Recent highlights
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As Americans struggle with a broken health care system, most folks agree: Some things should not be determined by the whims of profiteers. -
In many cultures, people believe in an afterlife. Is this an innate bias? To find out, researchers examine whether children believe in souls. -
Kids feel the warm glow of giving, and it motivates them to share. How early in life does this emerge, and what can we do to nurture it? -
Peer pressure starts early. When faced with a choice between telling the truth and backing a popular falsehood, even 4-year-olds will buckle. -
What happens when adults lie to children? Kids tend to become more dishonest, and they might be at higher risk for aggressive and antisocial behavior problems. -
These evidence-based baby sleep tips can make bedtime easier, and help speed up the development of mature sleep patterns.
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…”
– Charles 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 In 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