Family and parenting
Everything we have published on Family and parenting, newest first. Background, research and plain explanation — not only the headline of the day.
The Chore Is Not the Whole Job
Household fairness is easier to discuss when couples count the noticing, deciding and checking that happen before and after a visible task.
For 74 Years Nobody Knew Who He Was. The Answer Was Stuck in the Plaster of His Own Death Mask.
A man died on an Adelaide beach in 1948 with a scrap of Persian poetry sewn into his trouser pocket, and Australia spent three generations deciding he was a spy. Hairs caught in the cast of his face, a database of distant cousins and a family tree of four thousand people say he was something much sadder.
Nearly 5,000 Schools Locked the Phones Away. Year One Looked Like a Mistake.
The largest study yet of lockable phone pouches found test scores flat, suspensions up and pupils feeling worse in the first year — and pupils feeling clearly better by the second.
France's Top Court Just Blocked a Teen Social Media Ban — What That Leaves Parents Holding
France's Constitutional Council struck down a law banning social media for under-15s on free-expression grounds, leaving parents right back where they started: alone with the decision.
The Herat arrests are a defining moment of Taliban repression in Afghanistan
A visit to a market, a medical appointment, or a family gathering is no longer judged only by necessity, but also by the possibility of being questioned, humiliated, or detained.
Pursuing a Dream of Working for NASA
As a young girl raised in Worcester, Massachusetts, Lindsey Waitt dreamed of working for NASA. Her dream is now a reality as she embarks on her role as a NASA test project engineer with the Artemis la
Preeclampsia rates in minority communities shed light on the social roots of maternal health disparities
Disproportionate rates of preeclampsia – a potentially dangerous pregnancy complication – in immigrant populations reflect the physical toll of social and economic insecurities.
It’s getting hotter in classrooms and on playgrounds – schools aren’t ready to handle extreme temperatures
A rising number of school districts across the country are beginning their new academic years in July or August, raising the likelihood that kids and educators will encounter scorching days.
How to be grateful to someone – even when you really don’t want to
Struggling to feel grateful? Try thinking differently about what caused the person’s actions.
College professors face an emerging challenge: We know students are no longer reading entire books
Some teachers increasingly are shifting their approach to reading, assigning fewer books than they once did.
Class, let’s watch a short video – more than 75% of teachers say they use YouTube in the classroom
New research shows that YouTube is used not just as an occasional supplement, but as a staple of classroom instruction.
Why Relationships Fail: It's Rarely the Reason You Think
The complaint that ends a relationship is almost never the reason it ended — here's how to find the one underneath it.
When Chinese parents outsource control over their adult children
China's rebranded “internet addiction” industry now helps families confine legally independent adult children, exposing how parental coercion survives through private institutions and weak enforcement
What is emotional regulation? A child psychologist explains
The aim isn’t to get rid of difficult feelings, but to find ways of managing them effectively.
What a western Pennsylvania ’90s-style Pizza Hut reveals about nostalgia
A Carnegie Mellon University marketing researcher explains why the love of a retro Pizza Hut has more to do with the relationships attached to it than pizza.
The moral paradox of extreme wealth: Why people oppose it yet are reluctant to take steps to reduce it
Extreme inequality is commonplace, so why do people accept it?
The anatomy of erasure: Indigenous Assyrian women and forgotten genocide
Indigenous Assyrian women were erased three times: first as Assyrians, then through sexual violence, finally by history itself. The machinery that made them disappear is still running.
Students are anxious – and it’s no surprise, since we are teaching them to be that way
Whether students feel pressure to get good grades or keep up with classmates, the anxiety this effort produces can have long-term effects on their brains.
Schools are rethinking whether every student needs a laptop
Rather than considering how much time students spend on screens, the more useful question is whether they are asking questions and solving problems with the help of technology.
Play is essential for young children, including when it comes to their learning
Play-based early childhood programs can help young kids develop emotional regulation and problem-solving skills, traits that can serve them well throughout childhood.
Parents putting screens in front of their kids is more about their own stress than other factors
Most research on kids’ screen time has focused on a child’s behavior. Far less attention has gone to parents and their role in their children’s media use.
Identity beyond citizenship: What remains when the state refuses to recognise you?
Documents can confirm a legal relationship with a state, but they cannot create or erase a person’s existence, history, family, or sense of belonging.
Better call mom: Schools still see mothers as the default parent to contact
When both parents appeared equally available, schools were 40% more likely to call students’ moms, rather than their dads.
Currency Intervention Isn't Just About the Target Currency: What It's Funded With, and What Cross Rates Show — QMA Brain Analysis
QMA Brain analysis: For currency interventions, watching the target currency isn't enough; the key is verifying what funded the intervention, and whether cross rates, volume, options volatility confirm it.