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

Another View on Alec Baldwin

Most commentators have been very harshly critical of actor Alec Baldwin’s behavior in his recent dustup with his ex-wife and daughter over an angry voicemail that Baldwin left for the daughter (see my earlier post on this here and here). I am not a fan of Baldwin (although I have enjoyed some of his films). I do not like his politics or his public persona, and was, like most, appalled by his outburst at his daughter. That said – there are always many sides to the story. Stephen Baskerville provides some interesting commentary on what likely led to Baldin’s outburst, reasoning that the callous treatment that most father’s receive at the hands of the “family law” system was likely a contributing factor to Baldin’s feeling that he had been alienated from his daughter, and fueling his outburst. I, for one, find Baskerville’s analysis more than plausible, and I look forward to reading Mr. Baskerville’s book on the ongoing assault on fatherhood and marriage.

“Common Sense” Themes in Divorce Cases

There are certain truths in all family court cases — no matter how famous the parties involved or in which state the case is filed. For instance, James E. McGreevey, the former governor of New Jersey, is going through a “contentious” divorce. Last Friday, the judge in that case urged the McGreeveys to use “common sense” during their split.

The New York Times article about their divorce case illustrates the following common themes:

• Judges want parents to use “common sense”
• Judges want parents to facilitate age-appropriate activities
• Judges want parents to minimize the potential effects of the proceedings and the parental conflict on the child
• Judges focus primarily on parenting skills, not side issues like sexual orientation
• Judges don’t like parents accusing each other of every imaginable error or misdeed
• Judges don’t want to micromanage a child’s life
• Judges will employ methods to reduce conflict and to help resolve child-related disputes, such as the appointment a parenting coordinator

Sources: “Judge Wants Common Sense Used in McGreeveys’ Divorce” published in The New York Times and “Learning From the Contentious Divorce of Former Governor James E. McGreevey” by David C. Sarnacki, published at his Domestic Diversons blog.

 

Source for post: South Carolina Family Law Blog

When Spouses Use Their Children as a Battleground

All too often, divorcing and divorced spouses use their children as a means to wage their battle against one another. As alleged movie star Alec Baldwin found out recently, using your child as yet another weapon in your war against your ex-spouse not only does incalculable harm to the child, but also makes you look like an ass, and will ultimately have adverse legal consequences, too. baldwin may have hisvisitation rights suspended He says he was driven over the edge by a manipulative ex. Maybe he’s right. But there is never any excuse for verbally abusing your child. For the record, I think that Baldwin made a horrible mistake in judgment. That doesn’t necessarily make him a bad person, and it doesn’t mean he’s a bad father. Let’s hope that he, and we, learn a valuable lesson.

Keeping the Noncustodial Parent Involved in Your Child’s Life

Studies have shown that maintaining a significant role for a noncustodial parent in a child’s life has important benefits for the child, his or her relationship with the noncustodial parent, and even for the custodial parent. Divorce Magazine has published a lengthy article on this subject. read the article in its entirety below the fold:

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

Blended Families and a Presidential Campaign

Rudy Giuliani is not at all atypical, at least in terms of his rather complicated family life. The New York Times has this rather interesting article on the subject of blended families in tomorrow’s paper. Mayor Giliuani’s travails are not at all uncommon.

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.