Episode 102 – news
Article
1 – Postpartum depression affects fathers (UPI)
The
researchers, working with colleagues from the
The study,
published in the Lancet, also found baby boys whose fathers were depressed had
twice as many behavioral and emotional problems in their pre-school years, the
BBC reported.
"We
already know that postnatal depression in mothers can affect the quality of
maternal care, and is associated with disturbances in children's later social,
behavioral, psychological and physical development," said Oxford
psychiatrist Dr. Paul Ramchandani.
"While
a significant number of men do report depression following the birth of a
child," he said, "until now the influence of depression in fathers
during the early years of a child's life has received scant attention."
Article
2 – Study: Staff separate moms, newborns (UPI)
The survey
conducted in
The World
Health Organization and UNICEF are promoting allowing mothers and newborns to
remain in the same room, partly because doctors believe it promotes
breast-feeding.
But
officials say that in the
"Negative
staff attitudes towards night rooming-in might implicitly suggest to mothers
that closeness between mothers and babies is not important," said Kristin
Svensson, a principal investigator on the
The study,
which was funded by the Swedish government, was reported in the journal
"Birth."
Article
3 –
The project
will focus on not just so-called edutainment titles that are traditionally used
in schools, but also on commercial games that students are used to playing at
home, the BBC reported.
The
yearlong, $550,000 project is being backed by games giant Electronic Arts and
lottery-funded education organization Futurelab.
"Computer
games engage the brain like no other media," said Claus Due, market
development manager for Electronic Arts. "We believe that children can and
already do learn a lot through them."
Likely
candidates for classroom use include games which relate to historical events,
such as "Civilization" or the "Age of Empires" series, or
those which model real life in some way like "The Sims."
Article
4 - Video games boost student performance
By
CATHERINE SHAROKY
The vehicle
for the improvements is a pilot program sponsored by the music-video game
company RedOctane in
The
five-month trial at Vern Patrick Elementary School is allotting time each day
for third- and fourth-grade students to play "In The Groove," a
Playstation 2 music-video game that involves stepping on a floor mat attached
to a game console and following patterns of arrows shown on a TV screen. The
arrows direct players to step in a certain direction and, as the arrows change
position faster, the players must remember the patterns and begin to dance.
"Any
time there wasn't group instruction going on and children were at their desks,
just as they would go to a computer and work on an assignment they would go to
the dance mats and work," Judy Shasek, an educational consultant for
RedOctane who heads the Vern Patrick program, told United Press International.
Based on
the results so far, both fitness and academics have improved. Fourth-grade
students playing the game can run 1 mile about 13 percent faster, and teachers
report 94 percent of the students have demonstrated an increase in leadership
skills and confidence.
"Balance
practice and self confidence -- those are two very strong indicators for
academic success," Shasek said.
The program
also has focused on students with behavioral issues, designating certain
students as mentors and putting them in charge of regulating the game. Teachers
report 85 percent of these students have improved their social skills.
Catherine
Sharoky is an intern for UPI Science News. E-mail: sciencemail@upi.com
Article
5: Families are playing video games together
DULLES,
The survey
shows almost 80 percent of gamers have played with their family.
"According
to the AOL games survey, almost half the respondents ages 12 to 55 have played
video games on their computer, console, cell phone or PDA," said Ralph
Rivera, vice president and general manager of AOL Games. "The stereotype
of a gamer is that of a young nerdy guy isolated in his parents' basement and
our survey shows that that's clearly off the mark -- games are popular with men
and women of all ages and it's nice to see that so many families are actually
playing games together."
Rivera said
families playing video games together remind him of earlier times, with
families playing board games such as Scrabble or Monopoly.
Article
6: Study: Headphone levels too dangerous
Sky News
reports a study at the National Acoustic Laboratories in
Lab
director Professor Harvey Dillon said listening at that level, 85 decibels or
more, will create severe hearing impairment down the road.
He
recommended people lessen the amount of time they are listening at that volume
or turn the volume down.
Article
7 – follow-up:
The video
game industry and
The gaming
industry has won similar challenges across the
"We
believe that we are on the right firm footing from the standpoint of doing
what's right for parents, doing what's right for families," he said in
signing the law.
However,
David Vite of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association said the state is just
wasting money to a defend a law "courts are almost certain to strike
down."
Under the
law, clerks would be fined $1,000 for selling or renting violent or sexually
explicit video games to anyone under age 18. Retailers would have to decide
which games are taboo and put stickers on them.
SURVEY:
Fathers:
Are you an Effective Role Model for Your Children?
By Thomas Haller and Chick Moorman
Fathers,
what if your life IS the message? What if how you choose to live your life is
the central learning that your children have come to earth to discover? What if
the lessons you design, the tips you impart, the learning experiences you
arrange, the lectures you deliver, the advice you share, the words of wisdom
you speak to your children do not have as much impact on them as the way you
live?
Are you
modeling the message you want your sons and daughters to learn? Take this quiz
below and find out. Read each item and answer yes of no. See the scale at the
end to determine your male role-modeling quotient.
1. _____ I
share my feelings with "I" messages.
2. _____ My
children see me eat healthy and nutritious foods.
3. _____ I
exercise regularly in view of my children.
4. _____ I
don't put tobacco, drugs, or alcohol in my system.
5. _____
When I'm stuck and not sure what to do next, my children hear me ask for help.
6. _____
When faced with a crisis, my behavior shows that I am more interested in a
search for solutions than in handing out blame and punishment.
7. _____
When I'm feeling hurt or angry I communicate that with an "I"
statement and refrain from sulking, pouting, and yelling.
8. _____ I
regularly show affection to my partner in my child's presence.
9. _____ I
demonstrate my caring by regularly engaging in activities with my children that
they enjoy.
10. _____ I
model for my children how to grieve a loss by showing sadness and tears
appropriately.
11. _____ I
am comfortable in assuming the role of learner on occasion and allowing my
child to take the lead.
12. _____ I
attempt to create a shared control style of family management by regularly
garnering input from all family members.
13. _____ I
model closeness and affection by giving my child regular hugs, smiles, and eye
contact.
14. _____ I
show by my behavior that being with the family is more important than doing for
the family.
15. _____ I
have a support group or close friends who my children see frequently.
16. _____
My spiritual faith is visible and I actively engage in it in front of my
children.
17. _____ I
regularly demonstrate my respect for the environment by refusing to litter,
spoil, or waste natural resources.
18. _____
My children know what I value and believe and consistently see me living
according to those beliefs and values.
19. _____
My children see me treat living things, including plants and animals, with
respect and reverence.
20. _____ I
admit to mistakes and my children see me make amends quickly.
Count the
number of times you answered "yes" and compare it to the scale below.
{element_2}
So? How’d
ya do? Here’s the score wrap-up…
20-19 yes -
FANTASTIC - You are regularly demonstrating and modeling what your children
need to see from a father. Give yourself a pat on the back.
18-16 yes -
VERY GOOD - Your children will benefit from you modeling a majority of these
values. Congratulations.
15-13 yes -
ADEQUATE - You are showing your children many positive traits, yet you have
some work to do. Why not pick out one of the items above and begin
demonstrating it today?
12 and
below - NEEDS IMPROVEMENT - Although you demonstrate some admirable male
role-modeling behaviors, you have a lot of work to do. Begin today by adding to
your repertoire of healthy modeling behaviors. Your children and their father
are worth it.
EXTRA
CREDIT BONUS QUESTION: If you approached each item seriously and answered them
honestly give yourself 2 bonus points. Now refigure your score.
Thomas
Haller and Chick Moorman are the authors of The 10 Commitments: Parenting with
Purpose. They also publish a FREE email newsletter for parents and another for
educators. Subscribe to them when you visit, www.thomashaller.com or www.chickmoorman.com. Thomas Haller and
Chick Moorman are two of the world's foremost authorities on raising
responsible, caring confident children. For more information about how they can
help you or your group meet your parenting needs, visit their websites today.
Show
Outline
Intro:
Banter: Apologies for audio quality
Long day, tour guides
Solvang: “chick town”,
knife shop only ‘guy shop’
Wife bought geek gift –
“swiss memory knife”
Hot today {weather}
Gotta make this gig pay
somehow, schwag? “Baby needs a new
para-metric equalizer
I also got a nod from
the ‘podfather’, which is very cool.
{cue DSC clip}
I about drove off the
highway when I heard that
{news theme}
News articles – dry read – finish
with “that’s it for wipes news”
{sample_17}
commentary: Since fathers can also
experience post-partum depression) I think they need another name; the baby
didn’t ‘partum’ from us!) Moms need to go a little easy on us when we’re
playing our video games, especially since they have been proven to improve test
scores, physical fitness and all that!
We’re educating our kids and we didn’t even know it!
We knew that
{drop_1}
I’d like to
welcome a new partner to the podcast.
Debbie Glasser, Ph.D. produces newsforparents.org, which has an amazing
amount of news and information for parents and parents-to-be. She has graciously allowed me to pour through
her site and bring you some of the best parenting news on the web today. The amount of new content is staggering, and
I found myself pouring through the articles and cruising the site for
hours. It’s a fabulous site, and that
said, let me give you a sample. Here’s a
survey I found there by Thomas Haller and Chick Moorman. They’re the authors of The 10 Commitments:
Parenting with Purpose. So, get your
pencils and paper ready, ‘cause here we go – 20 questions…
{element_3}
{Cagey
House theme}
Survey –
read and score
{drop 2}
{toontown
commercial}
Fobis
weemote plug
{drop_2}
Podsafe
music – Adrina Thorpe, from podsafemusicnetwork.com (you’ll find this show
there, too!} her song “she’s more than
seventeen”
{cue song}
outro from
song – that was adrina Thorpe, podsafe, “more than seventeen”.
Use#16 – sunburn
remedy
We spent too much
time in the pool at the gym yesterday. And since I'm a natural redhead, I have
absolutely no genetic code in me to allow for a suntan. I'm basically a
walking, breathing skin cancer laboratory. I can edit my own HTML, XML, RSS and
PHP, but not my own DNA. Is there an 'Idiots Guide' available for that topic
yet?
My son, however, much to my surprise, did not inherit this genetic trait and
can absorb far more rads than dear old dad. He gets a nice even brown tone,
while in the same sun for the same period of time, I look like a warning label.
We forgot sunscreen, naturally, and the indoor pool was closed for remodeling,
so I spent half an hour in the full sun, scorched my body from the shoulders
up, and now I'm paying the price; pain and discomfort for my carelessness. Its
my own fault. And it has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with global warming!
But, since this site is about uses for those baby wipes left over from
days-o-diapers, here's a tip: the wipes really do soothe the burn quite a bit.
Just don't use them too often, since over-use can dry out your skin when it
really needs the oils to heal. I used wipes in combination with this magic blue
aloe-zylocain-goo for sunburn when I got home. Today, most of the pain is gone
and the red is more like a pale pink. Tomorrow I'll be pasty-white again, ready
for another megadose of radiation.
{drop_2}
Here’s
another podsafe song, just to kinda mellow out the mood. Its by “Syd”, S-Y-D, from garageband.com
(we’re there to, by the way) – title is “back home”, creative commons licensed,
podsafe, by Syd,
{TVnewstheme.mp3}
And now,
for our investment segment (which I completely screwed up and that’s why this
weeks show is so late…
Matthew
Brown, my investment guru, has some very creative theories on why the economy
works the way it does. Now, before you
discredit this guy as a wacko, let me tell you that he has predicted market
movements almost to the day since I started taking his advice about 2 years ago
(I didn’t actually use my MONEY until last January, ‘cause I thought he was
wacko). Anyway, here’s his theory about
the economic engine that is the teenage girl.
{matthew
interview}
So sorry
about the sound quality there. Hopefully
you head Matthew’s explanation of how teenage girls are the market force to be
reckoned with.
{cue
Suzanne Smith – Someone like you} from garageband.com
{drop_1}
{cue rich
hall}
I hope you
enjoyed the podcast…all 53 of you…If I knew where you all lived I’d send
thank-you cards for subscribing. Please
send comments, suggestions, topics you’d like to hear on the wipes show to submit@101usesforbabywipes.com.
Thanks,
Kevin for your suggestion. OK everybody,
Kevin did it, you can do.
That’s it,
we’re all wiped out…see you next time.
Stay subscribed everybody.