A new Father’s Day poll shows nearly 75 per cent of Australian dads learned their most valuable and important life skills from their own fathers.

Top among those skills was how to drive a car, how to ride a bike, changing a tyre, changing a light bulb, building a fire and knotting a tie.

According to parenting expert and author Michael Grose, the findings of the Braun Series 7 Father’s Day Poll reinforced the importance of the father and son relationship in a child’s development.

“We know from previous scientific research that boys who have active and involved fathers are more likely to do better academically, socially and emotionally,” he said in a statement.

“Given that many dads of today credit their father as being their most important teacher of life skills underscores just how important male role models can be for young boys.”

The survey was conducted online by Galaxy Research this month among 410 fathers, ahead of Father’s Day next Sunday.

Mr Grose said the reason why dads were number one when it came to teaching their sons life skills was because activities were at the centre the father-son relationship.

“The language of fathering is all about doing things - sometimes it’s kicking a football around, other times it might be helping to tinker around with the car,” he said.

The survey also found the quality most admired by sons in their fathers was their hard working approach, followed by honesty, supportiveness, loyalty, strength and kindness.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald, Australia
http://news.smh.com.au/national/sons-get-vital-life-skills-from-dads-20080831-46b0.html

France has banned TV channels from airing programming aimed at children three-years-old and younger. The Parents Television Council believes that’s not a bad thing.

According to a recent AP article, the High Audiovisual Council of France — in an effort to protect children from the harmful effects of television — has banned TV channels that target toddlers. The article notes that television impairs child development — “encouraging passivity, slow language acquisition, over-excitedness, troubles with sleep and concentration as well as dependence on screens.”

The article also states that the Council’s ruling will order cable operators who air foreign channels that target toddlers to broadcast a warning message. That message will alert parents to the harmful developmental effects television can have on children. Christine Albanel, France’s minister for culture and communication, announced a “cry of alarm” to parents in June concerning 24-hour programming targeted at young children, such as BabyFirstTV and Baby TV.

Melissa Henson, the director of communications and public education with the Parents Television Council, says research has shown that too much television can be harmful to young children.

“Human interaction is far more important for a child’s development than even so-called educational videos,” Henson contends. “So putting a child in front of even a video like Baby Einstein or something like that, which is supposed to be beneficial to their brain development, actually can stunt the development far more than just letting them sit in the playpen and observe the world around them and observe people interacting around them.”

BabyFirstTV claims that their programs are designed for parents and children to watch together interactively. However, critics believe the shows are used as baby sitters.

Henson says being interactive with your children helps them to read emotions and interpret behavior, and also creates a better learning environment.

Source: OneNewsNow, MS
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=231702

The stereotypical image of a school bully as tough and self-confident needs revising, according to research that found the vast majority of bullies are victims themselves.

A study conducted by researchers at the Institute of Education in London found that less than 1% of primary school children are “true bullies” – those who are not bullied by their peers.
Researchers found that bullies are more likely than their classmates to suffer from low self-esteem, depression, and behavioural problems from early childhood and through primary school. They are more likely to suffer from mental health problems later in life too.

The government-funded study, carried out by the Centre for Research on the Wider Benefits of Learning (WBL), looked at data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, a study of children born in the former Avon Health Authority between April 1 1991 and December 31 1992.

Focusing on information collected from 6,500 eight- to 11-year-olds, researchers found that 5% of children were bullies, but only 0.5% were “true” bullies, while 4.5% were bullied themselves.

The majority (74%) of bullies were found to be boys, who suffered the highest levels of depression, anger, paranoia, emotional disaffection and suicidal behaviour, and disliked school the most.

The researchers argued that this absence of “true” bullies could be down to the social environment of primary schools, where children have less tolerance for power imbalances. They suggest that more of these bullies could be found in secondary schools, not examined in the study, as social arrangements are more hierarchical and power balances less equal.

The study acknowledged the work of peer-mentoring schemes already in place in schools to counter bullying, but suggested more long-term strategies in schools were needed, as older children who are bully/victims may have had emotional or behavioural problems from an early age.

Dr Leslie Gutman, lead author of the study, said: “We are not suggesting that schools should adopt a soft approach to bullying but simply stating that, on the basis of the evidence, bullying is a more complex issue than some people believe it to be.”
She added: “Early interventions that teach children coping strategies for developmental difficulties such as hyperactivity may also alleviate the later possibility of being targeted as victims and/or engaging in bullying.”

The study also revealed that being an only child or the youngest sibling had virtually no affect on children’s bullying behaviour, although those from lower income families were more likely to be victimised, have few friends or regular fallouts, as, to a lesser extent, were those from ethnic minorities.

Source: guardian.co.uk, UK
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/aug/29/bullying.schools

Parents who teach their children at home could have twice the impact on raising their child’s performance at school compared to a good nursery education, a new study suggests.

There have been rising concerns about the relatively low numbers of children taking up science and mathematics at the secondary level and evidence is published today that parents could have a much bigger impact on raising standards later on than preschool education, by a Government backed project following more than 3000 children.

Ten-year-olds who have attended “high quality” preschool tend to score higher on mathematics tests than those who haven’t, reports Prof Edward Melhuish of Birkbeck, University of London, and colleagues from the Effective provision of Preschool and Primary Education (EPPE) project.

He said they were surprised by the degree to which early experience both in the preschool and home were so influential later in the child’s life.

“For the average child who went to a particularly effective or high quality preschool their maths scores would be boosted by around 27 per cent,” says Prof Melhuish.

However, the project revealed that the education of the parents - particularly the mother- still has the greatest influence, having twice the effect and thus boosting maths scores even more.

What parents did at home mattered too. “The effects of the early home learning environment were very strong, much stronger than people had anticipated.”

“An ideal home learning environment would be rich in stimulation and very responsive to the child’s communications and activities,” says Prof Melhuish.

“Parents would talk to their children frequently, read to them, maybe visit library to increase range of books for child, provide opportunities to draw, paint, learn songs and rhymes, dance and physical activities, play with numbers and shapes.

The important thing is that the home provides lots of learning opportunities, The fact that learning is taking place is more important than the actual content of the learning. This provides the child with the mental structures needed to learn new things.”

The team calls in the journal Science for countries such as America to adopt universal preschool, which might cost up to £5000 per child, of the kind adopted in Britain since 2004.

Whereas much of the previous research on preschool’s long-term effects focused on disadvantaged children, the researchers followed children from throughout England, from ages three and four through to age 10, and is still studying them at secondary school.

“This detailed data allows us to examine the effects of various factors while allowing for the differences in the other factors and backgrounds of children,” says Prof Melhuish.

“Our study is the first to show that preschool shows advantages across the whole population, while being able to allow for other confounding factors.”

The home environment is the most important; five years of “effective” primary school is next most important but is closely followed by 18 months of preschool experience in terms of relative size of effects.

As for what parents should look for when chosing a preschool, he says: “A play-based curriculum that offers lots of learning opportunities that cover reading and play with numbers and shapes and some time in individual, one-to-one activities as well as small group work”.

Starting “between two and three can be very beneficial, particularly for children from disadvantaged homes.”

Source: Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom
http://tinyurl.com/5jevbu

If children in the South learn that cheating is wrong, they probably won’t learn it from their parents.

Web site Ask.com released results today of a nationwide survey of 778 parents with children under 18. The survey showed that more than 40 percent of parents admitted to doing their children’s homework. In the South, that percentage jumped to almost 90 percent.

“One of the reasons we assign homework is to build attitudes of responsibility,” Fox said. “A parent who does their child’s homework is not supporting their growth as an individual, as a human being.”

The survey is being used to promote the Web site’s new study help feature, Askkids.com.

The survey, conducted by Kelton Research, provided insight into differences in:

Gender. Dad is a softer touch than Mom. Mom handles English. Dad handles math. Both help with art projects.

Age. Parents 65 and older are more likely to help their children with history and social studies homework. Young parents favor English. Math is for the middle-aged.

Affluence. Rich parents help more with homework than poor parents.

Region. Parents in the South and West are more likely to help with math than those in other parts of the nation.

Donna Layer, coordinator for the Birdville school district’s guidance and counseling department, said she can’t estimate how many parents locally do their children’s homework. But Layer said that the concern comes up occasionally.

“That could cause a problem if the teacher chooses to test on information attached to a homework assignment,” Layer said.

Fox said a parent’s job is to make a place for a child to do homework that is comfortable, free from distractions and has basic supplies.

“If a child asks for help, explain the process,” she said. “Don’t do the work for them.”

Source: Fort Worth Star Telegram, TX
http://www.star-telegram.com/593/story/864455.html

For years, new parents have been hearing that “breast is best,” and each decade, more and more women choose lactation as the primary food source for their newborns. It appears that breastfeeding may now produce a generation of smarter, happier babies. Studies have shown that babies need touching and nurturing to develop and survive and breastfeeding supplies both needs on a regular basis.

Breastfed babies followed from birth to 6 years had higher IQ scores than formula-fed babies. This is not a new finding. Past research has shown that mothers from more affluent backgrounds were more likely to breastfeed. Consideration was given to the fact that improved mental abilities may have been related to family circumstance as much as breastfeeding.

Researchers from Canada’s McGill University attempted to overcome the possible influence of family economics by evaluating children born in hospitals in Belarus. The group studied over 13,000 breastfed babies born in 31 maternity hospitals. Some of these hospitals ran breastfeeding promotions to boost rates across all groups. Some provided nursing training and provided support for breastfeeding mothers. The mothers who received the training and continuing support were more likely to nurse for a longer period of time.

The children were divided into groups for evaluation depending on whether their mothers were given nursing training or not. Babies who were exclusively breastfed for the first three months scored 5.9% higher on IQ tests in childhood. Tests indicated that the longer the babies were breastfed the more significant the intelligence difference.

When these children began school teachers also gave them significantly higher academic ratings in both reading and writing than children in control groups. The Archives of General Psychiatry lead researcher Professor Michael Kramer said, “Long-term, exclusive breastfeeding appears to improve children’s cognitive development.” Professor Kramer also said that it was not known if the increased intellectual development was due to some nutritive value of breast milk, or related to the physical and social interactions of breastfeeding.

There are several reasons that breastfeeding may improve the mental development of babies:

* Breast milk contains fatty acids and other nutrients that are necessary for the development of babies.
* Physical and emotional aspects of breastfeeding may lead to permanent improvements in brain development.
* Breastfeeding may increase verbal interaction between mother and child which could aid development.

Though the exact mechanism of improved intelligence as a result of breast feeding is not known there are also other reasons for breastfeeding; children who are breastfed generally have fewer gastrointestinal problems and they have better protection against obesity, diabetes and cancer. Women who breastfeed have a quicker recovery from childbirth and breastfeeding reduces a women’s risk of developing breast cancer.

Breastfeeding is natural and good for the baby and the mother. A pregnant woman who wants to breastfeed but isn’t sure how to began can ask her physician or midwife for a referral to a professional, or any of the many groups who advocate breastfeeding.

Source: HealthNews, CA
http://tinyurl.com/6lvajn

If your kids are behaving badly treat them like a dog, says Battersea Dogs Home behaviour expert

It’s a common scenario for many a harassed mother - you’re in the supermarket and your little darling starts playing up.

But forget the naughty step or cool-off corner.

The best way to handle misbehaving toddlers is to treat them like a dog, according to advice from a leading animal charity.

They claim that, because young children and animals are unable to communicate verbally, both need to be shown what is and is not acceptable behaviour.

Pat Moore, deputy head of behaviour at Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, said: ‘Becoming a dog owner or a new parent puts people under pressure.

‘Neither puppies nor toddlers can be expected to immediately know how to behave in certain situations and need clear, consistent guidance.

This works on the theory that rewarding good behaviour - through verbal praise, physical affection or treats such as sweets and toys - is far more effective than punishing bad behaviour.

The charity’s advice, which is revealed in next week’s Paws magazine, adds that controlling how often these treats are given and matching the ‘value’ of the reward to behaviour is also important.

‘When training the dogs at Battersea we use a mixture of rewards including tasty treats for really good behaviour,’ the article says.

‘If you use the best treats all the time - such as a chew - it loses its value and isn’t so attractive.

”While we aren’t child psychologists, it seems that parents should act in a similar way, keeping a range of rewards for different circumstances.

‘Behaving well on a shopping trip may result in a trip to the playground or a packet of sweets - it wouldn’t usually mean buying a very expensive toy.’

If a child is possessive about their toys, in the same a dog can be with a ball, the key is to distract their attention by exchanging the item for something equally tempting.

Attention-seeking behaviour also needs to be dealt with consistently.

One frazzled mother who worked from home found her daughter had a tantrum every time she was told to be quiet during a conference call.

Instead of bribing the girl with toys or sweets, the woman was advised to use dog handling techniques instead.

Alison Russell, another behaviourist at Battersea, said: ‘When we have a dog, for example, that jumps up and barks to get attention, we try to avoid the behaviour in the first place by setting up a game with them well ahead of time.

‘The important thing is not to interact with them when they are behaving badly as they will start to play up just to get your attention.

‘Dogs mature far more quickly into adulthood than humans but both species have a “socialising” period and it is in this early stage that they form an impression of the world and how to cope with it.

‘Child psychology and dog behaviour are, of course, complex and very individual subjects but there are also some startling similarities between them which can be tackled with simple behavioural techniques.’

Sue Atkins, parenting coach and author of Raising Happy Children for Dummies, said that - in basic terms - she agreed with the advice.

‘It’s an interesting question and I have laughed at times about the similarities between puppies and children,’ she added.

‘In the sense of who’s in control and knowing what you want to communicate, I would agree with what is being said.

‘Obviously you don’t want to take the analogy too far, but on a basic level you can make comparisons.’

There’s a good boy

Helen Tennant, 39, lives with her two-year-old son Archie in South West London.

She said: ‘I was in the office at Battersea Dogs & Cats Home discussing the problem I was having with my son Archie, who was then 16 months old.

‘Basically, he was very possessive over his toys and wouldn’t give them up even when it was bed or bath time.

‘It was becoming a real struggle to get his favourite toy, a digger, off him.

‘One of the behaviourists suggested I try the same training methods they used, where they exchanged a dog’s toy for something else.

‘At bed time, I made fuss of an alternative toy - a teddy - and it worked like a dream.

‘Archie lost interest in his digger straight away and insisted on taking the teddy to bed with him instead.’

Source: Mail on Sunday, UK
http://tinyurl.com/6aqu6w

When it comes to fruits and vegetables, kids can be picky.

“I like blueberries and blackberries,” says toddler Brady Lawrence.
“We tried red raspberries,” adds his mother, Kristen Lawrence of the North HIlls. But Brady didn’t like them.

Having a grandchild who doesn’t like vegetables worries this grandma.

“I think it’s good for children to get a more rounded diet,” says Arlene McCray of the North Hills. “But his dad wasn’t a good eater, either.”

Children are more likely to eat fruits and vegetables if their parents do, according to a study of more than 1,300 families in the journal Preventive Medicine.

“Children, like adults, will eat what’s available when they’re hungry,” says Dr. Goutham Rao, an obesity expert at Children’s Hospital’s Weight Management Center.

All of the families were in a parenting skills program. With five one-hour long home visits, half the families also got extra education in nutrition. They learned about how to get kids to eat fruits and vegetables. They ate the food in front of the children and allowed them to choose which ones they wanted to eat.

“The way they did it is just too expensive. We couldn’t do that here,” says Dr. Rao about this intense approach.

This group had a higher fruit and vegetable intake — for both the parents and the children.

“I think it’s better to do it through the schools, and actually incorporate it into school curricula, with something the kids can take home to their parents, to educate the parents as well,” Dr. Rao suggests.

There was no increase in fondness for fruits and vegetables for children who were already overweight. “There’s a critical period where kids develop their tastes and preferences, and that’s between age 2 to 5 or so. As they get older, it gets extremely hard to change that. And fruits and vegetables just don’t appeal to them,” the doctor explains.

He recommends that parents start introducing vegetables and other healthy foods as early as possible. Try them over again at a later time if your child spits it out at first. Gradually changing the diet by swapping a less healthy food with a more healthy choice, one at a time, can be helpful if your child has already made his or her favorites clear.

Source: KDKA, PA
http://kdka.com/seenon/Children.fruit.parents.2.803678.html

About a month ago, I was shopping at the market when I came upon a woman smacking her young son. “I don’t ever want to see you hit your sister again,” she warned him. Apparently, the lad had walloped his (now-crying) sibling, which led to the mother’s admonition.

I don’t usually interfere with parents disciplining their kids unless I think that it’s crossing the line into abuse (or neglect), but I did make a mental note of the situation. If we were to dissect this scene, what part of it seemed incongruent? Surely, the mother was being reasonable in reprimanding her son for hitting his sister. But to make her point, she hit her son! I just didn’t comprehend how she didn’t see the inconsistency of her message, as well as the correlation between her behavior and that of her son’s.

This point was drilled home to me when a friend recently sent me a video called “Children See, Children Do.” It’s a powerful reminder that, in every sense, parents model the way for their children. Of course, we tend to think of role models in positive terms, as people who enrich our lives and teach us important lessons and values. But in truth, role models work both ways, showing good and bad behavior that kids pick up on. You need only look at rap artists or young celebrities out of control to realize that even if you don’t approve of the content of their songs or the antics of their lives, your kids quite possibly may be emulating them. How many girls thought it was “cool” when 15-year-old Jamie Lynn Spears became pregnant or when Mylie Cyrus posed provocatively on her MySpace page.

It’s no different for parents. Since parents are the strongest role model a child has, what you do matters - a lot. In fact, everything that you do, your children see and, most likely, will end up doing, as well. From screaming at the car that cut you off in traffic to lying to a friend to get out of dinner plans, your child takes it all in and considers it acceptable behavior.

Modeling the way is one of my favorite parenting principles. It’s a relatively simple concept to understand but far more difficult in practice. After all, as flawed souls ourselves, we do act inappropriately at times, especially when we’re angry, upset or anxious. We carry prejudices and biases that at times can be hard to mask. We have behaviors - whether it’s smoking, drinking or speaking negatively of others - of which we’re not proud. We don’t want our children to pick up on our bad habits, traits and behavior. But children take it all in and, seeing us as their primary role model, regardless of whether you tell them it’s bad or not (the old “do as I say, not as I do” mentality), they’re going to think it’s OK to model that negative behavior or attitude.

It’s hard being a parent. We all know that. But it’s also a privilege. Pay attention to your less desirable conduct, habits or attitudes. They all translate into messages that your kids, as your primary audience, are receiving. If you aren’t proud of them yourself, or if you don’t wish for others to see these behaviors in play, chances are that you shouldn’t let your children observe them either.

Step up to be the best parent you can be. And when you make a mistake, such as losing your temper or not following through on something you say you’ll do, be sure to admit the mistake to your child. A child hearing his or her parent say, “I was wrong. I shouldn’t have done that,” is a powerful thing. It tells your child: “We’re human and fallible, but we do our best, and when we fall short, we admit it.” And a parent who communicates that just may be the ultimate role model.

Source: DetNews.com, MI
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080826/OPINION03/808260378

As a child safety measure in the car, its importance could never be underplayed.

Researchers, however, yesterday warned that the convenience of the portable car baby seat is having some far less desirable effects.

They claim many parents are using the chairs to also restrain infants in the home, which in turn is damaging their development.

Such ‘cotton wool’ treatment later leads to poor concentration in the classroom because children’s reflexes have not been sufficiently developed, they say.

The researchers from Liverpool John Moores University examined 120 children aged ten and 11 at a school in West Yorkshire.

The youngsters were given tests in reading, non-verbal reasoning and shortterm memory and split into four groups.

One group took part in a specially designed movement programme, the second did sound therapy, the third did both programmes and the fourth did neither.

The movement programme involved 40 minutes of simple exercises, twice a week, for eight months within normal PE lessons.

Activities included crawling on a mat, hand-to-eye exercises and playground games such as skipping. Eight months later, all 120 children were re-tested.

The children who took part in the movement programme performed ’significantly better’ overall in comparison to the children who did not. Their reading, memory and general reasoning had all improved.

‘People are trying to be too safe but they are causing further problems.’

Meanwhile, the separate music programme involved children listening to classical music through headphones for 30 minutes a day over eight weeks.

The music was filtered to create higher frequencies to help boost the auditory processes, which is the speed at which one can process what’s being heard.

At the end of the experiment, the children performed better in reading than those who had not taken part in the music programme.

‘The Government should consider using movement programmes in schools to iron out difficulties children might have.’

Source: Daily Mail, UK
http://tinyurl.com/69anux