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NURTURING 21st CENTURY CHILDRENPersonal care products harmful
for children
P
ersonal care products such as shampoo, lotion
and nail polish can be hazardous for young
children, says a study published in Clinical Pedi-
atrics (June), noting that over 64,600 children below
five years of age were treated for injuries related to
cosmetic products between 2002 and 2016 in US
hospitals. The study conducted over a period of 15
years by the Center for Injury Research at Nationwide
Children's Hospital, Columbus (USA), found that most
injuries occurred when children swallow such products
(75.7 percent) or the product made contact with a
child's skin or eyes (19.3 percent). Such ingestions and
exposures often caused poisoning (86.2 percent) or
chemical burns (13.8 percent).
"Kids this age can't read, so they don't know what
they are looking at. They see a bottle with a color-
ful label that looks or smells like something they are
allowed to eat or drink, so they try to open it and take
a swallow. When the bottle turns out to be nail polish
remover instead of juice, or lotion instead of yogurt,
serious injuries can occur," warns Rebecca McAdams,
senior research associate at the Nationwide Children's
Hospital and co-author of the study.
Don’t preach to papa about
parenting
M
ore than 50 percent of male parents believe
they are judged harshly as parents, reveals
a study published by the University of Michi-
gan's C.S. Mott Children's Hospital. The study which
surveyed 713 male parents of children aged 0-
years, asking them to answer questions about how
criticism impacts their parenting choices, found that
52 percent of male parents reported receiving “nega-
tive feedback about their parenting style,” while 90
percent believed that they were doing a good job.
Over 40 percent of the criticism was received from a
co-parent and 25 percent from a grandparent.
Lead researcher Sarah Clark, a health and behaviour
specialist and faculty at the University of Michigan’s
School of Medicine, says that the “dad-shaming” sur-
vey highlights that 67 percent of male parents received
criticism about discipline, 43 percent about diet and
nutrition, 32 percent about paying too little attention
to their children and 32 percent for being too rough.
"Different parenting styles can be a strength that
fathers bring to parenting. A father’s parenting style
can be enriching for children — help kids to behave
positively and broaden their perspective of the world,"
says Clark.Traumatic childhood linked to
teen violence
E
xposure to traumatic events such as physical
and emotional neglect, violence, and sexual
abuse in childhood could result in adolescent
depression and violence, says a study published in
the Journal of Adolescent Health (May). The first-of-
its-type Global Early Adolescent Study, a collaborative
project of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and
the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health,
USA, assessed how “adverse childhood experiences”
impact young children in several low-and middle-in-
come countries, where the vast majority of the word’s
1.8 billion 10-24-year-olds live including Vietnam,
China, Bolivia, Egypt, India, Kenya, the UK and US. 46
percent of young adolescents reported experiencing
violence, 38 percent suffered emotional neglect and
29 percent physical neglect.
“This is the first global study to investigate how a
cluster of traumatic childhood experiences known as
adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) work together
to cause specific health issues in early adolescence
with terrible, life-long consequences,” says Robert
Blum, professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg
School of Public Health.New parents feel inadequate
S
ix in 10 parents admitted to experiencing failure
as a parent during their child’s first year, accord-
ing to a worldwide poll of 13,064 adults com-
missioned by WaterWipes, a US-based baby products
company. The survey highlighted that adapting to
sleepless nights, battling tiredness and struggling
with infant feeding schedules makes many new par-
ents believe they are simply "not good enough".
“The global research speaks for itself. At times,
parents are left feeling like they are failing, especially
when they are surrounded by false images of per-
fect parenting — with the UK one of the most likely
countries to experience this," says Cathy Kidd, global
vice president, marketing at WaterWipes, adding that
Britain is the country with the second-most anxious
parents (after Australia and New Zealand).