Posts Tagged Kids
Snack Attack!
Between 1977 and 2002, the percent of the American population eating three or more snacks a day increased to 42% from 11%. Further, researchers found, the percent of children surveyed who said they had eaten three meals on the previous day went down, while those who had had a snack went up more than 40%.
Add comment February 2, 2010
Child Development and the Role of Magical Thinking
I really enjoyed this article in the Wall Street Journal about how kids learn to tell what is real and what is imaginary, despite “evidence” for both potential outcomes.
For years, imagination was thought of as a way for children to escape from reality, and once they reached a certain age, it was believed they would push fantasy aside and deal with the real world. But, increasingly, child-development experts are recognizing the importance of imagination and the role it plays in understanding reality. Imagination is necessary for learning about people and events we don’t directly experience, such as history or events on the other side of the world. For young kids, it allows them to ponder the future, such as what they want to do when they grow up.
Fantasy play is correlated with other positive attributes. In preschool children, for example, those who have imaginary friends are more creative, have greater social understanding and are better at taking the perspective of others, according to Marjorie Taylor, a psychology professor at the University of Oregon and author of the book “Imaginary Companions and the Children Who Create Them.”
Add comment December 28, 2009
Scientists’ Changing Findings on Kids and Race
An excerpt from the book NurtureShock was published in Newsweek last month. (Link to the book here.) One of the many topics the authors studied in the book is how and when we humans become aware of race and how societies’ efforts to be colorblind have many unintended consequences.
A quick summary on how scientists think about race and children has changed:
Then: We assumed children didn’t notice race until we pointed it out to them.
Now: Evidence shows children identify racial differences much like they see the differences between pink and baby blue—two colors often used to distinguish girls from boys.
Then: Like me, many parents figured children would get the “diversity” point after we exposed them to different races and cultures.
Now: Researchers have found the more diverse the environment, the more likely children are to self-segregate.
Then: Children often told about discrimination were less likely to see the relationship between working hard and achieving goals.
Now: Black children who repeatedly hear messages of black pride are more interested in school and more likely to connect their success to their hard work and persistence.
1 comment October 13, 2009
A Nation of Paranoid Parents?
I find the numbers below very very sad…
In 1969, 41 percent of children either walked or biked to school; by 2001, only 13 percent still did, according to data from the National Household Travel Survey.
In many low-income neighborhoods, children have no choice but to walk. During the same period, children either being driven or driving themselves to school rose to 55 percent from 20 percent.
Experts say the transition has not only contributed to the rise in pollution, traffic congestion and childhood obesity, but has also hampered children’s ability to navigate the world.
In a study of San Francisco Bay Area parents who drove children ages 10 to 14 to school, published this summer in the Journal of the American Planning Association, half would not allow them to walk without supervision, and 30 percent said fear of strangers governed their decision.
1 comment September 14, 2009
Kinder, More Gentle Wrestle Mania
Vince McMahon, 64, is hawking a kinder, gentler, wrestling show, and that new approach was on display this past weekend when WWE took over L.A. Live as part of a massive promotional push. The effort culminated with SummerSlam, a sold-out pay-per-view telecast at Staples Center on Sunday night, which was also expected to generate roughly 500,000 purchases across the country.
With mixed martial arts and ultimate fighting attracting an older and rougher crowd, WWE is taking aim at kids and families to shore up its bottom line. While the occasional chair might still get thrown, the violence is “very Wile E. Coyote-ish,” according to Hunter Hearst Helmsley, better known to wrestling fans as Triple H.
“It’s less of ‘The Jerry Springer Show’ now,” added John Cena, arguably the WWE’s biggest star, who takes some of the credit for pushing McMahon to make the entertainment less edgy.
The wrestling attire for the ladies has become more conservative as well. Maria Kanellis, one of the WWE’s “diva” wrestlers, used to perform in lingerie but these days tries to dress “a little more sophisticated” for her matches.
“The guys miss it, but that’s how it goes,” she said.
Her costumes now consist of leggings, lots of “fringe outfits and things that are sparkly.” It’s not unusual, she said, for some of the girls to get reprimanded for “showing too much cleavage,” something that would’ve never happened a few years ago.
This new direction has generated a certain measure of controversy. YouTube is filled with videos from hard-core fans ripping the softer WWE, and there is no shortage of arguments about the subject in Internet chat rooms. “You can’t please everybody,” Cena said, adding, “Our business was down and the product was becoming old and stale.”
But the strategy has proven effective. After McMahon toned down the content, he went to his network partners and asked them to reconsider the ratings assigned to the show. WWE’s programming, scattered across cable networks USA and SyFy, superstation WGN and broadcast television’s MyNetworkTV, was usually given a TV-14 rating, the small-screen version of the MPAA’s R-rating and a surefire red flag to parents and advertisers.
The milder programming, which now usually garners a TV-PG rating from WWE’s TV partners, has cleared the way for more blue-chip advertisers to come aboard, including Pepsico, AT&T and Procter & Gamble.
The audience has grown too. In the second quarter, WWE’s television programs averaged 16 million viewers, a 10% improvement from the same period a year ago. Of that audience, 36% are women. WWE also has a strong Latino following that accounts for 23% of its audience.
The WWE’s next move is to launch a cable network, which McMahon hopes to get off the ground within two years.
Add comment September 2, 2009
Parents Spending Less on Back to School Supplies
From Promo Magazine…
The average family with students in grades kindergarten through 12 is expected to spend $548.72 on school merchandise, a decline of 7.7% from $594.24 in 2008.
Total spending on back to school is expected to reach $17.42 billion, according to a National Retail Federation survey conducted by BIGresearch.
When combined with back-to-college spending the total rises to $47.5 billion.
As for college students, parents will spend an average of $618.12 this year, up 3% over last year’s $599.38.
The tanking economy is to blame, with four out of five Americans (85%) having made some changes to back-to-school plans this year as a result, the survey found.
56.2% of respondents are searching for sales on a more frequent basis
49.6% plan to spend less overall
41.7% are purchasing more store brand/generic products
40% are planning to increase their use of coupons
11.4% indicated that children will cut back on extracurricular activities or sports
5.7% say that the economy is impacting decisions to send children to a private or public school.
Not surprisingly, the one bright spot for spending will be electronics, including personal laptops and desktop computers as those items become increasingly affordable. Spending on these items is expected to increase 11%.
Add comment August 3, 2009
Boy Code
From Psychology Today…
Kids are fascinated by creatures of the opposite sex, but strongly averse to them. As in, “ewwwww.”
Once children are about 6 years old, they begin to set up a code of behavior that discourages friendships between boys and girls. “It’s a way for them to avoid dealing with things that are too complicated,” says Alan Sroufe, the William Harris professor of child psychology at the University of Minnesota.
In one study, 10-year-olds who were videotaped while at summer camp were caught co-mingling just 4 percent of the time they were observed. And those who did so were promptly taken to task by their peers. One boy made the grave mistake of loaning a radio to a girl and then, in a move that far worsened his situation, venturing into the all-girls tent to retrieve it. As he emerged from enemy territory, the boys broke into a chorus of “Oooh, you like her!” and, “Why are you with the girls?”
“He had to immediately hit each boy who had teased him,” Sroufe says. “Kids have elaborate rituals for setting and policing gender boundaries.”
The irony is that sex segregation seems to prepare children for good cross-sex relations as teens. Sroufe found that the very kids who maintained gender boundaries at 10 were more effective at communicating with the opposite sex as adolescents.
By following the divisive code, he speculates, kids solidify their status in their same-sex peer group. They may also strengthen their one-on-one friendships, which teach them the communication skills they need when they begin to befriend mysterious souls of the opposite gender.
Add comment July 21, 2009
Kid-Safe Online Videos
Can this be profitable? Will parents pay another subscription fee as Josh Solt is suggesting? I’m skeptical. With every cable provider providing a free on-demand kids channel, and cable being a major source of high-speed internet access, so many kid-specific game sites, if I’m the parent I’m thinking, meh, I don’t know that I need to spend that extra money. I do think a kid-content aggregator will be appreciated and visited. I’m just not convinced the rest of the plan will work. Your thoughts – am I just destined to be a cheap-skate parent?
From MediaWeek:
As more and more children spend their free time online, a digital media entrepreneur is looking to establish a Web video destination that has been curated and screened especially for kids.
Josh Solt, COO of the Los Angeles, Calif.-based startup Earlier Media, has launched Kideos.com, a new video hub featuring content from Disney, Nickelodeon, PBS and other kids purveyors—grouped both by content categories and age groups, such as 0-2, 5-6 and 9-10. According to Solt, the site is putting a premium on kids’ safety, as all content on Kideos.com has been screened by a Video Advisory Council, a collection of parents and educators who serve as consultants for the company. Plus, parents can customize their kids viewing experience by limiting access to certain content aimed at different age groups, for example.
Currently, Kideos.com does not license any content; instead it mostly embeds clips from sites like YouTube. Many of the clips on the site from traditional media companies—such as this clip from Nickelodeon’s iCarly—appear to have been recorded and posted online by fans (not necessarily with Nickelodeon’s permission).
But Solt said that Kideos.com is simply aggregating kids content that is already available on the Web, and that the company will make an effort to respect all copyright laws. Business-wise, Kideos.com is free to users, and advertising is not necessarily part of the long term plan (currently the site does carry some text ads from Google).
Instead, according to Solt, Kideos.com will be used to draw a kids audience that can eventually be funneled to several yet-to-be launched kids sites that will be subscription- and e-commerce-based. “This helps us establish a presence in this market,” he said. A market that is growing fast, particularly when it comes to Web-based entertainment for kids, according to Nielsen.
Solt said that in the next few months, Earlier Media plans to introduce several new Web brands centered on video content, gaming and education. “We think parents are going to want and be willing to pay for this content.”
2 comments July 10, 2009
