Parenting 201

Preterm Births Are Soaring – Globally

Lynn Dorman, Ph.D. — Sat, 05 May 2012 12:00:28 +0000

From way back when I was in graduate school until today I have advocated for good prenatal maternal health as it does help reduce premature births!

Being born prematurely is, in itself, the cause of many developmental problems through life.

But some politicians and other policy makers have always said: Nope – no care for pregnant women – not on our dime!! Which is an odd stance since prenatal care is less expensive than a newborn's intensive care.

I will keep advocating for better health and better nutrition for everyone for the rest of my life – because I care about human development!

And because these many many years later – we still have statistics like this:

The world's developed countries have seen their average rate of premature births double to 6 percent since 1995, despite efforts to reduce the phenomenon…

And the United States? Were we think we have superior health care? We rank 130th out of the 184 countries in the study!

What starts labor is still an unknown. What we do know is that keeping a fetus inside for the duration or a normal pregnancy – about 40 weeks is the best for the baby.

As this study says:

The ultimate solution — keeping every baby in the womb for 40 weeks – is a challenge. Improving maternal health by treating high blood pressure and infections would help, as would changing obstetrical practices so labor is not induced early for non-medical reasons.

"We still don't know a lot about how to prevent preterm birth," Howson said. "We need vigorous, targeted research into its causes."

Thoughts? Comments? Thank you!

Prenatal Nutrition: It’s Important For Your Baby

Nutrition Strategies for Children

Lynn Dorman, Ph.D. — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:41:30 +0000

I've written a lot about obesity and why it is detrimental to your children. [Some of these posts are listed below in the area for related posts.]

Here, I’m suggesting a few ways you can start better eating habits in your own family – starting with things you can control:

your own kitchen
your own food
your own children

Keep healthy, more natural, food around the house. If there is no candy, no soda, and no sugar-laden cereal – the kids will not be eating it.

Get daily exercise – play with your kids – toss balls, chase each other, run around the house, apartment, yard or street, take walks together [especially easy if you have a dog.]

Limit the amount of time in front of the TV and have a rule of NO FOOD while watching TV. This is for the adults too – we tend to munch mindlessly when we watch TV.

Drink more water. Many times we think we are hungry but we are really in need of hydration from water. Skip the sodas completely – they don’t count as hydration! And they have not-so-good stuff in them [read the label] and they do not-so-good stuff to our bodies.

Cook with your kids. Cook up a storm with your kids one day a week and freezing the foods makes it very easy to have good, healthy and fast meals all week. Microwaves are good defrosters – but if you do not have one, take out the frozen meals in the morning and they will defrost by dinnertime.

Yes there may be more of a mess – but your kids will have had fun, be eating healthier foods – and you know what? have them help clean up the mess…that’s part of cooking too.

There is more info and more suggestions in my ebook: It's Not Always Baby Fat

Thoughts On Education, ADHD, And Child Development

Lynn Dorman, Ph.D. — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 21:23:50 +0000

I teach an online College course on Lifespan Human Development and posted this video for discussion about education and creativity.

We all have our own biases about life – I certainly have mine and one is ADD/ADHD, which I have posted about.

Another bias is about our increasingly dysfunctional educational system where we are still stuck in our teaching ideas much the same as when I was in school – and it was dysfunctional way back then.

I love this video as it says so much in its 11+ minutes – and I have watched it many times; each time learning something and“seeing” parts I missed the other times.

For example, I was not aware of the ADD epidemic being so East Coast oriented. [But then I lived in Boston when a local professional published the first research on Ritalin.] From that time to now, medication was seemingly the first, and often only, thought about “what to do with children who are active.” As a Developmental Psychologist, I asked, and still ask, “Aren’t kids supposed to curious and active?”

I’m not saying there is no such thing as ADHD, but I am still saying we need to look at what is going on in schools and homes – especially around alleged “foods” – and seek nutritional alternatives to drugging kids and adults.

Ok – now you have my bias…do you have an opinion about all this?

I’ll use the comments for ideas about new posts and give you credit for aiding and abetting my brain….

Your Baby Does See!

Lynn Dorman, Ph.D. — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 20:50:00 +0000

Yes! Your baby does see!

Like this newborn, we are born being able to see – yet I still hear well-educated adults saying that their newborn "looks as if she is looking at me but I know she can't see me."

Well the adult is incorrect.

The newborn sees but has more accurate vision in a range of about 10 – 12 inches. That's just about the distance baby is from the adult face when the baby is being held or being breast-fed.

As the baby ages, the vision improves – and we see babies actively watching and following objects with the eyes – but not yet with the head following.

Why? Go look at a picture of a newborn. See how large the head is? The head of a newborn is almost it's adult size – it's BIG. The head is well developed at birth and the eyes work – but it is too large for the baby to control. So the eyes follow but it will take more development for the head to follow.

As the baby develops, perception continues to be a very important part of the cognitive process. It’s part of how your child learns about the world. For the young infant, if an object cannot be seen – it does not exist! And this is why your new baby has no reaction to the removal of the toys from the crib…they no longer exist.

[You can read more about child development in my book You Can Totally Screw Up As A Mom And Still Raise Great Kids.]

Parents – An Alarming Obesity Related Statistic

Lynn Dorman, Ph.D. — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 23:20:15 +0000

Recent obesity research shows that only about 22% of parents with overweight children said that their health care provider mentioned this fact to them.

No one is sure why a health care provider would not mention let alone discuss a child's being overweight – but it's possible that we have become rather oblivious to the weight gain around us.

Maybe the parents had selective hearing or memory, as this was a “do you recall” kind of study. If a parent does not think of their child as overweight – they just may not “hear” what the health care provider said – or they heard it and shrugged it off after leaving the office.

We seem to have adapted to a new norm of “acceptable” weight – even when all the research shows that this gain is bad for our health – and especially the health of our children.

In my book, It’s Not Always Baby Fat, I wrote:

At present, according to Former Surgeon General Richard Carmona, we may be seeing the first generation of children that will have a shorter life expectancy than their parents!!

What is shortening the life expectancy of these obese children?

They have high blood pressure and elevated blood cholesterol levels which are early indicators for cardiovascular disease and they are also developing diabetes. These are medical issues that had previously been seen in adult populations.

And it’s not just bad physical effects that come from obesity; there are psychological effects as well.

Obese children have lower self-esteem, negative body image and are prone to depression.

Low self-esteem and depression? These can be debilitating on their own but add in obesity and you have a double-whammy-plus of potential medical and emotional issues!

Parents – for the health of your children please ask your health care provider if your child’s weight is too much. Do not wait for the health care person to ask you about it – be proactive and see what you can do to get or stay healthier.

Comments? Thoughts?

IQ Scores: “It’s “déjà vu all over again.”

Lynn Dorman, Ph.D. — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 00:08:18 +0000

As Yogi Berra said: "It's "déjà vu all over again."

I've written about IQ testing on this blog and in my parenting book.

I've lectured about the good and bad of IQ testing and have always said that IQ scores very over time!

Most developmental psychologists have been saying this as far back as I can recall but now I read that we thought it could have been chance that caused the fluctuations.

Not quite – we said it was the tester, the time of day, brain plasticity, nutrition, and a host of issues that created the changed scores.

So anyway, now we have a study that says teens IQs may vary during the teen years and they sort of know why! It's maybe education or developmental differences.

At least they add that it's a good idea to not think of the brain as "fixed" in adolescence. I don't mean to be sarcastic [well yes I do] but if any of us truly believed the brain is fixed, why would we have education continuing after adolescence, why have adult education, why do studies of cognition in old age, why see therapists?

All this activity is predicated on the idea that we can keep learning and changing as we age and that our brains work better when used!

Maybe some ideas just need to be repeated over and over again.

Yogi was correct: "It's "déjà vu all over again."

And some people take longer to recognize the concept .

Thoughts? Comments?Thank you……

Food Choices and Your Child’s Cognition: They Are Related

TV Ads, Food and Parenting

Lynn Dorman, Ph.D. — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 02:45:49 +0000

I've written about food in relation to families obesity and obesity.

I've written about parenting and about TV.

Here's a short post about all 3 topics.

Parents! You and the TV have an impact on what your child chooses to eat.

If you let your child know your opinion [and we hope it's to choose healthier food] your child is more likely to chose healthier food – even after seeing a TV ad for less healthy food.

BUT – if you are neutral – your child is more likely to choose the less healthy food.

Moral of the study? TV is powerful in influencing children's choices of foods – but – and this is important – parents – you have more clout than the TV if you give your kids your own input.

So watch that TV with your kids and let them know what YOU think about the commercials.

Thoughts? Comments? Thank you.

Cook And Eat Together To End Childhood Obesity?

Lynn Dorman, Ph.D. — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 01:51:15 +0000

What can be done about childhood obesity?

First we must recognize that it is an epidemic – a major health problem.

This is important because many people do not or will not see obesity, especially in children. But almost 1/3 of our kids are obese. It's why I wrote a book called: It’s Not Always Baby Fat! [Available for your Kindle or for your Nook]

In my book, I write about some of these suggestions in more detail. I know that for some families my suggested strategies may not be easy – but parents – these are your children and no one ever said child rearing was easy [especially me!!]

Here are some simple strategies for YOU – as the parent you can:

set a good role model
learn about nutrition
talk about nutrition
discuss the effects of obesity
get more exercise

Here is an easy-to-do strategy – plan, cook and eat meals together with your kids.

Kids like to cook. Have chats about what meals they can make – with your help and without! Work out the menus; plan fancy meals, quick meals and meals to freeze. Plan this out before shopping. Make a list of the meals and needed ingredients and then go to the store.

Cook up a storm together with your kids one day a week and freeze the foods you are not eating that night. It makes it very easy then to have good, healthy and fast meals all week. Microwaves are good defrosters – but if you do not have one, take out the frozen meals in the morning and they will defrost by dinnertime.

Cook or warm up the meals or let the kids do that. Have the kids set the table and maybe let them decorate it as well. A festive table makes for a nicer meal.

Turn off the TV, the radio and the "whatever-your-kids-own" stuff.

Sit down. Eat. Converse. Laugh. Enjoy a meal together!

Comments? Thoughts? Thank you.

Maybe It’s Not ADD/ADHD?

Lynn Dorman, Ph.D. — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 21:23:25 +0000

[I do love this photo! It's of my own non-linear child taken way back when.]

Parents!

Does your child march to his or her own drum?

Is your child creative? Color on self with markers?

Are you thinking of your child as having ADD or ADHD? [Or did someone suggest you might consider this diagnosis?]

Please read this and give it some thought. It may just be that you have a child who has a non-linear mind!

If you find yourself asking asking ”What is a non-linear mind?” – you are probably in that super majority of people who have a linear mind. And if you are linear – you may not really understand what it is like to not be one of the linear minded people.

But – that small percent of us who are non-linear minded do “get it.”

We non-linears even understand that you “do not get it.”

What is a non-linear mind? It's a mind that is constantly in motion – scanning, thinking, creating, jumping from point to point without seeming to pass through points b to g.

[We non-linear people could, at some later time, fill you in on the b through g parts – we just don’t see a need to include it in the conversation.]

Conversations between two or more non-linear minded people may sound bizarre to the linear minded. The talking may seem confused, disconnected and on several topics at the same time and many or all may be speaking simultaneously. Yet the non-linear people having the conversation understand each other very well.

Why are some of us non-linear? It’s probably genetic but, like most development, it can be influenced by one’s environment. Because we live in a linear society we are more often exposed to that type of thought. And in our culture – we also have a notion that children who display the above listed non-linear qualities are ADD/ADHD.

And so your parents and neighbors and well-meaning "others" behave toward your child in ways they think are best and try to get the non-linear child to act like "everyone else" and to not be so "unfocused." Or it may be suggested that you just get your child on medications.

For adults, other aspects of being non-linear are that we can get lost in books and the Internet as it is ALL so interesting. We may not finish all our projects because something more interesting comes along and we may not follow a secure career path or have a major interest in retirement funds and pensions.

Some, usually the linear-minded, see the above as negative aspects of non-linearity. But the world is changing and is beginning to function in a more non-linear fashion. We are beginning to recognize major brain/thought differences and we are no longer so quick to label one type of thinking as "good" and another as "not-so-good."

We each encompass linear and non-linear aspects – and the non-linear creativity and entrepreneurship in all of us should be encouraged! Especially in children!

If you find yourself saying "ah…that's me" – you are most likely non-linear and you may have felt there was something "wrong" with you! Nope – you are perfectly fine – and the world is slowly catching up to you. And your child is just like you – but hasn't been in the world long enough to know his or her brain is non-linear. He or she is just doing what non-linears do!

So let your child's non-linear run free…and tell the well meaning others "thank you but we are just fine!"

And both of you – go – be creative – the world is waiting for YOUR non-linearity!

Thoughts? Comments? Thank you.

It Could Be Childhood Obesity! It’s Not Always Baby Fat!

Lynn Dorman, Ph.D. — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 18:18:12 +0000

I finished and published an e-book on childhood obesity!

The title of the book is: It's Not Always Baby Fat!

Now that one-year-old I wrote about, and I, can go forth and get on with our other development

I am not a nutritionist. I am a Developmental Psychologist who, for all my professional life, has advocated for good nutrition – because I want all humans to develop as optimally as they can. And they do that best when they have good fuel [nutritious food] for their development!

This is especially true for the youngest among us who are at the start of a long process of developing – and who will ultimately become the adults of our culture.

In this book I give you information about obesity in general and about childhood obesity in particular – and let you know what this is doing to our children and to us as adults.

I write about food – what we eat, how much we eat, what’s in it and how to read labels so that you become a more intelligent consumer.

I add information about the importance of good nutrition for our development – especially cognitive development.

I offer suggestions to help you with your kids and family regarding weight and nutrition – all while doing things that may also encourage your child's cognitive development!

The book is available for Kindle or Nook and each bookseller has apps that you can download for free to read e-books on your computer or other device!

You don't need to own the Kindle or Nook!

I don't own either device and still I write books for each

Get the book for Kindle

Here is the link for free Kindle apps

Get the book for Nook

Here is the link for free Nook apps