7.5 million Facebook users are under 13

This article I read is mainly concerned with the young children using Facebook. In a recent study, researchers found that 7.5 million out of 20 million users are minors, under the age of 13. This wouldn’t be a big deal if it weren’t for the fact that 7.5 % of these children reported being bullied, harassed, or taken advantage of while using this site. 

 

Do you believe young children are at risk if they spend too much time on Facebook un-supervised by an adult?

They Are Watching Us

"The apple never falls far from the tree" We often hear this being said but it is in fact true. Are children prone to frequently imitate their family's characteristics or is it simply a coincidence?

 

The below image shows a child doing exactly what she saw the older women doing around her. Much of our society today illustrates the importance of winning, and often young children are exposed to this belief and imitate the message by berating their competitors, whether it’s in work, sports, and even school. 

 

Many of today’s television programs, movies, and video games seem to promote violent and ill mannered behavior. As adults, people should be providing their children with positive messages instead of negative ones.

 

Question: Do you believe that children imitate negative behavior from adults around them, if so do you think this will affect their behavior in the future?

The other side to billboards

My article starts off by talking about an obesity billboard, obesity is said to be suffered by the African American and Hispanic population.

The billboard was intended to promote good health in children. The only thing controversial about the billboard is that it is in a predominantly African American and Hispanic neighborhood. If the supposed obesity children see similar billboards in their common surroundings they may feel fat and self conscious.

The billboard could bring up the thought that, “since thin is what people want to be, maybe I don’t belong.” It could even graduate to an “I shouldn’t exist.” According to the article, “placement of the billboard is stigmatizing a population that already deals with the mundane, extreme stress or classism, and racism. 

 Question to you all:  Do you think children are affected by these billboards or is it something doesn’t faze them?

How to Win Friends; The Sad Truth...

Brieft Summary: Kids tend to become best friends with other kids who are similar to themselves. A team of scientists studied 5th and 6th graders for about a year and came to the conclusion that the kids that made and kept best friends over the whole year were "similar others." 

At the same time, kids who tend to become friends with someone of another racial background are more open to world wide issues involving that race, as opposed to those who dont. Finally, kids only being able to create relationships with people who are like them is an unconcious bias that might also close our minds to pople from other groups. Instead we should try to encourage ourselves and others to be open to people who are unique and different from you. 

Question: From your own experice, would you agree that people who are best friends are alot like one another? Also, do you have a friend of another race, if so, are you more open to world wide issues involving that race?

Creative Teaching

The article 'Creative Teaching' questions our current education system and forces us to think about how it might be impacting students.

It directly says that our basic schools suppress and discourage creativity in their students, starting at a young age, in order to push in the more "sensible" skills a person will need to get jobs and survive as an adult. In studies, the research has even shown that teachers themselves will prefer a less creative student.

Do you believe that our education system discourages creativity? Is this a positive or negative thing?

Bilingual Infants

“Do you think that infants born to bilingual mothers possess, at birth, the ability to discriminate two languages?”

MRI studies of infant brains have been done, and they have found that language processing in newborns relies largely on the same brain circuits that adults use. Babies show the same patterns of brain activity as adults when it comes to distinguishing the native language from a foreign one.

Children Who Murder: Jordan Brown, Eric Smith and Others

Who is to decide whether or not the aforethought was with malice, at what age do children become responsible for an action such as murder?

Raising E and Yo....

American sociologist Dalton Conley and his wife had a relatively normal time picking out names for their children, however, the names themselves aren't necessarily normal.

Their daughter, E (who is 12), has the shortest name on record and their son, Yo Xing Heyno Augustus Eisner Alexander Weiser Knuckles (who is 11) has the longest name in New York City. Dalton argued that these names would challenge assumptions about race and social norms and would force people to see them as individuals apart from their odd names. He also stated that in the long run, they would learn better impulse control throughout life by being teased.

My questions are...What do you think of this situation in general; do you think it's morally acceptable to name children such outrageous names? Do you feel as though people with strange names feel obligated for their personality to match their unconventional names or do you think that their names can overshadow who they are?

Children teach Themselves to Read

In the article it had said how some researchers are saying how some children are learning to read on their own. Others are saying that phonics are what is helping children learn. 

It is stated the assumption in the culture today is that how children need to be taught how to read. And how some parents try to help their children to start to read at younger ages. Unlike some people that say now children are able to teach themselves how to read with the help of others from time to time. In standard public school it is stated that reading is the core of what goes on. Because it had said that we are in a society where you are taught to read then you teach yourself by reading.

They have programs that will help children read like games, and resources that will teach and help guide children to learn to read. There are some researchers that have said that some children have not been taught how to read, they say that they have learned how to read by teaching themselves, some have learned by picking things up and that they have asked questions as they go to those who know how to read.

There was a study that was conducted that stated how there were students who had learned to read since being in these schools and that the students who had learned had no help from teachers. Now this study is out of date because now it is said that children are learning how to read at even younger ages.

Question: How would you do a study on children who have taught themselfs how to read?

Stepmothers can we really get along with them?

This article talked about relationships between stepmother and child and the real reason why it's so complicated.

 

Children find it difficult to become use to an outsider and many problems occur whether it has to do with loyalty bonds or plain out resentment but no matter the case being a stepmother is difficult. This showed that both child and stepmother find it hard to keep a positive relationship and it’s not easy on either side no matter what they do and most people have a difficult time ever finding that balance. 

 

Do you think that children can truly get along with their step parents? And if so can you love them just as much as your real parents?