Some Benefits of Early Reading
- Early readers stay ahead of children who are taught later in life.
- Some research indicates that the gap between early readers and later readers actually increases over time. (This is sometimes known as the "Matthews Effect" where the rich learners get richer and the poor learners get poorer.)
- Studies from all areas of language (spoken language, second languages, sign language, receptive language, etc.) show that it’s easier to learn the patterns of language early in childhood compared to later in childhood.
- The window of opportunity for learning language begins to close by age four.
- Reading is the most important skill a child learns.
- Reading opens the door for many other opportunities for learning and it helps children succeed in school and in life.
- Children who enter school already reading have higher self-esteem than children who cannot read when they enter school.
- Children who are taught to read earlier prefer to read more than children who are taught at age five or later.
- There is more neuroplasticity* early in life in part because the brain is developing so rapidly in babies and toddlers.
- A Yale University study shows that “that activating children's neural circuitry for reading early on is key.”
- It’s likely the brain will develop more efficiently for reading when the child learns to read early in childhood compared to later in childhood.
- The current methods and ages of teaching reading are not working for hundreds of millions of children around the world.
- Teaching reading earlier may eliminate most reading problems according to a US National Panel of Reading Specialists and Early Childhood Educators.
- Better readers are more likely to stay in school than poor readers.
- Baby brains develop faster than older children’s brains.
The Development of the Human Brain:Implications for Parenting in the Early Years
brain as it has been discovered through several serious research efforts. The findings reported were
fascinating but not surprising to those of us who have long believed that the early years of life have the
most impact on eventual human potential.
One of the most basic findings of the study was this: An infant's experiences actually develop his
brain. Sensory experiences (hearing, seeing, touching, feeling, tasting) actually teach brain cells their
jobs. A lack of such sensory experiences results in brain cells failing to make connections and
eventually dying off. If a child lies in a playpen all day, he is experiencing a limited number of
sensations. He will not have many new experiences through which he can establish new brain
connections. Unfortunately, these connections must be made in infancy. A person can not go back
and "redo" these experiences. The first four years of life are when the brain is "built."
Babies who have more sensory experiences are able to develop more brain power. Dr. Frederick
Goodwin who is the director of the National Institute of Mental Health participated in some of this
research. His conclusion? "Your can't make a 70 IQ person into a 120 IQ person, but you can
change their IQ measure in different ways, perhaps as much as 20 points up or down, based on their
environment." In essence, an infant born with a 100 IQ can either become an 80 IQ or a 120 IQ by
his fourth birthday, based on the poverty or enrichment of his experience base!
Another important finding of one study details the effect of a stressful environment on infants and
toddlers. Young children exposed to a steady diet of stress lay down abnormal connectors in their
brains because of high levels of stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline These abnormal
connectors set up aberrant networks of connections, causing the child to learn violent responses to
benign stimuli. These networks create a brain which is designed for "fight or flight" which may lead
an individual to violence and other inappropriate responses.
Megan Gunnar, a child development psychologist at the University of Minnesota, has found that some
children from stressful environments are able to "neutralize" their stress through a caring parent or an
involved adult. "The things that are associated with resiliency have to do with protective factors like
the quality of home life, the parent-child relationship or another relationship that provides some
security for the child."
The implication of this research is exciting for parents: There is biological evidence that the
environment and nurture they provide for their children can have a powerful impact on the child's
developmental potential. Maybe our grandparents said it best: The hand that rocks the cradle
rules the world!
Positive Parenting Idea of the Day
When the Nurturing Parent discovers their actions might have been disrespectful, the proper course of action is to apologize for acting disrespectfully and to be mindful of future behavior.
--Stephen J. Bavolek, Nurturing Skills for Families
Positive Toddler Curriculum almost set!
I have a great curriculum going, so I hope this takes off very soon!
I am also working with a few organizations, such as North Carolina Early Childhood Association and National Effective Parenting Initiative to help me to help parents of toddlers raise happy, healthy, and well behaved children!
Watching Violent TV at Pre-School Age Linked to Aggression in Young Boys
The journal article titled "Violent Television Viewing During Preschool is Associated with Anti-social Behavior During School Age" reviews data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, which is a 40-year study of 8,000 US families. The project looked at the types of programming watched by 184 boys and 146 girls between ages two and five, and anti-social behaviors between ages seven and ten. A clear link was found between pre-school age boys who watched violent programs and their later development of anti-social and aggressive behaviors at ages seven to nine. There was no such correlation found for girls.
"This new study provides further evidence of how important and powerful television and media are as young children develop," said Christakis. "However, the news here is not all bad. While we found that shows like violent cartoons or football can make children more aggressive, we found no such effect for other programs such as educational ones. This points out that parents must be informed and very selective when making media choices for their children."
The anti-social and aggressive behaviors noted in this study's data included observations about cheating, being mean to others, feeling no regret, being destructive, disobedience at school and having trouble with teachers.
In the study, television programming such as football, many cartoons and titles like Power Rangers, Star Wars, Space Jam and Spider Man were all classed as violent entertainment because characters fight or flee from violent situations, laugh or cheer as they rejoice in violent acts, and show more violence than would be expected in the everyday life of a child. Even G-rated films intended for children can be filled with violence and classed as violent entertainment, according to this definition. By contrast, shows considered non-violent included programs like Toy Story, Flintstones and Rugrats. A third category of educational programming was also reviewed, such as Barney, Sesame Street, Magic School Bus and Winnie-the-Pooh. Significantly, the correlation to later aggressive and anti-social behaviors in boys only appeared with those shows and programming rated as violent.
It has long been suspected that television, media and entertainment have a great impact on the development of children. "We now recognize that content is key," said Christakis. "Given the media saturated world that young children now inhabit, we need further research and policies to ensure that media exerts a positive influence on children."
In a related companion journal article appearing in the same issue of Pediatrics called "Association Between Content Types of Early Media Exposure and Subsequent Attentional Problems," the same researchers found that for children under age three, each hour per day spent watching violent television was associated with approximately twice the risk of attention problems five years later. There was also significant risk of increased attention problems associated with watching nonviolent television for the same age group, but no risk was associated with viewing educational programming. Older children ages four and five showed no increased risk five years later for attention problems from watching violent or non-violent programs. This second study was based on data collected from parents of 933 children and shows that the effect of violent television content on attention problems is much higher than previously estimated when program content was not identified.
"It would appear both of these studies rule out educational TV as a contributor to either aggression or attention problems among young children," said Zimmerman. "Parents can take some comfort in that, especially since there is some high-quality educational programming available on TV and DVD. Together these studies suggest that by changing the channel, parents may be able to change their children's behavior."
Christakis' and Zimmerman's other recent studies have shown that playing with blocks can improve language acquisition, and that baby DVDs and videos that purport to enhance language development may in fact actually hinder it. Together they are authors of the book The Elephant in the Living Room: Make TV Work for Your Kids, a guide for parents.
Gentleness Training Can Help Toddlers Adjust
Kids May Need Help With Change
- Show your child gentleness skills and role-play the actions. If you're expecting a new baby, have your child practice how to be gentle using a doll or favorite stuffed animal. Be sure to explain why a youngster needs to be gentle, and why an infant's back and neck needs to be supported. Kids are curious, and will react better if they understand that an infant is not capable of holding the head up.
- Teach that gentleness means voice and movement. Too many toddlers achieve gentle motions, only to startle or scare a newborn or even new animal through frenzied movements and shrieking voices. Teach a toddler that calmness and gentleness is best reflected through slow, controlled movement, soft voice, and gentle touch. Demonstrate how a toddler should touch a baby (include when and where as well) and how a young animal should be petted. The same holds true for a playmate; toddlers should be taught how to converse and touch a playmate (explain that nobody likes to be poked, prodded, yelled at, kicked, etc., even in play).
Gentleness is a learned behavior, and with proper parenting guidance, kids will master the calm and gentle skills needed to be the doting sibling or pet-owner!
Eight Dangerous Myths About Spanking
This article examines and refutes some of the most common myths about spanking. It may be reprinted in its entirety if credit is given to the author and a link is provided to Project NoSpank at www.nospank.netA few nights ago, I was talking to a friend when the subject of spanking came up. I could not have been more surprised when her first response was, "I can't say I'm totally against it. What if a two year old is crawling for a hot stove?"This is not an uninformed woman. She and I both cut our clinical teeth working with victims of domestic violence, child abuse, and sexual assault. We have seen over and over the harm and damage caused by interpersonal violence.
Yet for some reason, she is still not able to set aside the old wives' tale which holds that spanking, unlike any other form of hitting, is a benign practice.
I'm sorry to say my response to my friend wasn't a particularly enlightening one. I managed to gasp out one or two rebuttals, but mostly, I just stammered in shock.
The confrontation, and my response to it, got me thinking about the most common myths people use to justify hitting children. In this article, I've examined eight of those myths and I've provided the researched, reasoned responses I wish I'd had ready for my friend.
Myth 1. Being spanked never hurt anybody.
This makes little sense for many reasons. First, the whole idea of spanking is to inflict at least temporary pain. People who advocate spanking are well aware of this. For instance, James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family and unapologetic advocate of spanking, has noted that "pain is a marvelous purifier" (qtd. in Greven, 1991, p. 68). Other spanking advocates have recommended corporal punishment severe enough to leave redness, welts, and even bruises on the child's skin (Greven, 1991, pp. 79-80).
Since most children are spanked on the buttocks-a part of the body they have been told is "private"-they feel shame and humiliation as well, along with an uncertainty about how "private" that part of their body truly is (Johnson, 2001).
But even beyond the mortification and the physical hurt, there is a longer-lasting emotional pain. Among many other negative outcomes, being spanked has been linked to:
Myth 2: I was spanked, and I'm okay.
- Low self esteem (Bryan & Freed, 1982)
- Depression (Straus, 1994)
- Masochism (Straus & Donnelly, 1994)
- Psychological Distress (Turner & Finkelhor, 1996)
Most smokers never develop cancer, most drunk drivers don't get into wrecks, and most children who grow up in homes with lead paint do not suffer brain damage. But no intelligent adult would seriously advocate smoking, driving drunk, or using lead-based paint to decorate their walls. There's also one more thing to consider. Most people who were spanked are "okay" in the sense that they aren't in prisons or psychiatric facilities. However, corporal punishment is handed down from one generation to the next. Compared to people who were not spanked, people who were spanked as children are more likely to spank their own kids (Muller, Hunter, & Stollak, 1995). Let's put that in plain English: People who were hit when they were vulnerable children are more likely to think it is acceptable-even desirable-for a fully grown adult to use painful physical force against a small child. How okay is that?
Myth 3: Some children need a good, hard spanking.
Let's look at who really benefits from the spanking. The child? No. Other interventions work just as well in the short term and better in the long term. Furthermore, the spanked child is put at risk for many negative consequences (see Myths 1, 5 and 8).
Rather, it's the parent who benefits, in two ways. First, the parent achieves immediate results-results which could also be gotten through non-violent methods. Second, the physical punishment gives the parent a release of anger and tension-a kind of catharsis. Using a non-violent form of discipline such as time out or even a verbal command ("Don't touch!") will alter the child's behavior just as effectively, but it won't provide the parent with the same degree of emotional release (Carey, 1994).
In other words, parents continue to spank because spanking meets some of their own misguided needs. It does not benefit the child.
Myth 4: Spanking is the best way to stop dangerous behavior in toddlers.
Small children have short attention spans when it comes to long lists of rules. Spanking may stop the behavior in the moment, but not any more effectively than non-violent discipline (e.g., time-out, saying "no," etc.). With toddlers no method of discipline, including spanking, works reliably for more than a couple of hours (Larzelere, Schneider, Larson, & Pike, 1996).
There are only two ways to keep toddlers safe. The first is adjusting the environment (for instance, keeping sharp objects locked away or out of the child's reach, or building a fence around the back yard to provide a safe play area). The second is providing careful, loving, and nonviolent supervision.
Myth 5: Being spanked keeps children out of trouble.
Being spanked has consistently been linked with aggressive behavior (Frick, Christian, & Wootton, 1999), including domestic violence (Simons, Lin, & Gordon, 1998) and cruelty to animals (Flynn, 1999). Jordan Riak, who works with convicted felons, has noted that close to 99% of the men in his groups report being spanked as children (personal communication, 1/9/02). If the goal is keeping children out of trouble, spanking is clearly not the way to go.
There is another problem as well. While spanking may teach some children to avoid certain behaviors out of fear of punishment, it does not teach the child to think about what is right and what is wrong. Rather, it teaches the child to ask, "Will I get caught?" and "Will I be punished?" Spanked children do not learn to measure their behaviors against their own moral beliefs. Rather, they rely blindly on the judgment of those in authority-those who have the power to punish. If the person in authority gives unethical orders, the results can be tragic. It is no coincidence that a society where physical punishment was the norm gave rise to the most shameful words of the twentieth century: "I was only following orders."
Myth 6: Nothing but spanking works on some children.
First, let's look at the child's age. If the child is a toddler, for instance, no method of discipline, including spanking, is going to reliably curb certain behaviors for more than an hour or two at a time. The frustrated parent may get some emotional payoff from the spanking. The child will only be harmed.
Second, were the alternative methods of discipline being used correctly? I once spoke with a client who told me she "had" to spank her four-year-old daughter because the child wouldn't stay in her time-out chair. The length of the time-out? Four hours! No child can be expected to sit still for four hours with no diversion-to demand it is abuse. While it is beyond the scope of this article to discuss the vast number of successful non-violent methods of discipline and how to use them, many parenting websites and books do just that. A quick search of the internet or the local library will provide dozens of effective alternatives to spanking.
Finally, some parents misperceive the actual value of spanking. They may, for instance, spank their child repeatedly for the same misbehavior, but declare time-out or some other non-violent means of discipline a failure when it does not stop the problem behavior after only one trial. The research, meanwhile, is clear: even in the very short term, spanking does not work any better than non-violent means of discipline such as explanation, time out, or verbal command (Larzelere, Sather, Schneider, Larson, & Pike, 1998; Roberts & Powers, 1990). There is no reason to strike a child. Ever.
Myth 7: Spanking isn't hitting or violence-it's discipline.
Imagine this scenario: an aide at a nursing home for Alzheimer's patients discovers an elderly woman poking at an electrical outlet. The aide immediately slaps the woman hard across the buttocks several times, reducing the woman to tears.
Has the woman been hit? Most of us would agree that she has. Has she been a victim of violence? Most of us would agree to that, also. Furthermore, even though there is no permanent injury to her physical being, every state in the United States would define what happened to the woman as abuse. The aide would certainly lose her job and might face criminal charges as well; the facility would be in danger of losing its license.
But substitute "two-year-old" for "elderly woman" and "parent" for "nursing home aide" and all of a sudden, our perceptions change. The hitting and the violence become a "spanking" and even some of the most dedicated child rights activists start referring to the incident as "sub-abusive." Why? The two-year-old is equally hurt and humiliated by the blows; he or she is no better able to defend against them; and he or she is not more likely to get any benefit from them.
The fact that our society has arbitrarily decided to offer protection to one victim and withhold it from the other does not alter the truth: spanking is hitting and it is violent.
Myth 8: Spanking is not harmful if it's done by loving, supportive parents.
If anything, it may be even more distressing for a child to feel loved and supported by the very people who perpetrate violence against him or her. The child could learn to confuse love with violence, or to believe that it is okay to use force in the context of close, loving relationships. Or, the child could begin to feel worthless and believe he or she deserves physical violence.
Not surprisingly, the research shows that the negative effects of spanking persist, even among loving and supportive families. The negative effects that have been studied in the context of family support include antisocial behavior and conduct problems (Frick, Christian, & Woottton, 1999; Gunnoe & Mariner, 1997), teen dating violence (Simons, Lin, & Gordon, 1998), masochism (Straus & Donnelly, 1994), and psychological distress (Turner & Finkelhor, 1996).
The research is clear and has been for some time: Spanking causes harm. No matter how or why it is administered, it is not benign or beneficial. It is physical violence. And, like any other type of physical violence, spanking scars its victims emotionally.
We have spent too many years ignoring the research and accepting the myths about spanking without bothering to investigate them fully. The time has come to confront these myths and stop finding excuses to hit children.
References Bryan, J. W., & Freed, F. W. (1982). Corporal punishment: Normative data and sociological and psychological correlates in a community college population. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 11, 77-87.Carey, T. A. (1994). Spare the rod and spoil the child: Is this a sensible justification for the use of punishment in child rearing? Child Abuse & Neglect, 18(12), 1005-1010.
Flynn, C. P. (1999). Exploring the link between corporal punishment and children's cruelty to animals. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 61, 971-981.
Frick, P. J., Christian, R. E., & Wootton, J. M. (1999). Age trends in the association between parenting practices and conduct problems. Behavior Modification, 23(1), 106-128.
Gunnoe, M. L., & Mariner, C. L. (1997). Towards a developmental-contextual model of the effects of parental spanking on children's aggression. Archives in Pediatric Adolescent Medicine, 151, 768-775.
Johnson, T. (2001). The sexual dangers of spanking children (2nd ed.) [Booklet]. Alamo, CA: PTAVE.
Larzelere, R. E., Sather, P. R., Schneider, W. N., Larson, D. L., & Pike, P. L. (1998). Punishment enhances reasoning's effectiveness as a disciplinary response to toddlers. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 60, 388-403.
Larzelere, R. E., Schneider, W. N., Larson, D. B., & Pike, P. L. (1996). The effects of discipline responses in delaying toddler misbehavior recurrences. Child and Family Therapy, 18, 35-37.
Muller, R. T., Hunter, J. E., & Stollak, G. (1995). The intergenerational transmission of corporal punishment: A comparison of social learning and temperament models. Child Abuse & Neglect, 19(11), 1323-1335.
Roberts, M. W., & Powers, S. W. (1990). Adjusting chair timeout enforcement procedures for oppositional children. Behavior Therapy, 21, 257-271.
Simons, R. L., Lin, K., & Gordon, L. C. (1998). Socialization in the family of origin and male dating violence: A prospective study. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 60, 467-478.
Straus, M. A. (Ed.). (1994). Beating the devil out of them: Corporal punishment in American families and its effect on children. Boston: Lexington.
Straus, M. A., & Donnelly, D. A. (1994). The fusion of sex and violence. In M. A. Straus (Ed.), Beating the devil out of them: Corporal punishment in American families (pp. 121-136). Boston: Lexington.
Turner, H. A., & Finkelhor, D. (1996). Corporal punishment as a stressor among youth. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 58, 155-166.
When toddlers bite other children
By Elizabeth Pantley, author of Gentle Baby Careand The No-Cry Sleep Solution
A worried mother asks, “Today at our play group my son BIT my friend’s daughter! My friend acted like it was a normal childhood problem, and told me not to worry about it, but I’m horrified! Why did my son do this? How can I prevent it from happening again?”
Learn about it
Your friend has obviously had some experience with toddlers, and she knows that biting a playmate is common in this age group (perhaps her daughter has already been on the other side of the action.) Toddlers don’t have the words to describe their emotions, they don’t quite know how to control their feelings, and they don’t have any concept of hurting another person. When a toddler bites a friend, it most likely isn’t an act of aggression: It is simply an immature way of trying to get a point across, experimentation with cause and effect, or playfulness gone awry.
What not to do about biting
Many parents respond emotionally when their toddler uses his teeth on another human being; their immediate response is anger, followed by punishment. This is because we view the act from an adult perspective. However, if we can understand that a toddler bite is most likely a responsive reflex, we can avoid responding in the following typical, yet unnecessary and ineffective ways:
- Don’t bite your child back to “show him how it feels.” He isn’t purposefully hurting his playmate. He doesn’t understand that what he did is wrong, so by responding with the same action you may actually be reinforcing that this is an acceptable behavior, or confusing him entirely.
- Don’t assume that your child is willfully misbehaving. The ways that you’ll treat these behaviors in an older child, who understands that biting is wrong, will be different than how you will approach this with a toddler.
- Don’t yell at your toddler. This will do nothing more than scare her; it won’t teach her anything about what she’s just done.
What to do about biting
When you understand that your child’s actions are normal, and that they aren’t intentional misbehavior, you will be able to take the right steps to teach her how to communicate her anger and frustration. This takes time, and she’ll need more than one lesson. Here’s how to teach your child not to bite:
- Watch and intercept
As you become familiar with your toddler’s actions, you may be able to stop a bite even before it even occurs. If you see that your child is getting frustrated or angry – perhaps in the middle of a tussle over a toy – step in and redirect her attention to something else.
- Teach
Immediately after your toddler bites another child, look her in the eye and tell her in one or two short sentences what you want her to know, such as, “Biting hurts. We don’t bite. Give Emmy a hug now. That will make her feel better.” Then, give your child a few hints on how she should handle her frustration next time; “If you want a toy, you can ask for it or come to Mommy for help.”
- Avoid playful biting
Nibbling your little one’s toes or playfully nipping his fingers sends a mixed message to your child. A little one won’t understand when biting another person is okay and when it’s not, nor is she able to judge the pressure she’s putting into the bite. As she gets a little older, she will start to understand that some things can be done carefully and gently in play, but not in anger. This takes a little more maturity to understand 3⁄4 more than you can expect your toddler to have at her young age.
- Give more attention to the injured child
Typically, we put all our energy into correcting the biter’s actions and we don’t give the child who was bitten any consolation. Soothing the child who was bitten can show your child that his actions caused another child fear or pain. You can even encourage your child to help sooth his friend.
- The repeat offender
If you’ve gone though the above steps, and then your child bites again, you can respond with a little more intensity. If you catch him in the act, immediately go to him. Take him by the shoulders, look him in the eye, and firmly announce, “No biting: time-out.” Direct him to a chair and have him sit for a minute or two. It doesn’t take very long for your message to sink in. (And, with a toddler, a longer time-out can dilute the message as he may actually forget why he’s sitting there!)
If you miss the action, but are told about it later, you can have a talk with your child about what happened. Limit yourself to a few brief, specific comments, as a lengthy lecture is almost never effective. A child who bites a playmate more than once may need more guidance on how to handle frustration and anger. Reading toddler books on the topic, role-playing, and demonstration of appropriate actions can all help your child learn how to respond to his own emotions in socially appropriate ways.
First Aid for Bites
Although the risk of injury from a toddler's bite is small, it’s good to know what to do in case of a bite that breaks through the skin:
- Calm and reassure the child who was bitten.
- Wash your hands with soap and water.
- Wash the wound with mild soap and water.
- Cover the injury with a bandage.
- If the bite is actively bleeding, control the bleeding by applying direct pressure with a clean, dry cloth.
- Call your pediatrician for advice.
Brat Attack: Stopping Tantrums
Parents Can Minimize Tantrum Potential
The good news is that child experts say that tantrums are typically not caused to test a parent's patience; rather, they are a typical part of growing up. Toddlers often act out because they are learning to control themselves and to develop independence. However, having said that, it doesn't mean parents should condone the behavior. Rather, parents and/or providers need to learn to manage the situations to make it more stressful on everyone involved.
And part of that is by learning more about what typically causes the tantrum eruptions and find a solution to avoid those triggers.
To help in determining what helps to minimize tantrums, parents should note patterns concerning behavior as to when your child is at his best and at his worst; and what happens when she is hungry or tired; overstimulated; bored; or frustrated. Then, give the following suggestions a try.