From April 2011

A New Look at Nobody’s Perfect

(From Healthy Families)

Does participating in parenting programs improve parent and child outcomes? That’s the question that researchers from Trent University in Ontario recently set out to answer. A Reappraisal of the Nobody’s Perfect Program was published online in the Journal of Child and Family Studies in February 2011. It is a follow up to a 2007 evaluation of the popular Canadian parenting program involving 71 participants in Peterborough, Ontario.

That evaluation concluded that participants in Nobody’s Perfect showed significant improvements in parenting confidence and satisfaction, knowledge of community resources, and in parenting resourcefulness. Mothers with higher general learned resourcefulness scores are more likely to have children who are more resourceful.

The researchers conclude that Nobody’s Perfect’s emphasis on strengthening parent resourcefulness can positively affect long-term child outcomes: “Based on this evidence, we theorize that in a longitudinal study, increased general and parental resourcefulness would be directly related to improved youth outcomes in the domains of school achievement, and reduced likelihood of teen pregnancy, substance abuse and juvenile delinquency/criminal activity. This is an important and outstanding initiative for future research.”

Children’s Right to Play

(From BC Early Years Community Developers)

Children’s Right to Play: An examination of the importance of play in the lives of children worldwide
Bernard van Leer Foundation

This working paper discusses  why play is fundamental to the health and well-being of children and argues that both state signatories to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Article 31 of which enshrines the right to play) and adults generally should take seriously the importance of providing suitable conditions for children to play. In the words of Gordon Burghardt, quoted in the working paper, “The problem of defining play and its role is one of the greatest challenges facing neuroscience, behavioural biology, psychology, education and the social sciences…”  Download the report here.

My Mom / My Role Model

(From Healthy Families)

Just in time for Mother’s Day, a new study from Dove gives moms across the country something to feel good about: a majority of Canadian girls identify their mothers as their biggest female role model. Six in 10 girls between the ages of 10 and 17 named their mothers when asked who their role model is. And a previous Dove survey found moms were three times more influential than media at shaping the way girls feel about themselves and about what it means to be beautiful. dove_white_paper_final.

These findings, part of research conducted by Dove of women aged 10-64 as part of their Campaign for Real Beauty, are the positive elements in a study filled with unsettling, yet mostly unsurprising statistics. The survey of 1200 girls in six countries found that “a girl’s inner beauty critic moves in by the time she is 14 years old and continues to erode her self-esteem as she ages”. In fact, 47% of the Canadian girls surveyed between the ages of 10 and 17 reported having avoided activities like going to the beach, participating in physical activities, going to school, or giving an opinion because they feel badly about the way they look.

The research suggests, however, that positive role models can help young girls cope with beauty pressures: while 67% of girls without a role model say they have avoided certain social activities because they feel badly about the way they look, only 57% of girls who have a role model say this. 

Sharon MacLeod, director of Dove Canada, was quoted as commenting, “It can put pressure on moms, but it can also be quite relieving. I think moms sometimes feel like they don’t have as much power as they do.”

Young Children in Cities: Challenges and Opportunities

(From CRRU). 

http://www.bernardvanleer.org/Young-children-in-cities-Challenges-and-opportunities?pubnr=1271&download=1

“This edition of Early Childhood Matters looks at young children’s experiences of growing up in urban settings. A quarter of the world’s children live in poor urban settlements – a fact which presents opportunities to deliver accessible services cost-effectively, but also poses many challenges. The challenges explored in these articles include violence in Venezuela and Mexico, fear of “stranger danger” in Australia, domestic violence and space to play in Rotterdam, involving communities in Peru and Brazil, social structures of the European Roma, and emergency response in Nairobi. The articles feed into an understanding of one of the Bernard van Leer Foundation’s programming goals, to improve young children’s physical environments – in this case, the various root characteristics of urban environments that impact the physical and mental development of young children throughout their lives.”