Society focuses on youth

In the past, grandparents were seen as family historians, mentors, teachers, spiritual guides and role models for aging. Now our society seems to kick this generational role to the curb while focusing on the newest or youngest ideas about parenting, aging and relationships.

According to a study by AARP, 60 million U.S. adults are grandparents, one-third of the adult population. We are losing out on a valuable resource as parents if our children do not have grandparents involved in their lives. I realize that some of us may not have these role models available in our own families, but we should make a commitment to find local grandparents for our kids. With the baby boom generation retiring at record rates, many people are available to teach and mentor our kids in ways that our school system can’t replicate…

I still desperately need my grandmother. She is one of my biggest fans, and her knowledge of my grandfather is something that no one else holds…

Source: The Charlotte Observer
http://www.charlotte.com/409/story/236786.html

Thousands of parents are hiding a guilty secret. They are often completely baffled by their children’s homework. Six out of 10 admitted they struggled to answer their youngster’s questions in a recent study…

One in five adults admitted they thought their children were smarter than they were and one in three said they spent an hour a week on the internet or reading books just to keep up with their children’s education…

It comes as Ofsted, the education watchdog, said grandparents should be encouraged to help out in schools to improve grades, because so many parents are working full-time.

But a parent’s grasp of general knowledge is hardly better than their childrens’, an accompanying test revealed…

Source: Daily Mail
http://tinyurl.com/32r6s3

The debate over the importance of smaller class sizes has dominated Scottish education in recent years and was a key battleground in May’s election.

According to research, smaller class sizes, although expensive, can raise school attainment, and work best where there is a significant reduction in numbers and for children in the early years.

The executive is facing pressure to slash class sizes from unions such as the Educa-tional Institute of Scotland (EIS), which has threatened strike action in pursuit of a 20-pupil maximum in all schools and subjects…

The long-term goal of the executive is to deliver universal integrated early education and care services, similar to the Scandinavian model, giving every family access to affordable, high-quality childcare and support from the end of maternity leave.

In the short term they have also pledged to look at providing support for the increasing number of grandparents providing childcare for grandchildren under three…

Source: The Herald
http://www.theherald.co.uk/politics/news/display.var.1476936.0.0.php

Russian women are afraid to bear children. The demographic crisis has become one of the most acute problems in present-day Russia. Recent financial incentives i.e. a bonus certificate to be paid for a second child and an increased child benefit have failed to impress every Russian woman of childbearing age. Perhaps the incentives fall short of the target because the cost of child support is being calculated by wealthy men in the capacity of government officials. It would be fair to suggest that any woman is able to bear a child thanks to the latest advances in healthcare. The issue boils down to money. The question is: Why are the majority of Russian women still reluctant to fulfill their duty of motherhood? …

Both teachers and pediatricians are appalled by numerous reports on mothers leaving their newborn babies in custody of grandmothers and nursemaids in order to get back to work just a week after the childbirth. Any authority on child health can tell you that an early postnatal separation between the mother and the newborn is arguably the worst thing that can happen to the child. However, young mother have to leave their babies at home and resume working. Earlier this year there was a glimpse of hope for those women who were paid decent salaries prior to taking a maternity leave. Their salaries could have remained intact for at least the period of a maternity leave…

Source: PRAVDA
http://english.pravda.ru/russia/history/07-06-2007/92979-women-0

When child care providers fail, parents often call in sick, quit, or go to work and worry…

Despite decades of debate, child care remains one of the biggest challenges for many employees. The shortage of quality care forces absences, tardiness and turnover like no other issue, experts say.

Though employees still face the brunt of the problem alone, employers are starting to recognize that the lack of quality care is an issue they need to be paying attention to…

Each week 63 percent of American children 5 and younger go off to day care. Annually, parents in Kansas and Missouri spend an average of $4,000 to $6,000 — in some cases more than state college tuition — on child care.

But often that tab doesn’t include any type of formal early learning component, which experts increasingly believe is important to how a child performs in kindergarten and beyond. While their parents work, more than three-quarters of children go to a grandparent or other relative or to an in-home day care, according to the National Association of Child Care Resources and Referral Agencies. Only 18 percent go to child care centers, while about 5 percent go to preschool…

Source: Kansas City Star
http://www.kansascity.com/business/story/135979.html

The warnings are real because the dangers are real. And nowhere is the issue of obesity more pressingly felt than in our children and young people…

Our children have never been fatter, and contrary to popular belief it’s not actually because they’re eating more.

Research has shown that calorie intake today is lower than it was in the 1960s; the problem is that activity levels are also lower, much lower.

As a result obesity rates have tripled during the past 20 years and if trends continue, by 2020 at least 20% of all boys and 33% of girls will be obese…

Numerous studies point to the fact that the way children start their life will determine how they will remain for the rest of their lives, so if they’re overweight now, they’re likely to become overweight or obese adults.

So why are our children turning into couch potatoes? One of the biggest problems is that exercise simply is not a normal part of life any more…

Mary Sheppard, Director of Fitness Wales, is a strong believer in starting young.

“Children naturally enjoy being active, so parents should encourage this with a wide variety of opportunities which are fun,” she said. “This not only helps the whole family to keep fit and healthy – why not encourage the grandparents to get involved too – but helps children see that exercise is for life.

“And forming a good habit early on is far easier than breaking a bad one later…

So if you’ve been wondering what they should be doing, how long they should be doing it and how you can get them do it, read on…

Source: icWales.co.uk
http://tinyurl.com/2dlmud

Busy parents are employing a new breed of supernannies who become almost surrogate mothers to their children.

Soaring numbers of mothers work long hours in demanding jobs and expect more and more from their childcare.

Half of parents who have a nanny say they want them to be a surrogate parent, music and language teacher, personal chef and nurse…

“They are more likely to be a university honours graduate who pulls out a foreign-language dictionary, a guitar, flashcards, a first-aid box and a Jamie Oliver school dinner menu from their bag of nanny tricks,” says Gumtree.

“They are as comfortable with calculus as cooking; homework as housework and fluent with a second language.” …

Source: Daily Mail
http://tinyurl.com/3cxq5n

Angela Kim spends two days a week baby-sitting for her 2-year-old grandson, Noah, while her daughter, Andrea, a doctor, works nine-hour hospital shifts.

Only Mrs. Kim, 57, lives in Houston and her daughter and grandson live in Dallas — 250 miles away.

This long-distance child care arrangement means that on Tuesdays Mrs. Kim wakes at 4:45 a.m. to catch a 6:30 a.m. Southwest Airlines flight to Dallas Love Airport, where her daughter and Noah pick her up at the curb.

At the hospital, her daughter hops out of the car to make her 8 a.m. shift and Mrs. Kim slips into the driver’s seat. Then she and Noah drive to his preschool, and after that, home, where Mrs. Kim fills her grandson’s next two days with brown rice, seaweed and Konglish, a mix of Korean and English.

On Wednesday night, Mrs. Kim does the trip in reverse, catching a 7:30 p.m. flight to the Houston airport, where her husband picks her up…

“To me, grandparents are like the family National Guard,” said Andrew J. Cherlin, a sociologist at Johns Hopkins University who studies intergenerational issues. “They are ready to step in when there is a need, and as soon as that need is met, they are ready to leave active duty.” …

“This is the first generation where we have so many older people living long enough, being healthy enough and being affluent enough to provide these services on a large scale” since women entered the workplace in large numbers, Dr. Cherlin said…

Source: New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/10/fashion/10granny.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin

… On Monday morning, 60% of married mothers will resume the routine of handing over their preschool children to an army of other women, according to a recent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report. Once they’re done with making a living at their day jobs, the division of labor on the domestic front will be as uneven as it has ever been. Women will still do most of the work around the house, and mothers will still change far more than their fair share of diapers…

Variously known as child care providers, nannies or babysitters, they are indeed an army. Without them to hold down the fort and provide the rest of us with the freedom to choose between career and children, neither side in the “Mommy Wars” would have been able to fire a single salvo. Were they not available to help rear the next generation of worker bees, there never would have been a “second shift,” never mind a Nancy Pelosi in the House or a Hillary Clinton on the presidential primary ballot…

Let us hope that these nannies receive cards and chocolates from their own families, because it is unlikely that they receive them from anyone who has been holding forth on whether mothers should rejoin the workforce. It is not that we don’t treasure the “other mothers” in our lives. It is that along with the appreciation comes doubt, resentment and guilt about our own choices as working mothers…

Source: USA TODAY
http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2007/05/nannies_the_oth.html

New parents are crumbling under the weight of conflicting advice from experts, in-laws and mothers’ groups.

Grandparents, other parents and a stream of parenting books are offering confusing and often conflicting advice on everything from sleep to toilet training.

Parenting commentators say clashing advice can lead to family feuding and marriage tension…

Practical Parenting editor Lynne Cossar said the barrage of advice was a minefield for new parents…

Parenting author Kaz Cooke said the greatest potential for friction was between generations.

“You are getting advice that’s anything up to 60 years out of date,” the Kidwrangling author said.

“I think that it can often end up with grandparents feeling they’ve been snubbed because their advice hasn’t been taken.” …

Parenting Research Centre executive director Warren Cann advised parents to take ideas on board — but not to heart…

“Ultimately we have to weigh all this information up. When it comes to something as complex as parenting, there’s always going to be a diverse range of ideas.”

Parenting educator Michael Grose said conflict between parents often arose because fathers — who were traditionally in the background — now wanted their say on raising their children.

“It’s not a bad thing — just a new phenomenon.”

Source: The Herald Sun
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,21642006-662,00.html