Sallie Mae's study, "How America Saves for College 2009," conducted by Gallup, provides a measure of the commitment parents have to helping their children reach higher education and whether and how they are saving for the investment. Based on a nationally representative survey of parents of children under age 18, the study found that without…

Presents suggestions to help parents feel at ease when they leave their children with a babysitter, offering tips on: how to find a sitter, scheduling the sitter, paying fairly, laying down the rules, ensuring safety, preparing a list, and providing food. (SM)

The majority of U.S. women who have abortions (61%) have children. This exploratory study analyzes qualitative information from 38 women obtaining abortions to examine how issues of motherhood influenced their decisions to terminate their pregnancies. Women in the sample had abortions because of the material responsibilities of motherhood, such as…

In this column, the authors expand on the theme of learning to read and learning to love reading through reading. They explain that stories, or narratives, are important and perhaps are the main entry point for reading at home. However, the authors assert that learning to embrace reading means learning to embrace a wider palette of materials that…

Parents of children conceived by gamete (sperm or egg) donation often find it challenging to share donor conception stories with their children. This study reports findings of a qualitative study of families with children conceived by donor insemination in New Zealand, a country where the policy and practice of sharing information in donor…

Two hundred and fourteen (214) parents of young children (M age = 6.75 years) were surveyed about their plans for sexuality discussions with their children. Parents were asked to indicate when they would first discuss sex education with their children for 15 specific topics, how effective they perceived themselves to be at discussing each topic,…

This research draws on six interviews with mothers with dependent children who are studying to become primary school teachers in New Zealand. It investigates the motivating factors that encouraged them to undertake such tertiary studies and also introduces the implications for their families. For these six women, the role of mother seemed…

Young children's beliefs about what is right and wrong traditionally have been strongly influenced by their families. However, in today's American family and current culture, children often are coming to school with problematic behaviors and attitudes. Therefore, character education has become a necessity in schools. As children enter school,…

This paper reports the results of the first academic study of the use of a major social networking website, MySpace, by children. The study examined the degree of, and reasons for, information disclosure by children in high schools in Sydney, Australia. Social networking sites such as MySpace are a huge Internet phenomenon, some with hundreds of…

Guided by symbolic interactionism, this qualitative study based on interviews with 83 rural mothers investigated mothers' perceptions of nonresident fathers' involvement in low-income families. Contrary to some fathers' claims that mothers "gatekeep" their access to children, the majority of mothers in our study wanted increased father…

Describes Wisconsin's new child support assurance system which includes collection of child support by withholding from income, a percent-of-income standard for support, and a benefit to the child equal to amount paid by noncustodial parent or to an assured child support benefit, whichever is higher. Provides estimates of benefits and costs of…

Outlines ways used by cities across the nation to fight increased school vandalism. (Author)

Presents four tips to help parents monitor whether website operators are complying with the 1988 Children's Online Privacy Protection Act: look for privacy policies on children's websites; determine if they ask for parental consent to collect personal information; regularly monitor information being sent to children; and determine if web operators…

With the acceptance of sex equity in society, pregnancy-prevention programs are being established to target men. These programs promote male responsibility. Describes five programs. Provides a list of national organization and state/local programs relevant to pregnancy prevention programs aimed at young men. (Author/MKA)

This booklet gives adults practical tips to help kids navigate the online world. Kids and parents have many ways of socializing and communicating online, but they come with certain risks. This guide encourages parents to reduce the risks by talking to kids about how they communicate--online and off--and helping kids engage in conduct they can be…