what we learn, researchers at the University of Haifa in Israel reported last month in Nature Neuroscience. “Napping is as effective as a night’s sleep,” said psychologist Sara Mednick at the University of California in San Diego.

Moreover, slumber seems to boost our ability to make sense of new knowledge by allowing the brain to detect connections between things we learn.

In research published last April in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. Walker and his collaborators at the Harvard Medical School tested 56 college students and found that their ability to discern the big picture in disparate pieces of information improved measurably after the brain could, during a night’s sleep, mull things over.

It is these patterns of meaning — the distilled essence of knowledge — that we remember so well. “Sleep helps stabilize memory,” said neurologist Jeffrey Ellenbogen, director of the sleep medicine program at Massachusetts General Hospital. (…)

Sleep is controlled partly by our genes. The difference between those of us who naturally wake at dawn and night owls who are wide-eyed at midnight may be partly due to variations in a gene named Period3, which affects our biological clock. Variations in that gene also make some people especially sensitive to sleep deprivation, scientists at the U.K.’s University of Surrey recently reported.

For many of us, though, sleeplessness is a self-inflicted epidemic in which lifestyle overrides basic biology. “In this odd, Western 24-hour-MTV-fast-food generation we have created, we all feel the need to achieve more and more. The one thing that takes a hit is sleep,” Dr. Walker said. On average, most people sleep 75 minutes less each night than people did a century ago, sleep surveys record. (…)

The expectation of a nap, however, is by itself enough to measurably lower our blood pressure, researchers at the Liverpool John Moores University in England reported in October in the Journal of Applied Physiology.

Indeed, regular nappers — working men who took a siesta for 30 minutes or more at least three times a week — had a 64% lower risk of heart-related death, researchers at the University of Athens reported last February in the Archives of Internal Medicine. (…)

Source: Wall Street Journal
http://tinyurl.com/yobeo9

More than 42,000 Year 12 students in Queensland have just been notified of their university course offer for 2008.

A teacher friend, based in a large Brisbane high school with a significant enrolment of Australian students of Asian parentage, commented that offers into science (medicine), pharmacy, dentistry and other related careers were keenly sought and gained by those students.

The success of students from Asian backgrounds in academic performance has been the subject of several recent cross-cultural studies both in Australia and in the United States.

The general conclusion is that Asian families who have settled in Western countries appear to approach their studies more seriously than non-Asians and aim to achieve high grades.

A recurring theme of many of these cross-cultural studies is that children from Confucian heritage cultures (especially, China, Korea and Japan) academically out-perform their Western counterparts.

This conclusion is also supported by research from the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). It recently reported that university entrance rankings for Anglo-Australian students averages 70/100 while for Australian students of Asian background it is 79/100.

A survey of 2600 Year 11 students in state and public schools in Sydney was conducted by Paar and Mok (1995) who reported that children born of Asian families residing in Australia were more likely to gain a university place than people born in Anglo-Australian families.

This survey also showed that the parents of Asian-Australian children placed a greater importance on their children going to university than did their Anglo-Australian counterparts.

My teacher friend suggests their parents back up the efforts of teachers to encourage their children to do well at school.

The influence of parents on a child’s education is well documented. A fascinating result was found by a study of South Australian final-year primary school students in 2000, comparing Asian-Australians to their Anglo-Australian peers.

The study, by academics Justine Dandy and Ted Nettelbeck, confirmed the popular belief that Asian-Australian school students do more homework than Anglo-Australians.

In the US over the past two decades, the academic achievements of Asian-American children have been recognised not only by classroom teachers, school counsellors and administrators, but also by the general public through the mass media.

Their high academic achievement is reflected in the numbers who receive scholarships from leading universities. This success has attracted the attention of many educators and sociologists who are focusing on the potential variables contributing to these accomplishments.

The cross-cultural factors identified in the US studies probably apply in Australia as well: Asian parents traditionally feel obligated to assist their children in any way they can. Asian parents show strong feelings concerning the value of education for their children’s success. Asian parents are willing to commit all their resources to ensure the best education is available for their offspring. Asian parents still preserve the traditional attitude that parents play a major role in their children’s education and career choice. Asian parents try very hard to assert their opinions and to exert an influence on their children’s future occupation.

Anglo-Australian parents on the other hand adopt different cultural factors: Individualism is highly marked and personal choice is generally well respected. A student’s weekend activities are less rigid and task-orientated than for Australia-Asian families. Team sports and other group-oriented ventures are pursued rather than individualised pursuits such as music or language lessons. Anglo-Australian students are more likely to have part-time jobs.

Deputy Prime Minister and Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard recently reported a fall in Australia’s education standards. A 2007 study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reports the performances of Australian high school students in the key areas of maths and reading have fallen since 2000 compared to other developed nations.

Anglo-Australian students, particularly at secondary levels, perhaps need to adopt the hours of study typical in Asian-Australian families.

However, most Anglo-Australian families would never countenance the lifestyle sacrifice this would require.

Source: Courier Mail, Australia
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,23067479-27197,00.html

All kinds of products are advertised as brain boosters for children - classical music, books, TV shows - but what really works?

Studies show up to 20 percent of a child’s IQ is influenced by prenatal experience. So researchers have identified ways to boost a baby’s brain activity before he or she is even born.

Three-year-old Parker is smart for his age, and mom Lynette Whiston hopes her next baby will be, too!

“It’s important, so our children can accomplish what they want to in life,” she said.

Whiston’s not alone. Today, parents-to-be feel the need to invest in all sorts of gadgets to make their babies smarter.

“I think there’s a fad these days to try to stimulate your baby before birth, and I have not seen any evidence that it is beneficial,” said Dr. Lise Eliot, neurobiologist at the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in Chicago.

So what does work? Experts say pregnant women can begin by getting the right nutrients. Choline helps memory areas of the brain develop. It’s recommended moms-to-be get 450 milligrams a day. And folic acid supplements are recommended before conception.

“It’s wise advice for all women just to take a multi-vitamin every day,” said Eliot.

Studies have shown children whose mothers consume fish oil score about four IQ points higher on tests. And breast-fed children score up to five points higher.

Women who gain about 20 percent of their ideal body weight are said to have children with higher IQs. And one study shows those who exercise while pregnant have smarter children at 5 years old.

“Women who exercise regularly have more easier deliveries,” said Eliot.

That could mean a happier and a more alert baby. Lowering stress levels could, too. Stress hormones can cross the placenta and in extreme cases and cause pre-term delivery.

But what about after the babies are born? Can those special toys, DVDs and TV shows really make your baby even smarter?

“There is no direct evidence that suggest if you buy special videos or really hype it up or interact in particular ways you are going to get a smarter baby,” said Fran Stott, professor at the Erickson Institute, a graduate school in child development in Chicago.

Stott says good nutrition before and after the baby is born, combined with one-on-one interaction, is key. Even just getting on the floor and playing with your baby or toddler does amazing things for their brain development.

“With infants, you need love and basic care and interaction. They do not need high-powered stimulation,” said Stott. “They need interaction, and there is a difference.”

So, the message to parents is to relax and know there are simple steps to give babies the best start possible. (…)

Source: ABC7Chicago.com, USA
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/health&id=5898994

China said it would issue new rules cracking down on “undesirable” elements of online games amid fears of growing Internet addiction as the number of players soars, state media reported on Thursday.

The number of online game players in China rose 23 percent to 40.17 million last year, Xinhua news agency said this week, citing an industry survey. Regular subscribers, accounting for over half the players, soared 30 percent.

The demand propelled online games sales to top 10.57 billion yuan ($1.46 billion) in 2007, up 61.5 percent, the agency said.

The industry’s growth comes amid media reports of soaring rates of online addiction, and officials blaming Internet obsessions for the majority of juvenile crime.

“Although China’s online gaming industry had been hot in recent years, online games are regarded by many as a sort of spiritual opium and the whole industry is marginalized by mainstream society,” Thursday’s China Daily quoted Kou Xiaowei, a senior official with the General Administration of Press and Publication, as saying.

“If we don’t make adjustments, the industry will suffer sooner or later,” Kou said.

China has banned children from Internet cafes and last year ordered their owners to enforce time restrictions in the wake of several cases involving obsessive players dying of fatigue after marathon game sessions.

But attempts to regulate the booming industry have been undermined by a lack of a proper rating system in China and easy access to pirated games online and on street corners. (…)

Source: Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSPEK3508320080117

Talking to your children about sex can be embarrassing, awkward, and uncomfortable. Just the thought of having this talk is enough to make many parents blush. But not having it may be setting your children up for serious problems down the road — including teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases — say leading psychoanalysts at the annual meeting of the American Psychoanalytic Association in New York City.

“Many people aren’t talking to their kids about sex. Or they feel very conflicted about talking to their kids about sex and they have their own personal conflicts which get into the mix,” explains psychoanalyst Gail Saltz, MD, an associate professor of psychiatry at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell School of Medicine.

“Parents still struggle for ways to talk about this all-important material, but they really have no choice because it is so prevalent,” she says. “The current media is very glorifying of sexualized material, and today’s children have Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, and Britney Spears as role models,” she says.

To make sure your children get the right message about sex and sexuality, follow these tips:

Tip No. 1: Start Young and Go Slow

“When children are aged 3 to 5 they will start talking about body parts and babies,” says New York City psychoanalyst Leon Hoffman, MD, the director of the Pacella Parent Child Center. Now is a good time to start having the conversation. “Answer their questions and don’t elaborate with more details then they are ready to hear.”

Tip No. 2: Never Use Pet Names for Body Parts

“Parents refer to a sexual organ as ‘down there’ or ‘that place’ and that leaves children with confusion, and they grow into women who need help with sexual dysfunction,” Saltz says. Or “a child may go to a doctor or nurse and say ‘I have a problem with my woo-woo,’ and no one knows what she is talking about and they laugh.” To avoid this, use the correct terminology and explain what it is and what it does. “Say ‘this is your vulva or vagina or penis’ from the get-go.”

Tip No. 3: View Current Events as an Opportunity

Whether it’s the success of Juno, a movie about teen pregnancy, or the pregnancy of 16-year-old Jamie Lynn Spears, star of the TV show Zoey 101, Saltz says to “view these as an opportunity to discuss something that may now feel more personally relevant to your children. If your child asks why Zoey [the character played by Spears] is saying good-bye, talk [to them] about being responsible, the facts about intercourse, and the ways in which it changes you and your life,” she says.

Tip No. 4: Don’t Use Yourself as the Example

When you are explaining sexual intercourse between partners, don’t use yourself as an example, Hoffman says. Instead, “use generic examples as most children don’t want to hear about mommy and daddy in that context.”

Tip No. 5: Talk About the Different Types of Sex

When the time is right, parents need to talk with their children about oral sex and anal sex because these types of sex can also put them at risk for STDs, Saltz says.

Tip No. 6: Don’t Leave Anything Out

“Kids are sexual beings with sexual feelings,” Saltz says, so masturbation and sexual fantasy should be a part of the ongoing dialogue. Parents should let their children know that it is OK to masturbate, she says, but that it should be done privately. Some children may masturbate excessively, and parents need to ask how much is too much because constant masturbating may be a sign of anxiety.

“Many parents would never broach the topic of sexual fantasy, but kids have sexual fantasies, [and] parents can be very reassuring to their children by letting them know this is normal,” Saltz says.

Source: WebMD
http://tinyurl.com/22h26m

Jack P. Shonkoff, a Harvard pediatrician, was only sort of joking when he referred to 3-year- olds as middle-aged.

By then, much of the basic circuitry of a child’s brain, a series of connections not yet formed at birth, has already developed.

A child whose parents interact with her will probably have well-formed brain circuits and a strong foundation to build on. A child raised in an abusive environment may have damage to his brain architecture that sets him on a path to lifelong problems in learning, behavior, and mental and physical health.

“Things are happening early on in the lives of young children that are either going to set a strong foundation for high economic achievement and high economic productivity … or can build a foundation that’s going to be the beginning of failure, of school failure and economic dependence and criminal behavior,” said Shonkoff, a professor of child health and development and founder of the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University.

Shonkoff spoke to policymakers, educators and other professionals Tuesday as part of the Governor’s Early Childhood Summit.

“Every child gets one chance at their first 1,000 days,” Gov. M. Jodi Rell said. “We don’t want to squander that.”

The summit came as many states, including Connecticut, work to expand and remake early childhood programs, spurred in part by research that links a child’s earliest experiences to key brain developments. Studies have shown that focusing on the most disadvantaged children as early as possible can lead to significant savings in special education, welfare and prison costs, Shonkoff said. (…)

Stable, safe relationships and rich learning experiences are key to brain development, Shonkoff said. Children can get them at home and in child-care programs, but they must be evidence-based, quality programs, he said. Child care must be treated as something to facilitate child development, not just to allow parents to go to work, he said. (…)

Source: Hartford Courant, United States
http://www.courant.com/news/education/hc-ctwired0116.artjan16,0,4930379.story