Warning: This post contains language that some may find offensive. The scene: A teacher training at a new high school in Washington, D.C. The topic on the table? Students and the language they use: “So this should be a place that I should be able to come and express my thoughts. I may be having a bad day. I may …

Two years ago this month, President Barack Obama had a clear message for teachers and parents who were concerned about all the standardized tests that students were taking: He was on their side. In a video statement, he gave parents this pop quiz: If our kids had more free time at school, what would you want them to do with …

One in four students report being bullied, but not all say they are bullied the same way. And some students are more likely to experience bullying than others. That’s what one new survey found after posing questions to more than 180,000 students across 412 schools between 2012 and 2017. The data, collected by the nonprofit organization YouthTruth Student Survey, looked …

“I’ll be famous one day, but for now I’m stuck in middle school with a bunch of morons.” That’s harsh language from the downtrodden sixth-grade narrator of Diary of A Wimpy Kid, a blockbuster series of graphic novels. But it speaks to a broader truth. A large body of research suggests that students who go to middle school or junior …

Fred Rogers, the beloved children’s television host, used to tell a story about when he would see scary things in the news as a child. His mother would reassure him by saying: “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” Lately, there’s been a surfeit of scary news: Charlottesville, Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, and now Las …

Suzanne Bouffard’s new book, The Most Important Year, may be just what parents of preschoolers have been waiting for: a guide to what a quality pre-K program should look like. Bouffard spent a lot of time in classrooms watching teachers do some really good things and some not-so-good things. What are some of the things you learned? Successful pre-K [programs] …

My 4-year-old recently called out to me that he was all dressed for school and going to play outside. A moment later, I watched him appear outside the kitchen window and begin to happily blow bubbles — in his pajamas. It can be alarming to parents when children begin telling lies like this (as well as humorous because they are …

Parents of tweens and teens often shrug off such anxious and gloomy thinking as normal irritability and moodiness — because it is. Still, the beginning of a new school year, with all of the required adjustments, is a good time to consider just how closely the habit of negative, exaggerated “self-talk” can affect academic and social success, self-esteem and happiness. …

A complex new study strengthens the case for racially balanced schools—and uncovers additional advantages for students of all ethnicities. Two years ago, I published a report showing that schools in San Francisco were becoming increasingly segregated by race. In the public debate that followed, no one disputed the facts. However, I was struck by the apathetic, and even hostile, responses …

For the first time, a generation of children is going through adolescence with smartphones ever-present. Jean Twenge, a professor of psychology at San Diego State University, has a name for these young people born between 1995 and 2012: “iGen.” She says members of this generation are physically safer than those who came before them. They drink less, they learn to …

The start of the school year can be rough on some kids. It’s a big shift from summer’s freedom and lack of structure to the measured routines of school. And sometimes that can build up into tears, losing sleep, outbursts and other classic signs of anxiety. “Going back to school is a transition for everyone,” says Lynn Bufka, a practicing …

Tomorrow night, Fabrice Charles is planning to go to bed early, so he can get a good night’s sleep. He’s got a big day on Saturday, when he’ll join hundreds of thousands of other students taking the new summer SAT. “I get stressed really easily,” he says, “so I’ve just got to relax and think back to my exercises.” For …

In recent months, mothers who nearly died in the hours and days after giving birth have repeatedly told ProPublica and NPR that their doctors and nurses were often slow to recognize the warning signs that their bodies weren’t healing properly. A study published Tuesday in MCN: The American Journal of Maternal/Child Nursing substantiates some of those concerns. Researchers surveyed 372 …

Conflict between parents is inevitable—but it doesn’t have to hurt kids. Here’s how to turn a disagreement into a positive lesson. When I was a child, my parents’ fights could suck the oxygen out of a room. My mother verbally lashed my father, smashed jam jars, and made outlandish threats. Her outbursts froze me in my tracks. When my father …

It’s summer vacation season and many families will be lucky enough to be heading off for at least a few days. At least half of parents say quality time together is the most important reason to take a family vacation, according to a national survey by the rental car company Alamo. Still, there will inevitably be downtime: at airports, on …

Raising children is a task that requires extensive “on-the-job” training, which is why many women rely on new moms groups for parenting support and guidance. Often, however, as the kids get older, the mothers’ friendships fall by the wayside. Now, new research indicates that social support isn’t just valuable for mothers of young children, it’s beneficial for moms of teens, …

“Why are traffic lights red, yellow and green?” When a child asks you a question like this, you have a few options. You can shut her down with a “Just because.” You can explain: “Red is for stop and green is for go.” Or, you can turn the question back to her and help her figure out the answer with …

Social activist Innosanto Nagara wanted to find a fun book to read to his 2-year-old son that also talked about the importance of social justice. He wasn’t looking for the typical fiction written for children, instead, he was looking for unique narratives — by writers of color and/or authors who can speak about social issues through their own experiences. Nagara …

Historically, it is very odd for business people – or indeed anyone with an executive role – to spend much of their day attending to the needs of their own children. People weren’t heartless, they just didn’t think that it was particularly good for children to spend a lot of time with their parents. There was a prevailing fear of …

Forgiveness heals hurts and is good for the forgiver—even the young one. Forgiveness has roots as both a spiritual and a secular teaching in Western culture. In the last 40 years, it has become a subject of academic study as researchers have investigated the impact of forgiving—and not forgiving—on the relationships, health, and happiness of those who have suffered a …

If you’ve ever gotten a glimpse inside a high schooler’s backpack or locker, you know organization doesn’t always come naturally to teens. Being scatterbrained in school can make make it tough to stay focused and do well. That was the case when Lilli Stordeur was about halfway through her freshman year of high school in Northampton, Mass. She felt totally …

Sometime between grade school and grad school, the brain’s information highways get remapped in a way that dramatically boosts self-control. Impulsive children become thoughtful adults only after years of improvements to the brain’s information highways, a team reports in Current Biology. A study of nearly 900 young people ages 8 to 22 found that the ability to control impulses, stay …

Women worry that bad things will happen if they exercise while pregnant, but doctors say in almost all cases it’s not just safe, but can improve health. Being pregnant can sometimes feel like traversing a minefield of advice: You want to do the right thing for your baby and yourself, but conflicting input from physicians, relatives, friends and even total …

When 18-year-old Hannah Vanderkooy feels extremely tired or anxious, she heads to a spacelike capsule for a nap — during school. Like many teens struggling to get good grades and maybe even a college scholarship, Vanderkooy doesn’t get enough sleep. And she’s not alone. Various studies indicate that chronically sleepy and stressed-out teenagers might be the new normal among U.S. …

“Tiger” parents may drive kids’ brains to overreact to errors.In an age when the formula for success seems infinitely regressive—when having a good career means going to a good college, which requires acing your way through a top high school, middle school and even preschool—the onus is on the parent to push, push, push. We want our children to get …

Read this article if you’re having a rough day. This is a rare story about positive social change. Every state now has laws against school bullying. In the past decade, many districts have overhauled discipline policies and created interventions to increase mutual respect at school. Pop culture and the news media have focused on the harm that is done when …

About seven years ago, I started learning how to paint as a hobby. I was pretty terrible. Everything looked flat, I did not have the right proportions, and my colors were totally off. My friends and colleagues suggested that I stop wasting my time on something I wasn’t good at. “Focus on your day job,” they said. I kept at …

Nagging your kids to stick to a set bedtime each night may feel like a thankless task. But here’s some justification that your efforts are setting your kids up for a healthier life: A new study finds that preschool-age children who didn’t have a set sleep routine were more likely to be overweight by the time they became tweens. “We …

It’s difficult to have a teenager’s mind. The brain develops rapidly during the adolescent years, which partially explains why teens experience anger, sadness and frustration so intensely. During these tumultuous years, hormones surge, bodies change and adolescents must face a number of social and academic challenges, such as managing their relationships, coping with peer rejection and,— especially this time of …

When I was 4 years old, my parents faced a decision. My birthday is in late November, so should they send me to kindergarten as the youngest kid in my class? Or, wait another year to enroll me? — A practice referred to as academic redshirting. Since I was already the oldest sibling, they decided it was time for me …