Ten years ago they were as rare as hen’s teeth. Today, go to any local playgroup across Wales and you’ll find at least one stay-at-home dad, playing happily with his kids before heading off to do the shopping and a spot of housework. Sarah Manners looks at what’s going on behind this social revolution

IN 1983 a pre-Batman Michael Keaton starred in “Mr Mom”, a US comedy about a hapless father forced by circumstance to become a stay-at-home dad.

It raised a few laughs, but not much interest apart from that. Or so it seemed.

For deep within that decade, the cracks of truly seismic social changes were beginning to appear – leading to a phenomenon that is now rapidly edging towards some kind of norm, as well as spawning its own burgeoning industry.

For as Margaret Thatcher plotted to take on Britain’s miners, sounding the death-knell of traditional heavy industry in the UK, unbeknown to her the Iron Lady’s actions were also laying the foundations for another social revolution, perhaps even more far reaching.

Because as the economy swung towards women at work and men at home, suddenly men discovered that – shock, horror – they could look after their children just as well as their partners could.

A decade later, and it was choice and not just circumstance that was seeing more and more men kiss goodbye to the morning commute in favour of nappies, playgroup, the school run and housework.

Now stay-at-home dads are everywhere – and increasingly vocal.

Since records of the trend began in 1993, the number of full-time stay-at-home dads has doubled to more than 200,000 UK-wide.

At the same time, the number of stay-at-home mums has fallen by a quarter.

And according to a TUC report on changing work habits, between 2004 and 2006 1.2 million men asked their employer if they could work flexibly – 60% had their request accepted.

Even City high fliers with their six-figure salaries are kissing goodbye to the bonuses instead of their still-sleeping kids at unearthly hours of the morning before returning at night to kiss their once again sleeping children goodnight, without having spoken to them in the hours in between.

More and more of them are on the so-called “daddy track”, combining their career with spending more time at home during the working week with their children.

In recent years a whopping one in 10 working men in the UK has increased the amount of time he spends at home.

All this adds up to a significant shift in attitudes to parenting in the UK, even if we’ve a long way to go to catch up with Sweden, where parents get – steady now – 480 days off after the birth of a child, paid at between 80% and 90% of normal pay, valid until the child is eight years old.

That noise you can hear as you read this is the sound of thousands of fathers across Wales sighing as they wish they could do something similar, if not the same.

One Welsh father who is in the vanguard of this revolution is Duncan Fisher.

Co-founder of fatherhood information website www.dad.info, Duncan, 46, says it is economics pure and simple which is behind the rise of the stay-at-home dad, and flexible-working dad.

“The average wage of a man in the UK is £29,000, and yet your average British household depends on at least £34,000 coming into it to pay for the basics every year. This has completely changed the equation when it comes to mothers working,” said Duncan, who lives with his two daughters aged seven and 11 in Crickhowell, Mid Wales.

“Now it is the norm for women to work at least part-time and therefore fathers are finding themselves pulled into the childcare equation more than ever before.

“And at the same time women’s earning power is rising fast. In 20% of families in the UK, women now earn more than men.

“So it makes sense in those families for the higher earner to go back to work, when the time comes. Stay-at-home fathers are not the norm, but they are becoming more usual.

“But then, stay-at-home mothers are not the norm any more either. I guess, if there is a norm then it is for both parents to work in some combination. How they make it work is up to them.”

Source: ic Wales, United Kingdom
http://tinyurl.com/4ojz34

Be it the growing power of rights over duties, feminism over traditionalism, or simply a society that makes it economically feasible to parent as a never-married woman, there is hope that the trend is turning around

It was a symposium on same-sex marriage that cold January day in Vermont, but on the subject of marriage generally, Patrick Fagan’s power-point presentation went much further. There, on a large screen, a bar graph demonstrated how for psychological health, wealth and other optimal outcomes for children, a biological mom and a dad in an intact marriage did the best job.

At the opposite, bottom end of the graph, well past the married stepfamilies, the divorced single parents and the co-habiting couples, was the never-married single mother, whose grim prospects included grinding poverty, little hope of a future marriage and children with behavioural problems that too often led to a life of crime and yet more unwed pregnancy.

The debate among top American academics is over, the distinguished psychologist, one-time presidential appointee on the family and now a Senior Fellow at the Family Research Council in Washington, later told me in a telephone conversation. Though if any doubt remains about the importance of an intact family in a child’s development, a study undertaken by Swedish social scientists and published by Acta Paediatrica in March buries it once and for all. Their systematic review of fathers’ involvement with children from the time they are newborn to the time they are young adults spanned 24 papers from 16 different longitudinal studies from a variety of countries. It concludes that “father engagement reduces the frequency of behavioural problems in boys and psychological problems in young women; it also enhances cognitive development while decreasing criminality and economic disadvantage in low (socio-economic status) families.”

If the United States more generally represents the traditional family and Sweden less-traditional families, the debate about the arrangement that best meets the needs of children would indeed appear to be over: kids need both mothers and fathers. But can the developments of the past half-century be reversed? In that time, the never-married single mother has been Canada’s fastest-rising parenting demographic. And why did these developments occur in the first place?

There was a time when an unwed pregnancy meant a shotgun wedding. It wasn’t the best start to a marriage, but it secured social and other obligations for the child from his parents. It also provided him with a sense of his genetic and social origins — that is, a sense of his identity — and clear role models upon which to build his future behaviour.

The existence of shotgun weddings didn’t preclude what sociologists and Statistics Canada now call lone-parent or one-parent families. These have been an established feature of Canadian familyhood for some time and have included widows, the divorced or separated, as well as never-married mothers. In 1951, for instance, 13.9 per cent of families were lone parents, a figure not far removed from 2006 figures at 15.6 per cent, although, significantly, they fell to 8 per cent between 1951 and 1966.

The difference between then and now is the altered composition of the lone-parent cohort. In 1951, only 1.5 per cent of lone parents were never-married, whereas 30 per cent were divorced or separated and 66.5 per cent were widowed. By 2006, and despite the availability of birth control, abortion and adoption services, the proportion of never-married, at 29.5 per cent, and divorced or separated, at 49.5 per cent, had increased dramatically.

Why?

Conventional wisdom says poverty is the primary cause of never-married mothering, but increasingly evidence suggests both poverty and never-married mothering are symptoms of a deeper problem.

“Although there are many exceptions,” writes Anne-Marie Ambert in a 2006 paper on one-parent families for The Vanier Institute of the Family, “over half of women who bear children alone not only create poverty … but come from poverty.”

The professor emeritus of sociology at York University adds that, in any case, “less than 50 years ago, the poor were not so likely to produce as many one-parent families as is now the case.” And even today, the poor do not uniformly inhabit one-parent families, while the rich do produce one-parent families via divorce and occasionally through intentional single motherhood.

Values, beliefs and morality are also factors, she says, beginning with an ethos of individualism that emphasizes rights rather than duties. This, coupled with an ideology of gratification, particularly sexual and psychological, meant procreation became increasingly separated from marriage even as women, often conspicuously unprepared for motherhood, were encouraged to keep and to bond with their newborns as a “right.”

Add impoverishment, and such adolescents may feel they have little to lose and even something to gain by engaging in unprotected sex.

In 1999, similar views were expressed by Maggie Gallagher, an American author and president of the Institute of Marriage and Public Policy. “What has changed most in recent decades is not who gets pregnant, but who gets married,” she wrote in The Age of Unwed Mothers. If a good marriage is unlikely and if marriage isn’t an essential support to motherhood anyway, she argues, it is hardly surprising adolescent girls decide to become pregnant. “If it is not marriage that confers special meaning to the sexual act, then perhaps it is her giving the gift of unprotected sex, or making a baby.”

British journalist Melanie Phillips agrees that the collapse of marriage is behind today’s changing family fortunes, but she blames “gender” feminism as its primary cause. By viewing marriage as the principle instrument of oppression by males of females, she says, gender feminism marginalized men from their roles as husbands and fathers while its radical agenda has become the stuff of public policy. Meanwhile, fear of appearing judgmental about its consequences has led to moral paralysis on the subject.

Her book, The Sex-Change Society: Feminised Britain and the Neutered Male, argues that any explanation based on economics — for instance, that a lack of jobs makes young men unmarriageable or that too much welfare makes it too easy for young women to be single mothers — is only a small part of the puzzle. The missing piece is the change in girls’ sexual behaviour and the collapse of social stigma. “The legalizing of abortion and the availability of contraception, along with the changes in social attitudes, brought about the end of ’shot-gun’ marriages by which unmarried sexual incontinence had previously been regulated,” Phillips says.

Fewer men wanted to marry women who, they felt, brought their pregnancy on themselves, while women who did want to marry and have children “found their bargaining position had been undermined since men could go elsewhere for sex without responsibility.” And while men seek sexual favours, it is women who — unless they are being coerced — have the power of selection.

To be sure, mistakes are a factor — but abortion and adoption services exist to address these. Coercion is also a factor in very disadvantaged groups, as is a hyper-sexualized media and celebrity culture that feeds peer pressure and promotes sexual activity.

If women were engaging in more-adventurous sexual behaviours, does that mean men were feckless cads? Not entirely, says Phillips. “All societies struggle with the problem of attaching men to their children,” she writes. “This is almost always solved through marriage and legitimacy, which is very important in establishing paternal certainty, the most important precondition for paternal investment.” Moreover, she says, family life socializes young men, who must get jobs and settle down. It also contributes to the development of kinship, the primary structure that supports individuals.

But now, “marriage has been weakened, divorce has got easier and no stigma is any longer attached to children born outside of wedlock. The result has been a snapping of the bonds that have tied men into family life.”

In Canada, as elsewhere, liberalized divorce laws were adopted by the end of the 1960s. In Britain, says Phillips, they turned marriage into an institution of contempt and “just a piece of paper.” Divorce produced “damaged children (who) grew up into embittered adults incapable of lasting attachments and deeply mistrustful of the institution whose failure had let them down so badly.” The non-existent or low-commitment requirements of lone parenting or co-habitation became a better option than a perceived “bad” marriage while “no-fault” divorce laws that also gave women custody of the children and most of the family assets bestowed “the seal of social approval upon families constructed around the absence of the father.”

In a recent blog item on The Spectator’s website, Phillips discusses the murder of a 15-year-old and the life of her mother and others with several children by several men. An affluent, complacent and materialistic Britain has created an underclass, she writes, “where successive generations of women have never known what it is to be loved and cherished by both their parents … How can such women know how to parent their own children?”

Similarly, and in the U.S., where 37 per cent of pregnancies are those of unwed, mostly black and Hispanic mothers, commentators describe a de facto caste system based on the marriage gap. In Canada, the proportion of Aboriginal single mother families is twice as high as other Canadian families.

Yet reasons for hope persist. According to “Crime, Drugs, Welfare — And Other Good News,” published in last December’s edition of Commentary magazine, American college graduates are marrying and staying married for the sake of the children, while the number of Canadian fathers who have joint custody of theirs now rivals the never-married mother as Canada’s fastest rising parenting demographic. Abortion and fertility rates among the young are declining.

Many lessons, too, are emerging from the trials and triumphs of the sexual revolution, among them that if feminism’s biggest mistake was the marginalization of men, so, too, has it given women greater control of their sexuality. And that means tremendous power to re-order their lives, the lives of their families and to turn the situation around.

Source: Canada.com, Canada
http://tinyurl.com/5uo7oe

Children whose fathers are depressed have smaller vocabularies than those who do not, a US study suggests.

But the Eastern Virginia Medical School study of 5,000 families found language development in children whose mothers had similar symptoms seemed unaffected.

Researchers said by the age of two, children with depressed fathers used 1.5 fewer words than the average of 29.

This could be because depressed fathers spent less time reading to their children, they wrote in New Scientist.

The researchers, led by paediatric psychologist James Paulson, surveyed about 5,000 families.

When the children were nine months old, 14% of the mothers and 10% of the fathers were clinically depressed.

The researchers assessed the impact on language development by measuring what proportion of 50 common words the children were using at two years of age.

On average the children in the study were using 29 of the 50 words by the time they reached two.

‘Significant difference’

However, those children whose fathers were depressed when they were nine months old used an average of 1.5 fewer words than those whose fathers were fine.

Dr Paulson said the difference might seem small, but when scaled up across a child’s complete vocabulary it might make a significant difference.

In contrast, there was no difference in the size of the vocabulary of children whose mothers were depressed, and of those whose mothers were not.

The researchers found that depressed mothers did not reduce the amount of time they spent reading to their nine-month-old baby, but depressed fathers read on average 9% less than those who had no problem.

Dr Paulson, who presented the findings to a meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, said he hoped the study would encourage depressed fathers to seek help.

He said: “Men may not be likely to seek help for themselves but when other people who depend on them become affected, that may change the landscape.”

Ruth Coppard, a psychologist with an interest in child development, said depressed people tended to withdraw and go quiet, but that women often had no choice, but to continue with child care duties regardless.

BBC News, UK
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7388367.stm

Parents should be paid to spend time with their children to stop toddlers as young as two being sent to schools and nurseries, a leading head teacher has said.

Clarissa Williams, the new president of the National Association of Head Teachers, said that parents were being separated from their children too early.

“Why do we feel the need to send children into an education environment at the age of two? Are parents so distrusted that we want to separate them from their children at the earliest opportunity?” asked Ms Williams, the head of Tolworth Girls School in Surrey.

Speaking at the NHT annual conference in Liverpool, the head said parents should be rewarded financially for staying at home, playing with their children, reading to them and bringing them up well.

“There needs to be a contract between the receiver of the benefits that if they stay at home to do quality things with their children, they will be rewarded.

“Lots of mothers stay at home and deal with a single income and we should respect that.”

Ms Williams said some young children reacted badly to intuitional settings, echoing research that suggests that putting toddlers in nurseries for a long amount of time can lead to aggression.

“Lots of children react well to nurseries, others are more anxious and that manifests itself in their behaviour, said Ms Williams.

The head suggested that child allowance as well as benefits should reflect the effort parents put in with their children.

The proportion of working mothers has risen steadily over the last decade.

Thousands of babies are now looked after by nurseries. Government vouchers giving free child care places to 3 and four year olds have also led to a rise in the number of children in pre-school settings.

Children in the UK also start formal education at age 5, much earlier than the rest of Europe where 6 or 7 is the norm.

In her speech Ms Williams also criticised school admissions.

She said choice was limited “mostly to those able to exercise it.” She suggested that allocating secondary school places by lottery could be fairer.

The controversial distribution of school places by ballot has been adopted by Brighton and Hove, several schools in Hertfordshire and a few in London.

Source: Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom
http://tinyurl.com/4oce7j

More than half (54%) of fathers feel it is a battle to fulfil their role in 21st century Britain, a survey found.

Meanwhile 51% of fathers interviewed felt they did not get enough recognition from society for their role and 46% believed that a lack of father-friendly support contributed to their difficulties.

Also, more than one in three fathers (38%) said it was a struggle to be seen as important as their child’s mother.

Duncan Fisher, Director of the Fatherhood Institute said: “People’s instincts about parenting back up what research has been telling us.

“It’s clear that parental leave and services do not meet the needs of the modern family. Government and policy makers need to catch up with reality because involving dads has a huge impact on a child’s well-being and life chances.”

The findings, which are also supported by the TUC and charity Families need Fathers, are complemented by a photographic exhibition - Fathergood? - which was opened by the NSPCC.

The exhibition, being held in Shoreditch, east London, involves photos taken by 40 young people who were asked to capture what fatherhood meant to them. The images range from hearts, orange juice, and medals, to empty wine bottles, road signs, and broken branches.

Chris Cloke, NSPCC head of child protection awareness and diversity, said the exhibition “highlights how vital it is for the Government to encourage and support fathers to create lasting bonds with their children.

Source: The Press Association
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5ivJ5mO38xTHK7JjMjbLH0KVqPquw

A bout of the baby blues is traditionally seen as an affliction that strikes mothers.

The babies of depressed men are twice as likely to suffer problems ranging from anxiety to hyperactivity at the age of seven, a study of thousands of families revealed.

The Oxford University research found men, like women, can struggle to cope with the changes a new addition to the family brings.

The cost of raising children, the changed relationship with their partner and the responsibility of fatherhood can all take their toll on mental health.

Add to these a lack of sleep and the burden of extra housework and many men feel overwhelmed.

Researchers followed the mental health and behaviour of more than 8,000 children born in Bristol in 1991 and 1992.

Their fathers’ mental health was assessed after their births and they were tested for behavioural and psychiatric problems as they grew up.

Almost 4 per cent of the fathers were deemed to be depressed eight weeks into fatherhood.

Youngsters whose fathers had the baby blues were also more likely to suffer behavioural problems and find it hard to get on with other children, the Journal of the American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry reports.

Oxford researcher Dr Paul Ramchandani said: “Perinatal services, where they exist, focus on mothers.

“Although we recognise the primacy of the maternal role, it is important to consider broadening the focus of such services.”

Source: Daily Mail, UK
http://tinyurl.com/3tn6xj

Psychologist explores how our ability to function in adult relationships is directly connected to our mother factor legacy

Clinical Psychologist Stephan B. Poulter demonstrates in THE MOTHER FACTOR: HOW YOUR MOTHER’S EMOTIONAL LEGACY IMPACTS YOUR LIFE (Prometheus Books) that most of us will never understand the complex legacy imparted by our mothers or its far-reaching impact on our lives. The initial bond formed at birth becomes the foundation from which our emotional development, communication style, and personality type evolve through adulthood. No other relationship in our lives has the potential to shape us like the one we share with our mothers, and the more we understand the emotional components of it, the more choices and opportunities for relationship change and personal growth will be available to us.

Poulter defines the mother factor as our emotional development, functioning, and ability to form meaningful relationships in family life, in social life, and with intimate partners. It is an emotional template started with the mother-child relationship that influences our feelings of frustration, love, fear, and hope; our mothers’ style of parenting as the template for our emotional disposition and our core sense of who and what we are in the world; our emotional functioning as consciously and unconsciously shaped by our mothers.

The mother factor can work for or against us. Poulter shows that in order for it to work for us, we must understand the pervasive influence of our mothers. By focusing on our mother factor from many different angles and perspectives, Poulter strives to give us a more complete view of our own legacy. Once we have these new and crucial insights, we will have the personal power to make different choices, to let go of old self-defeating patterns, to take new and positive action, and to have a deeper sense of fulfillment.

“This entire investigation into your mother factor is for the sole purpose of gaining new, valuable insight and clarity, which will open more options to your life,” Poulter explains.

He also explores how our emotional connections in adult relationships are based on the “style” of our mothers. Poulter defines the five styles of mothering as:

* The Perfectionist Mother- whose family must look perfect in every way

* The Unpredictable Mother- whose ups and downs can create lifelong anxiety and depression in her son or daughter

* The “Me First” Mother- whose children come second or last

* The “Best Friend” Mother- who’s now in vogue but can wreak havoc

* The Complete Mother- who provides guidance and shows compassion to her child

THE MOTHER FACTOR makes clear that no matter what type of mother we have— and most mothers are a combination of the above—her style of mothering affects our lives in ways that should not be ignored. Through an investigation of the strengths, insights, and liabilities that derive from each mothering style, Poulter seeks to help us transcend the mysterious anger, anxiety, depression, and shame that we feel and achieve the kind of relationships we deserve. Dr. Poulter demonstrates how the internalized “rulebook” we inherit from our mothers is a very powerful force, as well. These unspoken rules govern our work, relationships, emotions, separation, and independence. Unless we become aware of the rules that guide our behavior, thoughts, and beliefs, we won’t have the ability to make our own choices.

Dani Levine, PhD, Clinical Psychologist and President of The S.T.E.P. Group (School Placement and Educational Placement), says THE MOTHER FACTOR “brilliantly captured the reality that although we are products of our mothers’ legacy, we are not prisoners. Dr. Poulter not only offers insight, but also provides the tools to escape the fate of falling into maladaptive patterns. I would recommend this book to the masses, as we are all in relationships today that have been influenced by our mothers.”

###

Stephen B. Poulter, PhD (Los Angeles, CA), is the author of three previously published books including THE FATHER FACTOR, which was praised by NEWSWEEK and PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, among other publications, and received widespread attention with author appearances in ABC’s GOOD MORNING AMERICA, CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News Channel FOX & FRIENDS. He has practiced as a clinical psychologist specializing in family relationships for twenty-four years.

Source: EurekAlert, DC
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-04/pb-hym042308.php

A friend of mine e-mailed me recently and said her brother is going to become a father soon, and could I recommend any good books on parenting for fathers? Now, when I was pregnant I remember my husband looking for the same thing, and even attempting to read a couple of popular titles. He ended up throwing most of them down in disgust. “This one assumes the only thing you care about is how soon you are gonna get laid after the baby is born and how hard it will be to stop going to strip clubs,” he complained (knowing this wouldn’t be a problem since we planned to raise our child in the back room of “Eve’s Playground”.)

A couple other books trotted out the irritating stereotype of the inept father, struggling to adjust to his new role while smiling sheepishly and remaining just hopeless when it comes to diapers. You know, that wacky dad, he may be good at watching football but he sure doesn’t know how to give a bottle. Ick. And many of the books for parents turned out to be more for moms, with a couple lines about dads not getting in the way, or exhorting fathers to be involved while implying it’s the last thing they want to do.

Now, it seems to me that the stereotype of the idiot, reluctant father is one that’s alive and well. Many dads I know get asked if they are “giving mom a break” when they go out in public with the kids, even though some of them are actually the primary caretakers. And even when dads demonstrate they are involved parents, there’s folks who encourage them to get back in their place. When our baby was about a week old, her dad and I went to the local birth-stuff store (hideous nursing pajamas, Boppys, birth amulets, that kind of thing) to buy a breast pump. The terrifying woman working showed us a few milking machines, and then my husband made the grand mistake of telling her we’d be using bottles as well as nursing soon because he also wanted to bond with the baby.

This woman went off on a tirade about nipple confusion and urged my husband to be, and I quote, “less selfish.” “This is mommy’s time with the baby,” she said. Um, yeah, no thanks, I like to share. Is it so hard to imagine that we might prioritize equal baby time? (By the way, no nipple confusion, unless you mean the phenomenon I experienced when I tried to latch my kid on in the dark, missed the target, and got a nasty hickey.)

Anyhow, the point of my rant is not to reopen old wounds and necessitate a best Men at Work best song post, but to ask if there are any good books for dads out there, books that don’t assume it’ll be a miracle if dad keeps the baby alive for three hours without maternal intervention.

Source: San Francisco Chronicle, USA
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/parenting/detail?&entry_id=25837

Maternity services across the UK are disadvantaging children from birth by “shutting out” their fathers, a think tank has warned.

But the NCT said some of the issues raised were also important for mothers.

In a report published on Monday the Institute said in focusing almost entirely on mothers, most maternity units tend to overlook fathers.

There are no clear guidelines and no formal requirement for maternity services to recognise fathers-to-be and ensure they are involved in the birth and early days of their baby’s life, the report said.

While 86% of fathers now attend the birth of their child, the report found that many still feel excluded at the birth and can be literally shut out when visiting time is over.

Their research also showed many new dads feel they have no clear role and are offered very little information.

More support

The Institute wants to see a change in birth registration practice so that both parents sign the birth certificate.

And for maternity services to allow and encourage fathers to be present for doctor’s ward round and when support is given on baby care skills.

A co-ordinated government programme is needed to give targeted antenatal support to young mothers and vulnerable fathers, the report added.

Fatherhood Institute chief executive Duncan Fisher said: “Research clearly shows that the positive involvement of fathers right from the start is crucial; and that when professionals engage with fathers, particularly young or otherwise vulnerable dads, this makes a huge difference to mother and baby.

“What actually happens now is that while the mother’s responsibilities are reinforced at every opportunity, the first message many fathers get after the birth is ‘leave this place now’.

“Currently, we don’t ask questions if a father fails to show for the antenatal appointment or doesn’t sign the birth certificate.

“If things are going to change, we have got to start sending both mums and dads some very different signals.”

Belinda Phipps, chief executive of the National Childbirth Trust said both mothers and fathers needed help to settle into their new roles as parents to their new baby.

“The recommendations in this report focus primarily on fathers however many of the issues they raise are just as relevant for mothers.

“Maternity services do not currently fully meet the needs of all parents and particularly those with additional needs as a result of their own specific circumstances.

“Separating services based on gender may not be the most useful way to serve the needs of all parents.”

Source: BBC News, UK
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7343229.stm

They are age-old questions, from the moment of birth: What’s your baby thinking? How much does your child really understand?

“They’re not just wailing away. There’s something going on that’s important to their development, right from the very beginning,” said speech professor Patricia Kuhl of the University of Washington.

Researchers at the UW are now using baby caps that can detect the most minute electrical current being sent out by a baby’s brain.

Little Isabella is listening to a very unusual audio tape.

To most adults the syllables all sound alike, but in fact they are just slightly different. Believe it or not, Isabella, who isn’t even yet talking, can tell the difference and her brain waves prove it.

“Their brains are set automatically to capture this information in ways that are completely surprising,” said Kuhl.

Kuhl and her husband, psychology professor Andy Meltzoff, are two of the world’s top scientists in the growing field of early learning.

Their research has shown up in every major magazine. Their book, The Scientist in the Crib, is now published in French, German, Chinese - more than 10 languages in all.

Several years ago, they started the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, bringing together 50 scientists at the UW, studying both the brain and behavior, and discovering that babies understand far more than parents or scientists ever thought possible.

“Babies learn more in the first three years of life than we ever will again,” said Dr. Meltzoff.

What we know is they learn by copying us. In a very simple experiment, Dr. Meltzoff stuck out his tongue and found that even a two-week-old baby knows how to imitate.

“It shows that they’re born learning. Really, babies are born learning,” he said.

Perhaps more remarkable is what Dr. Meltzoff discovered with slightly older babies. If you show them how to play with a toy, even if you don’t let them imitate immediately, they will save it in their brain. They’ll imitate you when you give them the toy - up to four months later, demonstrating that babies have incredible memory.

“Often times, the parents would say, oh I know I’ve seen that toy before, but I can’t remember what to do with it. And the baby would do the right thing,” said Dr. Meltzoff.

“That’s what’s different about the brain of a baby,” said Dr. Kuhl.

Meanwhile, Dr. Kuhl has spent years focusing on language. What struck her is that all mothers have a special way of talking to a baby.

Kuhl calls it “motherese,” or “parentese,” because dads do it naturally too.

Why do we talk that way? Are babies getting anything out of it?

It turns out they are.

“The vowels, if you measure ee, ah and ooh, in words like sheep and shoe and keys, they’re much more distinct in motherese. They’re further apart acoustically. It’s like being able to show a baby, here’s what to listen for. Here are the components,” said Dr. Kuhl.

She discovered that babies learn about language long before they utter their first word.

In a speech lab, she took 9-month-old babies and exposed them to a second language, either Spanish or Mandarin. And after just 12 sessions over one month, the babies could detect subtle phonetic sounds in the foreign language.

“The babies in the United States, exposed in that way, are as good as the babies in Taiwan for example, at hearing the Chinese distinctions,” said Dr. Kuhl.

Isabella was exposed to Spanish for a month, which is why she now distinguishes sounds that most English-only speakers cannot.

In another lab, Dr. Meltzoff is studying the crucial moment when a baby learns not just to look at mom, but to follow where mom’s eyes are focused.

He said 10-month-old babies, who are good at following where an adult is gazing, had about twice as many words in their speech eight months later.

“So when she’s around in the living room and says, ‘here’s a rattle, look at the rattle,’ the babies need to know to follow where she’s looking and that’s what the word refers to,” he said.

All these studies suggest that babies are learning an incredible amount that first year, and yet scientists cannot explain why we as adults have no specific memories of our time as babies.

We’re tempted to think maybe there isn’t that much going on in their brains, but Kuhl and Meltzoff say it’s just the opposite, that babies absorb culture, language, social interaction, emotions - the most basic building blocks of who they’ll become some day.

“The news is that babies are even learning from their peers at day-care centers, and learning from us so we’re role models right from the beginning,” said Dr. Kuhl.

“It is lasting learning. It’s the kind of learning that makes a profound effect on the baby’s brain and mental operations, and that sets them up for later.”

Source: KING5.com, WA
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