CathyMum's Blog

New research has found the average child’s schoolbag contains £120-worth of gadgets. The findings have been attributed to the increased popularity of smartphones, but 10% of children between six and ten also carry a tablet to school with them. Despite the increased worth of schoolbags, less than one-fifth of parents have sufficient insurance to cover a theft even though the bags are often left...

Do you sometimes feel like your kids are speaking another language? With the young social networking generation creating new slang words at lightening speed, many parents are struggling to keep up with ever-changing vocabulary. But help is at hand. A professor of linguistics from Lancaster University has developed a new dictionary to help parents translate conversations with their tweens as part...

A new study has found pregnant women in Ireland are drinking significantly more during pregnancy than women in other countries. While the research didn't look at the effect of alcohol on the developing baby’s brain, it did find that alcohol consumption hadn't adversely affected the baby’s weight or caused premature births. The research carried out in University College Cork found eight...

The British Education Secretary has been criticised for claiming that every child needs a “room of one’s own” to reach their academic potential. Critics have pointed out that new rules introduced in the UK say that children under 16 in a home receiving housing benefit have to share a room with a sibling of the same gender. The measures, dubbed a ‘bedroom tax’, also state that brothers...

In an attempt to combat the growing problem of childhood obesity in America, schools in 19 US states are weighing children and measuring their body mass index. Pupils are being sent home with report cards informing their parents whether they are “healthy” or “overweight”. While officials say the measurements are useful in tackling obesity, many parents have criticised the practice...

New research shows children in the UK are now working over 54 hours a week between school and extra-curricular activities. The study found parents are over-timetabling their children with extra-curricular activities in addition to their school commitments in order to give them an advantage. Most children already complete 32.5 hours at school Monday to Friday, as well as seven hours and 28 minutes...

Thousands of primary school pupils could be switched to three-day school weeks because of a shortage of places. The radical measures may be introduced by a London council in 2015 as the recent baby boom threatens to fill classes to bursting. Other local authorities are already using emergency measures such as building over playgrounds and constructing temporary classrooms. Research by the Local...

The Centre for Social Justice has revealed teachers are having to toilet train five-year-old children who come into school in nappies and are unable to say their own name. More than 60% of primary school staff said there has been an increase in the number of children wetting themselves at school during the past five years. It was also found that 19% of four-to-five-year-olds cannot sound or name...

There has been some debate on the issue of swaddling since the appearance of Kate Middleton craddling newborn Prince George, who was wrapped in a white blanket. While many cooed over the little prince, British grandmother Valerie Butcher wrote an angry letter to a newspaper over an experience her daughter had with her four-week-old son. Valerie revealed that her daughter had been reprimanded at a...

A new report from Public Health England says spending too much time in front of television, DVDs and computer games is taking its toll on children's physical and mental health. The agency, which is encouraging families to adopt healthier behaviour, says children who spend more time watching screens tend to have higher levels of anxiety and depression. Youngsters who spent less than one hour a...