Tag: parent

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Frazzled parents choosing to sedate kids

Every day, parents who are at their wit’s end use drugs like Benadryl to calm their children, reports the Toledo Blade. It is not unusual for parents to sedate child for a long airplane flight or to get them to sleep through the night.

Some doctors have recommended occasionally giving drugs to calm children or help them sleep. The documented cases of drug overdose in children, however, are well known. In some cases, the drugs involved are much stronger than Benadryl and are often linked to a history of prescription drug use in the family.

Occasional use of Benadryl to calm infants and young children is commonplace, but constitutes a "nontherapeutic" use of diphenhydramine, which is commonly used to treat coughs, colds, and hay fever. One doctor argues that such use may be a form of child abuse. Dosing is difficult, and even small increases can have serious consequences for infants due to their small size.

Some suggestions for calming a small one include holding, walking, rocking, swaddling, breastfeeding, and, one mother who teaches parenting suggested giving a cereal like Cheerios one at a time to a fussy child. When all else fails, maybe it’s time to ask a relative to help out so you can have a break.

 

 

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Academic success improves with parental involvement

A new study by researchers at the English universities of Leicester and Leeds has concluded that parents’ efforts towards their child’s educational achievement is crucial, playing a more significant role than that of the school or child.

The study published in the Review of Economics and Statistics shows that the family’s socio-economic background not only affected the child’s educational achievements, but also the school’s effort.  

“By the same token, the parents’ background also increases the school’s effort, which increases the school achievement. Why schools work harder where parents are from a more privileged background we do not know. It might be because middle class parents are more vocal in demanding that the school works hard,” said researcher Professor De Fraja, Head of Economics at the University of Leicester.

Researchers measured parents’ interest in their children’s education by whether they read to their children, or attended meetings with teachers, for example, as well as the teacher’s perception of this interest. A link was also discovered between the number of children in a family and parental effort: the more siblings, the less effort from parents.

Researchers emphasize that the results suggest that a child whose parents put more effort into his or her education will do better at school, and therefore encouraged policies that aim at improving parental involvement in the education of children. 

 

 

 

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Parents in denial about child’s obesity

According to Meizi He, lead author of the study, published in the current issue of Paediatrics & Child Health, the official journal of the Canadian Paediatric Society, “a number of parents are not aware of their child’s weight problems,” reports Postmedia News.

In the first study of its kind in this country, a survey was conducted among 860 pediatricians and family physicians in Canada from 2005 to 2006.

Over 60 per cent of doctors surveyed identified key barriers to curbing obesity in children: parents who are overweight themselves, parents who become defensive when the topic of their child’s weight is raised, and parents who show little interest in helping their child lose weight.

Moreover, these physicians noted that they lacked training, resources, and time to deal with this growing problem. According to Statistics Canada, 17 per cent of children in Canada are overweight; nine per cent are obese. The proportion of teenage boys classified as overweight or obese has more than doubled since 1981, climbing from 14 per cent, to 31 per cent in 2009. Among teenage girls, it increased from 14 per cent to 25 per cent.

The study concluded that there was a need for more family-based interventions, greater access to government-funded dietitians and community fitness programs. The doctors also called for enhanced training in medical school on treating childhood obesity and more continuing medical education.

 

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One in five parents don’t like the name they chose

A study of 3,000 parents in Great Britain found that one parent in five now questions the name they bestowed upon their child.

According to a report published in The Sun newspaper, many parents now wish they had chosen a less popular name. One parent in ten liked the novelty of a name they chose at the time but now wishes they had chosen something different.

The most surprising finding was that 15% of parents say they have been mocked by friends or family for the name they chose. One parent in five even confided that strangers looked down on them when they heard a child’s name.

19% of parents chose a family name to keep the peace.

Faye Mingo is president of the Bounty parenting club which conducted the study. She says: "Choosing a name that you and your child will love for the rest of their life is one of the first most important things that you’ll ever do."

That’s true enough. Then she adds: "It can be one of the first issues that expectant parents argue about and sharing baby name ideas with family and friends who want to give a helping hand in the naming process can also cause tensions. Today’s baby name trends move very quickly, so names that seem relatively unusual and quirky can quickly become mainstream and common in the classroom."

The most popular names for girls in Great Britain are Chloe, Ruby, Olivia, Emily and Grace, while the most popular names for boys are William, Oliver, Jack, Alfie and Thomas.