Blogging Parent

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?

According to a new study that was published in the latest issue of Pediatrics, swimming in chlorinated pools may increase a child’s risk of developing asthma. This is contradictory to what I’ve known that swimming can be beneficial to young asthmatics.

The study discovered the children who swam at indoor chlorinated pools during their early years had higher chances of developing asthma and breathing problems than those who did not.

So, if you do want to teach your young children swimming, do bring them to outdoor swimming pools or at the beach.

(via News.com.au)

Technorati Tags: asthma, children, health, swimming

Now I know why I’m bad at maths! Just by looking at my fingers!!

According to research done by the Bath University in the UK and published in British Journal of Psychology,

children’s academic strengths can be predicted by the relative lengths of the fingers”.

From the study of 75 seven-year-old children, those with shorter ring fingers as compared to their index fingers did better in tests at literacy than maths. And those with longer ring fingers were better at maths.

According to the researchers, the levels of hormones the children are exposed to in the womb do play a part in the development of the child. Testosterone is supposed to promote development in the areas of the brain that are associated with spatial and mathematical skills while oestrogen is associated with verbal ability. And the most amazing thing is that both testosterone and oestrogen play a part in the relative lengths of the index and ring fingers.

I suppose you can guess which hormones affect which finger …. Well, children exposed to more testosterone will have longer ring fingers and those exposed to more oestrogen will have longer index fingers.

Hmmm … will have to go home this evening to check on Matthew’s fingers as it’ll mean we’ll have to put more effort into either his verbal skills or mathematical skills depending on the relative lengths of his index and ring fingers.

(via BBC News)

Technorati Tags: child development, health

A controversial law has been passed in the New Zealand parliament that effectively bans parents from smacking their children.

This new bill was introduced to close a legal loophole used by child abusers under the previous law of allowing parents to use “reasonable force” to discipline their children. However, the new bill allows for police to use their discretion over whether to prosecute a parent or not for smacking their children.

It will be interesting to see how the law will be followed. And how the judges will decide when the police or a child brings the first case before the court.

(via BBC News)

Technorati Tags: new zealand, smacking ban