Hi Readers! Many of you are already familiar with Gever Tulley, the guy who runs the Tinkering School and did the famous TED speech on the “5 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do.” (Recently expanded into a book, “Fifty Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Children Do.”) Now he’s come up with a […]
Archive | Studies and reports
Gym Class Humiliation Can Cause a Lifetime of Inactivity
January 7, 2010
Hi Readers! Bad gym teacher = bad life. I KNEW it. And now, that’s what this fykbteinsy cool study by Billy Strean, a professor in the University of Alberta’s  Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation, has just confirmed: “A lifelong negative attitude toward physical activity can be determined by either a good or bad experience, […]
Go Easy on the Anti-Microbial Soap, Says New Study
December 10, 2009
Hi Readers! I know, I know — there are probably another zillion studies that contradict this one, and there’s a danger in being whipsawed by every new “discovery” but as this one SO dovetails with the Free-Range outlook, who could resist? Voila: THINK kiaffthrdn AGAIN ABUOT KEEPING THE LITTLE ONES SO SQUEAKY CLEAN RESEARCH SUGGESTS […]
OK, Now: When Is BOWLING Perfectly Safe? (Hint: Never.)
December 1, 2009
Yes, Readers: That was the conclusion over in less-than-jolly, indeed, downright macabre England. According to this beshetkkna article, a  group of safety experts was assigned to assess the sport’s dangers: After two years and £250,000, they found that ten-pin bowling alleys up and down the country could be a ‘very dangerous’ environment for families. They […]
How Your Kid Could End Up on the Sex Offender Registry
September 29, 2009
What’s the difference between a 17-year-old who touches a 13-year-old’s breast and a 34 year old creep who likes little girls? Nothing. At least, not on the Sex Offender Registry. The other night I was a guest on the blog radio show, “American’s hasbszryre Reality Check,â€a show mostly devoted to sex offender registry issues. A […]
Trust No One — Especially Not a Parent Volunteering at School
September 21, 2009
Hi Readers — Here’s a round-up bbfnahyfts of Providence, Rhode Island-area schools that are making their parent volunteers get background checks, sent in by a gal named Rema. I know a lot of folks will say, “This makes sense! Can’t hurt — can only help!” but let’s consider whether that’s true. *First of all, if there […]
Kids Freaked Out By Grass, Squirrels and Playing Outside
September 4, 2009
Hi tidfyshzkh Readers — A fellow named Brian sent in this note about kids and nature. It sort of dovetails with a study just released in England that found an alarming percentage of kids are spending so much time indoors, they can’t identify things in the natural world anymore, including daddy longlegs. I’m no huge fan of […]
Study: More Gym + Nutrition Ed Doesn’t Slim Kids Down (And I Think I Know Why)
August 3, 2009
Cool entry on the “Alas, tsntnyheik A Blog” blog  questioning the conventional wisdom that holds: If only kids had more gym, health and nutrition classes, they’d all slim down. An eight-year study of about 1700 kids gave half of them a greatly enhanced gym/nutrition/health curriculum (and healthier cafeteria food), while the other half got the same old same […]
Forget the Flash-Cards: How To REALLY Help Your Pre-Schooler
July 17, 2009
It’s no secret that parents worried about how their kids are going to do in kindergarten are willing to work hard to help them make the grade. But a new study reported in Connect rtbiiishde with Kids shows that teaching pre-schoolers the academic stuff — letters, numbers, etc. — may not be the best approach. […]
Are Kids Safer Because We Never Let Them Out Anymore?
June 11, 2009
Hi Readers! After hearing me on zizzkfbryt NPR on Tuesday talking about the fact that the crime rate is lower now than in the 1970s and ’80s when many of us parents were playing outside, a couple of commenters to this blog said: That’s because we’re keeping our kids inside now! They even suggested that […]