Research Studies Regarding Children

Several new studies have recently been released regarding various facets of children's health.

Depression:

A new study has been released which details the affects of parental depression on children. The study finds that there needs to be a focus on full family treatment in cases of parental depression. Since so many women are affected by post partum depression, I think that this study makes a helpful point that just treating one member of the family isn't enough and that having a supportive environment can help with the treatment and monitoring of depression.

Medical Myths:

There have been a lot of articles lately about debunking medical myths: not swimming after eating (a Red Cross misprint in an early First Aid manual), adding cereal to a baby's bottle will make him sleep longer (I can attest that is completely and utterly false - we did it for partial treatment of GERD due to prematurity and the twins still woke every 2 hours), and many more. This article outlines some of the myths.

TV Can Impair Speech Development in Young Children

There's been a lot of debate about television in young children. This is another study pointing out that it may not be the best thing. (sorry to all of you Baby Einstein fans) The gist of the study is that parents talk less to their children if they are parked in front of the TV. My take is if you need 30 minutes of sanity and turn on the TV for a distraction, make up for it by talking more afterwards. We had friends that read the encyclopedia to their children, I read 18th century French poetry (hey, it made them calm down when they were fussy), so just take the time to talk to your children.

PE in schools doesn't impact children's activity level

Another study has found that kids with lots of exercise options at school and those with little have very little difference in their weekly activity levels. The real takeaway of the study is that kids will stop exercising once they are too tired. So if you have your child enrolled in a lot of sports activities but they just want to relax at home, it's okay. Alternatively, if your children want to run wild outside, know that they will eventually come back in once they are tired.