Cry It Out?

A recent blog entry on Psychology Today's website discusses the dangers of parents letting their babies "cry it out." The origin of the "cry it out" method began long ago in the 1800's, but it's a philosophy many parents still follow today. Dr. Narvaez, the author of the article, states that research has shown that babies left to cry alone in their cribs suffer from extreme distress and the practice creates long term effects, such as impaired growth and an inability to trust.

Yowza. Does this new school of thought change the way you view the "cry it out" method, or are you still a firm believer? Check out the article and let us know what you think!

Like Mother, Like Daughter....

When it comes to how mothers raise their children, a recent study from Ohio State University looked across two generations and found that mothers today tend to follow the same practices their own mothers did. However, men do not. That raises a good question…where do men learn how to parent?

"We were surprised that mothers seem to learn a lot about the parenting role from their own mothers, but fathers don't follow their mothers as much," said Jonathan Vespa, co-author of the study and doctoral student in sociology at Ohio State.

Another interesting part to this new study revealed significant generational changes in parenting practices, with great increases in the amount of reading and affection shown to children today, and reductions in the amount of spanking.

"While parents, particularly women, are learning many parenting practices from their mothers, there is also a lot of new practices they are picking up from the broader culture," he said.

I think this probably rings very true, as there is so much more information readily available to new mothers now from Web sites, books, magazines and pod casts. For more information on the findings of the study, click here.

So what do you think? Do you think you parent like your own mother did? When it comes to raising your children, what have you caught yourself doing something that sounds just like your mother? Post in the comments section below.