brain development

How Do Smartphones Affect Childhood Psychology?

Have you noticed what seems like an epidemic of people who are glued to their smartphone’s soft glow? Unfortunately, you are not alone. Over 1.8 billion people own smartphones and use their devices on a daily basis. Some studies estimate that an average person checks their screen 150 times a day. This widespread use of [...]

How being a Bleeding Heart Liberal Ruined my Parenting

If I could do it again, I'd wait to start on the grand-scale ideology until the girls were 10 or so, when they could more easily grasp the concepts as outside of themselves, and differentiate their present lives from their future lives. But for now, I've taught the wrong message: that life should be fair [...]

A New Study Shows how Eating Trans Fat Affects your Memory

Now, a new study presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2014 has found a link between trans fat and memory impairment. Researchers looked at the eating habits of 1000 healthy men above the age of 20, and postmenopausal women to determine the effect trans fat has on memory. Participants completed a dietary questionnaire [...]

The Dirt on Outdoor Play

Free and unstructured play outdoors encourages problem solving, social skills and many other forms of development. It’s an ideal environment for experiential learning, as it offers unique opportunities to be creative, to move around, and for children to make choices, be loudor quiet. Outside, kids can explore, take risks, run as fast as they can, [...]

The Psychological Comforts of Storytelling

Stories can be a way for humans to feel that we have control over the world. They allow people to see patterns where there is chaos, meaning where there is randomness. Humans are inclined to see narratives where there are none because it can afford meaning to our lives—a form of existential problem-solving. - CODY C. [...]

Talking To Your Kids To Keep Them Drug Free

While drugs can take their toll on both physical and mental health for young and old, teenagers are particularly vulnerable to the effects that these addictive substances have on their developing brain. As a result, this may lead to long-term problems for their mental function and place them at increased risk of mental illness. Young [...]

Teen Sleep Deprivation And The Effect Of Blue Light

A 2014 combined project by Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Manchester and Surrey Universities declared, ‘Society has become supremely arrogant in ignoring the importance of sleep’. The researchers cite living in a 24hour society coupled with technology overuse as part of the issue. The National Sleep Foundation in the US found that more than half of the parents [...]

Judgement Call: Maturity, Emotions, And The Teenage Brain

Generation after generation, one thing parents can count on is being baffled or confused by their children’s behavior. While new generations of teenagers have access to things their parents did not--Google Glass and Apple’s newly announced iWatch could be the smartphones of tomorrow--this does not explain why teenagers, regardless of generation, continue to behave in [...]

Red Flags For Autism

Autism can be difficult to detect in very young children, although there is clear evidence that early detection and subsequent early intervention leads to a substantially better prognosis. This includes improved language and cognitive skills, social relationships and better adaptive functioning. There can also be less maladaptive behaviours, and an increased chance of successful inclusion [...]

Study finds association between maternal exposure to agricultural pesticides and autism

Quinn, an autistic boy, and the line of toys he made before falling asleep. Repeatedly stacking or lining up objects is a behavior commonly associated with autism. Credit: Wikipedia. Pregnant women who lived in close proximity to fields and farms where chemical pesticides were applied experienced a two-thirds increased risk of having a [...]

Go to Top