Of course, every parent-in-waiting hopes for a healthy baby, but most — whether they admit it or not — have a preference for one sex over the other. But to what extremes would you go to make it happen?
Parenting
Chinese vs Western Mothers: Q&A with Amy Chua
“A lot of people wonder how Chinese parents raise such stereotypically successful kids. They wonder what these parents do to produce so many math whizzes and music prodigies,” writes Amy Chua in her provocative new book Battle …
Giffords Shooting: To Kids, It’s As Simple As “Use Your Words”
I happened to be sitting down and eating breakfast with my two older children a few minutes before 8 a.m., Pacific time, on Monday morning. Scanning the front page of The Seattle Times, I saw that President Obama had called for …
Reading to Newborns in the NICU Boosts Bonding
In the unhappy event your newborn needs to log time in the neonatal intensive care unit, you might want to bring a book — for you, of course, to help pass the time, but even more importantly for baby.
The Daddy Bonus: Which Fathers Get Paid More at Work?
One of the more intriguing explanations for the pesky and persistent gender gap in wages is that becoming a mother tends to depress a woman’s ability to earn, while becoming a father has the opposite effect, especially among …
Radiation and Kids: X-Rays, CT Scans Are Increasingly Part of Childhood
Some parents are worried about the radiation their children might receive from the new full-body scanners at airports, but they might be better off zeroing in on a more systemic threat — radiation scans conducted for medical reasons.
WhiteOut: Even Babies Can Embrace the Whole-Grains Movement
When it comes to nutrition, the emphasis nowadays is on whole grain this and whole grain that.
Ethics, Shmethics. Teaching Kids Right from Wrong Isn’t Easy
As parents, we are tasked with teaching our children the difference between wrong and right. It’s easy when they’re very young, and most of their moral encounters are black or white: We don’t hit people. We don’t make fun …
Pumping Sucks. New Breast Pump Aims to Make Expressing Milk Comfy
No doubt, using a breast pump to express breast milk doesn’t rank very highly on any woman’s list of Fun Things To Do.
Not All Babies Have Cribs; Help Those Without Get One
Searching for the perfect last-minute gift or a worthy effort deserving of some end-of-year giving? The New York City Health Department is trying to raise $25,000 to purchase 250 cribs for babies who don’t have them.
In Rural Areas, There May Be No Doctors to Tend to Your Sick Kid
Nearly 1 million American children living mostly in rural areas have no doctor to call if they get a get a sore throat or an ear infection. Meanwhile, some metropolitan areas are crawling with family physicians and pediatricians …
Study: Breast-Feeding Improves Academic Performance, Especially for Boys
Evidence for the long-term benefits of breast-feeding — well beyond infancy — continue to grow.
Should You Pull Your Kid Out of School for Vacation?
I just returned from a little family trip out West. It felt like a real vacation: deep snow, my kids’ grandparents, a touch of air travel mayhem (canceled flight, two-day delay getting home, nihilists at the ticket counter).