Study Discusses Children Watching Television In Daycare

Do you know how much television your kids watch every day?  Do you really?  If your children are in day care, you probably assume that they are doing things like taking naps and learning to play nicely with others, but you might be surprised to learn that many day care centers allow child to spend as much as two hours a day in front of a television.

A study published last week in the journal Pediatrics, “Preschool-Aged Children’s Television Viewing in Child Care Settings” by Dimitri A. Christakis, MD, MPH and Michelle M. Garrison, PhD, was the the first to look at TV watching in child care in more than 20 years.  It found that the amount of time children in child care spend watching TV has doubled since the last study, and preschoolers in child care may now spend more than a third of their 12 waking hours each day in front of a TV (when taking into consideration the two to three hours many parents allow at home).

The American Academy of Pediatrics discourages television viewing of any kind in the first two years of life and recommends a daily limit of only one to two hours of quality programming for older children. Children go to day care to develop social skills, build on cognitive abilities and enjoy imaginative play, as well as allowing their parents to work.  Other research has connected excessive TV watching during the preschool years with language delay, obesity, attention problems and aggression.

Source:  “Some Kids See Lots of TV in Day Care” by Donna Gordon Blankinship, published at AOL News.

Source for post: South Carolina Family Law Blog

Parents Can Get Burned By Kids Online Activity

Ever wonder what your child says about you when you’re not around? Does he spill the beans on your recent nose job or repeat that indiscreet crack you made about your boss? From the moment their kids first grab hold of a mouse, parents often warn them that what they say online could come back to haunt their future — the kids’ future, that is. But what about the parents?

In a little noticed but equally unsettling trend, mom and dad are discovering that their children are spilling some embarrassing — if not damaging — information on blogs and social networking sites that could hurt the parents. Disclosures run the gamut from unflattering portraits and pointed criticisms to intimate secrets, confidential business information and allegations of misdeeds. And while kids often think of their online revelations as akin to a private diary stashed under the bed, they offer everyone from your boss to the local police an unauthorized window into your life. “The result can be devastating,” says lawyer Parry Aftab, executive director of WiredSafety.org, a privacy and security group.

For more of what kids are revealing about their parents online — and what to do about it — turn to the September issue of SmartMoney Magazine1.

Disturbing examples have been cropping up all over the country. According to the police in Myrtle Creek, Ore., Kelly Jo Page was arrested in March for buying a keg of beer for her son’s 17th birthday party, after the boy posted photos of the festivities on his MySpace page. Then there was the man who lost his job in 2005 because his daughter confided in her online journal that Dad was drinking a lot because of his boss, whom he considered a “jerk.” And in Maryland, state police say they arrested a Galena, Md., couple in January after a woman found her 12-year-old daughter’s MySpace page stating that her father and stepmother had given her pot and cocaine. Diana May Bland, 24, and Richard L. Bland III, 30, face trial after pleading not guilty to child abuse, reckless endangerment and various drug charges.

No one knows just how many parents have been burned online, but according to Nielsen/Net Ratings, nearly 13 million kids ages 12 to 17 were using social networks in April 2007, up 17% from a year earlier. A recent study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project noted that 31% of teen social networkers admit they have online “friends” they’ve never met. What kids probably don’t know is that those friends may include professionals ranging from cops and private investigators to headhunters and political opposition consultants, all of whom increasingly admit to searching children’s names and posts for information on their parents.

Most parents are only vaguely familiar with the budding world of social networks and what their children reveal there. Indeed, when a SmartMoney reporter asked Tulsa, Okla., father Mike Ferguson if he read his college son’s blog, he responded, “What’s a blog?” Guess he missed the entry in Michael Jr.’s online diary that recounted, in gory detail, why Dad quit his job.

Source: Smart Money

Mom May Have to Choose Between Nursing and Custody

I have previously posted here and here on the issue of breastfeeding as it relates to matters of child custody and visitation. Now word comes of a Minnesota case in which a court-appointed guardian-ad-litem is urging the judge to order a mother to stop breastfeeding her baby due to the prescription medication the mother takes. The mother maintains that she researched the potential effects of the medications on a child through breast milk, and states that she would stop breastfeeding immediately if she believed that her child was being harmed. The judge is scheduled to rule on the matter next month.

Is this an appropriate concern on behalf of the guardian-ad-litem or another example of the state’s intrusion into the domain of child-rearing? Feel free to leave a comment.

For more information, read this newspaper article.

Source: StarTribune.com.

Source for post: Oklahoma Family Law Blog

Divorce and Your Kids Insurance

Mom and Dad don’t live together anymore. Your child has two beds, two sets of teddy bears, two groups of friends, and two homes. And, as the years go by, these two homes may be further and further apart. It’s important that your child has health coverage in both homes. But how will you achieve this? And who will pay for it?Just one trip to the emergency room may result in many large medical bills. Health care costs can add up quickly, so you’ll want to make provisions for your child’s continued health coverage as soon as possible.

Here’s what you need to know:

You’ll need to decide who will be responsible for your child’s health coverage, and how it will be obtained – through your employer? your ex’s employer? both? If neither of you are eligible for group coverage, then you’ll want to decide how you plan to keep your child covered, and who will be bearing the costs, if any. Make sure you put these decisions in writing!

Residence is not a factor. Parents sometimes assume that they’re not responsible for their child’s health coverage because the child no longer lives with them. Not true! A custodial parent may, at any time, file a Qualified Medical Child Support Order (QMCSO) to get health coverage for their child through the other parent’s employer-provided health plan. A QMCSO may also require that the premium be deducted from the non-custodial parent’s paycheck or that the non-employee parent be made aware of all aspects of the healthcare plan.

You’ll need to know the geographic boundaries of your child’s health plan. Many managed care plans do not provide coverage outside a certain geographical area.

A fee-for-service policy sometimes provides better geographic reach than HMOs and PPOs that restrict you to one primary care physician. Talk with your employer, or your ex-spouse’s employer, about your options. Note: Some specially-designed plans allow children to be added as guest members during their stay with their non-custodial parent.

Both parents can include (or add) the child in their group health plan. While experts often advise against such double coverage for most families, children of divorced parents often benefit greatly. Double coverage can help keep your child covered at both houses, even if they are miles apart. The plans are designated as ‘primary’ and ‘secondary.’ The secondary plan will cover many of the costs not covered by the primary plan, including expenses outside the coverage area of the primary plan.

Which is which? To decide which parent holds the primary plan, health insurance companies commonly use the birthday rule. The plan of the parent with the first birthday of the calendar year becomes the primary plan. (The birth years don’t matter)

Hold on to any group health plan you have at the time of the divorce. Individual plans may be able to reject your child if he or she has any medical conditions such as asthma or frequent ear infections. (Rules vary by state.) They can also accept your child but refuse to pay for pre-existing conditions.

If your child has an ongoing or recurring health problem, you’ll want to make every attempt to maintain continuous group health plan coverage throughout the divorce proceedings and beyond. Group plans are the only plans not allowed to reject the child or limit coverage due to pre-existing conditions (unless there’s been a significant gap in coverage).

No group health plan available? You may want to purchase individual insurance for your child. Shop carefully; the cheapest plan might not be the best value if it doesn’t offer the most-needed benefits. Individual plans don’t often include preventive care.

Can’t afford individual insurance? HealthCareCoach.com has articles about children’s health insurance that you can afford. If you are a moderate-income family you may be able to qualify for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. If your family’s income is lower, your children may qualify for Medicaid.

SOURCE: HealthCareCoach.com

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(Via Georgia Family Law Blog.)

More on Alec’s Tua Culpa

The New York Times today more or less panned Alec Baldwin’s appearance on the soon to be Rosie-less “The View,” during which he offered a fairly self serving explanation for his outburst against his daughter, and attacked the family law system. I am inclined to agree that Baldwin did not do himself any favors with his appearance. But on one point I will agree with him – that is that fathers are, on the average, not treated very well in the family law system. Fact is, no one really is. But I think that Baldwin is more right than not that fathers generally are treated poorly. If only they had a better spokesman than Alec.

At What Age Can Children Be Left Alone?

All parents at some point face the difficult question of whether their children are old enough to be left alone at home. Dustin Jones of All Things Pennsylvania Family Law had this interesting post on this question:

A reader stumped me last week with the following question: “At what age can children be legally left alone to care for themselves?”

Since this site deals with family law issues, I assume his question is related to custody issues and/or Children Protective Services.

Here is the answer:

There are no laws or regulations in Pennsylvania stating at what age children may be left without adult supervision. When workers from the Allegheny County Office of Children, Youth and Families check into reported cases — about 20 a month, with roughly a third of those substantiated — their main concern is the degree of risk to the children.

How long they’re left alone, whether they’re able to care for themselves and handle emergencies, if they have support nearby — all these factors play into the CYF assessment. If the children are determined to be in peril, intervention could range from assisting the family to removing the children.

“As a rule of thumb, no child under the age of 12 should be left home alone under any circumstances,” said Marcia Sturdivant, deputy director of CYF. But, she conceded, the world we live in doesn’t always work that way.

Source for post: All Things Pennsylvania Family Law

More on Spanking

Dr. Virginia Shiller, a licensed clinical psychologist who has commented here on the California spanking legislation, has offered further additional thoughts on this subject. I think that this issue is of sufficient importance, and that Dr. Shiller’s comments are especially interesting, that I will reproduce them in the body of this post. While I am on this subject, I would also highly recommend that anyone interested in the subject of child discipline visit Dr. Shiller’s website, Rewards for Kids. There is a wealth of helpful information. On the spanking question, Dr. Shiller offers the following:

Mark:
I’m glad you found my earlier comment thought-provoking. Pleas feel free to use my name in posting this comment.
Let me address the issue of cultural context. The major argument that spanking is harmful to children rests on longitudinal studies, done with Caucasian families, that have found that “power assertive punishment” strategies, which include spanking, are associated with later disruptive behavior problems in children. A handful of studies conducted with minority (primarily African American) families found that as a group, minority children who are spanked do not develop the behavior problems seen in Caucasian populations.
One hypothesis that has been put forth is that the consequences of disobedience in a low-income environment may be much more serious and may require more forceful methods to prevent misbehavior. Apparently, a common saying in the African American community is “I’d rather my child get a beating from me than from the police.” And, it is possible minority parents who spank do so in the context of a more loving relationship. While I do think minority families could benefit from learning positive discipline methods, we have to be culturally sensitive when we contemplate ‘criminalizing’ parenting behaviors.

Britney Spears Back in Rehab – Again

I usually try to refrain from commenting on celebrity gossip type items on this blog. I don’t think that such “news” is especially meaningful to what I am trying to do here. But the Britney Spears story has finally reached a point where I thought a few words were in order. I do not especially care much about Ms. Spears private life, or that of her soon to be ex-husband, for that matter. But I might suggest that the way she has comported herself of late is not coinsistent with what I would suggest is appropriate behavior for a mom in the midst of a divorce and custody dispute. I am not casting aspersions, or commenting on the circumstances that led Ms. Spears to conclude that a rehab program was in order. But if your state is such that you need rehab, check yourself in and finish the program. Don’t treat the facilities as if they were the revolving door at Macy’s, or the Burger King drive through. Take it seriosuly and see it through. and for crying out loud, don’t shave all your hair off in public on a whim, and stay out partying all night with the Hollywood crowd. This is hardly the portrait of a woman capable of providing a stable home life for two young children. I hope that Ms. Spears listens to the professionals – legal, mental health and others who can help her – and that she gets her life in order. For the sake of her children if for no other reason. This train wreck has gone on long enough.

New York Court Upholds Grandparent Visitation

The New York Court of Appeals, that state’s highest court, has upheld the state’s grandparent visitation statute. The law permits grandparent visitation rights where it is shown that one parent is deceased, or equity would otherwise warrant such visitations. As I noted in a previous post on this issue, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in a recent case, likewise found that orders requiring grandparent visitation do not violate the custodial parent’s 14th amendment right to raise his or her children as he or she sees fit. A petition for certiorari, seeking review in the United States Supreme Court, has been filed in the Pennsylvania case. Whether in the context pf the Pennsylvania case or otherwise, there can be little doubt that the Supreme Court will ultimately have to weigh in on this issue again.

“Best Interests” vs. Free Speech

Can a court restrict what you can say or tell your child based upon what the court deems to be in the child’s “best interests”? If you are a divorced parent, the answer is, you may be surprised, yes, as UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh explains in a recent op-ed piece published in the LA Times. Professor Volokh, the founder of the Volokh Conspiracy blog, offers some very thought provoking insights on whether, and to what extent, courts should be permitted tgo impose such restrictions.