It’s probably not surprising that mothers excel at recognizing and interpreting the moods and emotions of their infants. Although infants can’t speak, mothers seem to know what their babies are thinking: they smile when their baby smiles and they frown when their baby is upset. Research suggests that the mother’s ability to understand the needs of her infant is very important for establishing a secure mother-infant relationship. However, the neural mechanisms that underlie these behaviors are poorly understood. Such knowledge is crucial for understanding normal as well as abusive and neglectful mothering.

Maternal Rewards

In recent years, several studies have been carried out using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to better understand how a mother’s brain responds to her own child’s cues. The most recent, led by neuroscientist Lane Strathearn and colleagues at Baylor College of Medicine, investigated what happens inside the brain of a mother when she looks at the facial expressions of her own infant. In the study, 28 first-time mothers were shown pictures of their seven-month old child that they had never seen before. (The pictures were taken when the mother was not present.) The pictures spanned a wide range of human emotion and included images of the child making happy, sad or neutral faces. These pictures were then matched with images of an unknown infant. The central finding was that seeing the happy face of the mother’s own infant activated all of the key areas in the brain associated with reward processing. These regions include the ventral tegmental area, substantia nigra and the striatum. This finding suggests that for mothers the sight of their smiling baby is a potent reward and represents a uniquely pleasurable experience. Furthermore, this neural response was graded, so that happy faces led to more activation than neutral faces. Sad faces generated the least activation. In other words, the response of mothers in their reward areas seemed to directly mirror the emotions the infant displayed.

The argument put forth by Strathearn and colleagues is that maternal behavior is fundamentally rooted in these reward areas. Positive sensory cues from infants, such as a smiling facial expression, stimulate dopamine release and thus promote responsive maternal care. However, many questions remain. In their paper, Strathearn et al. do not discuss the significance of the orbitofrontal cortex, although its activity was clearly influenced in the experiment by seeing one’s own infant’s compared with an unknown infant. The importance of the orbitofrontal cortex shouldn’t be too surprising, as this brain area is believed to receive ascending dopamine projections from reward areas and is critical in representing the “value” of a reward. Other studies have also demonstrated that the orbitofrontal cortex is correlated with the positive feelings of the mother, suggesting that it plays a key role in modulating maternal behavior.

Is the Smile Enough?

This study also raises a more fundamental question: is the infant smile the most important element for motivating maternal behavior? It goes without saying that the smiling face of one’s own baby is highly rewarding and encourages maternal care. On the other hand, babies aren’t always smiling and mothers must also learn to respond to infants in distress. In fact, a human mother’s response to an infant in distress is a good indicator of how responsive she is to other infant cues. Studies also show that abusive and neglectful mothers show less empathy and more aversive feelings towards a crying infant when compared with nurturing mothers, suggesting that how a mother reacts to a baby when it’s upset and not smiling is a crucial test of maternal behavior.

According to our own recent work, the orbitofrontal cortex and striatum were more activated in the brain of a mother when she looked at her own infant compared with other infants regardless of the infant’s situation or mood. These brain areas also showed a greater activation when mothers were viewing their infant when he or she was crying (the distressed condition) as opposed to when he or she was happy (the play situation). This discovery makes sense, as a distressed baby might require more effort and thought as the mother must quickly identify the source of the distress and respond appropriately. Another reason to highlight the importance of the orbitofrontal cortex in guiding maternal behavior is that, in our experiment, the activity of this brain area showed a positive correlation not only with pleasurable feelings but also the anxious feelings experienced by the mother. Of course, these anxious feelings are important for maternal care, as anxiety and worry can be powerful motivators. Taken together, these findings suggest that maternal behavior is guided by elaborate and complex neural mechanisms. Although reward processing is clearly an important part of this mental process—it seems to mediate maternal love and feelings of joy—other mechanisms are required in order to explain the full range of the mother-infant relationship.

In conclusion, a smiling face of a mother’s own infant is certainly rewarding and it motivates maternal care, but this is not the only motivator. We hope that in the future other aspects of maternal behavior—such as the maternal desire to protect her infant, which is a biologically essential mechanism for preservation of the species—will get investigated and explored.

Source: Scientific American
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=smiles-and-mother-baby-bond

Parents need lessons in how to cope with their children’s unruly behaviour, new guidelines on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) say.

Teachers would also benefit from training to recognise and help children with this condition, it adds.

Any primary school class is likely to have a child with ADHD, experts say.

Most of the estimated 365,000 children in Britain with ADHD receive no treatment at all.

But of those who do, most - about 37,000 - are prescribed stimulants like Ritalin (methylphenidate).

Children with ADHD have extreme difficulty sitting still, learning or concentrating.

At school they may find it hard to keep friends and suffer from bullying because of their behaviour. Looking after affected children can be exhausting for parents.

Parenting classes

The guidelines, which cover England, Wales and Northern Ireland, say parent training and education programmes should be offered as a first-line treatment for ADHD, both for pre-school and school age children.

Drugs remain a first option for children over five and young people with severe ADHD, say the guidelines, but only as part of a comprehensive treatment plan that includes psychological and behavioural interventions.

Dr Tim Kendall, a consultant psychiatrist from Sheffield who is joint director of the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health and helped draw up the guidelines, said: “There is an over-reliance on medicines.

“Quite commonly, people tend to revert to offering methylphenidate or atomoxetene. When they do that it’s not always because there’s a good balance of risk and benefits. It’s because the child has got what appears to be ADHD and that’s what’s available.

“Its easier to prescribe a drug when other options like parent training programmes are not available.”

Dr Kendall said it was important to diagnose ADHD correctly, rather than label all bad behaviour as ADHD. The symptoms of ADHD persist in all settings - both at school and at home - and cause real impairment.

Andrea Bilbow, chief executive of the ADHD charity ADDISS, welcomed the NICE recommendations but questioned how helpful the parent training programmes would be to parents.

“Parenting programmes are extremely important, but they need to be specific for ADHD.

“The ones that NICE are recommending were designed for the parents of children with conduct disorder, which is completely different from ADHD,” she said.

The Scottish InterCollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) is rewriting its guidelines on ADHD diagnosis and treatment and will take the NICE guidelines into consideration.

Their new guidance will come out in the first half of 2009.

Source: BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7630926.stm

American taxpayers invest heavily in education. Last year, spending on public K–12 education totaled $553 billion, about 4 percent of gross domestic prod­uct (GDP) in 2006. For each child enrolled in a pub­lic elementary or secondary school, expenditures averaged $9,266 that year—an increase of 128 per­cent, adjusted for inflation, since 1970.

Despite this increase in public spending, student achievement and educational attainment over the last four decades has remained relatively flat. In 2007, a significant portion of students, disproportionately from disadvantaged backgrounds, scored “below basic” in reading and math on the National Assess­ment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Sadly, in many of the nation’s largest cities, fewer than half of high school students graduate.

While academic research has consistently shown that increased spending does not correlate with edu­cational gains, the research does show a strong rela­tionship between parental influences and children’s educational outcomes, from school readiness to college completion. Two compelling parental factors emerge:

2. parents’ involvement in their children’s schoolwork.

Consequently, the solution to improving educa­tional outcomes begins at home, by strengthening marriage and promoting stable family formation and parental involvement.

The Erosion of Family Stability in America

“Perhaps the most profound change in the American family over the past four decades,” writes sociologist Paul Amato, “has been the decline in the share of children growing up in households with biological parents.” In 1960, 88 percent of all children lived with two parents, compared to 68 percent in 2007. In 1960, 5 percent of all children were born to unmarried mothers. That figure rose to 38.5 per­cent in 2006. Demographers have estimated that, overall, one child in two will spend some portion of his or her childhood in a single-parent family.

Studies show that children raised in intact families, i.e., with two con­tinuously married parents, tend to fare better on a number of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral outcomes than children living in other family forms. Not surprisingly, the changes in family structure over the last 40 years have affected child and adoles­cent well-being. In 2002, nearly 7 million children between the ages of 12 and 18 repeated a grade. Based on this figure, Professor Amato estimates that if the share of two-parent fami­lies had remained unchanged be­tween 1980 and 2002, some 300,000 fewer teens would have repeated a grade. Some 750,000 fewer students in 2002 would have repeated a grade if the share of two-parent families remained at the level it was in 1960.

Social science research over the past decades suggests that family structure affects children’s school outcomes, from preschool to college. Some of the variations in school performance could be explained, in part or in whole, by the differences in family resources such as time and money, family dynamics and parental characteristics that are asso­ciated with the various family forms. These are mediating factors, or mechanisms through which family structure affects schooling outcomes. Family structure may also exert a direct influence, inde­pendent of mediating factors. Thus, depending on the outcome, family structure’s total effect may con­sist of one or more mediating influences or a com­bination of both direct and mediating influences.

Though various methodological research issues— e.g., data quality, inconsistent definitions of family structure, the selection effect (e.g., are individuals who possess better parenting qualities more likely to choose marriage and stay married, or does mar­riage per se bolster children’s well-being?)—limit the findings, the evidence, nonetheless, is strong: Fam­ily structure matters.

School Readiness. A number of early-childhood outcomes contribute to children’s eventual school readiness. The evidence suggests that potentially important early-childhood outcomes vary by family structure. One study, analyzing 1,370 mothers in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study who were continuously married or in cohabiting rela­tionships from the child’s birth to age three, found that three-year-olds born to cohabiting mothers tended to exhibit more aggressive, withdrawn, and anxious or depressive behavior than children born to married mothers. For aggressive and with­drawn behaviors, the association was explained by income differences. For anxiety and depressive symptoms, even controlling for income, the cohab­itation effect remained.

Studies show that reading to young children aids their literacy development. Toddlers and preschool-age children in married-parent families are read to more often than peers in non-intact families. One study of 11,500 kindergartners living with two par­ents orparent figuresreported that, accounting for parental education and income, children living with married parents averaged higher reading achieve­ment test scores than peers living in cohabiting or stepparent families.

Elementary and Secondary Education. The research on family structure and elementary and secondary educational outcome is extensive. Studies have reported that:

1. First-graders whose mothers were married when they were born are less likely to engage in dis­ruptive behavior with peers and teachers than those whose mothers were single or cohabiting at the time of their birth.

2. Children aged three to 12 who live in intact fam­ilies have higher average math scores than peers whose mothers live in cohabiting relationships.

3. The association between family structure and nine-year-olds’ science and math achievement appears to be cross-national.

4. Children aged seven to 10 who live in continu­ously intact families tend to score higher on read­ing tests than peers who have lived in other family structures.

5. Children aged six to 11 who live in intact fami­lies tend to be more engaged in their schoolwork than peers in other family structures.

6. Eighth-graders in two-parent families perform, on average, better on math and science tests than peers in single-parent or stepparent families.

7. The predominant family structure of a school’s student population appears to be linked to the individual science and math scores of eighth-graders.

8. Ninth-graders whose mothers were married when they were born are more likely to complete an algebra course than are peers whose mothers were single when they were born.

9. Middle school and high school students who expe­rience a parental divorce tend to suffer declines in their grade point averages and are more likely to fail a course one year later compared to peers of married parents; the evidence suggests a causal link.

10. Among middle school and high school students, the portion of childhood spent in a single-parent family is associated with declines in GPAs over time; and living in a single-mother family with a cohabiting partner is associated with a greater likelihood of suspension or expulsion from school at a later time.

Finally, studies have also shown a robust link between family structure and high school dropout or graduation rates, and the evidence suggests that the relationship may be causal.

Higher Education and Educational Attainment. The impact of family structure on educational out­comes appears to last into young adulthood. Throughout the college entrance process, students from non-intact families tend to fall behind their peers from intact families. The gap increases when the process involves selective college admission. Overall, children from intact families complete more years of schooling and achieve higher educational attainment than do peers from other family forms.

One study, analyzing two nationally representa­tive data sources, reported that longer durations in single-parent or blended families during child­hood appear to have a negative impact on college attendance and graduation. Though family income and parental education explained the association between single-parent families and lower college attendance and graduation rates, the disparities in these outcomes between children in intact families and those in blended families persisted.

Similarly, another study showed that, accounting for family income and estimated financial aid, an average student from a non-intact family was 5 per­cent less likely to attend a four-year college and 6 percent less likely to graduate from college than an average student from an intact family.

Parental Involvement

Parental involvement emerges as another robust influence on educational outcomes. It is multi-dimensional. Examples include monitoring chil­dren’s activities outside home and school; setting rules; having conversations about and helping chil­dren with school work and school-related issues; holding high educational expectations; discussing future planning with children and helping them with important decision making; participating in school-related activities such as meeting with teach­ers and volunteering in the classroom; and reading to children or engaging in other enrichment or lei­sure activities together.

A meta-analysis of 77 studies, consisting of 300,000 elementary and secondary students, found that parental educational expectations are a particu­larly important aspect of parental involvement. Parenting style, reading to children, and, to a lesser extent, participation in school-related activities appeared to be influential as well. Furthermore, parental involvement is associated with multiple measures of student achievement, for the entire stu­dent population as well as for minority and low-income student populations. Overall, “the academic advantage for those parents who were highly involved in their education averaged about 0.5–0.6 of a standard deviation for overall educational out­comes, grades and academic achievement.”

Parental Involvement and Family Structure. The level of parental involvement varies by family structure, and the relationship between parental involvement and educational outcomes depends on the family context as well. One study, for exam­ple, found that compared to high school students from intact families, those from single- or step­parent families reported less parental involvement in their school work, supervision, and parental educational expectations, which, in turn, affected school outcomes.

Early Childhood. Studies show that a sensitive, warm, and respon­sive type of parenting and engaging in play activities with young children bolster their social and emotional development, communication skills, and ability to focus. Doing arts and crafts with children, reading to them, showing them how to write words, and using a more complicated vocab­ulary around them also aid their liter­acy and language development. One study reported a link between these types of parental engagement and a range of school readiness out­comes such as “children’s motivation to learn, attention, task persistence, and receptive vocabulary and…fewer conduct problems.”

Frequent contact between parents and their children’s preschools as well as parent participation in school-related activities, such as volunteering in the classroom or meeting with a teacher, appear to benefit children on a num­ber of dimensions, including classroom performance and social interaction with peers and adults. One study reported that children whose teachers per­ceived more parental involvement tended to exhibit fewer problems and higher language and math com­petencies compared to children whose teachers per­ceived less parental engagement. The evidence also suggests that parental school involvement’s pos­itive influences buffer against some of the negative effects of poverty.

Elementary Education. Parental involvement during elementary school affects children’s school­ing outcomes as well. The quality of the parent-child relationship is significant. Middle school stu­dents who received sensitive, supportive parenting from their mothers during kindergarten tend to per­form better in school. Children of parents who frequently praise and show affection to them are less likely to require classroom attention for behavior and socio-emotional issues.

Studies also show that parental involvement in school-related activities during elementary school is associated with long-term educational gains. One study reported that among low-income African-American families, children of highly involved par­ents during elementary school were more likely to graduate from high school. In the same study, children of parents who were involved in school-related activities for three or more years completed more years of schooling compared to peers of less involved parents. Involvement, specifically by fathers, is significant as well. Children of fathers who visit their classrooms and meet with teachers tend to fare better in school than peers whose moth­ers are the only involved parent.

Reading with children and the way in which par­ents read to their children affect children’s reading ability. The research shows a distinction between reading storybooks to children, which contributes to their literacy development, and teaching children to read and write, which aids their language devel­opment. Both types of activities affect third- and fourth-grade performance.[50] Furthermore, parents’ use of vocabulary and their attitude toward home­work appear to influence corresponding outcomes in their children. Not surprisingly, children of parents who provide appropriate help with their homework tend to fare better in school.

The home environment in which children are raised plays a role in schooling outcomes. For ex­ample, in a study of middle-class families, elemen­tary students whose parents offered them math and science learning materials showed greater incli­nation toward and interest in math and science activities. Finally, parental expectations of achieve­ment, particularly adolescents’ perceptions of such expectations, appear to strengthen their actual mo­tivation and ability in school.

Secondary Education. Parent-child relation­ship quality continues to be an effective factor in schooling outcomes throughout adolescence. For example, in one study, youths who felt bonded to their parents and enjoyed good communication with them tended to have higher grades and physical well-being. In another study, among low-income youths, those whose parents encouraged individual decision making in their children during early ado­lescence were more likely to graduate from high school and attend college. Beyond academics, teens who receive more support from their parents are more likely to participate in structured after-school activities, which, in turn, are positively corre­lated with achievement and social competence.

During adolescence, parental monitoring to the extent to which parents know their children’s activ­ities outside of home and school, plays a crucial role in adolescent outcomes, particularly when children and adolescents perceive genuine care from their parents. Parental monitoring is associated with fewer school problems, less substance use, and reduced delinquency. Moreover, parental monitor­ing is positively linked to social development, school grades, and school engagement, such as pay­ing attention in class and being motivated to do well in school. The evidence also suggests that paren­tal monitoring may have different effects on boys and girls.

Not only does parental involvement in their chil­dren’s school-related activities send a positive mes­sage to students and teachers, such involvement is also related to high school completion. The research also suggests that minority students benefit from their parents’ participation in formal leader­ship roles at the school district level. The effects of parental involvement, however, may vary by par­ents’ education. One study showed that involve­ment from more-educated parents was associated with fewer behavioral problems in students, which, in turn, affected achievement and aspirations. Among students whose parents are less educated, parental involvement was related to student aspira­tions but not achievement.

At the secondary education level, high parental expectations continue to yield significant schooling benefits. In one study of high school seniors, “parental expectations for achievement stand out as the most significant influences on [their] achieve­ment growth, high school credits completed, and enrollment in extracurricular academic high school programs.” High parental educational expecta­tions are also associated with math and reading scores, interest in school, academic self-discipline, future planning, and motivation for school work. In one study of African-American families, when parents taught that success originates from effort rather than surpassing peers, their expectations had a strong effect on eighth- and ninth-grade math grades. Overall, parental expectations appear more influential than peer effects.

Finally, discussions with parents about the future and pursuing further education support teens’ aspi­rations and college preparation. One study of high-achievement Latino college students found that their parents imparted strong encouragement and values that emphasized education as a means to escape poverty.

Policy Implications

Social science research over the last few decades indicates a strong relationship between family struc­ture, parental involvement and children’s educa­tional outcomes, with enduring influences from early childhood to young adulthood. The empirical evidence points to several policy implications:

* Family policy intersects critically with education policy. Fortifying the intact family structure may lead to improvements in individual student out­comes as well as the American education system as a whole.

* Policies that strengthen healthy marriage and stable family formation may bolster child well-being, including school outcomes, both at the individual and aggregate levels.

* Conversely, policies and laws that facilitate fur­ther family breakdown may have adverse impacts on children’s educational outcomes and provide additional stress on the education system.

* In education reform efforts, greater emphasis on parental involvement and parental choice could yield significant gains in student achievement and attainment. Importantly, the research shows consistent benefits of high parental involvement for minority and low-income students, which deserves serious consideration in light of the achievement gap.

* On the other hand, education initiatives that dis­regard the importance of families and parental involvement, instead focusing on strategies such as increased expenditures, are likely to continue to prove less effective or ineffective altogether.

Conclusion

American taxpayers invest heavily in education, with annual public education spending totaling $553 billion. The average annual expenditure per child enrolled in a public school amounts to $9,266. Though per-pupil expenditures have increased dra­matically over the past few decades, student achieve­ment has remained relatively flat. A significant portion of students attending public schools score “below basic” in reading and math on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. In some of the most disadvantaged central cities in America, fewer than half of high school students graduate.

While numerous education reforms over the last quarter century have demonstrated little impact on overall student achievement, the research clearly shows that the intact family structure and strong parental involvement are significantly correlated with educational outcomes, from school readiness to college completion. Instead of favoring proven ineffective education policies, policymakers seeking effective education reform should consider policies that strengthen family structure in America and bol­ster parental involvement and choice in education.

Christine C. Kim is Policy Analyst in the Domestic Policy Studies Department at The Heritage Foundation.

Source: Heritage.org
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Education/bg2185.cfm

Up to one in 11 children in Britain may suffer from an attention deficit disorder, government advisers will say this week.

Recommendations on the treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) say families in which pre-school children have behavioural problems should be given parenting classes, reigniting a debate about whether the condition is a medical diagnosis or the result of poor upbringing.

The guidance by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) is expected to say that up to 9 per cent of children and 2 per cent of adults fall within broad definitions of ADHD. It will recommend that the stimulant Ritalin be prescribed to all children and adults with a severe form of the condition and to all moderate cases which do not respond to talking therapies or parenting classes.

Prof Philip Asherson, one of the experts who produced the guidance, due out on Wednesday, said they tried to avoid following the model of ADHD care in the United States, where medication is the norm and routinely used to tackle minor behavioural and educational problems.

He said: “We worked very hard to avoid the approach in the US, where one in 10 children are being treated with stimulants. The guidance makes it clear that medication is the right approach in some cases but that it should not be used for everyone and certainly not to tackle minor educational problems.”

The psychologist Oliver James accused psychiatrists of medicalising a problem that was caused by upbringing. He said: “Psychiatrists invented this category to medicalise when in fact it is a social problem linked to low incomes and parenting difficulties.” He said the best approach to children with ADHD-like symptoms was to give them more attention and affection.

Andrea Bilbow, chief executive of the National Attention Deficit Disorder Information and Support Service, also attacked the guidance. She said the parenting programmes it recommended were not specific to ADHD and would offer little help to families.

Dr Sami Timimi, a child and adolescent psychiatrist in Lincolnshire, who does not believe ADHD is a valid diagnosis, said Nice had produced no evidence that the condition existed, or that medication worked, despite coming to conclusions supporting its use.

Dr Timimi, author of Naughty Boys: Anti-social Behaviour, ADHD and the Role of Culture, said draft guidance produced by Nice cited a study that showed Ritalin improved the performance of patients after 14 months but did not consider the longer-term results of the same study, which showed that after three years it made no difference.

Stoke uses drug 23 times less than the Wirral

Doctors are 23 times more likely to prescribe drugs such as Ritalin for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in some areas of the country than in others.

In the Wirral, one prescription of the drug class methylphenidate, which includes Ritalin, was dispensed for every seven children last year, according to the Health Service Journal. Other areas with high rates included the Isle of Wight, Great Yarmouth and Medway in Kent.

Doctors in Stoke on Trent handed out the drugs least frequently, with one prescription per 159 children.

Latest figures show almost 500,000 prescriptions for stimulants for under-16s last year, more than double the 200,000 issued in 2003. The Department of Health said the figures reflected the number of prescriptions, which could include repeat orders for the same child.

Solurce: Telegraph.co.uk
http://tinyurl.com/53uulo

If your baby could talk, she wouldn’t need to cry. But until she can start forming words, she’ll likely stick to the whimpers and tears she’s using now to let you know what she wants.

What makes baby cry?

– Different types of crying mean different things. There’s the “I’m tired” or “I’m hungry” as well as the “I’m frustrated … need a diaper change … want to be held…” cries. The best way you can determine what each cries means is to listen intently each time your infant cries. You’ll soon get to know what baby is trying to say with each pitch and wail.

– As baby grows. Experts agree that babies will often cry right before they experience a growth period. They have an amazing ability to sense a change about to occur - physically and developmentally.

– Bath time. Infants do not like the feeling that comes with being totally undressed during bath time. To avoid this situation, keep baby’s diaper on if you can, or wash quickly taking turns covering baby’s top half while washing the bottom - then reverse it.

– Bedtime. Nighttime is the time to release pent up frustration and energy baby has built up during the day. P.S.: Fussy babies usually sleep soundly and for longer periods of time.

– Crib time. Babies need some time to adjust to a sterile crib after nine months inhabiting a warm, comfy womb. Bright lights, sharp sounds, lots of action - it’s a different life than your infant was used to.

– Are you stressed? Infants are like little sponges and can pick up on the stress you may be feeling, putting a tearful spin on it on your behalf.

– Does baby not feel well? Colic, which can last for a long time, may make baby cry. The American Academy of Pediatrics says colic causes severe abdominal discomfort. If crying is intense, starts around the same time each day, causes baby to pull her legs up to her chest or get a bloated tummy, colic can be the cause.

– Other medical conditions can also cause crying: fever, diarrhea, vomiting. With each of these conditions, a call to the pediatrician is in order.

– Is this cry different? Is baby sounding more screechy? Is he louder than usual or whining as well? Again, it’s time to call the pediatrician.

Ways to soothe baby

– Hold baby to your shoulder to comfort her.

– Turn on the music. The rhythm found in music mimics the mother’s heartbeat as heard in the womb. Put your MP3 player on the speakers and turn up the music (classical is great for this purpose). Listening to classical music at a young age also helps increase math skills later on.

– Babies may also be soothed by familiar, rhythmic sounds such as the vacuum cleaner, hair dryer, air conditioner or the sound of trickling water.

– Comfort object. A blankie, favorite toy or perhaps an old T-shirt with your smell on it may help baby calm down.

– Help baby zone out by watching repetitive activity, such as fish going round a fish tank, a mobile turning gently or a lamp that projects figures on the wall as it swirls.

Parenting tip from the trenches

If baby’s crying is constant and lasts more than three months, it’s time for a pediatrician to run some tests.

Doreen Nagle is author of But I Don’t Feel Too Old To Be A Mommy (…)

Source: Hattiesburg American
http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080918/MOMS03/80917016

Contrary to popular belief, video games don’t turn teens into anti-social loners, in fact, they make them get more involved with friends and community, says a report.

The Pew Internet study of US teenagers revealed that only a small number of adolescents play alone, while most of them actually join their friends while gaming.

According to the report, gaming had become an almost universal pastime among young Americans, revealing that 99pct of boys and 94pct of girls across the socio-economic spectrum play some kind of computer or video game.

The most popular title was Guitar Hero, and was followed by Halo 3, Madden NFL, Solitaire, and Dance Dance Revolution.

Amanda Lenhart, senior research specialist at the Pew Internet & American Life Project, who wrote the report said that a majority of teenagers played a variety of different titles. “They range in terms of their content from things that are about solving problems to things that are about going out and shooting things, or driving things, or racing things, or playing a sport,” BBC quoted Lenhart, as saying.

However, she claimed that playing video games does not necessarily mean that a teen would become a loner. “Three quarters of teens actually play these games with other people, whether online or in person,” she said.

She also claimed that even if teens play games every day, it won”t impact their social lives. “People who game on a daily basis are just as likely to talk on the phone, to email, to spend time with a friend face to face outside of school as kids who play games less,” she said.

On the flipside, those teenagers who were forced to confront problems in virtual communities, had a tendency to raise money for charity, volunteer, stay informed about political issues, persuade others to vote or march in a protest or demonstration.

A large number of youngsters are playing games with a serious message. Lenhart said the report revealed that the amount of time spent playing computer games didn”t dent the amount of community engagement the teenagers took part in.

But, in her opinion, teenagers who played with other people in person were likely to be more engaged with their communities.

She also pointed out that previous research has suggested that similar exercises can directly influence social interaction and community engagement.

According to the results, Lenhart advised parents to monitor the games their kids were playing.

“What we say to parents is pay attention to the games that your child is playing, see what they do in the games, and look for games that offer your child opportunities to have more civically-minded experiences,” she said.

Source: Times of India
http://tinyurl.com/3ffuvj

Children who worry a lot about conflicts between their parents are more likely to have problems in school, according to a new study.

The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Rochester, Syracuse University, and the University of Notre Dame, found that this happens because such kids have more difficulty paying attention to the tasks before them.

This study is one of the first to chart how children’’s concerns about their parents” relationship may increase their vulnerability to later adjustment problems.

For the study, researchers looked at a group of 216 predominantly White 6-year-olds, their parents, and their teachers annually over a three-year period.

Children were evaluated to determine their negative thoughts and worries about how their parents got along, based on how they completed unfinished stories about conflicts between parents.

Teachers reported on children’’s ability to get along with their classmates and take part in class activities, and on their behaviour as a measure of how they had adjusted to school.

Specifically, they were asked whether the children were cooperative with peers, followed teachers” directions, used classroom materials responsibly, and usually acted appropriately.

Children’’s attention problems were assessed through reports by parents and computerized measures of how they were able to focus and sustain attention.

The researchers found that kids who had concerns about how their parents got along had more attention problems a year after the concern was first identified, according to the study.

In many cases, children’’s negative thoughts were based on witnessing actual relationship problems between parents, and the study suggests that the children may have used the negative thoughts to help them cope with stress in high-conflict homes.

The study appears in the September/October 2008 issue of the journal Child Development.

Source: Times of India
http://tinyurl.com/3oh3cm

When my daughter was 10 she would sometimes say, “You’re not the boss of me!” This would always make me stop and think about the tone of voice I was using with her. Was I demanding that she do things or was I asking her politely?

Being bossy has nothing to do with setting rules. You can have rules and expect your children to follow them without treating them as if what they think doesn’t matter.

“I am my children’s mother and I should have the right to tell them what to do and have them snap to it,” a mother said to me the other day.

For starters, no one likes to be told what to do. And no one likes to do what they are told if the person bossing them around has the “I’m-the-big-dog-deal-with-it” kind of attitude.

Unless children understand what is expected, they won’t know how to act.

Parents need to be aware of how often they point out to their children all the incorrect things they say and do.

Just like in business, when you don’t let the people around you know you appreciate their hard work and only point out the mistakes they make, the group will get discouraged.

I’ve heard parents say, “How can I say anything positive to my child when his behavior lately is mostly negative?”

It might not be easy, but by finding at least one positive thing to say to your child every day, you will be changing the course of his behavior.

And most importantly, they are always willing to give and accept apologies, which creates a more peaceful home environment. (…)

Source: Monitor
http://www.themonitor.com/opinion/children_17315___article.html/say_know.html

A new study has shown that early parenting, as early as 6 months, plays a crucial role in changing the impact of genes that may put infants at risk for responding poorly to stress.

For the study, the researchers from University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Pennsylvania State University, the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, and North Carolina State University looked at 142 infants 3, 6, and 12 months old and were placed in a stressful situation like being separated from their mother.

They measured infants” heart rates while they were exposed to the stressor, isolating a cardiac response called vagal tone.

Vagal tone acts like a brake on the heart when the body is in a calm state, but during a challenging situation, this brake is withdrawn, allowing heart rate to increase so the body can actively deal with the challenge.

They also collected DNA to determine which form of a dopamine receptor gene the infants carried as specific forms of this gene are related to problems in adolescence and adulthood including aggression, substance abuse, and other risky behaviours.

To assess the mothers” behaviour as high or low in sensitivity, they also videotaped the mothers and their infants playing together for 10 minutes when the babies were 6 months old.

The study showed that both genes and parenting were important to the infants” development of the way in which the brain helps regulate cardiac responses to stress.

Initially, 3 and 6 months old infants with the form of the dopamine gene associated with later risky behaviours, did not display an effective cardiac response to the stressor, while those infants with the non-risk version of the gene did.

However, by the time the infants were 12 months old those with the risk form of the gene who also had mothers who were highly sensitive now showed the expected cardiac response while they were exposed to the stressful situation.

Those infants with the risk form of the gene who had insensitive mothers continued to show the ineffective cardiac response to the stressor.

The study suggest that although genes play a role in the development of physiological responses to stress, environmental experience such as mothers” sensitive care-giving behaviour can have a strong influence, enough to change the effect that genes have on physiology very early in life.

It appears in the September/October 2008 issue of the journal Child Development. (ANI)

Source: Thaindian.com
http://tinyurl.com/6gvf76

Babies as old as 12 to 18 months not only observe what is going on around them, but also use their own visual self-experience to judge what other people can and cannot see, according to a new study.

“This research shows how infants are using their own experiences to understand the inner lives of other people,” said Andrew Meltzoff, co-director of the University of Washington’s Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences.

“One of the most interesting puzzles in child development is how infants and young children come to understand other people’s emotions, thoughts and inner feelings. They can see another person’s body move, but they can’t see into another person’s heart and mind. How do babies get from observing body movements to making attributions about internal thoughts and feelings? This research indicates that a key is that they use themselves as a model for understanding others. They assume that what affects them in a certain way, also affects others in that same way. It’s a good bet, and it works,” added Meltzoff, who holds the Job and Gertrud Tamaki endowed chair.

For their study, Meltzoff and his colleague Rechele Brooks used a behaviour called gaze following, which refers to a baby or an adult looking where another person has just looked.

The researchers point out that detecting the direction of another person’s glance is an important component of human social interactions, and that gaze following boosts an infant’s early vocabulary growth and emotional understanding.

“You can learn a lot by watching other people. Gaze following also provides a social way of learning about the world and that what other people are interested in matters,” said Brooks.

With a view to determining that infants use their self-experience to judge what people can see, the researchers devised a pair of experiments using ordinary and specially made blindfolds.

In one experiment, the researchers made 96 one-year-olds — half boys and half girls — with a piece of black cloth that was placed under a series of toys in front of them on a table.

One third of the infants were randomly put in a group that received no more play time. The other babies were divided into two other groups that received special play time with the cloth.

While one group played a game in which a researcher held a black blindfold in front of the children’s eyes to block their view of interesting toys on the table, the other group played the same game with their being a large hole cut in the blindfold held in front of them.

The researchers finally put on a blindfold and turned toward a toy either to the left or right.

The babies who only had played with the cloth flat on the table, and those who had been exposed to the blindfold with the window in it, followed the gaze of the researcher as though she could see the toy.

The infants who were exposed to the real blindfold experience, however, spent little time following the gaze of the researcher, presumably thinking the blindfolded person could not see just as they could not see when the blindfold blocked their view of the toys.

During these games, children learned that “an opaque cloth blocks their own perception and they immediately generalized this to others, a very early form of role-taking. This illustrates that infants treat others as ‘like me’,” said Meltzoff.

In another experiment, the researchers made 72 18-month-olds played with a black cloth. The babies were randomly assigned to two groups, one that played with a regular blindfold, and the other with a trick blindfold that had a special see-through mesh sewn into it that allowed them to see a toy when it was held up to their eyes.

Only infants who played with the see-through blindfold followed the gaze of the researcher, when she put on the blindfold and turned toward a toy.

“If they can see through the blindfold, they assume the other person can see through it as well. In both experiments the only difference is what the children experienced in training. It appears babies are taking in information and applying it to others,” said Brooks.

The researchers say that their work attains significance because it uncovers a crucial mechanism that babies use to understand the social-emotional lives of others.

“The babies are using their own self-experience to interpret the behavior of others. They are making a bet: You are ‘like me’ and so my own experiences apply to you. By learning about themselves, they are coming to understand us. This is a fundamental life-lesson and one that begins well before they enter kindergarten,” said Meltzoff.

The study has been reported in the journal Developmental Psychology.

Source: Times of India
http://tinyurl.com/6pys3z