A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
Alarming facts: In the US children watch an average of 3 hours (and up to 8 hours) of TV per day Many school children spend as much time in front of the TV as they do in class. Children under 3 spend up to 30% of their waking hours watching TV and videos, even though [...]
The Australian Childhood Foundation is presenting a series of seminars on Polyvagal theory, oxytocin and the neurobiology of love and attachment: Using the body’s social engagement system to promote recovery from experiences of threat, stress and trauma. WHEN AND WHERE SYDNEY: Sydney Convention Centre, Darling Harbour. 18 & 19 October 2011 BRISBANE: Mercure Hotel Brisbane. [...]
A recent study, The Immediate Impact of Different Types of Television on Young Children's Executive Function, took 60 four year old children and randomly assigned them to watch either the fast paced and hectic cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants or the slower-paced PBS cartoon Caillou or to draw pictures. Experts have long felt that exposing children to [...]
Fathers play an important role in the lives of their daughters. Although many fathers might feel a bit intimidated by the idea of spending quality parenting time with their daughters (after all what have they got in common with them when sport is not on the agenda?). However research has shown that the protection, guidance, [...]
FASD can cause ADHD, autism and other neurological conditions. This year World FASD Day is on September 9th and important to raise awareness of FASD because many studies have linked alcohol consumption by pregnant women with several developmental problems in babies. Foetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs), which include foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), alcohol-related birth defects [...]
It seems that everyone, young and old, is innately programmed for sociability, attachment, affection and companionship rather than for aggression, violence and self-interest. These emotions are naturally within us all and not just feelings that we learn through the society and culture in which we live. This is the ‘natural way of things’ according to [...]
A recent study, Media use and Child Sleep: The Impact of Content, Timing, and Environment, has found that young children who engage with media by watching TV, using computers or playing video games after 7pm are more likely to have sleep issues such as repeated night waking, nightmares and daytime tiredness. It was also noted [...]
Despite the increased pressure from many sectors of the community, clothing retailers have continued to stock and sell clothing that depict women in a sexualized way. The images are often pornographic with blatantly sexual slogans. Collective Shout supporter Caitlin Roper has created the Facebook page Say No to Porn t-shirts and together they have written [...]
Fulltime workers who used a traditional ‘silent’ form of meditation became much less stressed and depressed compared to more conventional approaches to relaxation or even placebo, according to a paper published today in the online journal Evidence Based Complementary Medicine, a leading publication in its field. A team of researchers, led by Dr Ramesh Manocha [...]
It seems that breast feeding your child helps to prevent emotional and behavioural problems as they develop and enter the school system. This is the finding of a new report. The recently published UK report, Breast feeding and child behaviour in the Millennium, took data from a large cohort to examine the association between the duration [...]
