Study suggests higher levels of antisocial behaviour in children of mothers with depression

This study sits rather uneasily with me, though it’s worth bearing in mind that I only had access to a few brief paragraphs, rather than the entire paper.

However, for what it’s worth, researchers at King’s College, London, studied 1,116 sets of twins, finding much higher levels of antisocial behaviour in 7-year-olds whose mothers had suffered depression during the child’s first five years of life.

The greatest risk of “problem behaviours” were in children of mothers who also exhibited signs of antisocial personality disorder.

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Top 10 health topics parents wish their doctor would discuss with kids

A recent study has discovered the most important topics that parents would like their doctor to talk to their teenage children about during routine check-ups.

While there were differences between different ethnic groups and genders, these were the top ten most popular subjects overall:

1. Diet/nutrition
2. Exercise/sports
3. Physical changes of puberty
4. Drug use
5. Tobacco use
6. Sexually transmitted disease
7. Depression/suicide
8. Obesity
9. Drinking
10. Eating disorders

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Celeb Watch: Christina Aguilera, Nicole Richie, Cheryl and Ashley Cole

Christina Aguilera and Nicole Richie are both enticing a number of high-profile publications who want the right to print the first photos of their babies. Marie Claire reports:

A bidding war has erupted between OK! and People magazine for the first pictures of Christina’s son Max Liron, and the asking price has already reached $1.5 million.

Nicole Richie and Joel Madden have already signed a deal with People magazine, where they will get $1 million for the photo debut of daughter Harlow Winter Kate.

I wonder at the lives of the rich and famous, yet the bidding war is only active because the magazines know that large sections of the general public want to see the photos. No doubt they’ll be leaked onto the Internet anyway. So much for the privacy of kids with famous parents.

Meanwhile, Cheryl Cole is being urged by her family and friends to leave husband Ashley, after claims from at least two women that he had affairs with them:

The latest claim comes from glamour model, Brook Healy, who is alleged to have been approached by Cole in December 2006 at London’s Funky Buddha club - just five months after the Coles’ marriage - and later slept with the footballer.

The Girls Aloud star [Cheryl] stated: “I was furious… but I’m determined to be strong. Ashley’s a wonderful husband and we’re in love. I won’t let this woman destroy our marriage.”

WellChild Helpline launched: UK’s only national children’s health advice line

The children’s charity WellChild today announced the launch of the WellChild Helpline, designed to offer comprehensive help and advice to anyone concerned about the health and well-being of children.

Staffed by a team of trained healthcare professionals from a variety of disciplines, callers will either have questions answered, or efficiently passed to the most appropriate organisation.

BBC1’s Breakfast programme’s GP, Dr Rosemary Leonard, endorsed the WellChild Helpline, saying, “WellChild’s new service is extremely welcome as accessing the right information can seem daunting and not having access to concerns about health can cause a lot of anxiety. By having this multi-disciplinary team of experts at the end of a phone-line or email, WellChild will be putting people in touch with the right health information which could ultimately lead to saved lives as well as an enormous improvement in the quality of many more.”

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Citinannies.net Helps to Filter Frauds and Scams for Families Seeking Care

Household employment is increasing for families who continually strive for a manageable balance between life and work. For many people, the solution to managing the pressures and the obligations is to hire household staff to work in the home. Most domestic placement agency services can run into the hundreds, or even thousands of dollars, ranging from $700 to $4,000 per placement. What happens when a family is not happy with the placement agency’s selection of nannies? Generally, there is very little recourse. Would it be very difficult for a family to search for household help without using an agency? How would a family weed out frauds and scams? Are the tools of the trade available and easily accessible?

Citinannies.net was created to connect families and top quality caregivers nationwide. Whether a family needs a nanny for their children, a personal assistant or even a butler to bring cocktails poolside, Citinannies.net can help. Citinannies.net is the first online domestic placement service to utilize an advanced identity authentication process without entering a credit card number or requesting intrusive information such as the registrant’s full social security number. The patent pending privacy tool prescreens all caregivers and families to help filter out the frauds and scrams that put loved ones at risk.

Families simply register, post the specific domestic requirements and qualifications, and pass the Citinannies.net authentication process. Once the authentication process has been completed, the pool of quality caregivers are available with a click of the mouse. New caregivers are added daily, so the selection is never stale. In addition, Citinannies.net has trusted partners that offer services including criminal background checks, online continuing education courses and easy ways to pay caregivers without hiring an accountant. After all, finding household help that is tailored to a family’s lifestyle can be overwhelming.

As President of CitiNannies LLC, Jennifer Nguyen states, “I wanted to make the search for care easier for families, and at the same time, filter out fraudulent registrants, identity thieves, and fraud schemes that become rampant on the internet. We are taking one step further to assure families are more comfortable using the internet to find exceptional help for their loved ones.” Being a single mother, Jennifer realizes the importance of finding top quality caregivers. Hiring and entrusting caregivers can improve the quality of life immensely, without sacrificing the commitments. Recall the last time an emergency situation arose and a reliable sitter was not available? Think citinannies.net. Do it right. This is the most important hiring decision a family could ever make.

For caregivers seeking employment opportunities, the registration process is free. Simply agree to be bound by Citinannies’ professional code of ethics, register and post a profile. In addition, passing the Citinannies.net identity authentication process is also a prerequisite for all caregivers. Imagine, no more agency fees or commissions taken out of the paycheck. No more answering blind newspaper ads or attending embarrassing career fairs. Imagine an easier way to connect with potential families who are serious about searching for care and willing to pay top dollar for exceptional care?

For information: CitiNannies.net

Celeb Watch: Gwyneth Paltrow, Eddie Murphy, Britney Spears

Marie Claire speculates that Gwneth Paltrow may be pregnant:

The New York Daily News is reporting that Paltrow was taken to the hospital by husband Chris Martin because she is pregnant with her third child. A source revealed to the paper that Paltrow spent time in the maternity wing of the hospital, and added, “They looked very serious. She looked upset. They went right past everyone and into the elevator. It seemed like they were expected.”

Eddie Murphy has split from his wife, Tracey Edmonds, after just two weeks of marriage, reports Marie Claire:

The reason for the break-up? According to sources in America, the honeymoon was “marred by screaming matches and arguments all week”.

In fact, even on the wedding day there were warning signs that all was not right. “Eddie started yelling at Tracey in front of people,” one guests told People magazine. “He did it on a few occasions and it was very embarrassing.”

Troubled star Britney Spears is also rumoured to be pregnant, as she was allegedly seen buying a home pregnancy test:

…the singer and her new boyfriend, 35-year-old paparazzo Adnan Ghalib, were photographed in a drug store in LA shopping for home pregnancy tests.

However, given the photographs were released by Ghalib’s own picture agency, some are already crying foul and believe the snaps might just be a juicy little earner for the couple and a crafty joke at the media’s expense.

Or at Britney’s expense. Hasn’t she been through enough recently?

3 in 5 parents couldn’t save their child’s life, survey finds

A survey of 2,500 mothers by UK supermarket Tesco suggests that 60% of new parents wouldn’t know what to do in an emergency where their child’s life was in danger.

Less than 10% of new parents have had child first aid training in the past 12 months, and 24% said that they badly needed a refresher course.

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Over three-quarters of mums struggling to balance work-life balance over Christmas

Yet more research which shows that British mums are struggling to achieve everything that they need to at work and home this Christmastime. 78% said they were feeling the strain.

The Citrix-sponsored survey found that the biggest thing mums believe would help them the most was flexible working options, such as negotiable working hours (39%), or home working (40%).

On an encouraging note, the survey suggests that employers are being sympathetic to the needs of working mums, with three out of four requests to work part time and work more flexible hours being granted. In addition, almost half of employers (48%) have accommodated requests from working mums to work from home.

Denise Tyler, editor of Mother@Work, a monthly webzine dedicated to working mothers, said, “Flexible working options can go a long way to helping mums cope with the stress of balancing work and home life. Parents with children under six have a legal right to request flexible work and it is extremely encouraging to see that so many requests for part time, flexi hours and home working are being accommodated by employers.””

Modern working practices strain family relationships, particularly women’s

A new piece of research has discovered something that many busy mums and dads are already all too well aware of.

Modern “human resource management practices” — or in other words, how employees are expected to work, what monitoring systems are in place, and how they perceive their jobs — are placing a significant strain on family relationships. And it’s particularly bad for women.

The strain on relationships has been measured as equivalent to working an extra 120 hours a year. That’s over two hours extra per week.

Employers are finding new ways of attempting to increase productivity, such as team-based forms of work, performance-related pay, individual development, and automated surveillance of how much employees work.

Strain is particularly high in more administrative roles, where monitoring is the standard, such as in call centres.

Both men and women may become anxious about childcare arrangements when they’re under pressure at work, but women are less likely to get help at home from a male partner if the men are under work pressure.

“Computers and IT systems are bringing surveillance to most workplaces. Now for the first time we can see how this development is damaging employees’ well-being,” said Michael White, who co-directed the research study.

(Via NewKerala.Com)

Unique family-oriented broadband service offers peace of mind to schools and parents

A new broadband provider is about to hit the market with a product that will revolutionise online child safety.

Spidermail offers a trailblazing new service that surpasses parental control systems, which are vulnerable to unscrupulous websites and easily bypassed by increasingly tech-savvy children.

Where this innovative new service differs is that the state-of-the-art filters are built into the internet service and are centrally administered by Spidermail’s experts who constantly update the system 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Each family member is issued with a username and password upon signing up to Spidermail Broadband which they will use to access the internet.

This ensures your children will only have access to material that is appropriate for their age group.

But the service doesn’t restrict all your children to the same level and a 16-year-old will have greater freedom to explore than a 12-year-old.

It’’s not only safe, but fast too, with 8Mbps and unlimited content for £24.99 a month, including a free laptop with the 24 month contract.

Shahrokh Nikkhah, Chairman and CEO of Spidermail, said, “It is not easy for parents and teachers to ensure their children are unable to see inappropriate content online.

““But at the same time they want them to be able to take advantage of the incredible educational and entertainment options the internet provides.

““Spidermail offers a unique service that protects children at the very front line of the internet while allowing them to explore and grow online.

““We have had great feedback so far - everyone who uses us loves us.””

The company has already rolled their service out in schools across the West Midlands and Leicestershire and is set to add more throughout the region.

Spidermail

4 in 10 parents failed to recognise signs of obesity in their children

A new poll from the University of Michigan’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital found that four out of ten parents with clinically obese children (aged 6-11) said that their kids were “about the right weight”, only rarely being “very concerned” about their child’s weight.

This national study on children’s health found that among the parents of the 6-11 year old obese children, 13% rate their child as being “very overweight”, but only 7% say they are “very concerned” about their child’s weight.

Parents of older obese children (ages 12 to 17) seem to have somewhat greater awareness and concern about their kids’ weight issues, with 31% of these parents say their child is “very overweight” and 46% report being “very concerned” about their child’s weight.

National studies have shown that 35% of U.S. children (ages 6 to 17) are overweight or obese; but parent reports in this latest poll are substantially lower, dropping the proportion to 25%.

Stress-linked infertility can be helped with talk therapy

A group of reproductive medical specialists from Indiana have come up with new research which suggests that infertility caused by stress factors can be reversed through various forms of talk counselling.

According to mental health counsellors, many couples unable to conceive anticipate the holidays with dread. “For them, the end of the year becomes another marker in their inability to have children,” said Deidra T. Rausch, PhD, LMFT, an Indiana counsellor specialising in infertility. “Plus, the seasonal emphasis on family can become a painful reminder of their ongoing struggles.”

Fertility physicians believe that reducing stress is key for many infertility patients, with potential for both mental and physical benefits. On the physical side, stress signals the pituitary gland that the body is in trouble, said Laura Reuter, MD, medical director at Midwest Fertility Specialists.

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