WHO’S YOUR DADDY? — Moms, it seems, get all the love. When you watch a sporting event, it’s rare to see an athlete turn around, wave to the camera and say, “hi, Dad.” But fathers can be just as critical to their children’s’ upbringing. For years, experts have been telling dads to get more involved with their kids’ lives. But at the same time, fathers haven’t always felt quite so encouraged. “The walls in family resource centers are pink, there are women’s magazines in the waiting room, the mother’s name is on the files, and the home visitor asks for the mother if the father answers the door,” Philip A. Cowan, an emeritus professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, told The New York Times. “It’s like fathers are not there.” Turns out, one of the best ways to get fathers more engaged in parenthood is by bringing moms on board to help. The more moms and dads worked together, the more time and energy dads spent with – and on – their kids. And that’s great, since fathers tend to concentrate on different areas of child rearing. “Dads tend to discipline differently, use humor more and use play differently,” said Dr. Kyle Pruett. “Fathers want to show kids what’s going on outside their mother’s arms, to get their kids ready for the outside world.” (New York Times)
WHAT, KIDS WORRY? — Most youth pastors know the teens they work with have their share of stress. But they may be surprised to learn that the kids’ own parents might not be so tuned in. According to new research by the American Psychological Association, about a third of children are feeling more stressed out than they were last year. About 30 percent of these stressed-out kids were fretting over family finances, and half were wringing their hands over school. A good 29 percent of high-school teens were worried about college already. Meanwhile, only five percent of parents — that’s 1 in 20 — thought their teens were worried about college, and only 18 percent thought their family’s financial situation was stressing out their children. “Parents often under report drug use, depression and sexual activity in their children,” says psychologist Katherine Nordal, the APA’s executive director. “Now it appears the same may be true for stress.” (New York Times)
FOOD STAMPS: BY THE NUMBERS — Nearly half of all children living in the United States — 49 percent — will be in a household that will use food stamps at some point. That number goes up to 90 percent when looking at just African American children, and 91 percent for children living in single-parent homes. About a quarter of U.S. children will be in households using food stamps for more than five years. (churchrelevance.com)
TIME SAPPER — Facebook, MySpace and other social networking sites have helped foster new ways to communicate — and in some ways, new forms of communication. And, while many experts believe that the connectivity facilitated by these services is a good thing, it’s accompanied by problems, too. The more time students spend on Facebook, according to a new study by Covenant College in Georgia, the more likely they’ll be to have lower grades and worse study habits. And nearly a quarter of teens check their Facebook profiles more than 10 times a day, according to Common Sense Media. (Wall Street Journal)
