How to Work Museums Into Kids' Summers

Yale professor warns against becoming a 'click-vegetable'

(NEWSER) - The Internet and iPads and smartphones are great for adults—but we need to take a hard look at what they're doing to our kids, warns a computer science professor at Yale. It may be tempting to let them sit down with an iPad come June, but such technology is preventing their minds from doing what they need to do: "rest and work," writes David Gelernter in the Wall Street Journal . Rest means "wandering freely," while work requires a climb up a "mental rope." More»

Kids stress us out—but we still find them rewarding

(NEWSER) - Ask parents if their children make them happy and they’ll likely say yes. So why does almost every study on the subject show that having children tends to make people less happy—and that, in fact, many parents love their kids but hate parenting? In an extensive New York article , Jennifer Senior explores how parenting, and Americans’ reasons for having children, have changed over the decades. More»

(NEWSER) - The latest trend in nomenclature rings false to at least one person who recently realized that "Mom" has become "the now generic name for every female parent in our country." Thinking it over, Anne Albeck dates the phenomenon to the early '90s, but familiarity—and overfamiliarity—really does breed contempt. "Being called Mom by everyone from the shoe store clerk to the pediatrician is a little too intimate for me," Albeck writes for the Chicago Tribune. More»

As outbreaks spread like wildfire, counselors quarantine kids

(NEWSER) - H1N1 may not have ended civilization as we know it, but it’s ruined a lot of stays at summer camp, the New York Times reports. Camps are dry tinder for flu outbreaks, and many have canceled or postponed this year's sessions. Others have been split nearly in half to quarantine infected campers. “We’ve never had flu in the summer like this,” said Maine’s public health director. “We have 33 camps in Maine with outbreaks.” More»

Kids seek comfort in food as mothers worry about money, job

(NEWSER) - Moms stressed out by poverty could be driving millions of US kids younger than 10 to take refuge in food and become overweight, a study finds. The stress may be linked to heavy work schedules and health-insurance troubles, among other issues, Reuters reports. The study argues for better aid to struggling families, including access to food stamps, health insurance, and money-management education. More»