Out research showed that motor skills in 7-month-old babies predicted the rate of language development in children that went on to develop autism spectrum disorder.
Children love interactive devices and can’t recall a time without them, so it may be best to manage rather than ban them.
Lars Plougmann/Flickr
Despite occasional panic about the negative impact they may be having on children’s social and intellectual development, interactive devices give parents a much-needed break and can benefit kids.
Investments like reading to a child can make a big difference to how she performs later in life.
Reading a book from www.shutterstock.com
Efforts to get fathers more involved in raising their kids often entail changing leave provisions, but research shows that’s not helping dads get more involved in caring for their children.
Oh, that’s what you meant!
By Artwork by Marco Bruschtein/Michael D. Fetters via Wikimedia Commons
What if babies could tell us what they want, before they start crying for it? Bring in baby signing, a system of symbolic hand gestures for key works such as “milk”, “hot” and “all gone” that are taught…
Watch your head.
Soccer players via Wallenrock/Shutterstock.
This fall, the deaths of three high school football players were linked to direct head injuries on the field of play and one collegiate football player’s death has been potentially attributed to unresolved…
Small hands need small sporting equipment … but what about less bouncy balls?
PJMixer/Flickr
Smaller footballs, lighter tennis racquets and mini playing fields: it makes sense to have these for children, right? Well, in recent years there’s been strong opposition against children playing modified…
Andreas Scheuer, secretary general of the German party considering proposals for make migrants speak German at home and in public.
Sven Hoppe/EPA
A proposal in Germany to make all migrants speak German in public and at home has ignited a heated debate about immigration and language. The proposals come from the German Christlich-Soziale Union (CSU…
Lucinda Platt, London School of Economics and Political Science
As they reach the end of primary school, the UK’s children face persistent inequalities in their cognitive development. New findings from the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), a survey of children born between…
Children exhibit signs of psychotic illness in very rare cases.
Philippa Willitts/Flickr
News this week that as many as 100,000 prescriptions for anti-psychotics were written for Australian children in 2013 is cause for concern. Though the drugs may be appropriate in a small number of cases…
He’s been reading for months already.
Mother and child via Yuganov Konstantin/Shutterstock
While the reading wars in education have raged for decades, most people agree that literacy is crucial for children and that the path to strong reading and writing skills begins in the home. But focusing…
People who have been in care are more likely to have children at an early age and are at greater risk of having their own child taken into care.
Mika Heittola/Shutterstock
Most people reasonably assume there is evidence of good long-term outcomes for children who come into contact with child protection systems. Why else would we intervene in the lives of children and their…
Rural or metropolitan? Communities make a big difference when deciding how independent your kids should be.
Peter Gordebeke/Flickr
We hear so much these days about fearful parents who “bubble-wrap” their children. So-called “helicopter parents” try to protect their children from life’s dangers and, in the process, prevent them taking…
From eyes to the gap between the toes, we are covered in bacterial colonies. Between 500 and 1000 unique species live in our gut alone. We provide an ideal environment for bacteria: warmth, moisture, nutrients…
Useful uses for a smartphone #5: take picture of Pope.
EPA/Giuseppe Lami
Pope Francis has taken aim at today’s youth by urging them not to waste their time on “futile things” such as “chatting on the internet or with smartphones, watching TV soap operas”. He argued that the…
Talk to me, Dad.
Father and son via sashahaltam/Shutterstock
The rate at which children learn language varies substantially from child to child. Some children show rapid vocabulary growth before they go to school, while others learn so slowly that they can end up…
Tap on me, click on me, publish me! We live in an era of a digital selfie obsession. There is a growing tendency to create self-centred digital environments. You only need to look at a few Facebook profiles…
Professor, Canada Research Chair in Determinants of Child Development, Owerko Centre at the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary
Director, Center for Community Child Health Royal Children's Hospital; Professor, Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne; Theme Director Population Health, Murdoch Children's Research Institute
Assistant professor, School of Psychology, Scientist, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa