ceoMoms want to know what's going on. It's one of the ways we can improve ourselves and expand our minds. We encourage you to read the news, pick up the book you've been putting off or learn about the world in general. Then pass on your thirst for knowledge to your children. Go mom!
Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior
A lot of people wonder how Chinese parents raise such stereotypically successful kids. They wonder what these parents do to produce so many math whizzes and music prodigies, what it's like inside the family, and whether they could do it too. Well, I can tell them, because I've done it. Here are some things my daughters, Sophia and Louisa, were never allowed to do:
• attend a sleepover
• have a playdate
• be in a school play
• complain about not being in a school play
• watch TV or play computer games
• choose their own extracurricular activities
• get any grade less than an A
• not be the No. 1 student in every subject except gym and drama
• play any instrument other than the piano or violin
• not play the piano or violin. Read more
Inside the teenage brain
What new research reveals about the adolescent brain—from why kids bully to how the teen years shape the rest of your life.
They say you never escape high school. And for better or worse, science is lending some credibility to that old saw. Thanks to sophisticated imaging technology and a raft of longitudinal studies, we’re learning that the teen years are a period of crucial brain development subject to a host of environmental and genetic factors. This emerging research sheds light not only on why teenagers act they way they do, but how the experiences of adolescence—from rejection to binge drinking—can affect who we become as adults, how we handle stress, and the way we bond with others. Read more
Chuck the sodas if you want kids to sleep
Three out of four kids drink caffeine every day, and the more they drink, the less sleep they're likely to get, according to a new study.
The results showed children ages 5 to 7 drank an average of 52 milligrams of caffeine a day, equivalent to the amount in a can of caffeinated soda. And kids of this age slept an average of 9.46 hours a night, longer than what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends. Read more
Post Foods to cut some cereals' sugar content
Starting next month Post Foods LLC will reduce the sugar content of its Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles cereals in order to provider a healthier food option for children.
The cereal maker, whose other brands include Post Shredded Wheat, Honey Bunches of Oats and Post Grape-Nuts, is the latest in a series of food companies to address the increasing nutritional concerns of consumers and their heightened awareness about childhood obesity. Read more
More kids given right drugs for sinus woes
A push to get U.S. doctors to use the antibiotic amoxicillin in children with acute sinus inflammation appears to be paying off, a report published today in Pediatrics indicates.
That's the good news. The bad news is that inappropriate prescribing of other, more powerful antibiotics remains "common and unnecessary" in kids with sinus woes, the authors say. Read more
Plenty of kids' doctors, but in the wrong places, study shows
CHICAGO — There are enough children's doctors in the United States, they just work in the wrong places, a new study finds. Some wealthy areas are oversaturated with pediatricians and family doctors. Other parts of the nation have few or none.
Nearly 1 million kids live in areas with no local children's doctor. By moving doctors, the study suggests, it would be possible for every child to have a pediatrician or family physician nearby. Read more
Brain scans predict which dyslexics will read
CHICAGO — Sophisticated brain scans accurately predicted which teens with dyslexia would learn to read within three years, a finding that could lead to better ways to treat the common learning disability, researchers said on Monday.
By looking for a specific pattern of brain activity in teens with dyslexia, the researchers predicted with 90 percent accuracy which students would learn to read. Read more
For good sleep, don't count sheep — run instead
Sleepless and sedentary? Instead of counting sheep in a field, try running through a meadow.
Experts agree that an aerobic exercise routine during the day can keep you from tossing and turning at night, even if they're not sure why.
"The bottom line is we really don't know why people tell us that exercise helps them sleep," said Dr. David Davila of the National Sleep Foundation. Read more
Waterproof bandages actually leak a lot, test finds
When it comes to keeping out water and germs, no waterproof bandage performs perfectly, a new test by Consumer Reports finds.
Out of eight brands of bandages labeled waterproof and one labeled water-resistant, none was water-tight and only two prevented leaking more than 60 percent of the time, the agency reported Tuesday.
Consumer Reports staffers asked 33 panelists to test nine popular brands by wearing each bandage on their fingers for four hours. The panelists washed their hands at least twice and flexed their fingers hourly. At the end of the time, they dipped their bandaged fingers into room-temperature coffee and then checked the pads for coffee stains. Read more
When moms get flu shots, babies reap benefits
CHICAGO, Oct 4 (Reuters Life!) - Newborn babies whose mothers got a flu shot while pregnant are less likely to get the flu or to be admitted to the hospital with a respiratory illness in the first six months of life, U.S. researchers said on Monday.
During most flu seasons, babies under six months tend to have fewer cases of flu-like illnesses than those who are 6 to 12 months old, most likely because they are protected by their mothers' natural antibodies.
But in severe flu seasons, such as the 2009 swine flu pandemic, these youngest children, who are too young to get flu shots themselves, are more likely to be hospitalized and die from flu than older babies. Read more
