Browsing all posts in Behavior.
The Sports Exclusion
Parenting pop quiz! In what era were children: Sent out to work in intense heat hours each day Pushed beyond the limits of their little bodies by taskmasters bent on getting the most out of them Routinely injured, puberties delayed, occasionally killed Often addicted to injurious substances just to get through their working days If [...]
Kid for Hire!
Having put one in his own real apartment, one in a college apartment, and one on a plane to summer camp, I now have a household made up of ONE kid. It’s very quiet around here. It will be even more quiet if the Goth finds the job he is desperately seeking. Unfortunately, that’s not [...]
The Second Annual Ostrich Award!
The second annual Ostrich Award goes to (drumroll, please!)… The participants in this study. Dr. Sinikka Elliott, a sociologist at North Carolina State University, interviewed parents about teen sexuality. Her results were astonishing. Parents were convinced that every other kid in town is sexually active, but their child wasn’t. The parents of girls were afraid [...]
Grab the Butterfly Net!
For those of you who didn’t grow up speaking medical, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual is the bible of psychiatry. It determines what is a diagnosable psychiatric condition, and what isn’t. We are currently using the DSM-IV, revision TR. The DSM-IV came out when I was in residency (dating myself, yet again). The Powers That [...]
The Mother’s Guide to College Accommodations
As the acceptance letters arrive in the mail, and eager first-time college parents go through the phone-book sized college handbooks, eagerly searching for (or avidly avoiding) that dollar sign at the end, The Mother, who has been through this all before, is willing to share her expertise on the issue. To wit, The Mother’s Guide [...]
I’m Serving Dog Barbeque. Anyone Coming?
After many years of experience with kids and pets, I have some basic advice: If you ever decide to get a pet, do it because YOU want one. Whether the kids want it or not is totally irrelevant. A pet is just a live version of a favorite toy. The ‘favorite’ part is relative. They [...]
Peacocks R’ Us
When karma blessed this feminist idealist with four boys, I decided that my new goal was to raise four good men. Four guys who had the total package. Four good potential husbands. I have had some success. All four can at least feed themselves, and a couple are competent cooks. They can all do their [...]
The Last Supper
Quick! What’s wrong with this picture? How about this one? If you guessed that there’s bread on the table (during PASSOVER), you win. But that’s not the answer that’s been running around the science news. A recent analysis of Last Supper paintings from the last millennium (who knew they have had the Last Supper [...]
A or F?
Last week, a fascinating study came out: Students taking an exam were given a test paper that had either an ‘A’ or an ‘F’ marked on the top of the paper (a control group had a non-significant letter at the top of the paper –like ‘J’). They were asked to copy this “exam code” onto [...]
Sensitive or Capable?
Years of pop psychology have convinced us that the goal of a parent is to raise a sensitive child. We want empathy, sympathy, caring. We are told that children who display these gifts are endearing, fun, interesting. And as long as their environment is totally stable, apparently, they do just great. But a new study [...]
