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nurturing 21st century children
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Even nine and ten year olds have
and learning will improve," says dr. paul caldarella, lead
suicidal thoughts researcher and professor at the david o. mcKay school
of education, Brigham young university.
amily conflict is a significant predictor of suicidal
thoughts in children as young as nine and ten
fyears, says a study conducted by the washing- vitamin d deficiency linked to
ton university school of medicine in st. louis, usa. the adhd
study, published in Jama open network (february),
analysed 11,814 children aged nine-ten and found that itamin d deficiency in early to mid-pregnancy in-
2.4-6.2 percent of them experienced suicidal thoughts creases the risk of children developing attention
ranging from wishing they were dead to devising plans vdeficit hyperactivity disorder (adhd) by 34 per-
to commit suicide. cent, reveals a Journal of american academy of child
when it came to translating thought into action, less and adolescent psychiatry (february) study. research-
than 1 percent of the children said they had tried to ers of the university of turku, finland surveyed 1,067
commit suicide while 9 percent reported non-suicidal children born between 1998 and 1999 in finland diag-
self-injury. in more than 75 percent of cases, parents nosed with adhd.
and/or caregivers were unaware of their children's sui- “our research offers strong evidence that low level
cidal tendencies. “historically, the belief has been that of vitamin d during pregnancy is related to attention
people don’t ask children about suicidal thoughts be- deficiency in offspring. as adhd is very common in chil-
fore adolescence. our data suggests that’s very inad- dren, the research results have a great significance for
visable. Kids are having these thoughts. they're not as public health,” says dr. andre sourander, professor of
suicidal as adults, but they are not trivial,” says deanna child psychiatry at the university of turku.
Barch, professor of radiology in the washington univer- the study data was published before the govern-
sity school of medicine. ment's recommendation for intake of 10 micrograms of
vitamin d per day during pregnancy.
Praise not punish to improve child
behaviour food eaten with hands more
appetising
o improve classroom environments, teachers
should focus on praising children for positive be- ating is a more enjoyable experience when high
thaviour, rather than telling them off for being dis- self-control individuals eat with their hands,
ruptive, according to a study published in educational ecompared to use of cutlery, according to a study
psychology (January). Brigham young university, utah published in the Journal of retailing (february). direct
researchers spent three years observing 2,536 students, touch triggers an enhanced sensory response, mak-
across three us states, from kindergarten through to ing food more appetising and appealing, says adriana
class vi (5-12 years). they found that children focused madzharov, lead researcher of the stevens institute of
up to 20-30 percent more on tasks when teachers technology, usa.
praised rather than reprimanded them. in short, the for the study, researchers asked 45 undergraduate
more teachers praised and the less they scolded, the students to examine a cube of muenster cheese, hold
greater the attention students paid to teachers and as- it before eating, and then answer questions about the
signed classroom tasks. experience. half the people in the study ate cheese with
"everyone values being praised and recognised for an appetizer pick, while the other half ate it by hand.
endeavour — it hugely stimulates children's self-esteem people who are more aware and controlled their food
and confidence. also from a behavioural perspective, intake reported that the cheese was tastier if eaten by
behaviour that is reinforced tends to improve. so if hand. “our results suggest that for people who regular-
teachers praise students for good behaviour — paying ly control their food consumption, direct touch triggers
attention, asking appropriately for assistance, etc, it an enhanced sensory response, making it more desir-
stands to reason this positive behaviour will increase, able and appealing,” says madzharov.

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