Blogging Parent

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

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

- 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

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