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The Politics of Eating and Exercising: Are We Getting It Right?
Eat healthier. Exercise. Our culture is currently full of messages telling us to change our habits, to turn us into a leaner, healthier society. While these messages are easier said than done, they’re perfectly warranted: The Centers for Disease Control reports that childhood obesity has tripled since the 1970s. So what can we do to…
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Changing How We Look at Mental Illness and Changing Lives
One in five children in the US suffers from mental illness, but less than 25% of those children actually receive mental health services. That’s absolutely terrifying, especially if you consider all the kids who have other psychological struggles but don’t meet diagnostic criteria for a psychological disorder. How many children then aren’t getting the help…
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The Value of Fame – Kids and media
First published on HuffPost “This is America, where everyone has the right to life, love and the pursuit of fame.” — Ryan Seacrest, American Idol, 2010 In the new millennium, people face messages highlighting the significance of fame everywhere they look. Not only in reality television shows such as “Keeping up with the Kardashians” and…
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What do we mean when we say ‘bilingual’?
The New York Times published an opinion piece this weekend titled, Are We Really Monolingual?. The piece mainly focuses on the various issues in how we try to estimate the number of languages a person speaks. The article writes, Since 1980, the United States Census Bureau has asked: “Does this person speak a language other…
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Technology and learning – Why teaching self-regulation is critical
“They agreed that computers had, so far, made surprisingly little impact on schools – far less than in other realms of society such as media and medicine and law. For that to change, Gates said, computers and mobile devices would have to focus on delivering more personalized lessons and providing motivational feedback.” Conversation between Bill…
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How Self-Regulation Works
Self-regulation is an extremely important skill to develop. In fact, as I am writing this post, with no outside person or institution forcing me to do, on a vacation day when it is sunny outside, I am demonstrating formidable self-regulation. I believe that teaching children, and adults, how to self-regulate is one of the best…
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How do I improve my memory? Honest advice for older adults.
I find working with older adults to be extraordinarily rewarding. The anecdotes, the advice, the good sense – I love them all, even when they’re unsolicited. Because of all the wonderful things my older participants bring into the lab to share with me, I frequently feel the need to give something back. To that end,…
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How do ethnic and family identities affect adolescents in immigrant families?
In recent decades, the United States has seen a dramatic rise in immigration from Latin American and Asian countries, which has raised questions (and staunch political opinions) about how immigration policies affect everyday life for U.S. citizens. However, equally important questions concern how living in America affects the immigrant families themselves. What exactly is life like for…
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Media 24/7 Starting in the Womb
Common Sense Media released a study today about media use of children from 0 to 8 years of age. The research is an extension of research originally conducted by Kaiser; the study appears to be quite thorough (for example, this study also contacted people who don’t have landlines and only use cell phones). The last…
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How Food Companies Market to Children Online
Keeping children eating healthy foods is one of the most important things one can do as a parent. And one of the most difficult. It’s probably no surprise that most food companies market directly to children, spending $1.6 billion a year to do so. In fact, in 2006 the Institute of Medicine concluded that food…