Spanking Your Child Stunts Their Intelligence

Researcher from the University of New Hampshire, Dr. Murray Straus, has just released a new study on the effects of physical punishment and IQ levels.

The study which included hundreds of American youngsters found those who were smacked had IQs between three and five points lower than other children of the same age.

Physical punishment can leave children in a state of fear, hindering their ability to learn.

Smacking children stunts their intelligence, research suggests.

Youngsters kept in line through slaps and spanks have IQs several points lower than those whose parents merely remonstrate with them, the study found.

Straus, who has devoted the last 40 years to studying the effects of corporal punishment, says that talking to children fosters brain development. 'Talking to children, including infants, is associated with an increase in connections in the brain and in cognitive ability.

'The less corporal punishment is used by a parent, the more verbal interaction is needed to teach and correct the child.

'Being slapped or spanked is a frightening and threatening event that children experience as highly stressful. Fright and stress can result in cognitive deficits.

'All parents want smart children. This research shows that avoiding spanking and correcting misbehaviour in other ways can help that happen.'

The more the children were hit, the worse they did on the tests.

Source

Television Affects Parent-Child Interaction

A new report has found that parent-child interactions suffer when a television is blaring in the background.

Researchers are saying that the finding is important because more than one-third of American infants and toddlers live in homes where the television is on most or all the time, even if no one's watching.

In the study, published in the September/October issue of the journal Child Development, a team at the University of Massachusetts observed about 50 children, aged 1, 2 and 3 years, who were with a parent at a university child study center.

For half of a one-hour session, parents and children were in a playroom without a television; in the other half-hour, parents chose a program to watch.

The researchers studied how much verbal interaction there was between parents and children, whether parents were actively involved in their children's play, and whether they responded to each other's questions and suggestions.

The study authors found that while the TV was on, parents spent about 20 percent less time talking to their children and were less active, attentive and responsive to their kids, resulting in a decrease in the quality of the interactions.

"Although previous research found that background television disrupts young children's solitary play, this is the first study to demonstrate its impact on the quantity and quality of parent-child interactions," the researchers explained in a news release from the Society for Research in Child Development.

"Given that high-quality parent-child interaction plays an important role in children's development, the study challenges the common assumption that background TV doesn't affect very young children if they don't look at the screen," the researchers concluded.

Children See, Children Do: A look at NAPCAN's latest campaign

An eye-opening look at NAPCAN's latest campaign for a Child Friendly Australia. How very, very true this is! Reminds me of Children Learn What They Live, something I posted back in May.

Letting go of Hyperparenting

I just read this article today and had to share it with you all. It is an important message which I believe should be heard. Many parents have tendencies to "over do it" with their children. As a parent myself, it is easy to get caught up in the everyday "mommyworld" of comparisons. I think many children are not allowed to really, truly enjoy their childhood and BE children.

I found this article really put it all into perspective, How to let go of Hyperparenting and learning to relax with your kids.