Electronic gadgets too distracting, scientist says

British teenagers are damaging their health by not getting enough sleep because they are distracted by electronic gadgets in their bedrooms, according to a survey released Tuesday.

Advice body The Sleep Council said “junk sleep” could rival the consumption of unhealthy junk food as a major lifestyle issue for parents of teenage children.

Its poll of 1,000 youngsters aged 12 to 16 found that 30 per cent managed just four to seven hours of sleep as opposed to the recommended eight or nine hours.

Almost a quarter said they fell asleep more than once a week while watching TV, listening to music or using other electronic gadgets.

“This is an incredibly worrying trend,” said Dr. Chris Idzikowski of the Edinburgh Sleep Centre.

“What we are seeing is the emergence of Junk Sleep — that is sleep that is of neither the length nor quality that it should be in order to feed the brain with the rest it needs to perform properly at school.”

However, just 11 per cent said they were bothered by the lack or quality of their sleep.

“I’m staggered that so few teenagers make the link between getting enough good quality sleep and how they feel during the day,” Idzikowski said.

“Teenagers need to wake up to the fact that to feel well, perform well and look well, they need to do something about their sleep.”

Source: Canada.com, Canada
http://tinyurl.com/57k22g

In other words, less responsible than moms? I hate to stereotype, but, um, turn up the volume, I’m about to start.

I recently did a story on dads and how they are different (duh) than moms, for Canadian Family magazine. (You can find this issue on stands now at Indigo, Chapters, and the usual magazine places.) Besides the anecdotal evidence any parent can provide, studies have also found that dads are more active, rough-and-tumble and boundary-pushing than moms. (Well, maybe not the ones at our old trendy Toronto playground– the dads there seemed to be more working-some-deals, Blackberry-pushing than anything else.)

I think as far as moms go, I fall on the more laissez-faire side of things, active-play wise. If her playroom ends up looking like a hotel room that the Libertines tore through, Doherty blood smear paintings on the wall and all (in her case, paint, y’know, most of the time), I tend not to mind since I know I’ll be tossing some of the toys into the clean-and-donate pile while she’s at school and therefore making some headway through the headwaters of clutter. Also, it’s her playroom, so I figure she can play in it the way she wants as long as she realizes things don’t work that way in most homes (which she does realize.)

Nonetheless, the extent to which my parenting differs from my partner’s often amazes me. (Junk food: “She can eat as much as she wants, she knows when to stop.” Supervision: “Yeah, I was watching her but a lot can happen in a minute. I just turned away and then I heard a scream and that’s why she’s covered in blood. She fell on the stairs. But as you can see, she’s fine!”)

He’s a primary school teacher too, so I find myself often asking aloud, “So, you started the day with how many kids? And at the end of the afternoon, they’re all there? Alive? Accounted for?”

Case in point, yesterday, he decided to let the 8-year-old boys in his class ride an abandoned trike they found in the local park, down a hill, while being pelted by pine cones. “Omigod–it was so funny!” he howled, “It was like an episode of Jackass, only with small kids! They took turns riding down the hill on this toddler trike, and meanwhile all the other boys were throwing handful after handful of pine cones at whoever was on the bike. Then they’d chant, ‘Who wants to go on the Ride of Terror?’ and start all over again!”

So the first things that go through my mind are, litigation issues and also unemployment issues. “Yeah, the principal gave me a hard time about letting the kids go down the hill on magic carpets last winter,” he sighed.

Wondering why any sane teacher would let boys tear down a hill on a trike while being pelted by pine cones, I asked, “Why would any sane teacher let boys tear down the hill on a trike while being pelted by pine cones?”

“Because they were having fun, that’s why. They’d just finished practicing for the standardized testing, and they needed to burn off steam. Also, that little wussy boy whose mom came in to talk with me about how he had no friends and wasn’t adjusting well, was finally fitting in. He was one of the first kids on the trike! He tore down the hill and he loved it!”

What were the girls doing?

“They thought the trike was stupid. They were pretending to make food out of grass and sticks and were playing out some scenarios and stuff.”

Source: AOL Life & Style Canada, Canada
http://blogs.lifestyle.aol.ca/2008/05/28/are-male-teachers-like-dads/

90 per cent of kids fail to meet guidelines

A report card on physical activity levels for Canadian children and youth gives kids a D when it comes to fitness.

The report relies on data from a number of provincial and national surveys and reports.

The grade has been D since 2005, the first year the report was released. However, this year, it finds more and more pre-school aged children are inactive, spending more time in front of TV and reporting higher levels of obesity.

Canada’s Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth for 2008, published by the charitable group Active Healthy Kids Canada, finds that 90 per cent of Canadian children and youth are still failing to meet the guidelines outlined in Canada’s Physical Activity Guides for Children and Youth. The guidelines recommend 60 to 90 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per day on most days of the week.

The report finds one of the main culprits of inadequate fitness is increased screen time, with kids spending four to six hours daily in front of a TV, either watching shows or playing video games.

High screen times are now being observed in preschool-aged children, with one report indicating close to two hours per day per child.

Pediatric associations have recommended no more than one hour a day for preschoolers and two hours a day for school-aged children and youths.

“While we know that excessive screen time is a problem in school-aged children and youth, new data this year indicates that this is a problem in preschool-aged children as well,” reads the report.

“This finding should be alarming as it shows how early our children are being programmed into a lifestyle of dependence on electronic devices that are often associated with sedentary behaviour,” reads the report.

Children who spend excessive amounts of time in front of a screen are more likely to be obese, have low fitness levels and be less likely to participate in physical activity, the report says.

But the report finds that it is during the teen years where activity levels really drop off. In the New Brunswick Student Wellness Survey, more students in Grades 6 to 8 (58 per cent) said they were active when compared with students in Grades 9 to12 (47 per cent).

There are also activity differences between the sexes. Girls are less active than boys. In the national Tell Them From Me Survey, 50 per cent of boys and only 36 per cent of girls reported meeting a target of 90 minutes of physical activity on most days of the week.

Consequences of inactivity

The report finds that 26 per cent of Canadian children and youth are overweight or obese, and that the prevalence of obesity increases with a child’s age. In children aged two to five, 21.5 per cent are overweight or obese, while 25.8 per cent of kids aged six to 11 years and 29.2 per cent of youth aged 12 to17 are overweight or obese.

The 2006 Canadian Clinical Practice Guidelines on the Management and Prevention of Obesity in Adults and Children stated that “sweeping prevention and intervention strategies are required to slow, and hopefully reverse, the alarming increase in obesity prevalence in Canada and globally.”

Provincially, there are significant differences in obesity levels in children. While Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Manitoba have the highest rates of childhood obesity, Alberta and Quebec have the lowest.

Obesity levels among preschool-aged children are also growing. Young kids between the ages of two and five have obesity rates only slightly below older kids. In a recent Newfoundland study, of 4,161 babies born in 1997 in the province, 15.6 per cent were overweight or obese by ages three to five.

Source: CBC.ca, Canada
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2008/05/27/fitness-kids.html

Kids are missing out on connection to outdoors

Last week I shared with you some of the benefits to young people of attending summer camp, such as social, decision-making and leadership skills and increased self-esteem.

This week I will share with you another benefit of attending summer camp: being outdoors.

“Nature deficit disorder” is what happens to young people when they become disconnected from their natural world.

Richard Louv, author of “Last Child in the Woods,” coined the term and believes the lack of exposure to nature contributes to some of the most disturbing childhood trends. These trends include depression, attention disorders and a rise in obesity.

Americans are spending less time in nature. According to Oliver Pergams, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Americans are participating in activities such as fishing and camping 18 percent to 25 percent less than they did in the early 1980s. State and national parks report a decrease in visitors as well.

In one study, young people were able to name 1,000 corporate logos but only 10 plant and tree species. Additionally, children ages 6 to 11 spend 30 hours a week watching television, a 400 percent increase over the last several years.

On average, American children are spending only 30 minutes of unstructured time outdoors each week.

T. Berry Brazelton, an influential pediatrician and a clinical professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, is quoted as saying, “The tragedy we are facing in this generation is that there is no time for children to explore, to play, to go outside.”

Brazelton believes outdoor play lets children “find themselves, find out what they’re like as people, find what works and what doesn’t work.”

Why should we be concerned about these trends?

First, how can we expect children to help protect nature when they don’t appreciate it? Conservation efforts will be even more daunting when future generations have not had experiences in nature.

What is more important, research shows that being close to nature may increase people’s ability to concentrate, improve the behavior of children with attention disorders and boost science test scores. Taking a walk in the woods, stopping to smell the roses and digging in dirt are good for mental health, learning and brain development.

Exploring nature and experiencing the outdoors allows learners to use higher-order thinking skills, increase vocabulary, make inferences and draw conclusions. Researchers have also found that outdoor play and nature experiences increase children’s self-discipline and cooperation skills.

What can you do for the children in your life who may be suffering from “nature deficit disorder”?

One thing you can do is provide a summer camp experience.

When young people attend a summer camp, they are typically immersed in nature. Playing, eating and even sleeping take place outside.

Everything a young person does at camp is hands-on. When people (young and old) are able to use more than one sense to learn about something, there is a greater chance the information learned will be remembered.

A week in nature will give young people experiences they will remember for a lifetime.

I encourage you to make a summer camp experience possible for young people in your life. The evidence of camp being a positive experience — with benefits for a lifetime — is overwhelming.

Source: Charlotte Observer, NC
http://www.charlotte.com/218/story/635025.html

Over the last decade or so there has been mounting concern about the effect of television and videos on young children.

A huge increase in television programmes now available which are particularly aimed at young infants has occurred, despite warnings from experts that children younger than 2 years should not watch any television at all.

Along with the plethora of such programmes has come more and more evidence of the potential adverse effects of television exposure on young children.

Researchers in the U.S. are now saying because infants in low-income families are watching television or videos, with a supposedly ‘educational’ basis, their mothers rarely speak to them.

Lead author Dr. Alan L. Mendelsohn says many of the programmes marketed as educational have limited data to support such claims and these claims were even less so if no co-viewing with a parent took place.

Dr. Mendelsohn and his colleagues set out to measure the verbal interaction between mother and infants associated with media exposure and maternal co-viewing; to do so they carried out an analysis of 154 low socio-economic status mothers-infant pairs who were taking part in a long-term study on early child development.

It was revealed that over one 24-hour period, 149 of 154 mothers reported that their 6-month-old infants had a total of 426 exposures to television or videos.

These included 139 exposures to educational programs for young children; 46 to non-educational programs for young children; 205 to programs for school-aged children, teenagers or adults; and 36 to unknown programs.

The researchers found that of those 426 television and video exposures, mothers talked to their infants during only 101 of them.

They say their findings support their hypothesis that interactions were most commonly reported in association with educational content, especially programs that had been co-viewed; however half of the exposures consisted of programs not intended for young children.

Even when they were intended for young children they did not involve frequent interactions when they were co-viewed.

The researchers say the findings are important, because parent-infant interactions are associated with long-term developmental-behavioural outcomes and they say verbal exchanges happen more often with reading and playing with toys.

The researchers say given the large amount of media exposure and low verbal interaction, more research is called for to determine whether such media exposure is of benefit to young children.

They say programs with educational content were no more likely to be co-viewed than were other programs and the research does not support the development of infant-directed educational programmes on the basis that they increase co-viewing and interaction.

The study is published in the current issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Internal Medicine.

Source: News-Medical.net, Australia
http://www.news-medical.net/?id=38136

It’s one of the first things every new parent wants to know: How do I calm my crying baby, especially at bedtime. Many have heard we should just let them “cry it out.” But is that really best for your baby?

“A long-standing myth is the idea that if you pick up a crying child, you are really hurting this child. You are spoiling the child, you are reinforcing the whining, this crying and you’re going to create this crying baby and you should just kind of keep your distance. Then they will become strong and independent,” said Dr. John Gottman, Gottman Institute. “Just the opposite is true. We have learned that if the parent is a source of comfort, children feel comforted and safe and they go off by themselves and become strong and independent.”

OK, so we shouldn’t just let them “cry it out.” When they’re older, apparently we should also work harder at “talking it out.” “Time-outs,” say experts, are not the best way to discipline your little one.

“One of the things we encourage parents to do instead of time outs is time ins, which is a way of supporting a child to stay in a relationship rather than feeling abandoned in some way, to begin to think that there’s somebody that wants to work through things with them,” said Dr. Kent Hoffman, Marycliff Institute.

So don’t just send your child to his room. Really talk through the problem, until it’s resolved. And what about overall communication with your child? Most of us grew up with mom or dad running the show and junior just expected to follow along.

But the experts say parent-child communication should not be a one-way street.

“If they are understood by the parents and communication goes both ways, what happens really is the channel of communication is always kept open so the children, if they are in trouble, if they are going through a difficult experience, they can talk to their parents about it,” said Gottman.

From talking to toys: Do kids really need all those elaborate ‘educational’ toys to thrive? The experts say not at all. When it comes to toys, they say the simplest ones are often best.

“Now blocks have never, ever made the claim that they teach language or even, for that matter, make young engineers out of kids. It’s just about fun,” said Dr. Dimitri Christakis, Seattle Children’s Hospital. “But that kind of interactive play is really vital to children’s cognitive development. And it’s very much missing from the kind of media products that are targeting infants right now.”

And what about those media products? Can TV, especially so-called educational children’s shows, really be good for babies?

“There isn’t any evidence at all that infant TV viewing is helpful or beneficial to them in any way,” said Christakis. “In fact, the best available evidence suggests that it’s harmful.”

Remember the phrase “Father knows best?” Well, maybe not always. The experts say one of the best gifts a parent can give a child of any age is to simply say, “I was wrong, I’m sorry,” then work together on making it right.

Source: KING5.com, WA
http://tinyurl.com/3w3d7m

Mums can improve their kids academic performance by encouraging them to read more, says an expert.

Sharon Darling, president and founder of the National Centre for Family Literacy has suggested that incorporating a daily reading habit is essential for childrens future academic success.

Many moms wonder what they can do to help their children be successful in school. The answer is surprisingly simple, said Darling.

Many of the things parents do with their children as they work, play, read and talk together have an impact on the skills needed to become a confident and competent student.

Singing songs, making up silly rhymes, talking about what you see, pointing out letters and words in the environment and reading together are just a few activities parents can do, she added.

Creating reading rituals by setting aside a special time and place every day so that they enjoy stories without interruptions.

Moreover, cuddling closely with your child to foster a sense of security can actually eliminate stress that scientists believe produce hormones, which blocks learning.

Mealtimes can be the best opportunity to enhance learning skills.
Various programs have shown success in incorporating mealtime with literacy. In Southern California, the McDonalds Family Mealtime Literacy Nights have resulted in parents using its strategies and materials at home to improve literacy skills.

You can talk to your kids while driving across town or on vacation and looking for signs with words that begin with the same letters as childs name. Each person remembers what the other items were and adds an item that begins with the next letter of the alphabet.

Use techniques for reading that have been proven to increase effectiveness in reading time, providing sound effects to capture their attention, making connections between the spoken and written word because hearing sounds in words is a basic skill needed for reading, talking about the story to reinforce comprehension and memory skills and reading again and again as it helps children recognize and remember words.

Source: Thaindian.com, Thailand
http://tinyurl.com/6oy4zr

Check-out marketing is genius - strategically placed goodies at the point of purchase, designed to entice the wandering eyes of children. Add parents who are tired, running late or too scared of a public tantrum to say no, and you’ve got yourself a sale.

My three-year-old son recently weaselled his way into a toy mobile phone at the register, but it was tech talent, not pester power, that earned him the score.

With the ease of an expert, he flipped open the phone and began an imaginary phone call to his grandmother, announcing he had a new “mobo” and arranging a time to visit. It was hard not to reward such creativity.

The gadget now joins his already impressive tech collection - a toy laptop, portable DVD player, digital set-top box, walkie-talkie and a Nintendo Wii, which his father argued would be great exercise thanks to its motion-sensing remote.

Granted, our junior geek comes from a tech-savvy family, but he’s not uncommon among his generation. Tots of the 21st century have been wired from the womb, with the rise of interactive tech toys such as LeapFrog’s learning system, computer tuition that now begins at kindergarten and “switched on” parents role-modelling the digital age of computers, mobiles and portable media.

The question is: how good is that early tech exposure for our kids, and are the bytes and buttons holding them back from important development that can’t be gained on a machine?

Private tech educators such as Computer Gym and ComputerTots, which run weekly half-hour computer classes at pre-schools across the country, argue there are educational rewards from the preschool PC program where three and four-year-olds learn how to open a document, surf the net and navigate through software.

ComputerTots director Sheri Borman, a trained psychologist and mother of three, says their computer classes are preparing pre-schoolers for primary education, introducing them to the building blocks of mathematics and reading.”

The menu that they navigate through is a left-to-right progression like reading, and you can give a character like a robot a sequence of instructions, which is an important part of mathematics,” Mrs Borman says.

The former crisis counsellor refers to more than a dozen research studies that demonstrate pre-school children who are exposed to technology in a structured way have better schoolreadiness skills, better verbal skills and better cognitive skills. In one US study, four-year-olds with computer skills had IQs that were on average 12 points higher.

“Most of the time it’s working on a computer, but it could also be using a digital microscope or a video camera.

“It’s about submerging the children in a technological culture because we don’t want children to be intimidated by (software such as) Adobe Photoshop; we want them, even at kindergarten level, not to be fearful of trying technology.”

Computer Gym’s director Chris Bouwmeester says its pre-school computer classes reach 2000 children nationally, but demand has changed very little in the past 15 years.

What has shifted is parental expectation that early childhood education will include computers.

“One of the biggest restrictions facing parents is having appropriate software that remains engaging for children. Parents might have one or two such titles, but it’s hard to cover the range of topics that we do - that’s one of the reasons parents appreciate the service,” Mr Bouwmeester says.

What both kiddie computer groups agree on is that the ultimate benefit of the tech classes for tots lies not in the curriculum but in the personal interaction and social experience.

“Our teachers are with the children and can build on the learning experience they are getting - very different from plonking a child in front of a computer and letting them go for it,” Mr Bouwmeester says. “The lessons are valuable for children because they are in a group - having a great laugh and sharing discoveries and experiences.”

Leading pediatric researcher and author Professor Frank Oberklaid, who is the director of the Centre for Community Child Health at the Royal Children’s Hospital, says before the age of five a child needs one thing above all else to fully develop their brain - people.

“What children need more than anything in those early years is relationships so they can learn to socialise, take turns, deal with frustrations. That’s infinitely more important than anything else,” he says.

What concerns him about the rising interest in tech toys and tuition is the unfounded belief that parents are giving their children a head start in learning.

“Do children of today need to learn computer skills? Yes, of course. It’s the new literacy,” Professor Oberklaid says. “But there’s a real concern about “hothousing” - exposing two, three and four-year-olds to stimulating activities like Baby Einstein and flash cards that help teach your child to read by three. There’s no evidence that ‘hothousing’ makes any long-term difference (to education).”

He says the commercialism of “hothousing” is simply preying on the guilt of middle-class parents who want to give children the best of everything, with technology the latest arena in which to compete.

“I’m concerned about the pressure on parents,” Professor Oberklaid says. “Hugh Mackay calls it the ‘overscheduled’ child. I’ve seen it in my patients. Technology is one more pressure on guilty parents.”

Child psychologist Evelyn Field believes working parents and our culture of “busyness” has created a generation of passive parents, who often turn to “cyberia” for baby-sitting.

“Parents are scrambling towards technology. They’re busy and tired and under pressure and a lot of them don’t have the time or energy. They’re putting children in front of the screen, and you can’t blame them,” she says.

Ms Field says the problem with unsupervised tech time is that young children can miss out on wide-ranging experiences such as creative play, exercise and friendships.

“Life changes all the time. Even if you watch the fish pond or the clouds every day, it’s going to change, but you don’t have the same variety of combinations on a digital screen,” she says. “It’s so important that kids get sensory experience to build the brain in the first three to four years of life.”

Dr Joe Tucci, CEO of the Australian Childhood Foundation, says the latest research shows that excessive tech consumption by children can lead to depression, anxiety and aggression.

“Technology tends to be an isolating experience,” he says. “Some of the problems we’re seeing with aggression and ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) in kids can be traced back to socially limiting experiences that technology forces kids to have.”

Child psychiatrist Professor Philip Graham, of London’s Institute of Child Health, also notes an increase in children’s mental health problems over the last quarter of the 20th century - which coincides with the dawn of the computer age and rising consumerism.

He says a recent survey in Britain showed that adults are concerned about the negative impact of materialism on children, incuding devices such as iPods, computers and mobile phones.

“Children have always been acquisitive and always will be, but increasingly they are defined by what they own rather than what they are,” he told Livewire.

Dr Tucci says that while some of these tech toys offer important stimulation, they’re also priming toddlers to be consumers before their time. “Yes, it’s cute and it’s role-playing, but equally it’s also preparing children to be consumers, and that’s the rub.”

All the experts agree that the healthiest way to introduce young kids to technology is with supervision and limits - no more than two hours of technology time a day with a balance of activity both indoors and outdoors, alone and in a group, involving both structured and free play.

Dr Tucci warns that to combat ballooning rates of child obesity, brain games need to be curbed to allow for real life action. “Unlike activities like sport or reading, technology has the potential to swamp children because it is so exciting with all of the colour and movement,” he says.

“We have to ground children in the physical space to learn about their bodies. Otherwise we’ve got a job in front of us to make exercise as exciting and interesting as technology.”

Dubbed the “genius” in her play group, two-year old Annika displays the makings of an IT whizz, having already mastered redial on her mother’s mobile, the CD-ROM and the TV remote.

“If she wants to talk to her Nanny she just presses and holds number 3 on my mobile,” says her mum, Donna Evans.

“Yesterday she rang my mother-in-law. I have to put the mobile phone out of her reach now.”

While Annika’s parents are happy to foster the tech interest, they’re also wary of overexposure. “We make sure she’s not a drone in front of the TV. We also incorporate a lot of the imaginary toys, like the kitchen appliances, so that she’s role playing and not just pressing buttons.”

Ms Evans admits she likes the learning benefits of Annika’s tech talent - as long as it remains enjoyable.

“Sometimes I feel like I’m pushing her learning, but she has the potential to be bright quite young and the tech stuff really gives her an interest in learning. I just don’t want an expectation placed on her to perform.”

The couple are also considering the unstructured education of Montessori, which doesn’t introduce computers until primary level.

“The Montessori perspective is that young children before the age of six need to learn with their hands,” Montessori trainer Amy Kirkham says.

“Computers tend to be more abstract, which is why we don’t use them until primary school.” Young mum Sandra Griffin says her friends always joke that her three-year-old son, Matt, is going to be in IT when he grows up.

He’s already mastered the computer, he has a list of his favourite websites and performs regular virus checks on the PC.

Thanks to the online games he plays he knows his colours, the alphabet, patterns and some basic maths, including counting to 20.

“I honestly believe that computers are a valuable tool in teaching kids,” Ms Griffin explains.

“Not only has it helped with Mattie’s knowledge and brain development but it also helped his fine motor skills and increased his attention span to the point where at just three years of age he can concentrate on one activity for an hour.”

The only downside is what it’s costing the family in gadgets - including a Nintendo DS for the next birthday - and $70 for each game after that.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald, Australia
http://tinyurl.com/3p7a7s

I wrote a glowing review of the new Grand Theft Auto game in the Chronicle today. Like most of my video game coverage, the writing is aimed in large part for people who don’t play. I figured out a long time ago that there are a lot more non-gamer parents and grandparents reading the print edition of the Chronicle than 18-year-olds or even people my age.

I loved the game, and have long believed that the GTA series is grossly misunderstood and demonized by people who don’t understand it. It reminds me of the people who said that listening to Elvis would make us all sex addicts and that Dungeons & Dragons was going to make me a serial killer. Still waiting for that to happen …

When I started writing about video games in 2002, I felt like there was no one else in the mainstream media that felt the way I did. But now I can recommend a lot of places where parents can get video game coverage that doesn’t seem like it’s written in a foreign language and isn’t run by some right-wing religious nuts who just want to ban games that they haven’t played.

Here are some of my favorites …

Whattheyplay.com: Started by two guys who helped start the video game site 1UP.com, Whattheyplay is the only parenting site I know that was founded and is run by gamers. They stick to just the facts, clinically listing the specific sex, violence and other content in video games. They also run a lot of features to help demystify games for non-gamer parents — such as advice on how to get hard-to-find consoles like the Wii. Here’s an article I wrote about them.

Commonsensemedia.org: I don’t agree with everything they do, but their core mission — educating parents about games and other kid-oriented media — is extremely important. Politicians and anti-game activists should stop trying to criminalize video games and treat them like other forms of art. Common Sense seems to get that and advocates for parents with a minimum of judgement.

N’Gai Croal’s video game blog: I don’t usually plug the competition, but the fact is that maybe 10 percent of my job involves writing about games, and I’ll never do it as comprehensively or successfully as this Newsweek writer/blogger. N’Gai Croal’s blog Level Up has become an important bridge between the mainstream media and hard-core gamers, writing intelligently and concisely about important issues. He’s also a very entertaining writer. Whether you play games or have kids who do, bookmark his site.

Source: San Francisco Chronicle, USA
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=29&entry_id=26113

Computer games and fast food have been blamed by doctors for a startling rise in the number of children being treated in hospital for sleep disorders.

Eating too much sugary food is also blamed for preventing children from dropping off to sleep.

Newly released NHS figures show that the number of under-11s referred to hospital specialists for insomnia, sleep-walking and sleep-related breathing problems has rocketed by 26 per cent over the past five years.

But the true numbers affected could be much higher because the figures reflect only those seeking medical help.

Studies have linked poor sleep to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). And lack of sleep harms children’s ability to learn at school.

Psychologist Chireal Shallow, of the Naturally Nurturing clinic for children’s sleep disorders in London, said: “There are likely to be thousands more children whose parents do not seek treatment.

“A lot of the problem is guilty parenting where kids are allowed the rule of the roost because Mum and Dad come home from work late.

“The light, sound and movement of television or computer screens is stimulating and keeps children awake and there should be at least an hour’s gap before going to bed.”

Nick Seaton, chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, said: “It’s absolutely crazy for parents to let their children go to bed any time they like.

“Parents need to exert more authority and remove computer games from bedrooms to make sure kids have the best start in life. I’m sure teachers would be delighted.”

The NHS statistics show nearly 3,000 children under 11 had their sleep monitored overnight by specialists during 2006 compared with only 2,200 in 2002.

Of those, 1,733 were boys.

Professor Jim Horne of the Sleep Research Centre at Loughborough University, said that children aged five to eight are particularly vulnerable to sleep problems as a result of ‘electronic distractions’ because having a rigid bedtime routine is so important to them.

“If they sleep better, the ADHD symptoms disappear.”

Jane Howell, 34, from Morden, South West London, struggled for years to get her son Marcel, now 13, to sleep.

After spending most of the day at school in front of a computer, Marcel would spend the evenings watching television but then found it hard to drop off, often not falling asleep until just a few hours before he had to be up again. “Eventually the problem got so bad that Jane approached a sleep clinic. “She said: “The clinic asked me about his routines and said computers, televisions and mobile phones were a distraction.

“They told me to minimise the time he uses computers and after 8pm it’s now wind-down time.

“He now has much more energy and is sleeping better. As parents you have to be hard on your kids. They want to do their own thing but you have to be strict.”

Dr Rob Primhak, a consultant paediatric respiratory physician at Sheffield Children’s Hospital, said there was now a shortage of specialists due to the numbers coming in.

“There has been a huge surge in demand,” he said.

Mandy Gurney, of the Millpond Children’s Sleep Clinic in London, said: “Not getting a good night’s sleep can have the same effect as four units of alcohol, so imagine what it is like for a child.”

Source: Daily Mail, UK
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