News
Handwriting makes kids smarter
Here’s a warning for the digital age – children learn more and remember better when writing by hand. The Norwegian University of Science and Technology has found the brains of children more active when writing compared with typing. It’s been studied a few times and repeatedly found that handwriting gives the brains more “hooks” to…
A world first stem cell transplant for a tiny heart patient
A U.S mother believes her son is alive today because of a world first umbilical stem cell transplant. Little Bennett Harbison was diagnosed before he was born in 2018 with hypo plastic left heart syndrome – a condition his mother Jennifer had never heard of. It means the left side of Bennett’s heart did…
Grandparents are big cost savers when it comes to childcare
New research out of the UK has found grandparents have saved parents more than NZ$30 million in childcare fees. Insurance company Ageas surveyed families and calculated around two thirds of the country’s grandparents regularly help with looking after their grandchildren for an average of 11.3 hours a week and saving each family around…
How long should you keep your child’s cord blood stored?
The answer is indefinitely. Cord blood stem cells don’t have an expiry date and the chance of needing to use them increases with age. According to Frances Verter, the founder of the international independent site – Parents Guide to Cord Blood Banking it doesn’t make sense to invest in the up-front collection and processing fees and then…
Little Emma’s cord blood success story
Emma was born in Ukraine in 2015 but before her birth her parents were told she had spina bifida. Spina bifida is a birth defect in which there is incomplete closing of the vertebrae in the spine and the membranes around the spinal cord during early development of pregnancy. Thanks to one…
Little Lucas and his stem cell transplant
To look at five-year-old Lucas Gutman you wouldn’t know he is living with a congenital heart defect. His mum Jennifer says he is every bit as active as a typical kid – but the Ohio boy was born with HLHS – hypoplastic left heart syndrome – and became just the second such patient…
Can umbilical cord blood help with early autism diagnosis?
Researchers have discovered cord blood of new born babies might help doctors with the early diagnosis and intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) As we know, many children with autism face challenges which affect their behaviour and development. A study by a team at the University of California David MIND…
Smartphones vs children
We know parenthood brings many new things to worry about but maybe we can ease your fears about the impact smartphones can have on your relationship with your children. New analysis published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry shows mums and dads using their phones can actually even improve their parenting…
Understanding teenage boys
Teen boys are a much-maligned group but we’re told beyond the stereotypes of being hard to talk to, always hungry, restless and accident prone they are generally big hearted youths yearning to be understood and valued. Teen boys face biological drivers which make their struggle to venture into independence very real and which…
Kindness matters
Parents want to their kids to be kind, and say it’s a trait they value over intelligence and work ethic. The U.S group Meredith Corporation’s first ever Parents’ Values Study has found while parents value kindness above all else, they believe young people today are less kind than in previous generations. Here’s…