Kids now getting 'adult' disease

After they’re diagnosed and for the rest of their lives, type 1 diabetics need to regularly test their blood sugar levels with a pinching tool that draws a little blood. They also have to give themselves shots of insulin several times a day to control blood sugar levels.

EvgenyB/iStockphoto

When she was 9 years old, Ann Albright went to the doctor with odd flulike symptoms. She was exhausted. She had to go to the bathroom frequently in the middle of the night. She was always thirsty. Even her vision was blurry.

After a few tests, the doctor pulled Albright’s mother aside.

“I still remember it very vividly,” says Ann Albright, now more than 40 years later. “My mom left the room with the doctor and came back in with tears running down her cheeks.”

The verdict: diabetes, a disease that affects the way people process food.

At the time, the 1960s, the diagnosis meant that young Ann would never have the carefree childhood her mother wanted for her. For the rest of her life, she would have to give herself shots several times a day. She would need to be very careful about what she ate. And she might not realize all of her dreams in life.

“In the era I was diagnosed, most people were told they’d have a shorter life span,” Albright says. “As a little girl with diabetes moving into adulthood, I wondered would I be able to have kids? Would I be able to have a life?”

Science has come a long way since then, says Albright, partly as a result of her own efforts: She’s now a doctor and diabetes researcher at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Since her diagnosis, researchers have developed better technologies, more effective medicines and a sharper understanding of how diabetes works.

Despite the advances, though, scientists still can’t answer a lot of basic questions about what causes diabetes. There still is no cure. And living with the disease remains difficult.

“Everything changes” after a diabetes diagnosis, says Ali Reed, a pediatric endocrine fellow at the University of California, San Francisco. “Life becomes more complicated.”

What’s more, diabetes is on the rise — in both adults and kids. One version of the disease, called type 2 diabetes, is increasing at an especially alarming rate.

Scientists have linked type 2 diabetes with obesity. So now, more than ever, doctors are urging young people to start developing healthy habits as early as possible.

Breakdown

Diabetes refers to a group of diseases, but there are two main kinds: type 1 and type 2. In both types, the trouble begins with the body’s ability to deal with sugar.

Sugar is the body’s main fuel source. When you eat, your digestive system breaks down your food into basic parts, including proteins, fats and a simple sugar called glucose. Glucose gets absorbed through the intestines. From there, it enters the bloodstream. Circulating blood delivers glucose to all the cells, which convert it into energy.

At least, that’s what’s supposed to happen. In people with diabetes, however, sugar can’t get from the bloodstream into the cells. A hormone, or messenger molecule, called insulin is normally responsible for that transfer. But in diabetics, insulin doesn’t do its job.

As a result, sugar builds up in the bloodstream. When levels of sugar in the blood stay high, the condition is called chronic. And for reasons scientists don’t yet understand, chronically high blood sugar can lead to blindness, kidney damage, limb amputations, heart attacks and more.

“It’s not a death sentence, but it’s a very serious disease,” Albright says.

Two types

Exactly how diabetes affects a patient’s life depends in part on which type of diabetes a person has. There are important differences between the two main types.

Type 1 diabetes is the kind Albright has. In this version of the disease, the body stops producing insulin. Symptoms usually begin in kids or teenagers.

After they’re diagnosed and for the rest of their lives, type 1 diabetics need to regularly test their blood sugar levels with a pinching tool that draws a little blood. They also have to give themselves shots of insulin several times a day to control blood sugar levels. So far, scientists don’t know how to prevent type 1 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetics make insulin, but their bodies don’t use the hormone properly. Type 2 diabetes is far more common than type 1, and most people who have type 2 are adults. These days, though, more and more kids are coming to their doctors with symptoms of type 2 diabetes.


Doctors already know that adults who develop type 2 diabetes tend to be overweight or obese. And as kids have become increasingly overweight, the disease has started appearing at younger and younger ages.

Shorrocks/iStockphoto

As recently as a decade ago, type 2 diabetes was called “adult-onset” because kids just didn’t get it.

“When this disease we used to only see in adults started happening in adolescents, it was just shocking to people,” Albright says. “Pediatricians just didn’t know what to do.”

Healthy living

Doctors already knew that adults who develop type 2 diabetes tend to be overweight or obese. (Scientists can’t yet explain why.) And as kids have become increasingly overweight, the disease has started appearing at younger and younger ages.

In the United States, two out of three adults are now overweight, according to the CDC. Nineteen percent of kids between the ages of 6 and 11 are overweight, compared with 7 percent just 20 years ago. Over the same period, the proportion of overweight teens rose from 5 percent to 17 percent.

(You can find out whether you are overweight by plugging numbers into a calculator at an online site. Also, see the sidebar "Understanding Body Mass Index" at the bottom of this article.)

Like their type 1 peers, type 2 diabetics have to monitor blood sugar levels. But they often rely on drugs instead of insulin shots. Frequently, they can get the disease under control by simply exercising more and eating reasonable portions of healthy foods.

“We now know that we can prevent or postpone type 2 diabetes by having [adults] at very high risk lose 5 to 7 percent of their body weight,” Albright says.

Scientists don’t yet know whether the same is true for overweight kids. The trend is so new that CDC researchers are still working to gather basic information about how the disease works in young people.

But it can’t hurt to play soccer instead of video games, and to choose fruits and vegetables over junk food.

“There’s no harm in having healthier lifestyle habits,” Albright says. “Get to know what’s going into your body. Make it fun.”

Seeking answers

Weighing more than you should doesn’t mean you’re doomed to develop diabetes. The disease is far more complex than that. And while research has come a long way, plenty of questions remain.

Doctors don’t know, for example, why certain ethnic groups have particularly high rates of diabetes, including American Indians, Hispanics and African Americans. Nor can doctors say for sure why the chances of getting diabetes go up if your parents or siblings have it.

Both relationships suggest that genes play a role in setting people up for diabetes. But something in the environment has to push those genes into action, and scientists aren’t sure what those triggers are. It’s also not clear which genes are involved.

“People spend their whole careers trying to understand this stuff,” Albright says.

If you learn you have diabetes, don’t despair. There’s plenty you can do to live a long and healthy life. Also, know you’re not alone.

Reed encourages all newly diagnosed kids to go to one of the nation’s many diabetes camps. It can be hugely reassuring, she says, to be surrounded by other kids who feel like you do.

“It’s really amazing,” Reed says. “It’s a very supportive and tolerating environment for kids who are often the only ones at their school with diabetes. At diabetes camp, everyone is going through it together.”

Retrieved March 13, 2010 from http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20090422/Feature1.asp

By Fong KhaiYan T2

Our generation is better language wise?

This statement that Mr. Tan made during class that our generation has better language than the generations before made me think, is that really true?

Somehow when I compare my language with my aunts and my dad, I have better English compared to my aunt and uncles that were Chinese educated (Phor Tay and Chung Ling) but compared to my aunts that were went to school in those with British education systems last time (St. Georges Girls School in Penang), I don't think mine is better. Even if I compare my mandarin with the previous generation, it is still worse.

The way I see it, a number of factors influenced our use of language. One of it is because our generation uses smses and Internet messaging, which causes our language to deteriorate as we cut the words into short forms (you to u, together to 2gether, etc) and use simple words. When we get used to doing so, we also tend to do it while doing tests, and maybe in our assignments, where we might absentmindedly write u instead of you.

Another factor is because our generation spend much less time actually reading books, be it textbooks, story books or even the newspaper. It's sad really, nobody reads books much now, they all want to watch the movie instead or watch drama shows on the TV, or stay glued to the computer. I believe that children should be encouraged to read from an early age, or even before they can read themselves the parents should read them stories, which will get them interested in books. Then the pathways between the neurons at the left hemisphere that has to do with language will be more developed.

Another contributing factor is in my opinion, the environment, or more specifically the type of language that the people around you, such as your family, peers etc, speak. When your family speaks mandarin always to you, obviously your mandarin will be better. Personally I speak English and Hokkien at home since young, which is why I am pretty fluent in both. Mandarin on the other hand, I avoid like the plague, but using it is sometimes unavoidable, especially in UTAR. Also, there's also Manglish that we Malaysians use so much.

Practice makes perfect, or in the words of Mr. Tan, "Use it or lose it." Language can always be improved by constant use and reading. It may be slow, but for sure it will improve bit by bit.

So I shall end this with a question directed to all those reading : Do you agree that your language is better than the older generation? Just compare yourself to the people in your family and so on. Maybe you can explain your perspective on this. So that we can make this blog more lively :D

Why Kids Get Bullied and Rejected

Kids who get bullied and snubbed by peers may be more likely to have problems in other parts of their lives, past studies have shown. And now researchers have found at least three factors in a child's behavior that can lead to social rejection.

The factors involve a child's inability to pick up on and respond to nonverbal cues from their pals.

In the United States, 10 to 13 percent of school-age kids experience some form of rejection by their peers. In addition to causing mental health problems, bullying and social isolation can increase the likelihood a child will get poor grades, drop out of school, or develop substance abuse problems, the researchers say.

"It really is an under-addressed public health issue," said lead researcher Clark McKown of the Rush Neurobehavioral Center in Chicago. And the social skills children gain on the playground or elsewhere could show up later in life, according to Richard Lavoie, an expert in child social behavior who was not involved with the study. Unstructured playtime - that is, when children interact without the guidance of an authority figure - is when children experiment with the relationship styles they will have as adults, he said.

Underlying all of this: "The number one need of any human is to be liked by other humans," Lavoie told LiveScience. "But our kids are like strangers in their own land." They don't understand the basic rules of operating in society and their mistakes are usually unintentional, he said.

Social rejection
In two studies, McKown and colleagues had a total of 284 children, ages 4 to 16 years old, watch movie clips and look at photos before judging the emotions of the actors based on their facial expressions, tones of voice and body postures. Various social situations were also described and the children were questioned about appropriate responses.

The results were then compared to parent/teacher accounts of the participants' friendships and social behavior. Kids who had social problems also had problems in at least one of three different areas of nonverbal communication: reading nonverbal cues; understanding their social meaning; and coming up with options for resolving a social conflict.

A child, for example, simply may not notice a person's scowl of impatience or understand what a tapped foot means. Or she may have trouble reconciling the desires of a friend with her own. "It is important to try to pinpoint the area or areas in a child's deficits and then build those up," McKown explained.

Ways to help
When children have prolonged struggles with socializing, "a vicious cycle begins," Lavoie said. Shunned children have few opportunities to practice social skills, while popular kids are busy perfecting theirs. However, having just one or two friends can be enough to give a child the social practice he or she needs, he said.

Parents, teachers and other adults in a child's life can help, too. Instead of reacting with anger or embarrassment to a child who, say, asks Aunt Mindy if her new hairdo was a mistake, parents should teach social skills with the same tone they use for teaching long division or proper hygiene. If presented as a learning opportunity, rather than a punishment, children usually appreciate the lesson.

"Most kids are so desperate to have friends, they just jump on board," Lavoie said.
To teach social skills, Lavoie advises a five-step approach in his book "It's So Much Work to Be Your Friend: Helping the Child with Learning Disabilities Find Social Success" (Touchstone, 2006). The process works for children with or without learning disabilities and is best conducted immediately after a transgression has been made.

1) Ask the child what happened and listen without judgment.
2) Ask the child to identify their mistake. (Often children only know that someone got upset, but don't understand their own role in the outcome.)
3) Help the child identify the cue they missed or mistake they made, by asking something like: "How would you feel if Emma was hogging the tire swing?" Instead of lecturing with the word "should," offer options the child "could" have taken in the moment, such as: "You could have asked Emma to join you or told her you would give her the swing after your turn."
4) Create an imaginary but similar scenario where the child can make the right choice. For example, you could say, "If you were playing with a shovel in the sand box and Aiden wanted to use it, what would you do?"
5) Lastly, give the child "social homework" by asking him to practice this new skill, saying: "Now that you know the importance of sharing, I want to hear about something you share tomorrow."

The studies are detailed in the current issue of the Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology. They were funded by the Dean and Rosemarie Buntrock Foundation and the William T. Grant Foundation.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20100202/sc_livescience/studiesrevealwhykidsgetbulliedandrejected

Dads Blessings

A young man was getting ready to graduate from college. For many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer's showroom, and knowing his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted.

As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father had purchased the car. Finally, on the morning of his graduation, his father called him into his private study. His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and told him how much he loved him. He handed his son a beautifully wrapped gift box. Curious, but somewhat disappointed, the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible, with the young man's name embossed in gold. Angry, he raised his voice to his father and said "With all your money, you give me a Bible?" and stormed out of the house, leaving the Bible.

Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business. He had a beautiful home and wonderful family, but realized his father was very old, and thought perhaps he should go to him. He had not seen him since that graduation day. Before he could make arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away, and willed all of his possessions to his son. He needed to come home immediately and take care of things.

When he arrived at his father's house, sudden sadness and regret filled his heart. He began to search through his father's important papers and saw the still new Bible, just as he had left it years ago. With tears, he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages. And as he did, a car key dropped from the back of the Bible. It had a tag with the dealer's name, the same dealer who had the sports car he had desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation, and the words PAID IN FULL.

How many times do we miss Spirit's blessings and answers to our prayers because they do not arrive exactly as we have expected?

TODAY'S's affirmation: "Today I look beyond the obvious and allow miracles to be created in my life."

Fetal Development
From conception to birth

Illustration by R.K. O'Bannon

Day 1: fertilization: all human chromosomes are present; unique human life begins. Click photo to enlarge.

Day 6: embryo begins implantation in the uterus.

Day 22: heart begins to beat with the child's own blood, often a different type than the mothers'.

Week 3: By the end of third week the child's backbone spinal column and nervous system are forming. The liver, kidneys and intestines begin to take shape.

Week 4: By the end of week four the child is ten thousand times larger than the fertilized egg.

Week 5: Eyes, legs, and hands begin to develop.

Week 6: Brain waves are detectable; mouth and lips are present; fingernails are forming. Week 7: Eyelids, and toes form, nose distinct. The baby is kicking and swimming. Week 8: Every organ is in place, bones begin to replace cartilage, and fingerprints begin to form. By the 8th week the baby can begin to hear.

Click photo to enlarge

Weeks 9 and 10: Teeth begin to form, fingernails develop. The baby can turn his head, and frown. The baby can hiccup.

Weeks 10 and 11: The baby can "breathe" amniotic fluid and urinate. Week 11 the baby can grasp objects placed in its hand; all organ systems are functioning. The baby has a skeletal structure, nerves, and circulation.

Week 12: The baby has all of the parts necessary to experience pain, including nerves, spinal cord, and thalamus. Vocal cords are complete. The baby can suck its thumb. Week 14: At this age, the heart pumps several quarts of blood through the body every day.

Week 15: The baby has an adult's taste buds.

Month 4: Bone Marrow is now beginning to form. The heart is pumping 25 quarts of blood a day. By the end of month 4 the baby will be 8-10 inches in length and will weigh up to half a pound.

Week 17: The baby can have dream (REM) sleep. Week 19: Babies can routinely be saved at 21 to 22 weeks after fertilization, and sometimes they can be saved even younger.

Click photo to enlarge

Week 20: The earliest stage at which Partial birth abortions are performed. At 20 weeks the baby recognizes its' mothers voice.

Click photo to enlarge

Months 5 and 6: The baby practices breathing by inhaling amniotic fluid into its developing lungs. The baby will grasp at the umbilical cord when it feels it. Most mothers feel an increase in movement, kicking, and hiccups from the baby. Oil and sweat glands are now functioning. The baby is now twelve inches long or more, and weighs up to one and a half pounds.

Months 7 through 9: Eyeteeth are present. The baby opens and closes his eyes. The baby is using four of the five senses (vision, hearing, taste, and touch.) He knows the difference between waking and sleeping, and can relate to the moods of the mother. The baby's skin begins to thicken, and a layer of fat is produced and stored beneath the skin. Antibodies are built up, and the baby's heart begins to pump 300 gallons of blood per day. Approximately one week before the birth the baby stops growing, and "drops" usually head down into the pelvic cavity.

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Intelligence: More Nature Than Nurture?

ScienceDaily (Oct. 17, 2007) — While showing an impressive growth prenatally, the human brain is not completed at birth. There is considerable brain growth during childhood with dynamic changes taking place in the human brain throughout life, probably for adaptation to our environments.

Evidence is accumulating that brain structure is under considerable genetic influence [Peper et al., 2007]. Puberty, the transitional phase from childhood into adulthood, involves changes in brain morphology that may be essential to optimal adult functioning. Around the onset of puberty gray matter volume starts to decrease, while white matter volume is still increasing [Giedd et al., 1999].

Recent findings have shown, that variation in total gray and white matter volume of the adult human brain is primarily (70--90%) genetically determined [Baare et al, 2001] and in a recent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain study with 45 monozygotic and 61 dizygotic 9-year-old twin-pairs, and their 87 full siblings also high heritabilities have been found [Peper et al, in preparation]. Thus, while environmental influences may play a role in later stages during puberty, around the onset of puberty brain volumes are already highly heritable.

Hilleke Hulshoff Pol presents persuasive evidence how genetic factors influence the brain structure opening new insights into the reciprocal gene-environment developmental pathways.

Genetic influences

Twin studies have also shown that genetic effects vary regionally within the brain, with high heritabilities of frontal lobe volumes (90--95%), moderate estimates in the hippocampus (40--69%), and environmental factors influencing several medial brain areas.

However, the mechanisms by which interaction between genes and environment occur throughout life as well as dynamics of brain structure and its association with brain functioning still remain unknown. Twin and family studies and newly evolving genetic approaches start to give us a glimpse as to which genes and (interacting) environmental influences are shaping our brains.

Brain structure -- measured macroscopically using MRI -- and the dynamic changes therein, have a functional relevance.

Studies revealed that total brain volume is positively correlated with general intelligence. In healthy subjects, the level of intellectual functioning has been positively associated with whole brain, gray, and white matter volumes [Thompson et al, 2001; Posthuma et al, 2002]. More focally, several brain areas were found to be correlated with intelligence. Interestingly, it was also shown that the trajectory changes in cortical thickness throughout adolescence are associated with the level of intelligence.

Furthermore, a common set of genes may also cause the association between brain structure and cognitive functions. However, in elderly twins, the associations between frontotemporal brain volumes and executive function were found to be because of common environmental influences shared by twins from the same family [Carmelli et al., 2002].

These results point to the possibility that overlapping sets of genes or common environmental influences cause variation in two distinct phenotypes. It might be, for example, that a higher level of cognitive functioning leads a person to select an environment that also increases brain size. The genetic influence on brain size then simply reflects the genetic influences on cognition. Thus, the specific mechanism, pathways, and genes that are involved in human brain morphology and its association with cognitive functions remain elusive.

Although genetic effects on morphology of specific gray matter areas in the brain have been studied, the heritability of focal white matter was unknown until recently. Similarly, it was unresolved whether there is a common genetic origin of focal gray matter and white matter structures with intelligence. In our study involving 54 monozygotic and 58 dizygotic twin pairs and their 34 singleton siblings, verbal, and performal intelligence were found to share a common genetic origin with an anatomical neural network involving the frontal, occipital, and parahippocampal gray matter and connecting white matter of the superior occipitofrontal fascicle, and the corpus callosum [Hulshoff Pol et al., 2006].

For the genetic analyses, structural equation modeling and voxel-based morphometry were used. To explore the common genetic origin of focal gray matter and white matter areas with intelligence, cross-trait/cross-twin correlations were obtained in which the focal gray matter and white matter densities of each twin are correlated with the psychometric intelligence quotient of his/her cotwin.

The results of this study indicate that genes significantly influence white matter density of the superior occipitofrontal fascicle, corpus callosum, optic radiation, and corticospinal tract, as well as gray matter density of the medial frontal, superior frontal, superior temporal, occipital, postcentral, posterior cingulate, and parahippocampal cortices. Moreover, the results show that intelligence shares a common genetic origin with superior occipitofrontal, callosal, and left optical radiation white matter and frontal, occipital, and parahippocampal gray matter (phenotypic correlations up to 0.35).

These findings point to a neural network that shares a common genetic origin with human intelligence. Thus, it seems that the individual variation in morphology of areas involved in attention, language, visual, and emotional processing, as well as in sensorimotor processing are strongly genetically influenced.

In addition, unique environmental factors influenced vast gray matter and white matter areas surrounding the lateral ventricles (up to 0.50). This finding coincides with the significant environmental influences on lateral ventricle volume [common (0.58) and unique (0.42) with no significant contributions of genes] that was reported previously in this twin sample [Baaré et al., 2001].

Clinical implications

Considering the high heritabilities for global brain volumes and particular focal brain densities and thicknesses, the search for genes that are involved in brain growth, aging, and brain structure maintenance is important. Such knowledge can help us understand normal developmental and age-associated changes in individual variation in brain functioning.

Moreover, it enhances our knowledge of individual variation in brain functioning and facilitates the interpretation of the morphological changes found in psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia [van Haren et al., 2007]. Also, it allows future efforts to find particular genes responsible for brain structures to be concentrated in areas that are under considerable genetic influence [Hulshoff Pol et al., 2006].

A genetic approach to find genes involved in brain structure that has been applied in several studies is that of diseases with a clear genetic etiology such as Huntington's disease, Down syndrome, Williams syndrome, and Velocardiofacial syndrome. A review reveals for these diseases besides disease specific brain changes, decreases in total brain, white matter, and hippocampus volumes, irrespective of the genes and/or chromosomes involved. This suggests that many genes are probably involved in the individual variation of these measures [Peper et al., in press].

It is important to investigate which environmental factors have an influence on the expression of genes (as found in DNA-methylation). Additionally, the study of interaction between genes and environmental factors is warranted. Furthermore, the simultaneous effects of multiple genes and possibly the interaction among genes, also needs investigation as the high heritability of a complex quantitative phenotype such as brain volume cannot be explained by a single-gene polymorphism.

Conclusion

MRI studies in twins indicate that, given the basic additive genetic model, overall brain volume in adulthood is highly heritable.

To test for influences of genetic, common, and unique environmental factors or interactions between genetic and environmental influences. twin studies carried out in large and more homogenous samples, analyzed with advanced quantitative genetic methods are needed.

To investigate the stability of genetic and environmental influences onto functional neural networks in human brain longitudinal twin studies in childhood as well as in adulthood are needed since brain volume changes dynamically throughout life.

New brain-imaging methods, such as DTI-fiber tracking and resting state functional MRI, allow to study the heritability of neural networks underlying brain functioning.

These new methods, in coherence with new genetic approaches, will enable us to further disentangle which genes and environmental factors and interactions therein influence human brain structure throughout life.

Expression of baby having sour food

By Margaret Lim, T2

Quadruplet infecting each other with laughing virus

By Margaret Lim, T2

loVe liFe

Please live your life to its fullest for them....
appreciate our life....

credits to Liew Cheu Teng, T3

The Kid

Are you feeling stress??
Come and watch this funny video to refresh yourself...hehe..^@^
all the best for all of you yah,..

Credits to Liew Cheu Teng, T3

Family meals pay off

Busy parents are sacrificing mealtimes with their families in order to keep up, but this sacrifice comes at too great a cost for children.

MEALTIMES are a special time for you and your young child. It may be the only time of the day when your family comes together. At other times, parents may be occupied with work or household responsibilities, while children are away at school. However busy we all are, we nevertheless need to eat.

Thus, having meals with your family provides an amazing opportunity for you and your spouse to spend time together with your child. Eating together enables you to foster your child’s development, coach, and monitor your child’s behaviour, and enjoy each other’s company.

The benefits of eating together as a family are endless! Skipping this activity will cause your child to lose out on these precious opportunities to develop as a person.

Tested and proven

Family mealtimes have been the subject of considerable scholarly studies. Researchers from various fields, from the field of nutrition to the field of psychology, have conducted extensive research on the outcomes of family mealtimes. Each study has consistently showed that the positive effects of dining together as a family extend far beyond what we assume. Some of these include:

● Better nutrition. Children who eat with their families have lower rates of both malnutrition and obesity compared to children who do not.

Research has shown that a higher frequency of family meals is associated with increased consumption of fruits, vegetables, and other essential nutrients, and lower intake of fried food and soft drinks.

Additionally, dining together with parents allows children to observe the positive nutritional habits that their parents adopt, leading children to make healthier food choices when not dining with their parents.

● Enhanced family connectedness. You are more likely to pass on family values and traditions to your child during regular mealtimes. In fact, the social relationships developed while sharing a meal will reinforce your child’s sense of belonging to the family. This helps build a strong, healthy, and resilient family unit.

● Better social and communication skills. Eating with adults allows your child to observe the behaviour of others in a social setting and to practice social skills. Participation in table conversations also enables him to acquire a wider vocabulary and acquire general knowledge. In fact, it has been suggested that it is these skills that enable children who have frequent family meals to, reportedly, perform much better in school.

● Protection against risk behaviours. The US Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) found in their 10-year study that teens who have frequent family meals are less likely to smoke, drink, and use drugs. This isn’t surprising, as the level of family and adult support that is built from having family meals serves as a great buffer against such risk-taking behaviours.

As a parent, you can shape the culture of the home. So make it a point to have regular family mealtimes. Encourage every member of the family to sit together at the dinner table. Research shows that while the numbers of families who have meals together remain high at 80%, that number in bigger cities is dropping quickly.

The quality factor

Realise this; Just because the whole family is eating together does not mean that you are eating right. Getting the family together is just half the battle. How you conduct these family dinners are just as important.

You may be sitting together, but if everyone is silent, you and your family are no better off than if you were all doing your own thing. Quality is the key. Make family meals count instead of treating them as something you feel obligated to do because experts recommend you do so.

Here are some tips on how you can make your family meals worth the time and effort:

1. Don’t rush them.

Treasure each moment that your family spends together at the table. There is no point in making all the effort to sit down with your family, only to have it fly by. Allow ample time to enjoy the food and each other’s company. Avoid the temptation of rushing your child through the meal, as long as they finish their food within a reasonable duration.

2. Resist distractions.

While mobile phones, television, video games, and the radio are a great source of entertainment, turn them off at mealtimes and do not allow them anywhere near the dining area. They are not members of your family. If possible delay answering your hand-phones for the duration of the meal. Instead, switch your attention to your child and other family members.

3. Keep conversations pleasant.

Aim at having happy and relaxing conversations during mealtimes. Ensure that you include everyone in all conversations. This is a great opportunity for your family to share their experiences and understand each other a little more.

Avoid bringing up unpleasant subjects or meting out punishments during mealtimes, as you do not want your family to associate negative feelings with eating together.

4. Share the responsibility.

Mealtimes do not have to start and stop at the dinner table. In fact, include aspects like food preparation and table setting as part of your mealtime routine and involve your child in the process. Let him contribute menu ideas, bring him grocery shopping, and have him set the table. Your child will feel proud and excited to eat meals that he has helped prepare.

Braving the traffic congestion to get home at peak hours for a family dinner may seem like a hassle. Passing up the chance to go for a drink with your colleagues in exchange for a quiet dinner at home may also irritate you. But keep in mind these small sacrifices that you make now are all well spent. You’ll find that in a few years time, you and your child will reap the rewards from your efforts.

■ Dr Goh Chee Leong is a psychologist. This article is courtesy of the Malaysian Paediatric Association’s Positive Parenting Programme. The information provided is for educational and communication purposes only and it should not be construed as personal medical advice. Information published in this article is not intended to replace, supplant or augment a consultation with a health professional regarding the reader’s own medical care. The Star does not give any warranty on accuracy, completeness, functionality, usefulness or other assurances as to the content appearing in this column. The Star disclaims all responsibility for any losses, damage to property or personal injury suffered directly or indirectly from reliance on such information.

Credits to Lew Hui Teng, T3

Baby Development – Mozart Therapy: A Sonata a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

By Colleen Hurley, RD, Certified Kid’s Nutrition Specialist

Parents and researchers alike have known for some time that music is both a great learning tool and lots of fun. Music has been thought to boost brain power from babies to college students, as a controversial 1993 study found college students improved IQ scores by listening to 10 minutes of Mozart; sending parents everywhere to the music store. Although that study was found to inconclusive, a recent study brought Mozart’s music back into focus but this time for premature babies.

Conducted by Tel Aviv University, the study revealed that 30 minutes of exposure to Mozart’s music per day caused preterm infants to expend less energy resulting in less calories needed to grow rapidly. This was compared to when infants were not “listening” to the music.

One of the main priorities for doctors treating preemies is to get the baby up to an acceptable body weight so that the infant can be sent home from the hospital. In addition, premature babies are exposed to a host of bacteria and illness while in the hospital and a healthy body weight protects the babies from future problems.

The study was conceived through an international project by United States based consortium NIDCAP, whose purpose is to create a set of best practice standards for the health and well-being of neonates. Several environmental factors have been proven to affect the health of premature infants including tactile stimulation and room lighting. This study, however, was the first to quantify the effect of music on newborns. Researchers measured the physiological responses to 30 minutes of Mozart’s music and compared the infants’ energy expenditure pre and post music listening finding significantly less expenditure after the music, which could ultimately lead to faster weight gain.

Researchers theorize the music makes the babies calmer possibly due to the repetitive melodies of Mozart’s music in particular, which bears a stark contrast to other great classical composers. Israeli researchers planned to continue the study to find the long term effects using different types of music including rap, pop, ethnic, and of course classical music as well as surveying mothers to discover what types of music their infant was exposed to in the womb. The correlation between infant brain development and Mozart has been around for many years with a variety of ‘Baby Mozart’ CD’s still on the market, however, many of the myths of this positive association have been debunked. Research has shown that babies do benefit from listening, and singing along, to a variety of musical styles.

Credits to Lew Hui Teng, T3

Comic 04

By Ho Khee Hoong

Birth Order

The following characteristics will not apply to all children in every family. Typical characteristics, however, can be identified:

 

Only

• Child Pampered and spoiled.


• Feels incompetent because adults are more capable.


• Is center of attention; often enjoys position. May feel special.


• Self-centered.


• Relies on service from others rather than own efforts


• Feels unfairly treated when doesn't get own way. 


•  May refuse to cooperate


• Plays "divide and conquer" to get own way

 
 

First Child

• Is only child for period of time; used to being center


• of attention.


• Believes must gain and hold superiority over other children.


• Being right, controlling often important.


• May respond to birth of second child by feeling unloved and neglected.


• Strives to keep or regain parents' attention through conformity. If this failed, chooses to misbehave.


• May develop competent, responsible behavior or become very discouraged.


• Sometime strives to protect and help others. 


• Strives to please 

Second Child

• Never has parents' undivided attention.


• Always has sibling ahead who's more advanced.


• Acts as if in race, trying to catch up or overtake first child.


• If first child is "good," second may become "bad." Develops abilities first child doesn't exhibit. If first child successful, may feel uncertain of self and abilities.


• May be rebel.


• Often doesn't like position.


• Feels "squeezed" if third child is born.


• May push down other siblings.

Middle Child of Three

• Has neither rights of oldest nor privileges of youngest.


• Feels life is unfair.


• Feels unloved, left out, "squeezed."


• Feels doesn't have place in family.


• Becomes discouraged and "problem child" or elevates self by pushing down other siblings.


• Is adaptable.


• Learns to deal with both oldest and youngest sibling.

Youngest Child

• Behaves like only child.


• Feels every one bigger and more capable.


• Expects others to do things, make decisions, take responsibility.


• Feels smallest and weakest. May not be taken seriously.


• Becomes boss of family in getting service and own way.


• Develops feelings of inferiority or becomes "speeder" and  overtakes older siblings.


• Remains "The Baby." Places others in service. 


• If youngest of three, often allies with oldest child against middle child. 

 

Source:  http://www.childdevelopmentinfo.com/development/birth_order.shtml

Comic 03

Give the child what she needs

Give this child what she needs
Love
Give this child what she needs
Shelter
Give this child what she needs
Prayers
Give this child what she needs
Some food and water
Give this child what she needs
Good parents
Give this child what she needs
Good manors
Give this child what she needs
A smoke free home
Give this child what she needs
Peace and happiness
Give this child what she needs
To know God
Give this child what she needs
Your guidance
Give this child what she needs
Clothes
Give this child what she needs
Your support
Give this child what she needs
Some family time
Give this child what she needs
A nice bath every day
Give this child what she needs
Some discipline
Give this child what she needs
A warm bed to sleep on

Credits to Tang Tze Chiun, T4

Teratogens

Manie has birth defects caused by the antidepressants his mother took when she was pregnant with him.

Calories in food

Obesity in kids has reached epidemic levels. Experts estimate that 15% of kids are overweight and another 15% are at risk of becoming overweight. And two thirds of these overweight kids will become overweight adults.

Although a lack of physical activity and poor eating habits are a big part of this rise in childhood obesity, another big problem is that many children are simply getting too many calories, which are then turned into extra fat.

Although you usually shouldn't have to count calories each and every day, it can be helpful to know where the calories your child is getting are coming from. This is especially important if your child is already overweight.

Kids and Calories
In learning about calories in food, you are really just trying to make better choices between high calorie foods and healthier alternatives. Still, it can help to understand how many calories your child actually needs each day.

In general, kids who are:
• 1-3 years old need about 1300 calories each day
• 4-6 years old need about 1800 calories each day
• 7-10 years old need about 2000 calories each day

This Calorie Calculator can help you figure out how many calories your child needs each day, including for teens, and based on their activity level.

Calories to Avoid
Although all calories count, they do not all necessarily count equally.
For example, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that most children get about:
• 10 to 12 percent of their calories from protein
• 50 to 60 percent of their calories from carbohydrates
• 30 percent of their calories from fat, with a preference for monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats

Although we all need calories from protein (4 calories/gram), carbohydrates (4 calories/gram), and even fats (9 calories/gram), you should limit the amount of calories your child gets from:
• saturated fats to less than 10% of total calories (about 14g if your child is on a 1300 calorie diet)
• trans fats to less than 1% of total calories
• solid fats (butter, lard, shortening, etc.) and partially hydrogenated vegetable oils
• added sugars (soft drinks, fruit drinks, candy, etc.), which you can usually identify on the ingredients list - sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, molasses, syrup, lactose, fruit juice concentrates, brown sugar, etc.
• low fat foods that are high calorie because of added sugar

Do all of these rules seem a little overwhelming?
If so, you can start off planning your child's meals from the food groups, learn to read food labels, and review the calories in various foods.

Where do your genes come from?

Credits to Chok Yuh Ping, T5

Monday Morning

Hey~ its monday morning :D seriously speaking i hate mondays =.=

anyway.. to my friends who applied for cyber care~ there's a intern interview today at 10am, D211~

i bet u guys might be nervous eh? xD coz i am! Lol..

and to others, statistic 2 midterm is today.. so good luck to all of us!! :D

here's a song dedicated to all hehe.. hope u had a great monday ;)