Games that Help Children Make Connections

March 07, 2010

By Ellen Galinsky

Many of the tasks used by the researchers who are featured in Mind in the Making can be adapted as games you can play with your children. Remember, however, that executive functions are orchestrated by the prefrontal cortex of the brain, a part of the brain that doesn’t really begin to mature until kids are older preschoolers. So while you can play some of these games with younger children, it’s important not to push children beyond their developmental capacities— an experience that would be frustrating for you and even more frustrating for them.

Games must be fun in order to be effective, so if you find that your children don't want to play, stop and wait for a better time or a better age.

Bedtime Battles

March 07, 2010

A Parent's Perspective

Bedtime is always a battle these days. Analia usually finds any excuse to stay awake for “just a little bit” longer. After we’ve read a few books, I announce it’s time for “nighty-night.” She says, “We can read three more books and then I can go to bed—is that a great idea?” It’s late, I’m sleepy, and I grow increasingly frustrated with this game.

Reducing Aggression in Children

March 01, 2010

By Ellen Galinsky

Last week, I wrote about preventing aggression in young children, but what about reducing violence when it has already flared up?

Several years ago, Families and Work Institute (FWI) conducted a nationally representative study of young people in the fifth through the twelfth grades on this issue. Our findings—as always when we study young people’s views—were surprising and enormously helpful.

We found that although much public discussion about aggression has focused on extreme violence, such as school shootings, the largest proportion of young people talk about teasing that goes beyond being playful; about cruel put-downs and gossip; and about rejections as very real aggression to them.

This emotional aggression is very much a part of young people’s lives. In fact, two-thirds of young people (66%) have been teased or gossiped about in a mean way at least once in the past month and 25% have had this experience five times or more.

This is not to say that other kinds of aggression are unimportant—almost one third (32%) has been bullied at least once and 12% have been bullied five times or more in the past month; 46% of young people have been hit, shoved, kicked or tripped at least once and 18% have experienced this five times or more in the past month. Finally, one in 12 has experienced extreme violence.

Young people focus on emotional aggression as the trigger for other kinds of aggression—and this insight is echoed in the seminal studies of Larry Aber of New York University.

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.