The Parenting Science news feed alerts you to updates on the Parenting Science website and to new blog posts or articles written by Gwen Dewar about parenting and child development topics.
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Share Facebook Twitter Pinterest Linkedin How to prevent bullying? We need to change the behavior of bystanders, and we need to understand what causes kids to repeatedly intimidate, harass, or physically harm their peers. What works? Condemning the behavior, and arousing empathy for the victims. What doesn’t work? Condemning the bully as a person, and attempting to … Continue reading
People have trouble predicting their own feelings. No wonder they make mistakes interpreting the feelings of others. Learn about the hot-cold empathy gap and how we might overcome it.
The newborn feeding schedule: Why feeding frequently, on cue, is best for the health and development of young infants.
Share Facebook Twitter Pinterest Linkedin Studies suggest that both children and adults are happier when they reduce exposure to violent television content. Media creators serve up lots of television violence, and there’s reason for concern. Exposure to media violence may cause sleep problems in young children. It also puts kids at higher risk for developing … Continue reading
Share Facebook Twitter Pinterest Linkedin© 2017 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved The musical diaper alarm Considering all the claims and hype, there haven’t been many good experimental tests of potty training techniques. But Alexandra Vermandel and her colleagues are trying to change that. They’ve wondered if they could speed up potty training by using … Continue reading
Share Facebook Twitter Pinterest Linkedin Empathy in children is a hot research topic, and a subject of great practical importance for families and communities. Empathy seems to be a crucial component of social intelligence, and many scholars argue that empathy is the basis for morality. So people want to know when and how children become … Continue reading
Share Facebook Twitter Pinterest Linkedin In popular accounts of evolutionary psychology, men are cads. Males–the story goes–maximize their reproductive success by mating with as many females as possible. If they can’t get extra mating opportunities, then males might make the best of a “bad” situation by supporting their kids–assuming they can be sure of paternity. … Continue reading
Share Facebook Twitter Pinterest Linkedin© 2009-2014 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved “You’ve heard of evidence-based medicine? This is evidence-based parenting.” That’s how I explained the purpose of my website, Parenting Science, when I started it back in 2006. For people familiar with the approach, it got the point across. Evidence-based medicine has been defined … Continue reading
A developmental guide to preschool math lessons for the science-minded parent.
Share Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedinHuman empathy depends on the ability to share the emotions of others, to feel what other people feel. It is regarded by many people as the foundation of moral behavior. But to some, the concept seems rather airy-fairy. What does it mean to say “I feel your pain”? Isn’t that just … Continue reading
Share Facebook Twitter Pinterest Linkedin© 2009 -2014, Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved What is SIDS? Scientists can offer only partial answers. But we know this much: SIDS, or sudden infant death syndrome, seems to involve a failure to arouse from sleep during a life-threatening event–like a severe episode of sleep apnea or esophageal reflux … Continue reading
Share Facebook Twitter Pinterest Linkedin© 2008-2014 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved Breastfeeding may be natural, but it isn’t automatic (Volk 2009). Here are some tips for breastfeeding moms, based on research by lactation experts, anthropologists, and social scientists. For more evidence-based information about breastfeeding, see this collection of Parenting Science articles. 1. Don’t be … Continue reading