Crazy Easter Bunnies aren't the only thing to worry about this weekend. Thanks to preliminary research of some kind or another, your whole parenting approach is wrong, too! For example:
- Whether it's all cars, the Turnpike, or New Jersey itself, an epidemiological study has found that pollution exposure during early and late pregancy is correlated with low birth weight. [bbc; abstract, jech, thanks dt reader dt]
- Whoops, missed this in February: pollution exposure in the womb also causes asthma. [bbc, full study at plosone.org]
- One in five 4-year-olds in the US is obese. The rate is higher among brown kids, and spikes for American Indian kids. Thanks to all that government rice, 1/3 of Indian toddlers are "rezzed out" "rez rats" who have "commod bods." Word to all Brooklyn parents: I want to see at least three slang terms for "kid sitting in stroller on the No. 2 train, eating Cheetos from the bag" on my desk by Monday. [ap/yahoo, abstract: apam, thanks dt freakout correspondent sara]
- A review of 29 studies in the last 56 years concludes that pacifiers may not affect breastfeeding. Obviously, more study is needed. [abstract, apam]
- Mawage. Mawage is what bwings us togevah tod-- oops, actually, no. The National Center for Health Statistics reports that 40 percent of kids born in the US in 2007 were born to unwed parents. For latina moms, the rate is 51%; for black moms, the rate is 72%. And yet in one study, 80% of the unwed parent couples were still together four years later. Funny these stats don't come up in all those Save Marriage From The Gays! campaigns. [cnn, data in pdf, cdc.gov]
My fav. line from Princess Bride.
Ha ha ha, love the last one. Now that awful voice will be in my head all day! And yes, I too wonder why those kinds of statistics do not show up in ads by NOM and others.