In a twist on this era’s obsession with getting kids to eat less, an elementary school in New Jersey is trying out a new way to get kids to eat more.

At least at lunch. Teachers and administrators wanted kids to eat more lunch.

The strategy isn’t to offer more gold stars or cookies or extra time at recess. Rather, they’ve taken one simple step: altered the schedule. Recess is now before — rather than after — lunch.

The result? Continue reading »

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You wouldn’t think cooperation and the urge to selflessly help others are innate human characteristics. Just look at the resistance to giving everyone access to health care. Look how the flag of “personal responsibility” gets waved around difficult issues like homelessness, obesity, unintended pregnancy and kids throwing temper tantrums.

But a new book and many studies argue that altruism and the need to help others — from an age when we’re still in great need of help ourselves — is what makes humans human. And how we as a species have survived and evolved.

What makes biologists think we are born do-gooders? Continue reading »

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I’m having a hard time figuring out why perfectly pro-vaccines people are shunning the swine flu shot. Even if you’re very confident you won’t get it, even if you’re confident that if you do get it you won’t die from it, who would even want to suffer through the dang thing in the first place?

Oh, and to then have your kids and whoever else lives with you come down with it? That sounds like a couple of months of absolute misery to me. Am I waiting for the email that our HMO has a nice juicy shot waiting for me and the brood. Yes, yes, yes I am.

But really, how bad could it be? Pretty bad.

The NY Times features Aubrey Opdyke, who was in a coma and nearly died from the swine flu, the saddest part being that her 27-week-old fetus, who was delivered via emergency c-section during yet another lung collapse of the mother’s, did die. Continue reading »

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The New York Times and Gawker report that, among other Conde Nast titles, Cookie magazine will cease publication.

The four-year-old parenting magazine — known for featuring $235-dollar cashmere cardigans … for preschoolers! … and nursery designs that cost more than an emergency c-section — is still offering free gift subscriptions at its website (and I just got a re-up offer in the mail on Saturday).

The publishers broke the news in a company memo Monday morning. The Cookie closure paragraph came after this jaw-dropper: Continue reading »

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Earlier this week we talked about some less than desirable outcomes of spanking (aggression, diminished cognitive capabilities). Today, let’s deal with the less than desirable outcomes of more popular and accepted discipline techniques: the vaunted timeout and the oft-uttered “good job.”

Both, it turns out, communicates to the child that they are loved conditionally. Which, you know, messes with a kid’s mind while providing fodder for therapy years down the road. Continue reading »

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I love salads. I’m not talking about iceberg lettuce in ranch dressing (though I love that, too), but mixed salads of anything cold and crunchy and vegetabl-y. No lettuce, no problem.

The NY Time‘s Minimalist Mark Bittman has given eaters like me this great mid-summer gift: 101 recipes for simple summer salads. Shredded carrots and blueberries? How did I not think of that?

Here are my Top 5. But there are 96 others that look just as good. Continue reading »

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The New York Times tells us about a study conducted at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale. (Sadly, it was not underwritten by the Chubb Group. Rim shot.) They found that when kids watch cartoons that include ads for “unhealthy snacks,” they eat more of said snacks.

More specifically, here is what the researchers did: Continue reading »

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