Here’s How Serena Williams & Mark Cuban Are Helping New Moms

by Erica LoopJuly 16, 2019

Serena Williams recently helped to fund a $3 million investment, along with Mark Cuban and Arlan Hamilton’s ArlanWasHere Investments, to improve maternal health.

So how is Williams helping new mamas to stay healthy? Through a major investment (via Serena Ventures) in the health tech company Mahmee!

photo: Dw-lifestylefotografie via Pixabay

Founded by Melissa Hanna, Sunny Walia and registered OB nurse/International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, Linda Hanna, Mahmee is a digital platform for new moms. The site uses a HIPAA-secure dashboard to help new mamas connect to medical providers—including lactation consultants, midwives and other professionals. It also monitors the mothers and their babies through “maternity coaches” and alerts doctors of potential concerns.

Co-founder and Mahmee CEO, Melissa Hanna, said in a press release, “In the maternity healthcare process, on the surface there are generally three or four people involved: the mother, the baby, and each of their physicians. What we don’t see are the many other people helping them: nurses, lactation consultants, midwives, nutritionists, therapists, doulas, home health aids, social workers and more.”

Mahmee co-founder Linda Hanna added, “We work as an extension of the care team. In doing that, we help providers listen to mothers, better understand their needs, and stay one step ahead of medical crises.”

As of now Mahmee has more than 1,000 organizations in its network. This includes Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, AltaMed, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, UCLA and other well-known, and well-trusted providers.

—Erica Loop

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What Did the Sesame Workshop and LEGO Foundation Collab Reveal about Parents & Play?

by Erica LoopMay 30, 2019

Sesame Workshop and the LEGO Foundation are helping parents to play! The two educational organizations recently conducted a multi-country research project that evaluated the Play Every Day program.

What is the Play Every Day program? Sesame Workshop and the LEGO Foundation created this global initiative as a way to help parents and caregivers better understand the value of play when it comes to early childhood education and development. During the 12-week program period, Sesame Workshop sent pros into the homes of families in low-resource communities (in India, Mexico and South Africa) to help the adults learn about play and here’s what the perfectly playful partners found!

Our own Abby Bucuvalas & Shanna Kohn recently traveled to Dhaka, Bangladesh for a content co-creation workshop w/ @BRACWorld to discuss future content for our learning-through-play program for children affected by the Rohingya refugee crisis funded by the @legofoundation. pic.twitter.com/8rbRt04Aax

— Sesame Workshop (@SesameWorkshop) May 28, 2019

The evaluation revealed the importance of helping parents to better understand the what’s, why’s and how’s of play. Parents in all three countries played more often with their children, reported increased confidence in acting as “play mentors” to their children and reported increased confidence in using recycled materials as play objects.

Dr. Kim Foulds, Senior Director of International Research and Evaluation, Sesame Workshop, said in a press statement, “Our research findings affirm the potential of the Play Every Day model to improve knowledge about play and influence play related behavior among caregivers and children, particularly in low-resource settings.”

Foulds went on to add, “Given that existing global literature on playful learning best practices is predominantly focused on research in western developed countries, we’re excited to share our findings and contribute to the growing body of evidence attesting to the impact of learning through play.”

“Play Every Day has taught me about respecting my child, listening to him, trusting him, and being committed to him.” Learn more about the results of our program with the @LEGOfoundation: https://t.co/KPmiy0V1BU #WorldPlayDay pic.twitter.com/4K3b73Usuj

— Sesame Workshop (@SesameWorkshop) May 28, 2019

Along with helping the families in the pilot program play, Sesame Workshop and the LEGO Foundation will use the research findings to guide future programming, including a $100 million humanitarian play program that will support children impacted by the Rohingya and Syrian refugee crises, as well as families in South Africa.

—Erica Loop

Featured photo: Sesame Street via YouTube

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New Research Says More Screen Time Can Raise the Risk of an ADHD Diagnosis

by Erica LoopApril 22, 2019

How much screen time is too much? New research, from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, found that preschoolers who spent more time looking at screens were more likely to have an ADHD diagnosis.

Using data from nearly 2,500 children and parent groups (from the Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development or CHILD study), the researchers compared the amount of time preschoolers spent using screens with the likelihood of meeting ADHD diagnostic criteria. While they didn’t find a complete cause-and-effect relationship between screen use and ADHD, the data can help parents to better understand the reasons for limiting this type of tech-time.

photo: Bruce Mars via Pexels

What exactly did the researchers find? Five year olds who spent two plus hours a day in front of screens were over seven times more likely to meet ADHD diagnostic criteria than kiddos who watched screens for less than half-an-hour per day. Before jumping to the conclusion that screen-time equals a behavioral disorder, stop and look at what the research (and the researchers) really say.

Again, this study didn’t find a clear cause-effect between screen use and ADHD. But it does provide some pretty compelling evidence for paying close attention to how much screen time your tot gets. Dr. Piush Mandhane, lead researcher of the study and an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Alberta, told ABC News, “Children should develop a healthy relationship with screens as young as 3 to 5 years of age.”

Mandhane also added that, according to the study’s data, “Between zero and 30 minutes per day is the optimal amount of screen time.” So how can parents reduce screen time? With the current research in mind, Mandhane suggests using built-in apps to limit screen exposure, turn off screens at least one hour before bedtime and encourage your child to engage in physical activity.

—Erica Loop

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Both Parents & Kids Want More Diverse Books, New Reading Report Finds

by Shahrzad WarkentinMarch 22, 2019

With the shifting landscape of visual media, it should come as no major surprise that change is needed in the print world as well. A new report by Scholastic Books finds that parents want more diverse books for their kids.

According to Scholastic’s biennial Kids & Family Reading Report, 88 percent of parents believe that reading fiction and nonfiction is a good way for their kids to better understand the world and three out of four kids agree. To truly project the world around us, however, more diversity is needed in the characters and storylines represented in children’s books.

The report, which surveyed more than 1,000 pairs of kids ages 6 to 17 and their parents, as well as 678 parents of kids ages 0 to 5, found that both kids and parents agree that books need to reflect more diversity. Among kids and parents who agree that diversity in children’s books is important, 76 percent of kids and 69 percent of parents wish there were more books available that are diverse.

For the majority of parents and kids ages 9 to 17, diversity was defined as including people and experiences different than their own, including representations of various cultures, customs, religions, settings and living situations. Diversity was also defined by many as including differently-abled people, people of color and LGBTQ identities.

“The Kids & Family Reading Report puts even more power behind our belief that diversity in books matters,” said Andrea Davis Pinkney, VP, Executive Editor at Scholastic, bestselling children’s book author and Coretta Scott King Book Award winner.

“When kids don’t see books that reflect diverse experiences, they’re not emboldened to expand their thinking. But when a young reader finds a story that positively reflects his or her own story—or presents the stories of people not like themselves—that child becomes encouraged to read more. This has a direct impact on how kids view their place in the world, and helps them develop empathy and open-mindedness. Tomorrow’s leaders need to see themselves in books. The report empowers us to help kids do that.”

—Shahrzad Warkentin

Featured photo: i410hlr via Pixabay

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This Is How Kate Middleton Wins Mealtime Battles

by Erica LoopFebruary 9, 2019

How do royals get their kiddos to eat? If you’re Kate Middleton you let your littles help out in the kitchen, cooking some of their fave foods! Listen up because Kate Middleton’s tips might just get your picky eaters into food, too.

The Duchess of Cambridge recently shared what Prince George and Princess Charlotte’s enjoy eating. And their picks probably won’t surprise you. Like plenty of mac ‘n’ cheese-loving kiddos, the royals also enjoy “cheesy pasta”. Along with the ooey, gooey dairy delight, three-year-old Charlotte is also majorly into olives, according to the Duchess.

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A post shared by The Prince and Princess of Wales (@princeandprincessofwales)

So what got Middleton to open up about her kids’ meal-time picks? During a recent visit to the Lavender Primary School (as part of Children’s Mental Health Week), the Duchess got the chance to check out one classroom’s “mood meter.” The project helps the students better understand the connection between food, body and mind.

According to Ivy Learning Trust chief executive Matthew Kleiner-Mann, during the event Middleton talked about how she gets her kids involved in the kitchen, “She was telling us how much her children love cooking and how they cook for her.” Kleiner-Mann also added, “They made cheesy pasta the other day. One stirs the flour, one puts the milk and butter in. And they make salads and stuff.”

Cheesy pasta that Prince George and Princess Charlotte whip up? Salads and stuff? Maybe the royals are just like us. At least when it comes to keeping kids busy in the kitchen.

—Erica Loop

Featured Photo: Kensington Palace via Instagram

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Here’s How Parents Around the World Tackle Bedtime

by Erica LoopJanuary 6, 2018

photo: Pexels

When is your child’s bedtime? Chances are that it’s not the same as your neighbor’s kids, your child’s pre-k classmates or even your BFF’s baby. And it’s certainly not identical to children around the globe. At least, it probably isn’t. Bedtime is serious business. If your child struggles to sleep, rebels against bedtime or just outright refuses to sleep, it can turn your world upside down. Given the weight that parents put on bedtime, getting a world view may just help you to better understand your own nightly challenges.

Children’s bedtimes aren’t the only sleep-related differences that are found in different countries and cultures. In photographer James Mollison’s book Where Children Sleep, bedtime certainly didn’t look the same everywhere. CNN reported that Mollison said, “I met many families who sleep together in one room or children who sleep in a space of convenience, rather than a place they can in a sense call their room.”

When it comes to the time that parents send their little off to dreamland, the numbers differed almost as much as where the kiddos slept. A 2010 study published in the journal Sleep Medicine found that average bedtimes varied from 7:28 p.m. in New Zealand to 10:17 p.m. in Hong Kong.

With all the variation in places where kids sleep and bedtimes, it’s no wonder that nighttime antics can get parents down. And this isn’t just true for parents of babies or very young children. As kids age and start using digital devices, such as smartphones, shuttling them off to sleep can become increasingly difficult. On top of that, researchers have found a link between using electronics before bed and poor sleep quality, less sleep time, increased fatigue and even higher body mass index (in children who either used cell phones or watched television prior to going to sleep).

What can you do to help your child sleep? There isn’t a clear-cut answer. Creating a routine, ditching the devices and creating a sleeping environment that soothes is a start though.

What time do you think is the perfect bedtime? Tell us in the comments below.

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