Early maternal employment has negative effects on children's intellectual development, according to a new US study.
Researchers found that when mothers worked more than 30 hours a week by the time their children were nine months old, those children, on average, did not do as well on school-readiness tests when they were three years old.
Where the mother did not start working until the child was a year old, there were no significant effects.
The three-year olds who did best in the test were those who had sensitive mothers who were not employed by the ninth month and good quality child care.
TV + food equals obesity
Children who eat in front of television tend to sit there long after dinner is over, which can cause them to gain dangerous amounts of weight.
American researchers say each meal eaten in front of television adds 38 to 73 minutes to total daily television-watching time.
The older the children were, the more they watched television. Children were also slightly more likely to watch more television if there were more sets in the house and if there were video recorders.
The more educated the mother, the less television the children watched.
Novels lose out to newspapers
Newspapers have taken over from the novel as the most popular form of reading matter in Britain.
On average, British people devote 17 minutes a day to the press, compared with only 11 minutes reading fiction.
A study of the country's reading habits, conducted by the Orange prize for fiction, shows that people spend six hours a week reading, compared with 23.5 hours a week watching television.
Gene flaw causes dyslexia
Dyslexia is caused by a genetic flaw in the part of the brain used for reading, according to a new study from Yale.
Using magnetic resonance imaging, the researchers pinpointed the region of the brain activated by reading and observed its disruption in children with dyslexia.
Children normally learn to read by recognising individual letters, then sounds, and finally connecting that with conceptual meanings. Dyslexics may be as intelligent as normal readers, but they have difficulty connecting letters with sounds.
The findings reaffirm that children should be taught using phonemes, distinctive linguistic letter and sound units. For example, in the word "cat," the letter "c'' is "kuh,'' the letter "a'' is "aah,'' and "t'' is "tuh.''
Drug use in decline among US students
Drug, alcohol and cigarette use among America's secondary school students is at the lowest level in years, partly because adults are doing more to keep their children away from illicit substances, according to a survey.
Parents and teachers are warning students about drug use and are encouraging kids to nurture other interests by joining extracurricular school and religious activities.
"Following 9/11, Americans seemed to refocus on family, community, spirituality and nation," said survey author Thomas J. Gleaton. "That renewed awareness shows up in the data."
Truancy linked to poverty
Children are more likely to skip school if they come from poor families, a study carried out by Cambridge University suggests.
Much effort is put into tackling absenteeism among teenagers - but by then it may be too late because bad habits have already set in.
The parents who were questioned for the study said they sometimes "forgot" about their younger children's schooling when they hit money trouble.
"For many people this may be a bizarre excuse for primary school children not to attend school. Yet for the families facing financial difficulties, the problem is real," said a researcher.
Computers boost creative skills
Introducing children as young as three to computers helps them understand technology and develops their creative skills, researchers say.
A study of 14 UK early learning centres - containing computers, educational software and specially designed furniture - found children appreciated information and communication technology (ICT) when it was used for real-life purposes.
The report, for computer giant IBM, says computer-based activities must be integrated into the curriculum as a whole and should be linked to projects such as making birthday cards and illustrating stories.
The study says the use of computer suites, as set up in many primary schools, is not helpful because children need to see ICT in a meaningful, everyday context.