Development

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Gentle Parenting Can Reduce Conflict In Families And Give Children Sense Of Purpose "A new study from Washington University in St. Louis suggests that adults who have a hard time finding their sense of purpose in life possibly had more conflict with their mothers in their early elementary school years.	How Attachment Parenting Helps Raise Resilient Children "It often seems like society gives us two options: we either raise them to be tough and ‘take no prisoners’ or to constantly ‘turn the other cheek’ and let them become the bullied of every situation.
Migrant Family Separation Congressional Testimony: Dr. Jack P. Shonkoff From the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University Dr.	Nurture “We are not the survival of the fittest, we are the survival of the nurtured.” - Louis Cozolino
Improve cooperation and peace: 21 ways to reach your child’s heart "Attached parenting is not about walking on eggshells so as not to upset your kid, but rather it’s about standing confident in the truth that you are your child’s best bet, the one who knows what they need and how to take care of them, and you do so	How Parental Attachment Affects the Way Everyone Loves, Works, and Votes "And current research suggests that the attachments formed in the first two years of life have a profound effect on how we behave in a diverse range of human relationships, from love, to work, to politics.
Evolved Nest with Darcia Narvaez Check out the Evolved Nest with Darcia Narvaez podcast. Dr. Narvaez's long list of credentials and work includes her role as an API Board Member.	Make America’s Children Healthy (Part 2): Affection "...affectionate touch has long lasting health effects: (1) Prevents excessive stress (2) Prevents hippocampal dysfunction (control of anxiety) (3) Establishes and maintains social bonding."
12 Ways to Raise a Confident Child From Dr. Sears: "Self-esteem is your child’s passport to a lifetime of mental health and social happiness. It’s the foundation of a child’s well-being and the key to success as an adult. At all ages, how you feel about yourself affects how you act.	Mama's Boy " But then I consider what kind of young man he is going to become, with all the love and sweetness he possesses and I know it’ll be a beautiful thing. Honestly, there’s not even one part of me that wants to “toughen him up.”"

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Journal Studies

When a Parent Goes to War: Effects of Parental Deployment on Very Young Children and Implications for Intervention Paris, R., DeVoe, E. R., Ross, A. M., & Acker, M. L. (2010). When a parent goes to war: Effects of parental deployment on very young children and implications for intervention. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 80(4), 610-618. Post-deployment programs that address parenting would be helpful, especially for families with children from birth through age 5, as this age group is particularly vulnerable to changes in attachment patterns.	Early Mother-Child Separation, Parenting, and Child Well-Being in Early Head Start Families Howard, K., Martin, A., Berlin, L. J., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (2011). Early mother-child separation, parenting, and child well-being in Early Head Start families.Attachment & Human Development,13(1), 5-26. While it is well known that traumatic or extended separations negatively impact child development, even week-long separations that occur within the first two years of life have lasting consequences on child behavior.
Infant Sleep and Paternal Involvement in Infant Caregiving During the First 6 Months of Life Tikotzky, L., Sadeh, A., & Glickman-Gavrieli, T. (2011). Infant sleep and paternal involvement in infant caregiving during the first 6 months of life. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 36(1), 36-46. In solitary sleep arrangements, mothers were more involved in nighttime parenting than fathers, and breastfeeding was related to less father involvement. More father involvement early on predicted fewer night-wakings by 6 months.	Cross Cultural Differences in Toddler and Infant Sleep Mindell, J. A., Sadeh, A., Wiegand, B., How, T. H., & Goh, D. Y. (2010). Cross-cultural differences in infant and toddler sleep. Sleep Medicine, 11(3), 274-280. Child sleep problems are based more on culturally-influenced parental perceptions than actual biological reasons, and nighttime sleep issues tended to be perceived more problematic than daytime naps.
Normal Sleep Patterns in Infants and Children: A Systematic Review of Observational Studies Galland, B. C., Taylor, B. J., Elder, D. E., & Herbison, P. (2012). Normal sleep patterns in infants and children: A systematic review of observational studies. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 16(3), 213-222. More research is needed to identify normal sleep patterns in breastfed versus bottle-fed infants, in toddlers, on weekdays versus weekends, and as related to gender and ethnic differences. What is known is that children sleep longer at night and experience fewer night-wakings and daytime naps as they develop.	Childhood Sleep Duration and Associated Demographic Characteristics in an English Cohort Blair, P. S., Humphreys, J. S., Gringras, P., Taheri, S., Scott, N., Emond, A., ... & Fleming, P. J. (2012). Childhood sleep duration and associated demographic characteristics in an English cohort. Sleep, 35(3), 353-360. More research is needed to identify what is normal when it comes to child sleep. Some of what is known is that children need longer nighttime sleep until about 9 years old. By school age, most children sleep through the night, but children up to 3 1/2 years old continue to wake at least once. Low birth-weight and pre-term infants sleep more. Infants of younger mother sleep more. All infants sleep longer at night, wake multiple times at night, and sleep longer daytime naps than young children who mostly stop taking naps by 5 years old. Girls sleep longer than boys. Children with siblings sleep less.
Touch for Socioemotional and Physical Well-Being: A Review Field, T. (2010). Touch for socioemotional and physical well-being: A review. Developmental Review, 30(4), 367-383. Touch is needed for social-emotional and physical development and well-being. In addition, there are therapeutic benefits of massage.	The Development of Maternal Touch Across the First Year of Life Ferber, S. G., Feldman, R., & Makhoul, I. R. (2008). The development of maternal touch across the first year of life. Early Human Development, 84(6), 363-370. While maternal touch predicts mother-infant reciprocity, which is linked to positive child cognitive, language, and social-emotional development, the incidence of all forms of nurturing touch decrease through the infant’s first year, especially after six months.
Responsive Feeding is Embedded in a Theoretical Framework of Responsive Parenting Black, M. M., & Aboud, F. E. (2011). Responsive feeding is embedded in a theoretical framework of responsive parenting. The Journal of Nutrition, 141(3), 490-494. While more research is needed, the benefits of responsive feeding on child nutrition and growth are expected to be as great as responsive parenting is to child outcome.	Responsive Feeding and Child Undernutrition in Low-and Middle-Income Countries Bentley, M. E., Wasser, H. M., & Creed‐Kanashiro, H. M. (2011). Responsive feeding and child undernutrition in low-and middle-income countries. The Journal of Nutrition, 141(3), 502-507. Research on responsive feeding is promising, but more research is needed to define child outcomes.

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