PsychWorld

If you’ve ever tried to get a baby to sleep at night, you know that it’s NOT easy. I remember when my little sister was a baby, we would put her upstairs to sleep, but she would keep coming downstairs claiming she either wanted a drink or a different toy or you name it! Well, now researchers have uncovered the secret to getting an infant to sleep according to a new study described in Live Science.

As you have no doubt heard, First Lady Michelle Obama has made it her mission to fight obesity. This fight involves getting kids to eat healthy. However, if you’ve ever dealt with a kid, you know how ridiculously hard it is to actually get a kid to eat fruits and vegetables. Kids are so picky! Luckily, researchers have decided to find out how exactly to get a kid to eat healthy and like it according to Medicine World. Perhaps not surprisingly, the key to getting your child eating healthy lies in Popeye Cartoons

Recently, the media has been focusing on the bad consequences of teen social networking such as cyberbullying and sexting. But is social media actually bad for teens? According to a new body of research described by Los Angeles Times, teens who are most active on social networking sites such as Facebook are actually more well-adjusted than their less-connected peers. The digital world is simply a new and more multidimensional place for teens to do what teens have always done – form their own identities away from their parents.

Don’t be fooled by those googly eyes and that innocent smile. Babies as young as 6-months-old can tell the difference between good and evil according to new research described in DailyMail.  Innovative research by Yale University Professor Paul Bloom is challenging the current popular notion that we are born as “blank slates” that gets filled by experiences that teach us a sense of morality. Maybe morality is in fact hardwired into our brain at birth.

Most parents have a hard time imagining their young “naïve” teen having sex. As a result, parents wait until it is too late to talk to their child about the physical and psychological risks associated with sex and how to best stay safe. But when is the best time for the talk? A new study described in ScienceDaily suggests that the answer may be written on your teen’s Facebook wall. University of Wisconsin – Madison researcher Megan Moreno found that sexual references on teens’ Facebook profiles is associated with their intention to initiate intercourse.

Is your teen having sex? If you’re like most parents, your answer is that while most teens are having sex, yours is not according to LiveScience. If you do think your teen is naïve and are avoiding the sex talk, I highly recommend watching The Secret Life of An American Teenager – although a little over-dramatized and exaggerated, I bet your teen’s life is more similar to the life of the teens in the show than you imagine. Just think back to when you were a teenager.

Ninety percent of couples experience a decrease in marital satisfaction after the birth of their first child according to a University of Denver and Texas A&M study, which followed 218 couples for eight years. Researches found that while most couples experience diminished marital quality over time, having a baby accelerates the deterioration. By focusing on being a parent – constantly changing diapers, feeding the baby, and providing whatever else the infant wants – couples forget to take care of the relationship. An article published by Detroit Free provides a few good tips for first-time parents.

Mothers who work part-time raise healthier children than mothers who either work full-time or do not work according to an Australian study described by the Chicago Tribune. University of New England in New South Wales researcher Jan Nicholson interviewed mothers about their lifestyle and measured their children’s height and weights at ages 4-5 and then at ages 6-7. Nicholson unexpectedly found that at both ages, children whose mothers worked part-time were less likely to be overweight, watched less TV, ate less junk food, and were more physically active than children whose mothers were working full time or did not work.

The portrayal of baby “Mikey” in the movie Look Who’s Talking as a baby who naturally understands human speech may accurately depict how infants actually process human speech. Three-month-old infants perform better on cognitive tasks when influenced by human speech over other kinds of sounds, including musical tones, according to new research by Northwestern University researchers Alissa Ferry, Susan Hespos, and Sandra Waxman. Furthermore, by seven-month-old infants’ brain shows sensitivity to human voices similar to that seen in adults according to HealthDay News. This research outlines why it’s important for parents to spend time directly talking to your babies.

Boys raised by nannies will likely grow up to be adulterers according to Dr. Dennis Friedman, a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.  According to Time Magazine, Friedman argues that having a nanny will cause the baby boy to internalize the idea that multiple women are there to meet his needs. Having one woman cater to his need for family and one woman cater to all his physical needs will cause the boy, in adulthood, to stray outside the home when he feels like his needs are not being met. To prevent this, Friedman suggests mothers should stay home to take care of their child for at least the first year of his life. Too bad Tiger Woods can’t blame a nanny for his adultery…