Fathers may not want to hear that their testosterone levels are dropping, but new research bears that out, finding that the male hormone plummets in men after they have children — most dramatically in dads who really involve …
Parenting
Key to a Well-Adjusted Child: Tailored Parenting?
Parenting advice is often black or white: Be firm and unwavering. Be loving and supportive. But new research shows that a one-size-fits-all approach may not be the best way to handle things. Rather than consistency, a parent’s …
Kids Who Use Facebook Do Worse in School
That Facebook is hugely distracting is hardly stop-the-presses kind of news, but parents might be dismayed to learn that the social-media site can hobble learning and make kids less healthy and more depressed.
Study: Why Maternity Leave Is Important
Are working moms somehow lacking as parents compared to stay-at-home mothers? According to a new demographic analysis from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), the answer is a reassuring no. The study found that …
Secondhand Smoke Associated with Hearing Loss in Teens
It’s not news that second-hand smoke can be dangerous—even deadly. Now add one more price nonsmokers pay for living around people who light up: According to a new study from New York University’s Langone Medical Center, teens …
The Healthland Podcast: Superobese Kids, Parents on Facebook and Betty Ford’s Mixed Legacy
This week on the podcast, Healthland editor Sora Song asks whether child obesity is child abuse. TIME editor-at-large Belinda Luscombe reports that adults are less savvy on Facebook than teens. And TIME senior writer John Cloud …
Spock at 65: Five Ideas That Changed American Parenting
Sixty-five years ago today, one of the most revolutionary books in American history was published. True, Dr. Benjamin Spock’s Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care probably didn’t look like much when it first came out in 1946 — just in time for the baby boom. But with his conversational tone and his concise, practical tips on …
Introducing the Healthland Podcast
Welcome to the inaugural edition of the Healthland Podcast! Click this little arrow for a lively, off-the-cuff discussion of the week’s health/science news.
The Schwarzenegger Kids: Coping with Parental Betrayal in the Public Eye
Now that Arnold Schwarzenegger has officially confirmed he’s not much for monogamy, it’s hard to know who’s got the rawer end of the deal: his four children with Maria Shriver or the young boy conceived with the family housekeeper.
Insecure Toddlers are More Likely to Become Obese
By any measure, mother-child bonding is an ideal worth striving for, but new research underscores its importance, finding that toddlers who aren’t securely attached may have a greater risk of being obese before they even start …
In Defense of Motherhood: Why We Keep Having Kids When They’re So Clearly Bad for Us
Here at Healthland, we devote a considerable amount of virtual ink to reporting on research that disses parenthood. I’ve written several stories in this vein, and I find them both wryly amusing and often uncomfortably accurate. But at least in my experience parenting three young kids, they’re not the whole truth.
A Celebration of Death: Parents Parse the bin Laden Fall-Out
A complex mix of revenge and satisfaction at vanquishing evil has combined to make this country a very happy place this week. Generally, it’s bad form to gloat over another’s misfortune, but parents are relearning social …
The Sad State of American Kids’ Food Environments
Nearly half of all American children and teens are overweight or obese, according to government statistics, and a large part of the problem may be lack of access to healthy foods in kids’ environments.