Recent highlights
- Want to participate in scientific research? Learn how you can help investigators answer questions related to parenting and child development.
- Postpartum depression and the baby blues have overlapping symptoms. But when symptoms last beyond 2 weeks, or take a severe turn, it's time to get screened for depression.
- When do babies start walking? Some begin before 9 months, others take much longer. Why is this, and how does walking develop?
- Depending on how you define it, the Mozart effect either doesn't exist, or is a weak phenomenon. But music can make us feel more focused.
- Dream feeding is designed to reduce sleep disruption. But for maximum effect, parents should combine it with other sleep-friendly practices.
- When we hear about infant sleep training, we often think of babies left alone to "cry it out." But there are alternatives to such an approach.
Praise for Parenting Science
“[A] welcome antidote to the opinion dressed up as science that parents are constantly fed. Tear up your parenting books and get yourselves over there…”
– opens in a new windowCharles Fernyhough, Ph.D., developmental psychologist and author of A Thousand Days of Wonder: A Scientist’s Chronicle of his Daughter’s Developing Mind
“…[O]ne of the most awesome websites I’ve seen in a long time…In addition to being helpful to academic parents, I see this site being useful in anthropology courses on human sexuality, life history, parenting, evolutionary medicine, evolutionary psychology, etc. Please check it out!”
– Julienne Rutherford, Ph.D., University of Illinois biological anthropologist and founder of the Biological Anthropology Developing Investigators Troop (BANDIT)
“I came across a great website run by Gwen Dewar, one I wish it had been available to me when my children were young. I hope everyone interested in math and kids will look at opens in a new windowIn search of the smart preschool board game and other pages on this site.”
– Bill Marsh, Ph.D., in mathematics and author of MathInking, a blog about teaching math