I was at a BBQ at my daughter’s preschool the other night and I was having a conversation with another mother about memory, or lack of memory.  She is 28, and let’s just say that I’m not.  

There’s probably no medical study supporting this, but every mother I talk to feels like her mind is a sieve.  I never used to forget people’s names.  I could meet them once, and remember their name three years later.  Now I can’t remember anything, or anyone.  As a child my mother seemed on top of everything.  It was also a different era.  She didn’t work, and young couples didn’t have to stretch as much to buy their first house. 

At the BBQ all the moms were coming up with their own theories of “what happened to our minds” and we decided it was this:

• Lack of sleep
• Loving another little person so much that you are constantly worrying about if they are rested, if they have a full tummy, if they have sunblock on, where are you going to send them to preschool, and on and on.
• A lot of responsibilities other than your child(ren) including: your job, your mortgage, your husband.
• And in some cases… getting older

There.  That’s the mommy version of a scientific study.

A recent report by the Urban Institute, a non-partisan economic and social policy research institute, shows that children are getting a smaller share of the federal budget, with spending on kids not keeping pace with GDP growth (GDP is gross domestic product, a measure of national income).  Policy change is needed if our children’s needs are going to be met.

To read more on the report, go to: http://www.urban.org/publications/411699.html

A new study from Child Trends, Involvement among Resident Fathers and Links to Infant Cognitive Outcomes, published online in the Journal of Family Issues, shows that fathers’ warmth, care, and play with their babies is positively linked with infant cognitive development–as seen in the babies’ babbling and exploring objects. The study also finds that fathers’ influence is even greater for baby boys and for babies with a disability.  More evidence about how important dads are. . .

Encourage the dads you know to bathe, change, dress, feed, sing, read, and play with their babies!

To read more about the importance of dads, go to my article the First 5 Nevada County website: http://www.first5nevco.org/articles/daddifference.cfm

To read more about the study, go to http://jfi.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/0192513X08318145v1