Blog

Late one night last October, I was practicing what I like to call anti-self-care—lying under the covers, scrolling compulsively on my phone, and vaguely hoping that someone would leap through the screen and club me on the forehead—when I came across the Gravity Blanket Kickstarter , which had launched the previous April. Gravity was the brainchild of a handful of guys mostly in their twenties who sought to create sleek, plush weighted blankets, in three gradations of heaviness: fifteen,...

As deaths from mass shootings have mounted across the United States, some states are moving to collect hard data to guide their decisions about guns — even as the federal government has retreated from such research in the face of pressure from pro-gun groups. The New Jersey Legislature, for example, is weighing a measure that would create a gun-violence research center at Rutgers University. The center would be modeled on the new Firearm Violence Prevention Research Center at the University...

Our knowledge of what the denizens of the animal kingdom are up to, especially when humans aren’t around, has steadily increased over the last 50 years. For example, we know now that animals use tools in their daily lives. Chimps use twigs to fish for termites; sea otters break open shellfish on rocks they selected; octopi carry coconut shell halves to later use as shelters. The latest discovery has taken this assessment to new heights, literally. A team of researchers led by Mark Bonta and...

After last week’s school shooting in Parkland, Florida, the young survivors underwent a routine that has become all too familiar. Teams of crisis counselors were dispatched , vigils and funerals were held, and local officials debated what to do about the physical aftermath of the massacre: inspecting the school’s buildings and deciding when (and if) the campus would re-open for classes. The psychological damage may be harder to assess. Among kids exposed to traumatic violence, short-term...

Why do people think they had a good, normal childhood, or deny childhood trauma and its results altogether? I often hear people say things like: My childhood was normal. Yes, there were some good things and some bad things – but that's life. My mother got sad, distant, or angry when I didn't perform well or acted badly, and my father sometimes hit me with a belt – but it was for my own good. All of this helped me to become a better person – and I'm thankful for it. Yes, sometimes I feel...

Profiles of statewide and major local ACEs initiatives in the 50 states and the District of Columbia are now available from ACEs Connection. You’ll learn about other states and maybe even a few things about your own. This series is just the start of curating highlights of the most significant initiatives across the country. The next iteration will provide even more details. How to use this series: The invaluable information many of you provided to our ACEs Connection team on what is...

The Arkansas Adverse Childhood Experiences and Resilience Workgroup hosted its first ACEs/Resilience Summit: Every Child Deserves a Champion on Oct. 13, 2017. With more than 100 in attendance, including Susan Hutchinson, First Lady of Arkansas, the workgroup started a larger conversation about ACEs, their impacts, and what communities and organizations are doing to prevent and treat ACEs and help children and families build resilience. Dr. Alan Mease , medical director for child and...

Newton’s famous insight, “For every action there is an equal and opposite slew of trend pieces, ” has never been truer about anything than it is about parenting advice. I feel like every time I hear a catchy phrase like “helicopter parenting,” it’s a perfect description of exactly what I am not seeing in the real world. I’m sure overparenting exists. I have no doubt that some kids could do with a little less attention, or skin on their knees, and perhaps a little more danger in their lives.

Hopes were dashed this week that the United States was finally making progress in the fight against childhood obesity. Contrary to previous reports, the epidemic of fat has not abated. In fact, there's been a big jump in obesity among the nation's youngest children, according to the latest analysis of federal data, published Monday in the journal Pediatrics. "The main take-home message for me is that, clearly, obesity remains a problem," says Asheley Skinner , an associate professor of...

Only about 50 percent of adolescents with depression get diagnosed before reaching adulthood. And as many as 2 in 3 depressed teens don't get the care that could help them. "It's a huge problem," says Dr. Rachel Zuckerbrot , a board-certified child and adolescent psychiatrist and associate professor at Columbia University. To address this divide, the American Academy of Pediatrics has issued updated guidelines this week that call for universal screening for depression. [For more of this...

I remember the first time my daughter discovered her hand. The look of amazement on her face was priceless. It wasn’t long before she was putting that discovery to use, trying to put everything she could find into her mouth. Babies want to feed themselves. It sometimes feels as if parents spend more time trying to stop them than encouraging them. Over the last few years, however, some people have begun to ask if we are doing the right thing. Baby-led weaning is an approach to feeding that...

Whitney Bowen has been bracing for gunfire at school all her life. Thanks to a decade’s worth of mass shootings at places like Sandy Hook Elementary, Virginia Tech, and Umpqua Community College, the Northern Virginia high-school junior is a veteran of lockdowns and duck-and-cover drills. When she hears a loud noise in class, she looks for the nearest exit. Then, on February 14, a 19-year-old armed with an AR-15 killed 17 students and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in...