Penelope"s Reflection - http://clapway.com/2015/12/25/penelopes-reflection/

Raising children is probably the hardest thing anyone can do. If you are as lucky as I am, they will turn out fine despite the horrid middle school years that girls go through, or the idiotic statements people make when they think that difference matters, or the scrapes, the lost teeth, or their parents’ ridiculous behavior. I do not take credit for my children being who they are. They survived. They survived public school, they survived the chicken pox, and crazy walks in blizzards and ice skating on days so cold that school closed. They survived the camping trips, a huge extended family, good teachers and bad, Halloween costumes and losing friends. One of them survived open-heart surgery, another survived a blow to the head from a friend pretending to be a hockey player, and another survived a divorce that came during middle school (which is never a good time for anyone to survive anything).

Having children suspends life in a limbo that wiggles about the middle branches of life. Once this limbo reaches the top branch of the tree, they are adults. I never climbed to the top of the tree to see where they were going because what was important was where they were at the moment. I had no control of their future; I just needed to support them while they figured out the world.

Now, I am happy for who them. They are successful, healthy, smart, beautiful, compassionate, and everything else that a mother wants their children to be. Life will continue to provide them with obstacles as it did when they were children. They may make some of the same mistakes that I did, and I hope they learned that if they fall into a rut they have the sense to pull themselves out of it on their own or to ask for help. Life tosses at us into the rut of work, marriage, and making ends meet. Ruts are important, but the key lies in learning how to get out of them or asking someone to give you a push when you are mired.

Raising children shows us that we are resilient creatures. The worries we have, the defenses we build, the ultimate fears that come along with raising them are part of the package. Only in retrospect can I see from the top branch of the tree that if you use your resources right they will survive.

Penelope"s Reflection

New Study Shows How Ads Damage Children - http://clapway.com/2015/11/23/new-study-shows-how-ads-damage-children123/

A research study released from Ofcom, a watchdog in the United Kingdom, reveals that Google and other web browsers are refraining from doing enough to make sure kids understand the difference in between paid search or sponsored ads and organic search results.

Kids Can’t Tell True from False on Google

Ofcom launched a research study revealing that 69% of kids ages 12 to 15 could not tell the difference between a Google search advertisement and the real results on an online search engine query page. The report analyzes the use of media usage, attitudes and understanding among those ages 5 to 15, along with details regarding the media accessibility and usage of kids ages 3-4. It additionally assesses how parents view their children’s media usage, and the ways they determine to limit or check usage of various kinds of media.

The Results Are Astonishing – ADs

Only 16% of kids ages 8 to 11 recognize whether they’re seeing an ad or search inquiry result. Kid count on most points they see on the internet as well considerably, as 19 % of young teenagers think online content has to be true. The younger they are, the more trusting they will certainly be. Although sponsored ads are distinguished by an orange box with the word ‘Advertisement’ or ‘Sponsored,’ just 16% of 8-11-year-olds and 31% of 12- to-15-year-olds that use internet search engine properly determined funded web links on Google as advertisements.

Kids Are Given Smartphones At A Young Age

Not remarkably, younger kids are online more often because parents give them the tools to access it. Four in ten kids ages 5 to 15 have a phone of some kind, and one in three have a smartphone, per the research. The chance of having a smartphone boosts with the age of the kid. The research discovered that 4% of five-year-olds own a mobile phone, 24% of 8-11-year-olds, and also 6% of 12-15 year-olds. In 2015, youngsters ages 10 are now more than three times more likely to have a mobile phone than a non-smartphone, 30% vs. 8%.

So in this digital age, shouldn’t children be more educated in things like programming and web browsing earlier? If we’re giving them the tools, then they should know how to use it, and use it to their advantage.

New Study Shows How Ads Damage Children

Science Explains Why Toddlers Run Like Ungainly Weirdos - http://clapway.com/2015/11/15/science-explains-toddlers-run-like-ungainly-weirdos/

We all suck at things as beginners. And toddlers, being newcomers to life, are the ultimate beginners. Ever seen one try to use a spoon? It’s disastrous.

Stop it. You’re embarrassing yourself.

This being said, we all know what it looks like when a toddler tries to run: the straight legs, the awkward waddle, the stomping feet that never seem to leave the ground. It’s almost as disastrous as their spoon usage. Some of us find it endearing, others find it hilarious, and others disconcerting. A calf or foal can run relatively gracefully within hours of its birth. Your kid has had over a year to figure this out. Why is he so bad at this?

While human kind’s notoriously slow mental and motor development compared to that of other animals may seem like the obvious answer, studies show that this is not in fact the case. A recent study on adult and child gaits explains that due to the incredible physical complexity of the human walk, its most effective, economical method is dependent on the size and proportions of the walker. This being said, due to the high energy costs of terrestrial locomotion, humans will generally seek out the most economical (or some might say “laziest”) methods for getting around, as shown in the study here, in which scientists recorded how people continuously adjusted their walking to different physical constraints.

According to the study on adult and child gaits, terrestrial animals experience “disproportionally higher power demands at smaller scales,” so your little tyke technically needs to do more work in less time in order to get around. In short, (pun sort of intended), proportions are everything, and your kid’s funny run comes down to locomotive economics. A toddler walk isn’t different from an adult walk because he doesn’t know what he’s doing, it’s different because he knows exactly what he’s doing, and is using a method that is best suited for his smaller, stubbier dimensions. With proportionally shorter legs and smaller strides, toddlers have less time to lift their feet off the ground as they move, and as they pick up speed into a run, they have even less time, which perhaps helps explain their “longer stance durations,” running with “marginally no aerial phase,” manifesting as a stiff limbed, clunky running gait.

Billy! What did daddy say about utilizing your aerial phase?

To demonstrate how much a biped’s physical dimensions affects how it moves, and to console you with the notion that your child isn’t alone in looking awkward, here’s a video of a computer simulation trying to figure out how to walk and run with different body proportions (it’s actually kind of funny. In a scientific way. Obviously).

Moral of the story is that your kid’s doing the best he can with what he’s currently got. For those of you who are worried about your ungainly child’s future athletic career, in a few years he could be running like a gazelle down the track or field. Unless, of course, he finds musical theater to be more his scene.

 

 

Science Explains Why Toddlers Run Like Ungainly Weirdos

Pregnancy Photo Shoot Shows Pregnant Women to be Gorgeous - http://clapway.com/2015/09/19/pregnancy-photo-shoot-shows-pregnant-women-to-be-gorgeous/ #pregnancyphoto #pregnantwoman #children

These pictures are from the Art Director and Stylist at Carrot Incorporations. She is a mother of three children. One week before giving birth to her daughter, she decided to get into a bathtub and take part in a photo shoot, showcasing that all pregnant women out there are beautiful! It shows the different emotions felt during pregnancy:

“One day you are heavenly calm, the other you think you have depression, third one you are all sexy and the next you want just to stay in bed.” All four photos were shot in one day.

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Pregnancy Photo Shoot Shows Pregnant Women to be Gorgeous

Kids with Cancer to Live Their Dreams - http://clapway.com/2015/09/19/kids-with-cancer-to-live-their-dreams/ #cancer #children #photographer

Jonathan Diaz, a Utah based photographer, has created this non-profit project, “Anything Can Be”, to bring hope to children suffering from cancer. The kids in these photoshops are depicted in their dream settings.

More info: jmdiazphotography.com

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Kids with Cancer to Live Their Dreams

Studies show that #intoxication is possible for #children consuming #handsanitizer. - http://clapway.com/2015/09/15/hand-sanitizer-intoxicates-children123/

There are a number of different ways people can get drunk. Children, for instance, have been found to consume or drink hand sanitizer, which can cause intoxicating effects. In fact, Georgia’s Poison Control center has reported that there has been a 400% increase of children under 12 consuming hand sanitizer since 2010. According to Dr. Gaylord Lopez, the director of poison control, minors are also increasingly coming across these products, resulting in emergency room trips due to alcohol poisoning.

The dangers of ingesting hand sanitizer

Hand sanitizer is something that many parents use to protect their children from germs. However, research shows that it only takes a few splashes from a bottle to render a child completely intoxicated, which can cause minors to slur their words or experience difficulty in keeping their balance or maintain consciousness. As a point of reference, the amount of alcohol in sanitizer ranges from 45-95% which makes beer (12-15% alcohol) look like child’s play.

Why children are doing this

There are multiple reasons why a child would want to ingest sanitizer. A six year old, drawn by its strawberry scent, stated that the hand sanitizer “tasted good.” She ended up in the emergency room with a .179 blood alcohol content. Younger children, with no way of recognizing the potential consequences, may also see the label of a bottle, thinking it is something that could be ingested.

Older children, by contrast, have cited different reasons for ingesting alcohol. Many are motivated to do so by a dare, posting videos of themselves trying it on Youtube or social media. Others have intent of actually trying to become intoxicated and will even mix the product with other substances, such as Listerine, for a higher alcohol content.

What can be done to prevent this

In light of the rising trend, Lopez has issued warnings to parents to make them aware of what has been going on. He suggests that parents carefully monitor their childrens’ use of hand sanitizer and recommends them to keep the products somewhere hidden when not in use. To be completely on the safe side, it is also possible to forego the alcoholic-based products altogether and stick to the non-alcoholic brands or sanitizing wipes.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xky8HjLKIZo

Consuming Hand Sanitizer Intoxicates Children

%VitaminD pills are quite popular, but scientists suggest that providing #obeseteenagers with many of them may have adverse consequences.% - http://clapway.com/2015/08/16/vitamin-d-pills-dangerous-teenagers-101/

Vitamin D pills are quite popular, but scientists suggest that providing obese teenagers with many of them may have adverse consequences. The new research of Mayo Clinic Children’s Center on childhood obesity advises that vitamin D pills may elevate adolescents’ cholesterol and fat-storing triglycerides levels.

VITAMIN D IS NOT THAT BENEFICIAL. YET.

Dr. Seema Kumar, a pediatric endocrinologist from Mayo Clinic, has been studying the effects of vitamin D for 10 years, but recently she came up with a discouraging conclusion:

“After three months of having vitamin D boosted into the normal range with supplements, these teenagers showed no changes in body weight, body mass index, waistline, blood pressure or blood flow,” she says, “We are not saying the links between vitamin D deficiency and chronic diseases do not exist for children – we just haven’t found any yet.”

VITAMIN D PILLS ARE NOT SLIMMING

While teenage obesity has quadrupled in the past thirty years, many studies indicate that vitamin D deficiency can lead to a series of weight-related medical complications. As a result, worried parents and providers increase the recommended daily intake, in an attempt to fight the clinical complications associated with obesity.

Dr. Kumar, however, notes that the pills’ popularity as a homeopathic weapon against obesity is what made her want to study their effects on overweight teenagers, a population at increased risk for chronic disease.

BE CAREFUL WITH THE INTAKE

Dr. Seema Kumar says that she is surprised that she and her team haven’t found more health benefits, but she made clear that, while vitamin D supplements at reasonable doses are not harmful at all, their usefulness for improving overall health in adolescents is still not clear.

Also, if you ingest too much vitamin D, you will suffer from  a condition called hypervitaminosis, which can result in poor appetite, nausea, vomiting or even kidney complications.

BEFORE YOU SLOW YOUR PILL INTAKE, MOMENTO, THIS WEEK:

Vitamin D Pills May Be Dangerous for Teenagers

When you can"t afford to take care of it, your #children"s #developing #brain might be slower to develop. - http://clapway.com/2015/07/21/brain-development-in-children-affected-by-poverty-2/

The fact that there is a strong connection between poverty and poor academic scores is not new for most people. However, a link between poverty and brain development has not been confirmed, before.

Brain Development Depends Standards of Living

On Monday, a new study regarding poverty and academic results was published. The results show that many academic problems appear as an effect of poverty on the brain.

The main conclusion exposed by the researchers from Duke University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison was that that children who are living in poverty might experience, not only long-lasting cognitive impairment, but also a large number of differences in brain development.

Researchers analyzed around 400 MRI scans. These were taken from the brains of children who came from poor families. The scans were compared with the ways the grey matter develops in children coming from middle-class families.

The results showed that the regional grey matter volume in poor children’s scans was not in line with the normal development for their ages, being 4% below to what is considered to be normal.

Poor Children’s Brain Can Develop Slower

In addition, researchers stated that this study showed that children who live in poor households 1.5 times lower than the federal poverty level, have a performance below standards because their brain appear to be developing much slower.

When comparing the score of poor kids in general intelligence tests, investigators found that it was 4 to 8 points lower than rich kids showed.

The frontal lobe is responsible for problem-solving, reasoning, and planning, and the temporal lobe is responsible for understanding speech. Therefore, the reason for the poor brain development and low test scores might be the underdevelopment of the frontal and temporal lobes in the brain.

Good Parenting Can Help with Kids’ Brain Development

But the study also found that good parenting could help avoiding some of the problems poverty brings to the kids’ brain development. In addition to that, since changes in the brain can bring other problems, besides low academic scores, the government could also help kids with improving their childhood environment.

In conclusion, great parenting and an amount of help to set their life standards above the poverty line might help improving the manner poor kids’ brain develops.

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Take care of your brain by giving it an extra dose of VR:

 

Brain Development in Children Affected by Poverty

"The problem lays in national crime indicators not looking at the big picture," Finkelhor said. - http://clapway.com/2015/06/29/study-finds-over-one-third-of-us-children-and-teen-abused-assaulted-123/

Nearly four of every 10 US children and teens have been exposed to violence or abuse over the previous year, a new research unveiled. Researchers collected information on 4,000 US children age 17 and younger through phone interviews over the last two years. The results of the survey are shocking.

Children: the most victimized section of the population

According to the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, just over 37% of kids in the study had been physically assaulted over the previous year, usually by siblings or peers. Almost 10 percent were consequently injured.

Furthermore, approximately 15 percent of US children faced mistreated by the hands of a caregiver or parent, including 5 percent who were physically abused.

According to study leader David Finkelhor, “children are the most victimized segment of the population”. So why is everyone missing the full burden of this? According to Finkelhor, “The problem lays in national crime indicators not looking at the big picture.”

US children physically assaulted and sexually abused

Overall, boys were assaulted by adults and peers about twice as often as girls were. The survey also found that 2 percent of girls overall had been sexually abused or assaulted within the year, those aged 14 to 17, in particular.

The findings published online in the journal JAMA Pediatrics were the result of children aged 10 to 17 being questioned about their exposure to violence, crime and abuse. Caregivers answered questions for children aged 9 and younger.

Going beyond the statistics

Experts believe that violence and abuse in childhood are big drivers behind many of the social and health issues we face today, ranging from suicide to crime.

According to Dr. Andrew Adesman, of the Cohen Children’s Medical Center of New York, these statistics should be a wake up call for public health experts and policy makers to ensure that children and adolescents are neither exposed to — nor the victim of — so many different forms of violence.

Various programs can help prevent abuse. These include parent education and psychological support programs, that can prevent family abuse as well as school-based ones to reduce bullying.

For more on preventing the abuse and maltreatment of US children, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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If you can’t feel safe at home, where can you?

Study Finds Over One Third of US Children and Teen Abused, Assaulted

"When expressing a verbal lie, the ability to process information correctly while considering the listener"s point of view is a sign that the child has a higher cognitive sense." - http://clapway.com/2015/06/21/children-with-better-working-memory-are-better-liars-456/

Children with a better working memory can tell better lies according to a new study by researchers from the University of North Florida and the University of Sheffield, U.K.

Are Kids Who Tell Better Lies Smarter?

We all know that children don’t always tell the truth, but what makes some children better than others at lying? Dr. Tracy Alloway and her colleagues at the University of North Florida published a study in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology that linked a high verbal working memory to a better ability to tell and remember a lie.

Working memory is about processing information, an essential skill when telling a convincing fib. When expressing a verbal lie, the ability to process information correctly while considering the listener’s point of view is a sign that the child has a higher cognitive sense.

In the study, 137 child participants between 6 and 7 years old were tested for verbal working memory by Dr. Tracy Alloway (UNF) and her colleagues. After their tests, the children were given trivia cards in different colors with the answers printed on the back of each card. Researchers instructed the kids not to peek. Then, the researchers left the room to observe the children via a hidden camera.

Kids with Higher Working Memories Avoid Entrapment

When the researchers came back to ask the trivia questions, the cheating kids, of course gave the correct answers. The researchers then used entrapment to “catch” the kids in their cheating by asking the card’s color. The kids with a better verbal working memory purposefully answered incorrect to conceal their cheating. Those with lower working memories accidentally revealed their peeking by answering the right color.

Though the study showed a connection between verbal working memory and lying, the same cannot be said about visuospatial working memory, which concerns processing visual and spatial information. Researchers believe this to be attributable to the fact lies concern verbal rather than visual construction and recall.

What Can Lying Kids Teach Adults About Working Memory?

Dr. Elena Hoika, psychology professor at the University of Sheffield, acknowledged that adults lie, whether convincingly or not, in nearly a fifth of social interactions over 10 minutes. Adults who lie may be the very parents who lecture their children for lying, but the researchers encourage parents not to become too upset. After all, if your child can tell a believable lie, it might just mean they are more intelligent.

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Children with a Better Working Memory are Better Liars