Who's Your Daddy?

[Ramo]

arty:

Congrats Japh

[Japher]

Thanks all!

( quietly wonders why he thought Japher was in his teens. must've confuddled him with another poster. )

I did tell someone around here I was 14 the other day, thought they would of known better

Wifey was in pushing for 1 hour 31 minutes, and that was, in her opinion, the worse. Everything else was just "uncomfortable". She was a real trooper and totally awesome. To me, now, birth is just not a miracle on the fact that a new child has come in to the world, but that a woman can go through that much pain. I think it's like intentionaly slowly breaking your arm or some other bone. It's nuts.

I enjoyed the labor, and wifey likes that... even though she hated it.

Josephine and her are doing fine. I stayed with them last night but need to stay home tonight. I will go back first thing in the morning to check them out and bring them home.

As for pics:

[Guynemer]

She looks bigger than advertised in that picture.

[Boris Godunov]

Excuse me, I do believe pics of shirtless women are prohibited on this family site.

[Guynemer]

Prevert.

[Mr. Harley]

She is adorable.

Flubber, I have actually seen one program, Teletubbies, contribute to a major speech impediment of a child. Then again, the mom was terrible which was the primary reason. I note that was NOT in your list of programs.

However, check out the most recent evidence on neurobiology. There is strong evidence that exposure to television has major effects on the child's developing brain, much of which is associated with what is popularly called ADHD. I seriously doubt in moderation you will see any substantial effect, especially coupled with good parenting - something most of the people here who are parents seem to understand, IMHO - but I am still hypercautious about television and video in general when if comes to children under the age of roughly seven or eight.

[Az]

clap clap clap clap! awesome baby girl.

She does appear to suffer from an alien parasite in her belly.

[Spiffor]

Very cute

[Mr. Harley]

Spiffor - being very cute is part of the job description. Baby girl = very cute.

[Flubber]

Very cute-- I was just suprised she wasn't swaddled-- When our son was born, they cleaned him off and immediately wrapped him up

[pchang]

Congratulations.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by shawnmmcc

Flubber, I have actually seen one program, Teletubbies, contribute to a major speech impediment of a child. Then again, the mom was terrible which was the primary reason. I note that was NOT in your list of programs.

No The shows we allow him to see are those that have singing andf dancing and people speaking real words. He often gets up and dances (which usually means I have to join him ).

Originally posted by shawnmmcc

However, check out the most recent evidence on neurobiology. There is strong evidence that exposure to television has major effects on the child's developing brain, much of which is associated with what is popularly called ADHD. I seriously doubt in moderation you will see any substantial effect, especially coupled with good parenting - something most of the people here who are parents seem to understand, IMHO - but I am still hypercautious about television and video in general when if comes to children under the age of roughly seven or eight.

Hmm I am obviouslyy not as versed on this matter as you. Our son has many days when he sees zero television but other days when he might see 2 hours (perhaps 3 if we have a long drive). I don't see a problem as he has a rapidly increasing attention span and a very good imagination-- Lately we have to change his teddy's diaper when he tells us that diaper is "dirty" or we play "drive-through" where he gets imaginary food in exchange for imaginary money, or we go hunting cows in his bedroom.

I will look for some of this research myself but frankly I tend to assume that there is research out there by some group that will tell you that pretty much anything is bad for you. I ASSUME that too much TV would not be good because my common sense tells me that activity, interaction with people, reading with your parents, using your own imagination etc are all important for development. But my assumption is some TV can also have benefits . A lot of his watching is in the car when frankly he can't go anywhere or do much and interaction with others is limited.

I will take a look for more research into this stuff. If you could PM me any particular links I would find that helpful.

[Mr. Harley]

Two bits of hard research - first, they are now finding a direct link, please note not causation - between ADHD symptoms by age seven and I cannot remember whether it was pre-age one or toddler TV viewing. Roughly ten per cent per hour.

However, the devil is in what the linkage shows. Is it the high level of TV viewing, or the fact that it is displacing proper adult and/or social interaction. Since we don't subscribe to the Mengele theory of testing....

The Neurobiologists are again limited to doing more case studies and theoretical work. The indications are that mammals in general, and humans in paticular, have a wonderfully plastic brain that can adapt surprisingly well to it's surroundings. Cells that are not used atrophy, one that are used end up increasing during those critical toddler years of developement.

They did some interesting work with MRI scans showing altering of brain activity, but again, is it solely due to the TV, or the fact the child is essentially socially isolated and sedentary when viewing television? If you are happy with his behavior and his maturity - note, not complacent, happy which I gather you are, happy that is - don't fix it if it is not broken.

Please note one disadvantage to the course my wife and I are planning out. A young lady we know with her Ph.D. in Sanskrit (she is NOT Indian, which makes it all the more impressive) was raised with no TV. She complained that in school she often felt isolated, because that is what the kids were always talking about. However, with today's cable/satellite generation, is that still a culturally unifying factor? All I know is that she is brilliant, and seems to be pretty well adjusted.

[Caligastia]

Congrats Japher! Mine is due tomorrow.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by shawnmmcc They did some interesting work with MRI scans showing altering of brain activity, but again, is it solely due to the TV, or the fact the child is essentially socially isolated and sedentary when viewing television? If you are happy with his behavior and his maturity - note, not complacent, happy which I gather you are, happy that is - don't fix it if it is not broken.

THat is not suprising.... And if it is the isolation and sedentary nature then I'm not upset with our approach since most of his video viewing is when riding in a car-- Interaction and movement are pretty limited then anyway

Oh and while I am quite happy with his development, I am never complacent and would never close my ears to good information. Its just that there are so many interest and advocay groups out there . . . and most of them have a bunch of "studies" to back up their point of view. All I can tell is that he speaks better than his peers, can follow simple instructions and is incredibly inquisitive about the world.