There are few things more important to producing secure children than healthy self-esteem. Healthy self-esteem is what enables children to try new things, to meet all the challenges that they face, to have the courage to try, to risk and even to fail. And it starts from the very beginning as your first smiles beam […]
Childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions but the good news is that it can be prevented. Sadly, the physical and emotional effects of childhood obesity are staggering. All the more reason why parents need to be informed about the few simple measures they can take to prevent their children from falling victim to it. What […]
TV and other screen media have been strongly linked to the alarming growth of childhood obesity currently reaching epidemic proportions. Obese children commonly suffer from high blood pressure, diabetes, respiratory and orthopedic problems, sleep difficulty and depression. Moreover, 80% of adolescents who are overweight will be obese adults (www.kaiserfamilyfoundation.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/the-role-of-media-in-childhood-obesity.pdf). TV Plays a Major Role […]
Are e-books good for children? Ever see a child read an e-book? Their total involvement is striking. It causes us to think, “Wow! E-books for children are great! This is something parents and teachers should be excited about.” But it may not be so simple. Ongoing research on elementary school children reading e-books and traditional […]
Spoken language and words are critical to children’s early development. Hart and Ridley discussed this in their well-known study, Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children (Brookes Publishing, 1995) which examined the language experiences of young children in their homes. They had wanted to see where children get their vocabulary from (www.aft.org/pdfs/americaneducator/spring2003/TheEarlyCatastrophe.pdf). […]
Are you a busy parent trying to fit helping your child with homework into your full schedule? Well, relax! A recent large study shows that helping your child with homework doesn’t lead to improved academic performance. In fact, it can have negative effects. (Keith Robinson and Angel L. Harris, The Broken Compass: Parental Involvement With […]
I recently came across a very candid article by a father telling about what can happen when you don’t monitor your children’s media use. “The sense of shame and sadness which came over me when I realized my infant son was an addict will stay with me forever” (www.dailymail.co.uk/article-2548365). Children’s media use today is greater […]
Why do some children have larger vocabularies when they start school than others? This is an important question considering that a significant predictor of success in school is a child’s vocabulary. When we say “vocabulary,” we mean an understanding and use of words. But before being able to use words, how does your child let […]
Children watch TV and other screen media today more than ever before. Why? What role does it play in their lives and in their family life? TV Watching Among Young Children On an average day, 88% of 2 to 3 year olds spend time on screen media (30% spend 1 to 2 hours a day, […]
What!? There’s a problem with English? How could this wonderful language with so many words, probably more words than in any other language, be a problem? It’s the spelling. (See my last blog article, “Why is Learning to Read English So ‘Tuff’”?) Unfortunately, this leads to difficulties in learning to read. In fact, it takes […]