What do you know about . . .
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. . . child development? According to a report presented yesterday (May 4) at the Pediatric Academic Societies' meeting in Honolulu, one-third of parents of babies have a surprisingly low knowledge of child development, including basic concepts about what their children should know or how they should act.
Dr. Heather Paradis and colleagues at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York analyzed parenting know-how based on a national sample of parents representing more than 10,000 9-month-old babies. These parents completed an 11-question survey designed to see which parents were well prepared and which were not. The survey asked questions like, "Should a 1-year-old child be able to tell between right from wrong?" and "Should a 1-year-old child be ready to begin toilet-training?"* Parents who got four or fewer correct answers were considered to have low parenting knowledge.
The story has been posted around the Internet today. Dr. Paradis also conducted on interview with Forbes on Five Things Parents Need to Know. There are numerous sites that provide great resources on child development regardless of the age of your children it is important to be aware of general developmental stages as well as the unique characteristics of your child.
For young children I particular like the Talaris Institute’s Timeline.
The Tufts University Child & Family Web Guide is a great source for discerning what’s best on the web in regards to family issues.
Not to downplay the importance knowing child development, John McPherson’s cartoon makes me wonder . . . as a parent, what did you learn that you wished you knew before you needed to know it? If you can decipher that sentence post a response!
*The correct answer to both is no.
What I noticed was that most either swelled with pride when they learned that their child had hit a milestone earlier than ours, or their face immediately drooped in defeat when they learned that our child had learned to sit up a week before theirs did. These conversations always made me uncomfortable and I tried to avoid comparing our children at all costs. I always viewed the milestones as merely a tool to help parents gauge if their child was developing in a healthy manner so they could address any issues of developmental delay promptly. I guess our society is just programmed for competition.
My favorite milestone (that is not included in any of developmental tools) that my 2 ¾ yr old daughter recently hit – the ability to tell a joke. Her first was “Why did the chicken cross the road?” A good sense of humor can go a long way…