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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?

Chlorine in Pools May Hold Increased Asthma Risk

Isaak Kwok — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 05:40:59 +0000

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

Isaak Kwok — Wed, 23 May 2007 06:36:05 +0000

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

Smacking You Child is Banned in New Zealand

Isaak Kwok — Fri, 18 May 2007 05:55:15 +0000

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

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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

Artificial Food Coloring Warning

Isaak Kwok — Wed, 09 May 2007 06:54:55 +0000

It was quite scary reading this about the unknown dangers of food coloring on children.

According to the article, certain additives present in food coloring can have effects on children’s behavior such as hyperactivity, temper tantrums, allergic reactions and poor concentration.

However, the research, by the Food Standards Agency in the UK, is inconclusive and they are still doing research on the effects. Furthermore, the additives tested are approved for use in the EU, but some of which are banned in Scandinavian countries and the US.

So, for the time being, maybe it’s a good idea to reduce the amount of food with food coloring from your child’s diet. The additives added are “tartrazine (E102), ponceau 4R (E124), sunset yellow (E110), carmoisine (E122), quinoline yellow (E104) and allura red AC (E129)”.

Technorati Tags: children, health, news, research

Isaak’s Links - Child’s Health - 15 March 2007

Isaak Kwok — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 10:37:24 +0000

- Child medicine additive concern
Medicines for babies and young children frequently contain additives banned from foods and drinks aimed at under-threes, research shows.

- Popular baby bottles may be dangerous
A preliminary study in the US has shown that a chemical, Bisphenol A (or BPA), used in the manufacturing of popular brands of baby bottles might cause developmental, neural and reproductive harm when ingested. However, the spokesperson representing the manufacturers have come out to say that there is still no conclusive evidence to link the chemical with any harm. We’ll have to wait and see what results further studies will yield.

- Heart defects develop in fetal cell
Australian scientists have discovered that heart defects develop even before the heart is actually formed. Congenital heart defects are the number one cause of death in children below one.

- Fitness program aimed at preschoolers
South Australia plans to roll-out a fitness program for children under five to combat the rising obesity levels in the state. What’s scary is that data has shown that up to 20 per cent of all four-year-olds in South Australia are either overweight or obese. And up to 70 per cent of children under 12 eat junk food nearly every day. Well, in Singapore, the schools have the TAF (or Trim and Fit) program to help overweight children lose some weight.

Technorati Tags: child development, health, infants, toddlers

Eating Fish While Pregnant

Isaak Kwok — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 03:25:08 +0000

The Chinese have always advocated eating lots of fish when one is pregnant and also after birth. They believe that eating fish will result in a healthy baby. Guess the Chinese have made the right choice all these centuries.

Recent research in the United Kingdom have proven that pregnant women who eat fish will have long-lasting benefits for their babies. They found that pregnant women “eating less that 340g of fish and seafood a week was associated with a 48% increased risk of children being in the lowest group of verbal intelligence”. Not eating much fish and seafood can also result in the “increased risk of poorer behaviour, motor, communication and social development scores”.

So, what’s important for pregnant women now is to eat lots of fish and seafood, especially those that have high content of Omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids are very important for brain development. And it’s important to continue eating fish and seafood after birth as the Omega-3 fatty acids are passed via the breast milk that the baby drinks. Now I know why I had fish for lunch and dinner after my son was born!

Link (from BBC Health)

Technorati Tags: babies, brain development, child development, eating fish, omega-3, pregnancy, research

Healthy Diet = Healthy Babies

Isaak Kwok — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 04:44:11 +0000

Besides making sure your wife is healthy during pregnancy, recent research at the University of Adelaide has discovered that it’s equally important to be healthy before she becomes pregnant. This was reported in The Advertiser yesterday.

The research found under-nutrition from fertilisation to day seven altered the development of the fetus and placenta and “programmed” the fetus for disease in later life.

So, if you plan to have children, please do some preparatory work to make sure that your wife is healthy and on a good diet.

Technorati Tags: child development, health, pregnancy, research

Don’t Be Stressed When You’re Pregnant

Isaak Kwok — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 15:34:42 +0000

As reported on BBC News, research done by the Imperial College London found that mothers who were severely stressed out during pregnancy had higher incidences of their babies being born with mental and behavioral problems such as ADHD and lower IQ levels.

The cause is the increased levels of the stress hormone cortisol in the mother when she’s stressed and this would then be transferred to the unborn baby through the placenta. What is worrying is the possibility of higher chances of the babies of stressed mothers having ADHD.

The studies though shows that if the baby is in the right home environment after birth, then their development would be unaffected. And it will only occur only when the mother is in extremely high levels of stress and distress.

Link (via Digg)

Technorati Tags: babies, health, pregnancy, stress, mothers