Check out all the episodes of Podcast Beyond Belief that are now available at Foundation Beyond Belief and at iTunes. They each contain parenting science news, roundtable discussions about rational issues, and an interview with a notable scientist or freethinker. Just what the busy, rational mom needs to entertain and educate her while she’s walking on the treadmill, or folding laundry, or trying to unwind after a stressful day!

Episode 5 Raising Happy Kids:

This Week in Parenting Science
* Wait a second – ARE pregnant women more forgetful?
* Girls are just as good at math as boys
* Gender inequity in raising children

Roundtable discussion – How to raise happy kids?

Interview: Christine Carter, Ph.D. from UC Berkeley’s Greater Good “Half-Full” Blog and author of Raising Happiness: 10 Simple Steps for More Joyful Kids and Happier Parents. Dr. Carter discusses how to raise happy children.

Episode 4 Secular Summer Camp:

This Week in Parenting Science
* Vaccine Court Rules Against Thimerosal-Vaccine Link to Autism
* Giving Flu Shots just to kids Protects Entire Community
* Warning for Soft Slings

Discussion of Camp Inquiry

Interview: Amanda Metskas – Camp Quest; Raising Free-Thinkers. Amanda Metskas and our own Laurie Tarr discuss Camp Quest and Camp Inquiry. » Continue reading “Podcast Beyond Belief Recent Episodes”

Reader Emilia sent us an interesting study in response to a comment thread regarding Dr. Amy Tuteur. For those unfamiliar with Dr. Tuteur, she writes the Skeptical OB. Before Skeptical OB, she published Homebirth Debate, which is where I first found her. I enjoy her writing on homebirth, which is a hot topic where I live, in LA. Moms-to-be love to quote that Ricky Lake movie verbatim. So it was nice to find a doctor explaining the actual statistics regarding homebirth. However, the most entertaining thing about reading Amy’s posts is reading the comments. She invites a lot of vitriol, for some reason.  If you enjoy a good comment feud, the old Homebirth Debate posts do not disappoint. Amy recently joined Science Based Medicine, only to quit not too long afterwards; again the comment threads over there became very heated, and Amy bowed out.

Even posting links to Dr. Tuteur’s articles here brought out the ire of our readers.  Some of their views were not related to the subject being discussed but to Amy’s reactionary stance on other issues such as gay parenting and single mothers.  She declared in an Open Salon post on single mothers:
» Continue reading “Life Without Dad: A Study on Female Headed Households”

I just learned that my daughter’s kindergarten will be an all-day program, and I admit to being a little freaked out by that news. All day? She’ll only be 5! Is she ready to go to school all day at such a young age? Or, am I being an overprotective, helicopter parent who doesn’t want to let go? Well, there was an interesting post in Newsweek’s NurtureShock blog called “Should Children Redshirt Kindergarten? that made me feel much better. (It’s from last fall, but perhaps some of you didn’t see it.)

Here in the U.S., kids must be at least 5 years old to start kindergarten. But, some parents hold their child out of school another year until the child is 6 years old (”redshirting” them, for you non-sports folks). The reasoning is that the child is more mature, will have an easier time keeping up, and won’t be the runt of the class. According to the post, the number of parents who have withheld their child for a year has doubled since 1980.

The initial research to date seemed to back up the theory. It was concluded that children who started a year later ranked 4 to 8 percent higher than the youngest children in both 4th and 8th grades. However, two new studies now contradict this thinking.

» Continue reading “Waiting for Kindergarten”

Just found this amazing PSA for seatbelts via Parenting Beyond Belief.

Widescreen messes up our blog format, so please click the link and be prepared–very emotional message! Amazing writing and directing.

Wow, I got goosebumps reading the first post on Fearless Formula Feeder:

I live in a boob-eat-boob world. Otherwise known as the upper middle-class parenting circles of Los Angeles. Here, breast is not only best, it is the yardstick by which your parenting prowess is measured. And in this land of (breast)milk and honey, I stand alone. Not the only formula feeder (although definitely one a very small and shame-ridden few), but the only PROUD formula feeder.

Oh, yeah, this is gonna be good!

Google “formula feeding blogs” and what comes up? Other than a few posts from general parenting bloggers, there’s nothing. (And, great as some of them may be, they are usually just essays on the guilt involved with not nursing.) Not one blog specifically dedicated to the loving, concerned parent who is also a formula feeder.

So here I am, guys. Willing to take it for the team.

Who am I? I like to call myself a factivist. Kind of an anti-lactivist. (Again, to be clear, I am not anti-breastfeeding- I am just against making it into a political issue like the self-proclaimed lactivists do.) Someone who likes to look at the studies a bit more carefully, who likes to play devil’s advocate, and stand up for the underdog.

So let’s get this party started. Crack open that can of Similac or Earth’s Best or Target Brand formula,shake up that bottle, and join me in a toast: here’s to us, formula feeders. Here’s to taking back our choices, taking back our pride in ourselves as parents. It’s about damn time.

I could cry! This is a really fun blog.

Folks, I’m on month 22 of breast feeding. And living in that same upper middle class LA parenting circle, it kind of annoys me to get kudos for it. Sure, sure, I’m La Leche League’s poster child. It worked out for me. It’s great. I love it. But no, it’s not making my kid smarter. Please stop saying that! He just hates cow’s milk, and well, we’re still nursing.

I’m not a teacher, but I was really shocked by the recent problems in Rhode Island. A struggling high school there has fired every teacher, principal, assistant principal, and administrator because of poor student performance. In total 93 staffers lost their jobs.

» Continue reading “Failing Students: Who is to Blame?”

Three judges have found no link between thimerosal and autism. The article quotes a couple dismissive anti-vaccine movement folks, saying the usual stuff about how it’s all a big conspiracy. They’ll just never be convinced, apparently. Paul Offit says it best in this article:

Even with this decision, Dr. Offit said, “it’s very hard to unscare people after you’ve scared them.”

A friend from grad school is taking part in a study about how babies think, and she sent a link to this video.

It seems like an interesting study. And the video is full of adorable little babies. I tried embedding it but it looked kind of wonky on our blog format, so click the link and watch. It’s only four minutes long.

In one part of the study, babies see a blinking light and feel a puff of air, and something about the timing of their blinks tells researchers how the hippocampus is developing. Amazing.

A while back, Skepchick published an article from their early days. Risa Beckwith explained the pressures she faced as a woman who had decided not to have kids:

So here’s the reality: I am childfree. That means that I have no children…by choice.

Those of us who identify as childfree use this term instead of ‘childless’ – because ‘childless’ implies there is a lack of something in our lives. People without ferrets wouldn’t identify themselves as ‘ferretless.’

Childfree does not mean that I hate children. I like older children. I just don’t want any of my own. Very smart people look at me like I have two heads if I ever say that I don’t really like babies, so I rarely bring it up anymore. Saying that I don’t like cats but I don’t kill cats either also does not help.

She goes on to list the most common ignorant reactions by people who don’t believe her when she says she isn’t interested in reproducing:

1. “You’ll change your mind.” I am nearly 35 years old. I’m pretty sure that 1) I know my own mind at this point, and 2) Don’t you think that if I wanted children, it would have happened by now? Other CFers prefer to say: “When did you know you wanted children? You’ll change your mind.”

I’m running into similar assumptions–and a similar entitlement people seem to feel about announcing their expert opinions on my personal life–with regard to the expectation that since I’ve recently produced one child, another one must be on the way soon.

See, it’s not enough to pop just one out. Everybody wants to know, when am I having the next one? » Continue reading “Only Children”

Breast milk is getting a lot of attention these days.

First, Daniel Angerer, a chef in New York City, made cheese from his wife’s breast milk. He and his wife had a surplus of milk on hand for their child, and he decided to experiment with it. I personally wouldn’t rush to eat it, but that’s no shocker–I won’t even eat cauliflower. (The NYC Health Dept. has made sure the breast milk cheese isn’t actually on his restaurant’s menu.)

However, I don’t know if breast milk cheese deserves the full-on media “gross out” reports that have been circulating the past few days. It’s been talked about almost everywhere, and the Today Show even tricked someone into eating a bite. (Watch his reaction when he finds out what it is.) Making the cow comparison, the NY Post ran a photo on the front page of the mother with the headline “Moo!”. How old are we? While the breast milk cheese may be a bit off the beaten path and not to everyone’s liking, it’s only breast milk, folks. I’m no hippie, but who cares what these people do with it behind closed doors? Well, here’s what Chef Angerer had to say:

» Continue reading “Breast Milk in the News”