Whose Children Are They?

I was working around the house while listening to the Today Show this morning. A musical group had performed, and I caught the part where Matt Lauer asked the lead singer what message was she sending to children. I heard the tone as being negative and wasn't clear whether Matt Lauer was referencing the song's lyrics or the performers' dance moves, which I didn't see. Immediately, I wondered whether parents have ceded lessons about morals and values to performers.

I mention this because I still remember my mother telling her children that we shouldn't follow other people, particularly when they were doing something negative. Of course, there was that standard questions: If all the other kids are jumping off a cliff, would you jump? My thought is that I don't go to a furniture store expecting to purchase ice cream, so I question why we're expecting entertainers, sports people, etc. to be a moral compass for our children?

Day Care Research

There is an interesting article titled Day Care: Research Has Eased Some Fears About Having Children Spend Their Days Away From Home, by Sandra G. Boodman at Washington Post on-line. The article indicates that research reveals quality day care has a positive effect on children and parents can relax some about having to leave children in the care of others during the day at those facilities.

Ms. Boodman mentioned that no males worked at the facility she profiled in the article. That is not a surprise.

I taught child development courses at a junior college and observed students for state and national childcare certification. In all the childcare centers I visited to observe students, I never saw a male working as a teacher. At one facility I followed the observation protocol by quietly watching one of my students provide care to 2-3 year olds. One little guy didn't want to nap and tried hard to get my attention without disturbing the other sleeping children. He quietly moved closer and closer to me as I sat in a corner. He finally climbed onto my lap, and I became his tree. I remained still while he moved from my lap, over my shoulder, and to my back. I finally told him that he needed to try to nap.

What I realized was that this little guy decided to take advantage of the only male he saw in the center. This situation left me wondering what children are losing with so few males working as teachers in day care centers. I realize the fear is that males will molest children and that fear is added to the anxiety parents feel when leave children for others to provide care. I'll have more to say about this after I track down a book tittled A Nation of Wimps by Hara Estroff Marano. According to an interview of Marano by Sam Miller of Freedom News Service, Marano believes that we are raising children to be weak because of over protection. Also, Marano believes that children are at risk more at home than outside the home.

Child Shot With Air Gun

I read the BBC News on line during the week in order to receive information from outside the U.S.--our media covers few international stories other than conflicts and airline crashes. Today an article concerning an 18-month baby, who was shot in the head with an air rifle by his 5-year old sister, caught my attention. Here is a quote from the article:

"While we are still trying to establish precisely what happened, this does appear to be a tragic accident involving young children," said DI Simon Vowles.

Somehow this hit me as a cop out. The article mentioned that the father of the children left there children unattended. However, there is no discussion about the father left a weapon within the reach of the children. I believe the father should be held accountable for the accident, not the children.

Children Cheating at Games

An article titled No One Likes a Cheater, But No One Likes a Stickler, Either, The Letter and Spirit of Recess Law, by Emily Bazelon at Slate.com caught my interest. The author described a situation where her son questioned the an incident where his playmates had cheated. While reading the article, several points came to mind.

First, research in child development indicates that children are binary thinkers, particularly the youngest of children. By binary thinkers, I mean that they think in terms of either/or without nuance. Asking children to weigh situations and consider fairness as well as flexibility when confronted with cheating while playing games is a lot to expect. I think children need concrete answers since that is the level of their thinking.

The other thought I had was that as adults it sounds so 'high minded" to say that "remember to be fair" and "we need to follow the rules" to children when other children aren't following the same advice. Only to a point that I agree with this idea. I think there are times that children need to adopt the "when in Rome" attitude, particularly during play. Most important, I believe, we need to teach children how to adapt to situations. Let's teach them when to be flexible and when to be firm since all situations aren't the same. Learning judgement and discretion is a valuable lesson.

Children Books Made into Movies

Have you noticed that children books are being turned into movies more than before? Well, this is part of a plan and some authors are making movie deals even before books are published according to an August 14, 2008 New York Times article titled To Reach Children, Publisher Tries Films, written by Julie Bosman.

On one level I understand that publishers need to tie children books to movies to help the struggling publishing industry. I have misgivings, however, because in a way I feel children and parents are being manipulated by the process.

Laughter Yoga In 60 seconds

(Video from YouTube)

I Heard That!

Did you know that simply listening to different types of music will help you formally learn music? A study, cited in Science Daily News, is indicating that exposure to music helps in development of competency in music and years of formal training isn't the only way to develop music competency.

Interesting, Very Interesting

(YouTube Video ["Action For Blind People - Kids Sports Club"])

There is evidence that celebratory gestures may be hardwired in humans. New Scientist has an article that cites a study within which the discovery was made that blind athletes display triumphant and disappointing gestures similar to those of people with sight.

Writing Off Disabled Children

The August 9, 2008 edition of the New York Times has an editorial titled "Writing Off Disabled Children." I found information in the editorial disturbing.. According to the editorial, many disabled children aren't being offered proper assistance in school, and these students respond by acting out. Thus the vicious cycle begins with them often being denied the same level of education as other students, particularly when they are in detention centers or jails, repeatedly getting into trouble. The federal Individuals With Disabilities (Education) Act requires that disabled students be properly educated; however, many school systems are evading that responsibilities per the editorial.

It seems so odd that we label our country as being a "Christian Nation," but we often turn our backs on the most vulnerable among us: children.

What About Sex?

The video left me with the impression that the book being highlighted is not breaking new ground.

The problem of children being bombarded with sexually-charged material has been on my mind for a long time. I really, really hate Viagra (and similar products) being advertised on TV during primetime and earlier. Also, I'm annoyed at how as a society we paint so much with a sexual brush. For example, a few days ago I saw a commercial, which indicated that a "pool" was sexy. I'm sure you've seen ads about cars, clothes, and other products being given sexual significance. From politics, what about the report that a British government official said that the U.S. wanted to "sexy up" the evidence to support invading Iraq? Through all of this, it's no wonder that children are exploring sex earlier and earlier. As adults we have set the stage, and I don't see much of an outcry to de-sex our society.

The crazy part of me wonders whether the hormones used to fatten animals for market is having an effect on humans in the form of heightened interest in sex. I haven't seen research supporting or debunking this idea, however.

Here We Go: Movement Toward Standardard Assessment in Early Childhood Education

I knew it was only a matter of time for the standardized assessment movement to reach the pre-k and kindergarten levels, particularly with more and more locations receiving public funds. Through Science News Daily, I learned that the Congress asked the National Research Council for guidance on how to evaluate children from birth to 5. Here is the link to the resulting report from the National Research Council.

Blue Light Special!

Would you send you child to a shopping day camp?

Children of Domestic Violence Homes

Through the Freakanomics Blog, I learned of a study by Scott E. Carrell and Mark L. Hoekstra titled Externalities in the Classroom: How Children of Domestic Violence Affect Everyone's Kids. The study indicates that ".... children from troubled families significantly decrease their peers’ reading and math test scores and significantly increase misbehavior of others in the classroom. The effects are heterogeneous across income, race, and gender and appear to work primarily through troubled boys." Read more about the study and find a link to study here.