We want our children to make wise, well-reasoned decisions. Our desire to keep them safe drives our need to shape those decisions. How we talk to our tweens and teens can make the difference between whether they absorb our lessons or rebel against them.
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For the parents of a teenager, adolescence can be a challenging time. But to a brain scientist, it’s a marvel.
“I want people to understand that adolescence is not a disease, that adolescence is an amazing time of development,” says Beatriz Luna, professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh. Read more ›
Our brains are not fully developed until the mid-20s, so it’s no wonder that our adolescents still need help with the all important executive functioning skills. In this episode, we talk about the often underestimated yet pivotal aspect of cognitive growth: executive functioning in teens.
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Mitch Prinstein, the chief science officer at the American Psychological Association (APA), spoke to the Senate Judiciary Committee about how social media platforms may impact youth development. NPR distilled it down to 10 useful takeaways. Read more ›
Elementary school-age kids who sleep less than the recommended number of hours per night exhibit differences in brain regions associated with memory, intelligence and well-being, according to a recent study. Read more ›
Scientists have long recognized that getting enough sleep during childhood can benefit developing brains. However, the underlying brain mechanisms are not well understood. And although experts say that children ages 6 to 12 should get at least nine hours of sleep each day, it’s been unclear how less sleep might affect a child’s brain. Read more ›
Talking with your baby or toddler can help their language and communication development. The more you talk with your baby or toddler, the better.
This is because parents who talk a lot to their young children use many different sounds and words. When children hear a lot of words and many different words, it improves their understanding of language. It also increases the number and variety of words that they understand and use. Read more ›
Babies don’t come with instruction manuals. Children are at once joyful, sad, confusing, predictable, generous, selfish, gentle and mean. What’s a parent to do when faced with such perplexing offspring? Given the complex interactions of parent, child and surroundings, parents often feel lost. Many may seek answers in parenting books. Read more ›
Jonas Miller, a researcher focused on brain functioning in young children, talks about the long-term effects of early childhood experiences. Read more ›
Teenagers often make risky choices that appear absurd in the eyes of their parents. But neuroscientist Adriana Galván says these decisions are critical for adolescent brain development.
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