by Stacey
In a couple of weeks my family will embark on our annual summer vacation to Cape Cod to visit my husband’s family. It’s always fun to see my in-laws and to spend time in a beautiful place, but it’s not a vacation like the ones we used to take. Just like at home, we […]

by Stacey
Background noise from television can disrupt preschoolers’ efforts to sustain attention while playing with toys. According to this Reuters article on MSNBC.com, researchers report in the current issue of the journal Child Development, this disruption can happen even if the little ones don’t pay much attention to what’s on the TV.
In a controlled setting, […]

by Stacey
This year Father’s Day came and went with little discussion here about the very important role that dads play in their kids’ lives. So I was glad to see this blog post in the NY Times on this essay posted at PsychCentral on responsible fatherhood so I could circle back to it.
In study after […]

by Stacey
One in four late talking toddlers will continue to have language problems by age seven, according to new research out of Western Australia. This article in Science Daily says that the project, called LOOKING at Language, analyzed the speech development of 1766 children from infancy to age seven, with particular focus on environmental, neuro-developmental […]

by Stacey
A researcher from the University of California Berkeley and mother of two, says that moms do their kids a favor when they make time for themselves. Hurray! According to this blog post by Christine Carter executive director of the Greater Good Science Center, happy mothers may make happy children.
Carter says she regularly takes time […]

by Stacey
As the mother of two boys I spend a fair amount of time playing with balls. Yes, I have changed a lot of diapers, but what I’m talking about are soccer balls, footballs, tennis balls, bouncy rubber balls that disappear under the couch and make the baby cry. If it’s round, we’ve got it […]

by Stacey
Can parents help shape the relationship between siblings? I’ve always thought it was a matter of temperament and personality. Either you got along with your brothers and sisters or you didn’t. Not much that parents can do about that. But according to this post on today’s NY Times “Well” blog, parents may be more […]

by Stacey
The EcoMom has arrived. Instead of worrying over gleaming floors and sparkling dishes, the NY Times reported earlier this week that moms these days are obsessed on installing compact fluorescent light bulbs, buying in bulk and using “smart” power strips that shut off electricity to the espresso machine, microwave, X-Box, VCR, coffee grinder, television […]

Tom Schierlitz for The New York Times
by Stacey
How important is play? According this too-long article in last Sunday’s NY Times magazine, this question is causing some anxiety among parents and educators and has become the topic of a burgeoning field of scientific research.
Scientists who study play, in animals and humans alike, are developing […]

by Stacey
Sorry Sascha. Sometimes it can seem like living with a toddler is like living with a wild animal. Unwanted food gets thrown on the floor, magazines you haven’t read yet get ripped to shreds, puzzle pieces get hurled across the room. But according to this article in the NY Times, one of the nation’s […]