Preventing Aggression in Children

February 24, 2010

By Ellen Galinsky

Since the days when my children were little, child development researchers have made great headway in understanding the genetic, biological and family triggers of aggression. There have also been new and much more sophisticated studies on how to prevent aggression or reduce it, if it has already flared up in children.

A new study by Colleen O’Neal, Laurie Miller Brotman and their colleagues at the New York University Child Study Center and by Daniel Pine of the National Institute of Mental Health, just published in Child Development, is adding to that literature.

If asked when my son was little, I would have told you he was prone to aggression—his temper often seemed like unexpected bolts of lightening from a clear sky. Those days are long gone for us—he is an incredible man, but I always read the research on aggression with a deep interest. What could I have learned if I had been the parent of a young child with a temper today? What might I have done?

Updates on the Science of Child Development

February 17, 2010

A New Study by Annie Bernier, Stephanie Carlson, and Natasha Whipple on How Parents Can Help Young Children Gain Life Skills

By Ellen Galinsky

I have spent the past eight years reading child development research, interviewing leading scientists, and we have even filmed these scientists as they conduct their studies. I have been driven by the question: what can we learn from studies of child development that will help our children thrive now and in the future?

As the parent of grown children and as a professional in child development, I have the time and knowledge to understand this research and I have the passion to translate it for all of us.

I have put many of these lessons learned into my forthcoming book, Mind in the Making: The Seven Essential Life Skills that Every Child Needs, to be published in April by HarperStudio.

But there is always new research and we continue to go out and interview and film these studies. So this begins a new series of blogs where I will share what I am learning.

Throw a baby a bone

August 19, 2009

A few weeks ago an article appeared on my internet home page with the screaming headline “Dogs as Smart as 2-year-old Kids.” You can read the article here.

Really?!  I love dogs, and know quite a few very bright ones.  And certainly, dogs have some surprising mental capacities, but they are in no way equivalent to two-year-olds. 

What we’ve learned about learning

July 21, 2009

Turn on your television on any given weekend and you’ll probably come across an infomercial that promises to help your infant child learn how to read. In the commercial, the babies ‘read’ flashcards and watch DVDs. I have to admit, I find the ad amazingly compelling – watching these little babies doing what looks like reading. (And it must be pretty popular too because it’s in heavy rotation!) And for a brief moment I start to think “if only I had that product for my now four-year old daughter… she’d be reading by now!”

Before I reach for the phone and my wallet (I’ve got lots of friends with little babies!), I stop the insanity and remember everything that I’ve learned by working on Mind in the Making for the past eight years. I’ve had the amazing opportunity to meet and listen to the leading experts in child development. And they all seem to say the same thing about how babies learn – not with flashcards, but through interactions with other people.