"After tracking nearly 65,000 such children for nine years, the researchers report in the medical journal The Lancet that those children are at a physical and mental health disadvantage compared to children living with both parents."
I am so internet challenged but hopefully if I hang around long enough, I will become a whiz.
The author of the paper is Jacquelin Kirby, M.S. of The Ohio State University. The report is entitled "Single-Parent Families In Poverty"
This touches on the subject and gives some reasons for the poor mental health (among other issues) of said children but doesn't address the specific problems of mental health. I'm sure there are other articles and reports that suggest this very issue.
[ edited by wendywins on Jan 24, 2003 01:31 AM ]
posted on January 24, 2003 09:45:44 AM new
Thanks, Yeager! I always appreciate kind acts!
I think these studies all have some merit. Kids with single parents are more than likely kids with a working parent.
This means that a parent working an 8 hour day (plus travel time and lunch/breaks) will be away from their children more than they are with them. During the week, the few frantic morning hours are spent showering, making lunches, eating breakfast, finding homework and books, and getting to the bus/school. The after school hours are filled with being along until the parent comes home and then onto homework, dinner, and getting ready for bed.
Now add in an absent parent or weekends that are shuffles back and forth to the other parent. I can't imagine how these kids stay sane!
It's got to be lonely for the children as well as the parents. All of this is in addition to the lack of money...
posted on January 24, 2003 10:26:12 AM new
It doesn't matter if you're rich or poor, bringing up a child is expensive and hard work. If only half of these adults realized this before they had children, there wouldn't be this problem, which is widespread. When will adults start to take responsibility for what they produce?
posted on January 24, 2003 10:49:56 AM new
Right, kraftdinner! As I said in the other thread about womens rights, birthcontrol pills should be availabe to all women at the local drug store right next to condoms.
I don't agree with the authors of this study that the effect of poverty can be so easily ruled out. Although Sweden's welfare benefits serve as some protection compared to other countries, it still doesn't eliminate the poverty variable. It's not possible to accurately adjust the data to eliminate economic influence.
posted on January 24, 2003 10:58:08 AM new
I agree Helen! The only argument is that there are SO many types of pills that they need to be regulated.
There are pills specifically for nursing mothers and others for hormone and health issues! I wish there was a one size fits all variety. Can you imagine if pills were handed out on the streets like condoms and drug needles often are?
Better yet there is a "patch" that is good for a week at a time, even through showering, excercise, etc. Let's distribute that!
posted on January 24, 2003 11:11:39 AM new
With all the money pumped into medical research, controlling the population should be the biggest concern in the world. What a bonus it would be to countries like India, Africa, China, etc. where overpopulation is polluting their resources. If poverty breeds ignorant people, then the smart people in the world have to come up with a solution to help them and that's not happening.
posted on January 24, 2003 11:25:48 AM new
I personally don't think that poverty has anything to do with it. So long as you have a roof over your head, food in your belly, a place to sleep, and clean clothes to wear, kids are just fine. They don't need possessions. If anything, it is our American culture of Consumerism and the exploitation of mareting to children that makes some kids go crazy if they don't have the latest status symbol. Fortunately, the rest of the world isn't so sick.
posted on January 24, 2003 12:29:12 PM new
I would agree with the study,..However if someone would explaine the kids who come from from a family..(both Mother and Father)and end up in as much trouble.I see it all the time.
People dont know how to discipline their kids,Both seem, to be afraid of being the bad guy,and instead of reaction,there is no action.The kid learns very quickly there is no punishment for their actions.
So now the single parent is to blame for all the goofey kids running around.
Another absurd study to destroy moral.
posted on January 24, 2003 01:42:52 PM new
Junquemama--
I grew up in a two parent home but we had a lot of the same problems as single parents do. Both my parents had to work to support the family and we (four of us kids) were often left on our own as our parents worked.
The results speak for themselves: my sister got pregnant at 14, dropped out of school and eventually lost custody of her child.
My brother dropped out of highschool (but later ended up getting a GED and going to a tech school).
My parents were excellent parents but made very unwise decisions in regards to marrying each other and financial problems. They "stayed together for the kids" and didn't fight around us or put each other down but it was obvious they didn't much care for each other.
Luckily, 3 of the 4 of us have become productive citizens and hopefully the 4th will someday come around.
I think that the "want, want, want" syndrome takes over and makes people want huge homes and vehicles, expensive clothing, toys up the yin-yang, gobs of debt, etc. and the kids pay the price. Both parents have to work to support the lifestyle and the kids go by the way side.
[ edited by wendywins on Jan 24, 2003 01:43 PM ]
posted on January 24, 2003 02:02:24 PM new
Distribution of birth control pills could be managed without the direction of a physician. It's possible. The only hurdle would be the competing pharmaceutical companies. Don't think that you need a doctor for every move that you make.
I disagree that poverty causes no problems in raising children. What a crazy concept.
posted on January 24, 2003 02:21:33 PM new
wendywins,I have to agree with you there about the, Have to have society.We are bombarded 24 hours about what we need and have to have to be happy.The food commercials,The new cars,The house loans,played dailey on TV and radio and the internet.Not being able to provide the media control of happiness to our kids may seem like we are losers to the kids.They feel left out as they arent born with the savey to distinguish a dream from reality.No one is telling the kids about economics of their wanting,and buy it to shut them up.Several of the familys I spoke of have stay at home Moms,Daddy works.Others have both Mother and Daddy at home because they do auctions or have their own web site company.
Drat!.I think Im preachin,forgive me,Too close to home.
I must beg to differ with you about the physician perspective about birth control.
I feel that I am fairly well informed about the subject and have been using them for many years.
The first week of this year I almost died because of misinformation regarding birth control pills. The one I was using was specifically for nursing mothers but what anyone failed to mention was that if you cut back to feeding less than five times per day, you must change pills. I ended up getting pregnant, unbeknownst to me and it was ectopic. It burst my tube and filled my abdomen with blood.
I was rushed to the hospital and the doctors were surprised I was still functioning. I had NO clue I was pregnant.
My chances of having children have been much diminished and the chances of another ectopic pregnancy have skyrocketed~threatening infertility. I am only in my early 20's and don't know whether I should risk my life to have more kids because of this.
Many people don't have the luxury of understanding all the complexities of these drugs and need a professional to help. Another example is women who smoke should not be on the pill~it could kill them as well. There are just too many variables to consider with each individual.
posted on January 24, 2003 03:01:49 PM new
Wendywins,
I am sorry to hear about your ectopic pregnancy while taking birth control pills. As you probably know, it's a rare problem and happens to people not taking birth control pills. I believe that a birth control pill could be developed that would be relatively safe for most people.
There are lots of products in drug stores that can be bought off the shelf that are dangerous to some people. Something as simple as a couple of asprins can cause serious internal bleeding for some people.
posted on January 24, 2003 03:06:00 PM new
About smoking and taking birth control pills....although I have never smoked, I do have friends that smoke and take birth control pills. They are still alive!!!
posted on January 24, 2003 03:19:39 PM new
>People dont know how to discipline their kids,Both seem, to be afraid of being the bad guy,and instead of reaction,there is no action.The kid learns very quickly there is no punishment for their actions.
NOUN:
1. Training expected to produce a specific character or pattern of
behavior, especially training that produces moral or mental
improvement.
2. Controlled behavior resulting from disciplinary training; self-control.
3a. Control obtained by enforcing compliance or order. b. A systematic method to obtain obedience: a military discipline. c. A state of order based on submission to rules and authority: a teacher who demanded discipline in the classroom.
4. Punishment intended to correct or train.
5. A set of rules or methods, as those regulating the practice of a church or monastic order.
6. A branch of knowledge or teaching.
TRANSITIVE VERB:
Inflected forms: dis·ci·plined, dis·ci·plin·ing, dis·ci·plines
1. To train by instruction and practice, especially to teach self-control to.
2. To teach to obey rules or accept authority. See synonyms at teach.
3. To punish in order to gain control or enforce obedience.
Once again, dictionaries only show the most common modern usage of a word, working backwards to least common.
Most educated people do not use the word 'discipline' in place of the word "punishment". Rather, some forms of discipline may use punishment as a means to create obedience; but administering punishment is not the discipline itself.
Sorry. It really irks me on this misuse of a perfectly fine word with much use in writing that has nothing to do with the concept of punishments.
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
In reality, I agree that parents to don know how to discipline their own lives, let alone apply a useful method of discipline to a child. Usually, they either beat the kid or ignore them, both of which often have negative consequences for society in the long run.
posted on January 24, 2003 03:43:30 PM new
ABOUT POVERTY....
By poverty, I am referring to living in low income housing in a neighborhood filled with drugs and violence and environmental toxins...NOT a large home in the suburbs.
By poverty, I am referring to schools that are inadequate with unqualified teachers, few books and supplies.
By poverty, I am referring to transportation on a bus or metro if it's affordable....NOT a special vehicle.
By poverty, I am referring to poor nutrition, both before birth and after, sometimes affecting brain development.
No expensive clothing....just adequate clothing and shoes...hopefully. ----No toys up the "yin yang"..as you call it..No books unless there is a library in the ghetto.
Providing these basic needs usually results in a single mother that is alone and depressed and this affects the children, leaving them with less interaction with the mother...The mother's inability to cope with this overwhelming situation sometimes leading to trauma and abuse of the children.
This is what I meant by poverty and it surprises me that the authors or the study chose to ignore it.
I do agree that MOST women could do fine with the few most popular pills. Perhaps there is a chart that could be posted by the pills that will steer women to the product that is right for them.
When my sister went to the doc for birth control after her baby was born, the doc would not even prescribe pills to her. He said the risk of high blood pressure was too great. Perhaps there have been some advancements in the meds since then but as far as I know it's still a big "no-no".
The link doesn't work...the page is no longer available.
But you don't need to convince me that there are drugs on the market that contraindicate smoking. I know that. But some do allow smoking. Those are the ones that could be sold in a drugstore...available to everyone.
Helen
to make a link work,
[url]put the url here and end with[/url$]
For example, the link to auctionwatch....
[url]http://www.auctionwatch.com[/url$]
Remove the dollar mark in the ending tag so that it will work.
posted on January 24, 2003 05:12:07 PM new
Thanks Helen!!!
I love to learn new things and the link bit will help a great deal! I'll get that one up for you.
I just typed in "birth control and smoking" into the search engine and came up with a slew of sites related to that. Even planned parenthood has a printed phamplet they hand out related to the issue!
posted on January 24, 2003 05:20:29 PM new
" An excerpt from the Physician’s Desk Reference (PDR), a text describing prescription medications and the risks associated, reads as follows:
WARNING: Cigarette smoking increases the risk of serious cardiovascular side effects from oral contraceptive use. This risk increases with age and heavy smoking (15 or more cigarettes per day) and is quite marked in women over 35 years of age. Women who use oral contraceptives should be strongly advised not to smoke. More specifically, risks increase for heart attacks, blood clots, stroke, liver cancer, and gallbladder disease, although the risk is very small in healthy women without underlying risk factors. "
It's under Heathlink, Medical College of Wisconsin
[ edited by wendywins on Jan 24, 2003 05:20 PM ]
[ edited by wendywins on Jan 24, 2003 05:22 PM ]
[ edited by wendywins on Jan 24, 2003 07:52 PM ]
posted on January 24, 2003 05:26:54 PM new
You can buy that prescription online without a prescription. The pharmaceutical companies cover themselves very carefully.
I certainly wouldn't advise anyone to take that one and smoke though, based on what you told me.
Nearly every prescription medicine that you may use has some risks, including death. Have you seen the commercials on tv? LOL!
It's not on that link either. (Heathlink, Medical College of Wisconsin)
Helen
If you do a google search, you will find that drug being sold without a prescription.
http://www.google.com
posted on January 24, 2003 09:08:46 PM new
>I don't believe in punishment. Discipline or rather direction is the way to go with children.
I gave up on the concept of Punishment a long time ago. Punishing kids seldom works as it quickly becomes a game with them to see who can best whom. A continuance of that approach is to levie physical violence on a child, as that is the only way to stop the gameplaying in that appraoch to discipline.
Instead, parents do much better by leading by example. Adults may find redundant, runt-like schedules a bore, but children thrive on it. For children, a dependable daily routine is a godsend and most of the security tyhat they need to grow up with balanced, productive lives.
I tried to explain this to many parents of the childrn with severe emotional problems and most of them rejected the idea out of hand. They themselves could not pull themelves together to create a schedule and live by it, so there was no way that kids would ever get to benefit from it. They would even argue that going to bed at 8:00 every night (except during Summertime when it's light later at night) was OK until the weekend. Then kids got to stay up later on weekends. I argued around and around with them about that. A schedule is a schedule is a schedule and no day should be different from any other day as much as possible.
Eventually, I wished that the State had a super-program for these kids and that the kids could just be taken away from the messed-up parents and put into a loving, disciplined environment where they could develope a sense of security. Most disciplinary problems that I have seen with kids comes from this laxck of discipline; that is, the lack of a firmly set seven-day a week schedule. With it, unruly kids quickly settled down and changed their behavior for the better all on their own. Such a simpe solution that many parents are too selfish about to do. They want to have kids, but are not willing to do what it takes to work in their kid's best interests.
posted on January 25, 2003 08:57:58 AM newMost educated people do not use the word 'discipline' in place of the word "punishment". Rather, some forms of discipline may use punishment as a means to create obedience; but administering punishment is not the discipline itself.
Please explaine your statement,After my use of the word discipline.Then you freely use the word discipline in two other postings.
