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
A fascinating new study in the journal Cognition shows that three and four-year old children attune to those who provide them with reliable information. According to this short piece in the NY Times Science section, preschoolers spontaneously keep track of the trustworthiness of those around them.
“Humans make mistakes,” Susan A. J. Birch of the […]

Cross-posted at MotherTalkers
by Stacey
One of my favorite things to do is to listen to my four-year old son Sage talk to himself when he’s busy doing something. He totally uninhibited, talking about what he’s doing or pretending he’s hanging out with some of his imaginary friends. Often it happens when he’s concentrating, like building train […]

Cross-posted at MotherTalkers
by Stacey
About a week ago I went to hear a lecture on talking to kids about sex by Amy Lang, a parent educator in Seattle. I really was just tagging along with a friend and hadn’t given much thought to the topic since my kids are only four and one-year old.
Well, I got […]

by Stacey
Last Friday morning we took my son Sage to Children’s Hospital to have tubes put in his ears and to get his adenoids taken out. About six months ago I noticed that he didn’t seem to hear me very well. I wasn’t too concerned because when I was his age, my mother noticed the […]

by Stacey
According to this article in New York magazine, a whopping 98 percent of teens report lying to their parents. But lying is not unique to adolescence, the article says. In fact, it’s also common among the preschool crowd. Thanks to this post on MotherTalkers for the tip.
It starts very young. Indeed, bright kids—those who […]

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 […]

by Stacey
This afternoon I took Sage to the Child Development Lab at the University of Washington in Seattle. (Earlier this week I wrote about my visit there with Sascha.) This time I had both kids with me so I hung back and sat with Sascha instead of participating with Sage and the teacher.
Sage is such […]

Cross-posted on MotherTalkers
by Stacey
Get ready to feel guilty. Or smug. A report released a couple months ago from the UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families, and Communities found that less than half of parents aren’t reading enough to their young children.
For children, early exposure to books — including being read to aloud each day […]

by Stacey
Back in September I attended a parent meeting at my son’s preschool where I learned that a little boy in his class has a severe nut allergy. The message to us parents: please don’t put peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in your child’s lunch box. The mother of the little boy seemed terrified to […]