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Quick Links - 28 July 2009

Isaak Kwok — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 02:44:08 +0000

Hmmm … Matthew has just started school (Early Learning Centre) about a week ago and he seems to be enjoying himself quite a bit. At least he doesn’t cry himself to sleep like when he was in childcare. Or kicks up a big fuss in the morning. He also didn’t cry when we sent him to school on the first day which was quite a big surprise for us and for his teachers. This was because he made quite a big fuss when he went in a couple of times for orientation in the previous term.

So, that’s a little update from our family.

Well, besides parents sending their children to formal school like we have done for Matthew, there seems to be an increasing number of parents in South Australia who have decided to [homeschool](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_school) their children. An [AdelaideNow news report](http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,25825345-2682,00.html) states that “more than 830 children stayed at home” for their studies. As for us, we haven’t ever thought of homeschooling Matthew as we prefer him to go to school and mix with other children. But I’m aware that homeschooled kids have combined activities (social and sports) as well through homeschooling support groups. So what do you think about homeschooling?
***Do note that homeschooling might not be legal in where you live. So, do check with your respective education departments for more information.***

In health news, children who take plenty of dairy foods are expected to live longer, a study highlighted in [BBC News | Health](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8170002.stm). Although the report didn’t say by how much longer, but it does say that taking milk and cheese (with its high dairy and calcium) helps to protect against stroke and other causes of death. So, ensure your children take lots of dairy products. Matthew has at least a bottle of milk in the morning and 2-3 slices of cheese. Hopefully, that is enough dairy and calcium intake for him so that he can live a longer life.

And now for a good cause! **Sara Wilson** from [The Fresh Air Fund](http://freshair-press.com/) has been sending me emails with regards to putting up information about the Fresh Air Fund, which I haven’t done. So, if you are in the United States and Canada, do click on the link and see if you are able to assist by hosting “The Fresh Air Fund” children in August or by donating. Help to change some children’s life.

Babies Benefit in Child Care

Isaak Kwok — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 02:32:37 +0000

A Belgian professor, who specialises in early childhood education, has said that children who attend good childcare centres can reap social and employment benefits later in life.

I have got to agree with the professor. We put Matthew into infant care when he was 3 months old. And we can see that he’s much better in socialising and he knows how to interact with others. He learns how to share and communicate with his friends and teachers. Of course, he’ll still have the occasional tantrum, but which kid doesn’t. And we make sure that we communicate and spend time with him.

However, it must be noted that it is quite important to choose a quality childcare centre for your child. Otherwise, the kid might be picking up the wrong messages.

P.S.: Do read the comments in the news article. They are quite interesting and provide alternative views.

Drug Testing During Exams

Isaak Kwok — Mon, 26 May 2008 04:50:35 +0000

I’m sure you have heard of drug testing at sporting events to prevent drug cheats, but I bet you have never heard of drug testing at exams.

Well, things are going to be different from now on. A news article in the BBC News has reported that schools and universities may soon need to conduct tests on students sitting for exams for brain improving drugs.

Drugs for diseases such as Alzheimer’s were being used by healthy people to boost their alertness and memory. Experts are worried that this would be an issue in time to come and might implement urine drug tests during exams. And even more drugs will be designed in future as we begin to know more about the workings of our brain.

Hmmm … I can imagine students queuing up after their exams to provide urine samples for testing. Wonder if a student will be banned for two years from taking exams if he is caught doping as it is for sports at the moment.

Bedtime Reading is Good for Your Child

Isaak Kwok — Wed, 14 May 2008 23:20:27 +0000

Matthew has been read to since he was born. And he enjoys been read to as well as doing his own reading. Although he might not know how to read the words yet, he can re-tell the stories in the books to us through the pictures. Sometimes, he’ll gather all his soft toys and tell them stories with his storybooks.

And researchers have recently done a study to show that reading helps stimulate child development and gives them a head start in school. Besides the reading, sharing a book with them also helps with their motor skills when they turn the book’s pages and their memory. The bonding with the parents during storytime helps with the child’s emotional and social development.

The study also shows that children who have been read to from an early age have better language scores later in life. And I definitely agree with that point as Matthew does have a rather wide vocabulary though he’s not even three yet. The sentences he constructs sometimes make us ask him to repeat himself just to be sure it’s coming out of his mouth.

As a librarian, I wholeheartedly promote reading! Happy Reading!!!

Daddies, Don’t Be Depressed

Isaak Kwok — Wed, 14 May 2008 05:56:34 +0000

A study of 5,000 families by the Eastern Virginia Medical School has found that children have smaller vocabularies when their fathers are depressed whereas children with fathers who are not depressed do not. However, mothers who are depressed seem not to have the same effect on the children.

Children with depressed fathers used 1.5 fewer words than the average of 29 at the age of two. This could be due to depressed fathers spending less time reading (9% less) to their children, wrote the researchers in New Scientist. However, for depressed mothers, they would still spend the same amount of time reading to their children, thus there was no impact.

The researchers said that though the difference is small, there might be a significant difference when it scales up across a child’s complete vocabulary.

So, fathers who are feeling depressed or feels depression is coming along, I guess it’s time for you to seek help early as it might affect your children’s future.

Quick Links - Play is Good and Others - 15 October 2007

Isaak Kwok — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 03:14:47 +0000

Haven’t updated the blog in a while. So, here’s some links out to stuff I found over the week or so.

- Children’s learning should be fun, says heads
Head teachers in the UK have come out strongly in support of having children below the age of six learn through play. They are against children entering formal education at the age of five as studies in Scandinavia has shown that starting formal education later could boost academic performance in the long term. Hmmmm … maybe we should do that for Matthew. I’m sure he’ll be more than happy. Play is always better than studying!

- Free parenting e-books
Parentwonder.com has compiled a list of 36 e-books, that are free and downloadable, on a range of parenting topics. I particularly like the ones on being a dad, child discipline and handling their tantrums.
(via Inside Fatherhood

Is Watching TV Good or Bad for Your Child?

Isaak Kwok — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 07:43:31 +0000

The headlines from Telegraph and BBC News offer totally different viewpoints though they are quoting from the same Johns Hopkins University’s research. The Telegraph’s headline read “Two hours’ TV a day ‘harms children’” while BBC News was “Children ‘recover’ from TV harm”.

Hmmm … when I first saw the two headlines, I thought they were basing it on two different research studies. But on further reading, I found that they were actually referencing the same research study. They were just angling their stories differently. I feel the Telegraph’s report was a little sensationalistic as compared to the BBC News. But it might be because BBC News’s parent company also runs TV channels with one dedicated kids channel, CBeebies.

As for us, we try to balance out the time that Matthew reads, play and watches TV. But given his boisterous and curious nature, it’s quite difficult to make him sit down for more than 20 minutes for any activity. And, thankfully, because he is child care, he doesn’t watch as much TV if he was at home. We also try to bring him out on weekends so that we won’t plonk ourselves in front of the TV. But some television is good for him as it allows him to explore the world around him … he likes animal-related programmes such as those on Animal Planet, Discovery Channel and National Geographic.

So, do you let your children watch TV? If yes, how often? If no, why not?

Is Baby Einstein Harmful to Your Child?

Isaak Kwok — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 08:35:46 +0000

Well, according to Time, letting your child watch an hour of Baby Einstein or Brainy Baby might not be beneficial and may even be detrimental to the baby’s language development.

From the article,

the research team found that with every hour per day spent watching baby DVDs and videos, infants learned six to eight fewer new vocabulary words than babies who never watched the videos. These products had the strongest detrimental effect on babies 8 to 16 months old, the age at which language skills are starting to form. “The more videos they watched, the fewer words they knew,” says Christakis. “These babies scored about 10% lower on language skills than infants who had not watched these videos.

Well, Matthew loves watching children’s programs (Bob the Builder, Thomas the Tank Engine, Out of the Box, and others) on cable. But we also make sure that we read and talk to him. And found that it does help him in his vocabulary. It really amazes me sometimes when he’s able to string a simple sentence and he even knows how to use the correct tense. Think it also helps that he goes to childcare centre that has proper lesson plans.

(via Geekdad - do read the comments)

Technorati Tags: baby einstein, books, reading

Toddlers in England to get help with talking

Isaak Kwok — Fri, 18 May 2007 04:05:24 +0000

A programme has been launched in England to help children learn how to talk even before they start primary school. This is because of an increasing number of children with poor language skills.

The Early Talk programme uses gestures, symbols and signing to expand the vocabulary of children and will be piloted in 200 government-backed children’s centres.

The Early Talk programme will teach nursery staff, childminders and parents the basic skills they need to enhance children’s speech, language and communication.

You can read more on the BBC News article. And I hope that the programme will be a success.

As for my little Matthew, he definitely doesn’t have poor language skills. He is quite conversant and chatty when he’s in the right mood. He might not have the necessary vocabulary yet to fully express himself, but he can definitely understand what we are saying. And it was heartening to hear from his childcare teacher that he even understand the Mandarin instructions that she gave give that my level of Mandarin is not that fantastic.

Well, I believe his language and social skills were built up in his childcare centre. In addition, we made sure that we spoke to him in proper English (without baby talk) from the time he was born. I guess all these factors helped in his social, communicative and language development.

Am actually quite proud of him!

Technorati Tags: children, schools, talking

Am I Ruining My Child With Day Care?

Isaak Kwok — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 08:27:59 +0000

A study that is going to published in the March-April issue of the journal Child Development has shown that children put in day care centers for long periods exhibit minor behavioral problems, such as aggression and disobedience, up to sixth grade (about 12 years old). This was compared to no such behavioral problems when the child is left at a nanny or family child-care homes. This was reported in a Wall Street Journal article(subscription needed for full article). In addition, a Wall Street Journal blogger has given her comments in this post.

Thankfully, the study shows that if the children have been given high-quality care, they will have better vocabulary skills, which results in mathematics and reading gains.

Personally, Matthew has been placed in an infant care center since he was about two and a half months and I can see that he has benefited much from being in day care without the minor behavioral problems. To me, his speech and vocabulary skills seems to be quite good for any kid who is less than 2 years old. Of course, he throws the occasional tantrum, but I believe that’s normal for a child. Actually, if he doesn’t, I’ll be a little worried because that’s not too normal. But he can be pacified most of the time.

I believe that choosing a good day care center is critical as the teachers play a big role in the development of the child together with the parents. Though my wife and I didn’t exactly do a really good study of the centers around our place, we were lucky and managed to find a really good center for Matthew. Most of the center’s teachers really care about the children placed there. But most importantly, Matthew likes and enjoys his time there.

Technorati Tags: education, parenting, child care