About the ChildUp Parenting Articles Blog

The thousands of parenting articles here, hand-picked since 2006 from around the world, highlight the importance of parent involvement for the good development of bright and happy children.

Pregnant Women Over 50 ‘Do Pretty Well,’ Study Finds

The average age of women becoming mothers has risen in the United States, and in the last 20 years, a few women have even entered motherhood in their 60s. By implanting embryos produced by in-vitro fertilization using egg cells donated by younger women, women who have passed menopause can become pregnant and …
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The Ultimate Brain Quest – Deciphering How Human Thought Works

Deciphering how human thought works is mind-bendingly difficult, but researchers now know where to start. “Every day we recall the past, perceive the present and imagine the future. How do our brains accomplish these feats? It’s safe to say that nobody really knows,” Sebastian Seung writes early in “Connectome,” his …
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Sex-Specific Behaviors Traced to Hormone-Controlled Genes in the Brain

Men and women may be equals, but they often behave differently when it comes to sex and parenting. Now a study of the differences between the brains of male and female mice in the February 3rd issue of the Cell Press journal Cell provides insight into how our own brains might …
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CHILDUP BESTOF: Want your Kid to Be a Scientist? Start in Elementary School.

“What’s your major?” Ask a college freshman this question, and the answer may be physics or chemistry. Ask a sophomore or a junior, however, and you’re less likely to hear about plans to enter the “STEM” fields — science, technology, engineering and mathematics. America’s universities are not graduating nearly enough …
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Spanking your Kid: Does It Help or Hurt?

Spanking is a thorny issue. Has what seems like a Dickensian practice been slain by liberal parenting practices? Or is it Canadians’ dirty secret? Whatever the case, the issue is on the table again, courtesy of outspoken London Mayor Boris Johnson. Mr. Johnson has sparked a debate in Britain by …
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Free Childcare ‘Has Limited Impact on Early Education’

A £2bn a year programme to provide free childcare is failing to have a long-term impact on education standards, according to the spending watchdog. Officials said there had been “no improvement” in results for seven-year-olds in recent years, despite the introduction of flagship reforms to give all infants access to …
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Males Missing in Preschools

Early childhood teaching is slowly building momentum as a worthwhile profession for men. Wanganui relieving kindergarten teacher Geoff Fugle recently graduated from the three-year early childhood degree course at Auckland University. He described becoming a kindergarten teacher as the best thing he had ever done. “What a great job… spending …
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Mind in the Making: Getting Kids Fired Up to Learn

Ellen Galinsky was not planning to write a book about the essential life skills all kids need to succeed. But when, in the course of conducting a research project, she noticed too many kids were “turned off to learning,” her job became clear. “These kids were not just dropping out …
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Philippines: Science Teaching Enhanced in K to 12 Curriculum

Education Secretary Br. Armin Luistro FSC said that while Science as a subject is formally introduced in Grade 3, it remains integrated in all learning areas to steadily develop the students’ skills in understanding more complex subjects. “The focus of early education (Kinder to Grade 2) should be the fundamental …
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Human Brains Wire Up Slowly but Surely

As the father-to-son exchange in the old Cat Stevens song advised, “take your time, think a lot, … think of everything you’ve got.” Turns out the mellow ’70s folkie had stumbled upon what may explain a key feature of our brains that sets us apart from our closest relatives: We …
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