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Strollerderby
A mother guides her daughter
Psychology Today offers some wisdom on getting kids to do what you want, from someone who knows: a middle school teacher.
The secret: positive feedback. Don’t just tell the kids what not to do. Tell them how you want them to do it instead.
Seems like simple common sense, right? Yet we all know how hard it is to do in practice. When one of my daughters is climbing a bookcase or putting the smackdown on her sister with a toy, the first words out of my mouth are rarely, “I’d really like to see you do this even better.” They’re more likely to be, “STOP!”
IVF makes boys more likely than girls
A study in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology finds that women using in vitro fertilization are more likely to have a boy. The research looked at data from almost 14,000 births following fertility treatments in Australia and New Zealand between 2002 and 2006.
The odds of having a boy went from 51 out of 100 births (with natural conception) to 56 out of 100 after IVF. And the longer the wait before the fertilized egg was implanted, the higher the odds of having a boy.
One caveat is that if a couple uses a specific fertility treatment — ICSI, in which a single sperm is selected and used to fertilize the IVF egg — the odds of having a boy decreased slightly below normal.
We know that the environment can tip the gender balance slightly — like the case I talked about earlier today of natural disasters leading to more girls, for example. Continue reading »
Save Money with this Book
How did the Economides land the title of “America’s Cheapest Family?” The old fashioned way — by pinching pennies.
MSNBC.com reports that the Economides (yes, that’s really their name) manages to live in the tony suburb of Scottsdale, Arizona and feed their family of seven on just $44,000 a year. Furthermore, they don’t use credit cards, take car loans, or borrow on their home equity. Continue reading »
Fisher-Price recall: Is your kid's trike affected?
Time to weed out the toy bin, with a little extra urgency: Fisher-Price has announced that it’s recalling more than 10 million toys, trikes and high chairs over concern that they could injure children.
Among the items being recalled:
About 7 million Fisher-Price Trikes and Tough Trikes toddler tricycles, which have been implicated in the injuries of 10 children, six of them requiring medical attention, the Associated Press reports. (The Dora the Explorer and Barbie models are among those being recalled.) The problem stems from the protruding plastic ignition key, which kids can bash into or fall or sit on and hurt themselves, possibly causing genital bleeding.
Fisher Price Recall
“Fisher-Price is recalling more than 10 million tricycles, toys and high chairs over safety concerns,” Yahoo! News reports. Most of the recalled items are Fisher-Price Trikes and Tough Trikes toddler tricycles. 7 million of the tyke bikes are being recalled thanks to 10 injuries – six of which required medical attention.
The reason for the injuries? Continue reading »
Christmas Trees Stress Me Out
Jews and Christmas trees just don’t mix, right?
Comedian Susie Felber feels guilty about celebrating Christmas and I can relate. Like Felber’s parents, my parents were strongly connected to their Jewish heritage.
While Felber’s family celebrated Christmas, my parents were inconsistent about it. Some years, there would be stockings hung on the fireplace and other years, we’d let the holiday pass without acknowledgment.
Christmas isn’t for another few months and yet I’m already dreading having to face the same old conflicted feelings about the Christmas tree. Continue reading »
Over the last few days, science writers Amanda Schaffer and Annie Murphy Paul have been having a fascinating exchange about Paul’s new book Origins: How The Nine Months Before Birth Shape The Rest Of Our Lives.
The two writers dissect studies of how a mom’s behavior, diet, and environment affect her baby, but they also pull apart big ideas about evolution and the push and pull between mom and fetus.
As we know, when pregnancy studies make the news we often see big, flashy, guilt-inducing headlines, but Paul makes the distinction between small studies that we should approach with skepticism and those that are large and well-designed.
For example, a study published in the Lancet in 2007 looked at 12,000 women and found those who eat less than 12 oz of seafood per week are more likely to have children with increased risk for low verbal IQ, social and communication problems, and poor fine motor skills.
Another substantial study in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology found that women who gain more weight in pregnancy, even within the 25-35 pound guidelines, are more likely to have a heavier three year old.
But according to Paul, it’s not just about isolated variables like fish and pregnancy weight. What’s going on around the woman during pregnancy — the greater environmental conditions — shape what’s going on in the womb.
For example, in times of extreme stress (like in the wake of an earthquake), fewer boys are born. Why would that be? Continue reading »
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