Am I The Only Parent Who Didn't Know?

Researchers at Quebec's Laval Hospital believe that it's not just genes that promote obesity. There seems to be something in obese women's wombs that programs fetuses to become fat children and adults. The study found that children born to severely obese mothers were very likely to become severely obese. However, children born to the same mothers after the mothers had bypass surgery were not very likely to become severely obese. Those children also had lower levels of blood fats and other indicators of future diabetes. Because of studies like this, many U.S. medical centers are "weighing in" on a biological explanation.

The womb, according to a study published in the journal "Current Biology", is also where babies start to learn language. The study included over 1,000 recorded cries of 30 French and 30 German newborns and found differences in the melody patterns of their cries. French has a pitch rise at the end of words or phrases and French babies' cries have a rising melody. German has a falling pattern and German babies' cries have a falling melody. It seems newborns tend to imitate the language patterns heard in the womb. Of course, thinking of babies' cries as melodies is new language for parents.

Reading Education Assistance Dogs (R.E.A.D.) are registered therapy dogs that are taken to libraries and schools to help children learn to read. Adults and classmates can be judgmental or intimidating. These dogs encourage reading confidence by being good listeners. If a child doesn't know a word, a volunteer speaking for the dog says the dog doesn't know it either; and the child and dog look up the definition together. Supposedly the reading skills of children who read to assistance dogs for 20 minutes weekly improve approximately 2 grade levels in 1 school year - or 12 dog years.

In the year 1975 selling turtles less than 4 inches wide as pets was banned because children who had put them in their mouths had gotten sick. Unfortunately, the ban has basically been forgotten. The American Veterinary Medical Association estimates there were almost 2 million pet turtles in 2006. Many turtles carry salmonella. Salmonella can spread to people who handle turtles and those people can spread it to others. In addition to diarrhea, vomiting, fever and stomach cramps, salmonella can cause kidney failure. It seems the assumption that turtles are good pets for children is "in the soup".