Boba Family » Research

Surge in Antibullying Books Reflects a Broader Cultural Alarm

Nichole — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 18:00:02 +0000

The title drew me in. “Publishers revel in youthful cruelty” is pretty catchy after all. I was curious why any one person or group would revel in anyone’s cruelty because likely there is a very real someone on the receiving end of it. The title, while catchy, doesn’t quite fit the bill.

The article is part book list and part statement on today’s culture, meets empathetic book authors who were once bullied themselves and are sharing their stories as a means of catharsis, as well as support for others who like themselves, suffer because of bullying.

It got me thinking about the bullying that I have been the target of over the years, as well as the times in my life when I was the bully, whether I was simply blowing it with a lack of skillfulness around my own emotions, or I was unaware of my impact of my actions until after the fact. Thank goodness that given the chance, we can so often make things right again.

It also got me thinking on the many examples that I am aware of where bullying and aggressiveness is rewarded in my world, big and small, near and far. If anyone wanted to, it would be easy to list to bullies who we see in the world, from politicians in all directions, entertainers, professional athletes, religious groups and even corporations. So many who unabashedly bully and intimidate others, often to great rewards such as fame, position and financial payout.

It is not just about harassment in the school yard any longer, not that it ever was if we are to look honestly at the world around us. Children and adults alike are subjects of bullying at school and work, over social media or even through very own phones.

I appreciate the book list offered up in this article, especially as it may also offer up a helpful resource to someone who may be struggling personally with bullying, or to someone who is looking to help someone who is. From the self-help authors who chronicle their own personal struggles with bullying and now offer their seasoned advice, to those authors who channeled their personal struggles into fiction that rings true for so many. The anti-bullying book business is booming today and there are very good reasons as to why.

You can link to the original article through the title.

Publishers Revel in Youthful Cruelty

by Leslie Kaufman, published New York Times, March 26, 2013

Nobody likes a bully — but these days the book industry loves having them to kick around. Antibullying books have become numerous enough to constitute their own profitable genre.

Publishing houses are flooding the market with titles that tackle bullying. The books are aimed at all age groups — from “Bully,” a picture book for elementary-grade students, to the“The Bully Book,” for middle school children, about an average kid who suddenly becomes everyone’s favorite victim, to “Sticks and Stones” by Emily Bazelon, a recent release for adults that includes both stories and analysis. According to World Cat, a catalog of library collections worldwide, the number of English-language books tagged with the key word “bullying” in 2012 was 1,891, an increase of 500 in a decade.

There are even more to come, said Elizabeth Bird, who tracks coming books and trends for youth collections at the New York Public Library. “Bullying has always been a popular topic, but this year we are seeing bullying titles coming out as never before, and there is no end in sight.”

The publishing world’s preoccupation with bullies does not end at the bookshelf. Several publishing houses, including Random House, Simon & Schuster and even Harlequin, have started antibullying campaigns built around their books. Authors have taken action on their own as well. Two young-adult authors, Megan Kelley Hall and Carrie Jones, assembled an anthology of personal essays, called “Dear Bully: 70 Authors Tell Their Stories,” (HarperTeen 2011) by prominent writers like R. L. Stine, with a portion of the proceeds going to charity.

Ms. Hall and Ms. Jones also came together to form and maintain a Facebook site called Young Adult Authors Against Bullying that identifies cruel Facebook pages and lobbies to have them taken down.

Bullying has become such a common topic for authors that in October there will be a conference in Missouri for authors of books on the subject. There is space for only 300 participants but already 80 have signed up to attend.

The surge in antibullying books reflects the broader cultural alarm about the problem, spurred in part by several high-profile cases of cyberbullying that resulted in suicides.

The White House held its first conference on bullying prevention in 2011. In response to government cues, libraries, schools and even bookstores like Barnes & Noble, the nation’s largest retail book chain, have been holding events to talk about the problem and provide help for parents and children. Those resources often come at least in part in the form of books and lectures by authors.

For publishers and authors it has been hard to miss the perfect synergy that results: They can promote a cause that most people avidly support while promoting their own products.

“The intention is service, to help the teachers and librarians who are looking for resources,” said Michelle Fadlalla, director of education and library marketing for Simon & Schuster, which published the early antibullying success “The Misfits” in 2003 and this year published “Justin and the Bully” by the former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy. “At the same time it is definitely an opportunity for us to gather sales because it is such a hot topic.”

A case in point is “Wonder” by R. J. Palacio, a book about a boy with facial deformities that came out last year and is No. 1 on the New York Times children’s middle-grade best-seller list, with more than 350,000 copies. Although it was not written as an antibullying book, many teachers and librarians began assigning it that way to students. The publisher, Random House Children’s Books, saw an opportunity and created a “Choose Kind” campaign based on sentiments expressed in the book, in which individuals or classrooms can pledge to do acts of kindness.

The book’s message of tolerance and empathy is so popular that this year both Fairfield, Conn., and Santa Monica, Calif., chose “Wonder” for their communitywide reading initiatives.

Marketing opportunities do not completely explain the boom in the number of titles, however. Heather Brewer, the author of “The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod” vampire series, about being an outsider, said that bullying strikes a common chord with many authors.

“There is a certain personality to being a writer, a quirky introverted type maybe not as socially adept, and they tend to be picked on a little bit more than others,” she said in an interview.

Ms. Brewer is organizing the antibullying writers’ conference in October in part because she was a victim herself when she was growing up in Columbiaville, Mich. “I would have books knocked out of my hand,” she said. “I would be pinched and shoved. So letting people know about the dangers of bullying is important to me.”

Ms. Hall, who collaborated on the “Dear Bully” anthology after Phoebe Prince, a bullied high schooler from South Hadley, Mass., committed suicide in 2010, said she had to turn away authors who wanted to be included in the collection.

“A lot of the authors say books saved their lives during those difficult teen years,” Ms. Hall said. And authors, in turn, can be fiercely protective of their vulnerable, bookish readers. “They know that their fan base is people like them,” she said, “people who consider reading as a refuge. We want to be there for teens to let them know it will get better.”

Surviving a meanspirited peer is an age-old element of young-adult literature of course. But the context has changed, said Gillian Engberg, an editor at Booklist magazine, a publication of the American Library Association. Instead of being a rite of passage that must be endured or to be overcome, it is now analyzed in a much more psychological way. Some books, like “Leverage,” which depicts the rape of a male high-school gymnast by three football players, are graphic and decline to offer happy endings.

Several books now include the perspective of not just the victim but also of the bully, bystanders and even the adults who enable or ignore the behavior. “There is a nuanced approach,” Ms. Engberg said. “We are seeing more and more of these books that take on all of these perspectives.”

Jay Asher, the author of the best-selling novel “Thirteen Reasons Why” (2007), about a girl who sends tapes to people explaining their roles in her decision to take her own life, said the biggest difference for books about bullying now is the level of adult concern about the issue.

He said he is now asked to speak at schools three or four times a month, as well as to adult groups. What’s more he is often asked to speak in conjunction with others, like representatives from suicide-prevention help lines. Mr. Asher, 37, said he sees a real change from the time when he was growing up.

“What is different now is that adults really take this stuff seriously,” he said, “and they don’t want to turn their backs.”

The Impact of a Mother’s Love on Brain Size and Development

Nichole — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 19:47:11 +0000

(Photo : Bruce D. Perry, M.D., Ph.D./Child Trauma Academy) Neurologists say that the sizeable difference between these two brains of two different 3-year-olds has one primary cause: the way that their mothers treated them

Lending a voice of science and research, to what mother’s already know well, is how maternal love and support impacts and effects of a child’s brain size and growth. With the size and growth of the brain’s structures relating directly to a child’s (and the adult they will become) potential for learning, as well as long- and short-term memory, and lifelong appropriate stress responses.

First published 2012, this research focuses on the amygdala, which is the area of the brain connected to emotional memory and reactions, and the hippocampus, which consolidates information from short-term memory to long-term memory, and spatial navigation. To offer more context for the type of impact this may have on a developing child’s brain, the hippocampus is one of the first areas of the adult brain that registers the damage of Alheimer’s Disease.

The image above, from the work of researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, demonstrates how a mother’s love and care-giving physically affects the mass and structure of a her child’s developing hippocampus, with some children showing a difference of a full 10 percent in hippocampal mass between nurtured children and their extremely neglected counterparts.

Read more about these finding in the article shared below.

Chilling Brain Scans Show the Impact of a Mother’s Love on a Child’s Brain Size

By Christine Hsu Oct 29, 2012

A shocking comparison of brain scans from two three-year-old children reveals new evidence of the remarkable impact a mother’s love has on a child’s brain development.

The chilling images reveal that the left brain, which belongs to a normal 3-year-old, is significantly larger and contains fewer spots and dark “fuzzy” areas than the right brain, which belongs to that of a 3-year-old who has suffered extreme neglect.

Neurologists say that the latest images provide more evidence that the way children are treated in their early years is important not only for the child’s emotional development, but also in determining the size of their brains.

Experts say that the sizeable difference in the two brains is primarily caused by the difference in the way each child was treated by their mothers.

While at first glance, the images might indicate that the child with the right brain might have suffered a serious accident or illness, neurologists said that the truth is that the child with the shrunken brain was neglected and abused by its mother, and the child with the larger and more fully developed brain was raised in a loving, supportive home and was looked after by its mother, according to The Sunday Telegraph.

Researchers told the UK newspaper that the image of the brain scan on the right shows that the child lacks some of the most fundamental areas that are present in the image of the brain scan on the left.

They say that the child on the left with the larger brain will be more intelligent and will be more likely to develop the social ability to empathize with others compared to the child on the right.

On the other hand, the child with the smaller brain on the right will be more likely to become addicted to drugs, be involved in violent crimes, be unemployed and dependent on government benefits in the future.

Furthermore, the child with the shrunken brain is significantly more likely to develop mental and other serious health-related problems.

Professor Allan Schore from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) said that in the first two years, babies rely on a strong bond with their mothers for healthy brain development.

“The development of cerebral circuits depends on it,” he said, adding that because 80 percent of brain cells grow in the first two years of life, problems in that development can affect people for the rest of their lives.

Furthermore, researchers said that the more severe the mother’s neglect, the more pronounced the brain damage can be.

Researchers said the process of childhood neglect is a vicious cycle because the parents of neglected children were also neglected by their parents and do not have fully developed brain.

However, past research has shown that the cycle can be broken if there is early intervention and families are supported.

The latest study supports research released earlier this year that showed that children brought up by mothers who provide love and affection early in life are smarter and have a greater capacity to learn.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, found that children whose mothers nurtured them early in life have a larger hippocampus, a key brain structure that is essential to learning, memory and response to stress, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition.

Research: Breast Milk Contains More Than 700 Species of Beneficial Bacteria

Nichole — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 19:00:59 +0000

More research dollars than ever are being put toward the discovery and a better understanding of what is already well known and promoted worldwide, that Breast is Best. And that breastfed babies are healthier and more robust babies who then grow toward being healthier and more robust adults. To understand why, researchers are looking to bacteria and tracing the microbes present in breast milk.

In the article shared below, you will read about the recent discovery of more than 700 species of beneficial bacteria found in breastmilk and about the factors, such as maternal weight and natural vs. cesarean birth, that have been shown to influence the diversity and quality of these mighty microbes.

I have linked to the original stories at the end for those interested in reading the published work in it’s entirety.

Science Daily, Jan. 4, 2013

Spanish researchers have traced the bacterial microbiota map in breast milk, which is often the main source of nourishment for newborns. The study has revealed a larger microbial diversity than originally thought: more than 700 species.The breast milk received from the mother is one of the factors determining how the bacterial flora will develop in the newborn baby. However, the composition and the biological role of these bacteria in infants remain unknown.

A group of Spanish scientists have now used a technique based on massive DNA sequencing to identify the set of bacteria contained within breast milk called microbiome. Thanks to their study, pre- and postnatal variables influencing the micriobial richness of milk can now be determined.

Colostrum is the first secretion of the mammary glands after giving birth. In some of the samples taken of this liquid, more than 700 species of these microorganisms were found, which is more than originally expected by experts. The results have been published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

“This is one of the first studies to document such diversity using the pyrosequencing technique (a large scale DNA sequencing determination technique) on colostrum samples on the one hand, and breast milk on the other, the latter being collected after one and six months of breastfeeding,” explain the coauthors, María Carmen Collado, researcher at the Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology (IATA-CSIC) and Alex Mira, researcher at the Higher Public Health Research Centre (CSISP-GVA).

The most common bacterial genera in the colostrum samples were Weissella, Leuconostoc, Staphylococcus, Streptococcus and Lactococcus. In the fluid developed between the first and sixth month of breastfeeding, bacteria typical of the oral cavity were observed, such as veillonella, leptotrichia and prevotella.

“We are not yet able to determine if these bacteria colonise the mouth of the baby or whether oral bacteria of the breast-fed baby enter the breast milk and thus change its composition,” outline the authors.

The heavier the mother, the fewer the bacteria

The study also reveals that the milk of overweight mothers or those who put on more weight than recommended during pregnancy contains a lesser diversity of species.

The type of labour also affects the microbiome within the breast milk: that of mothers who underwent a planned caesarean is different and not as rich in microorganisms as that of mothers who had a vaginal birth. However, when the caesarean is unplanned (intrapartum), milk composition is very similar to that of mothers who have a vaginal birth.

These results suggest that the hormonal state of the mother at the time of labour also plays a role: “The lack of signals of physiological stress, as well as hormonal signals specific to labour, could influence the microbial composition and diversity of breast milk,” state the authors.

Help for the Food Industry

Given that the bacteria present in breast milk constitute one of initial instances of contact with microorganisms that colonise the infant’s digestive system, the researchers are now working to determine if their role is metabolic (it helps the breast-fed baby to digest the milk) or immune (it helps to distinguish beneficial or foreign organisms).

For the authors, the results have opened up new doors for the design of child nutrition strategies that improve health. “If the breast milk bacteria discovered in this study were important for the development of the immune system, its addition to infant formula could decrease the risk of allergies, asthma and autoimmune diseases,” conclude the authors.

Journal Reference:

R. Cabrera-Rubio, M. C. Collado, K. Laitinen, S. Salminen, E. Isolauri, A. Mira. The human milk microbiome changes over lactation and is shaped by maternal weight and mode of delivery. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2012; 96 (3): 544 DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.112.037382

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Plataforma SINC, via AlphaGalileo via ScienceDaily.com Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Book Review: The Other Baby Book, A Natural Approach to Baby’s First Year

Nichole — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 19:00:15 +0000

Ready to get your cradle rocked? The Other Baby Books, A Natural Approach to Baby’s First Year, greets readers with this inviting question, before jumping into a wide range of family-centered topics that are delivered by the wonderfully likable voices of writers, Megan Massaro and Miriam Katz. The Other Baby Book creates a community of support for new families, focusing on the power of the mother-to-mother connection, with a discussion-style presentation of research-based topics, while including the personal sharings of mothers, who in their own voices, share their first-year experiences.

Covering much more than the subtitle lets on, the book actually begins before the first year. It touching on the planning and preparing for your upcoming birth, making it a great read for mothers-to-be, whether it’s your first pregnancy or not. And the charming introduction offers the lens from which to read the book, with Massaro and Katz sharing their sole purpose for writing this new mama guide, and that is to “bring to life an often-forgotten truth: a mother’s instinct is the best resource she has to crease a joyful and connected relationship with her baby.”

Their hope is to empower every mother to gently and committedly to do their own “gut check” with all that is offered to them as new mothers, whether through cultural “wisdoms,” ideas that are pounded through the media, or even “experts” to whom we look to for help and information.

Massaro and Katz speak to what so many mothers are seeing and feeling today, and that is that “Motherhood has been targeted by advertisers, and bombarded by opinions masquerading as medical necessities.” Their intention behind writing this book is to help mothers reclaim a simpler, more connected first year with their babies based on a mother’s own heart of true joy and relationship.

In The Other Baby Book, you will learn the “whys” behind so many tried-and-true mothering wisdoms, like the incredible healing and protective qualities of vernix (the waxy, cheesy coasting your baby is born with) and why waiting to bathe your newly born baby allows your little one to take full advantage of nature’s perfect plan for immunity.

You will also learn the science behind the magic of touch and physical contact that benefits not just your baby, but mothers as well. Highlighted in the chapter on Touch, is a terrific section on babywearing, which is what Boba Family is all about. Massaro and Katz offer up what stats on what generations of mothers already know; that your baby cries less when held close to you throughout the day, whether by babywearing and carrying. Boba founder and babywearing educator, Elizabeth Antunovic shares with readers how babies and mothers benefit physiologically, psychological and emotionally from babywearing. Antunovic, also a mother of four, details the benefits of upright babycarrying in the book with this,

“With a baby upright on his mother’s body, mom adjusts to all her baby’s movement, and he to hers, moving like perfect dance partners. Constant feedback from his skin and the fluid in his inner ear help the baby understand space, and his place in it. A baby’s muscles become stronger as they respond the varied movements of mom’s body and the force of gravity.

Its no surprise that babies carried upright scored higher on both motor and mental tests in the first of life. The rich environment worked the babies’ neural pathways.

Carrying a baby upright on your chest regulates his autonomic system. Studies have shown that a baby’s heart rate stabilizes, his body temperature regulates, he transitions more easily from one sleep state to another, and actually sleeps longer. His breathing becomes steady, he has less chance of apnea, and oxygenation of his body increases. While on his mother’s chest, his systems are kept at a regular tempo. When apart from his mother, a baby works twice as hard to maintain physiological harmony.

A mother can trust her intuition. By holding her baby close to her heart, she uses the most physiologically beneficial method of carrying her baby, proving the optimal environment for her baby’s psychological and emotional growth.”

Massaro and Katz have written the book that was missing from our bedside tables, by accurately covering a mother and baby’s first year together with practicality, kindness and humor. And all the big first-year questions are covered, from breastfeeding and introducing solids, to diapering and EC, but most importantly, how to build your trust in yourself and your mothering wisdom as the authority for your family. I love that this book is in the world and being shared. Taken in and taken to heart, it will go far in supporting the growing, world-wide movement to heal birth and our families, beginning as it should with the mother-child relationship.

A Short Film: Born to Learn

Nichole — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 22:31:58 +0000

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Private Schooling. Montessori. Waldorf. Public Schooling. No-schooling. Home Schooling. Travel Schooling. These are just a few of the many schooling options that families worldwide are exploring and flourishing within. I am typing this post from the road while my family and I are traveling in Gautemala together. Our son will be turning two years old on this trip, and my husband and I are taking every opportunity to practice our own Spanish while teaching our son during our daily adventures together. He can count in Spanish and English now, tell you how old he is both languages, tell our friends “hello” and “good-bye” in both. This and more, especially with words from situations that were especially meaningful for him.

The research behind the way the human brain (and mind) learns and flourishes is expanding rapidly in every field, from behavioral neuroscience to somatic psychology. And what continues to emerge throughout reflects the paraphrased Chinese proverb, “Tell me and I’ll forget, Show me and I’ll remember, but allow me to do it myself and I’ll understand.” Human babies, children and adults learn best from doing things ourselves and what we like to do are those the things that spark our interests and passions.

The information shared in the short film, Born to Learn, is the inspiration behind the group of scientist, researchers and free-thinkers who call themselves the Responsible Subversives Network (RSN). RSN has created three animation shorts so far and it consists of three inter-linked sites that aim to provide the ideas, the inspiration and a community of people interested in equipping future generations to shape a better world.

My husband and I search for ways to live more harmoniously with our son and to do work which pays and supports us with more than just a salary. We look for life at home that supports and enables a life on the road so that we can move easily between them both. We hope to raise our son to look for opportunities in life, work and community and to be creative in making his life his own, however he may be called. For families and communities like mine own, we are keen to support and encourage groups like RSN and others who are leading the charge in highlighting what is working and what is not within our current systems of education and work.

A Response to The Dangers of “Crying it Out” by Darcia Navaraez

Jill — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 18:01:43 +0000

“Crying it out.”

Just reading the words makes me shudder. The belief that babies can be spoiled by being given too much attention and care is just plain wrong. Babies do not need to be left to their own devices in order to learn how to sleep. There is a lot of information about why sleep training is not necessary and severely damaging to babies, but this article by Darcia Navaraez on psychologytoday.com is one of the best I’ve come across.

Navaraez tells us the background behind the behaviorist belief that babies need to “expect [their] needs NOT to be met on demand, whether feeding or comforting.” Somehow people stopped listening to mothers’ instincts and trusted instead male doctors with no real research on which their theories were based.

Fast forward many years; our current doctors and psychologists have done some research.

“Rats are often used to study how mammalian brains work and many effects are similar in human brains. In studies of rats with high or low nurturing mothers, there is a critical period for turning on genes that control anxiety for the rest of life. If in the first 10 days of life you have a low nurturing rat mother (the equivalent of the first 6 months of life in a human), the gene never gets turned on and the rat is anxious towards new situations for the rest of its life, unless drugs are administered to alleviate the anxiety. These researchers say that there are hundreds of genes affected by nurturance. Similar mechanisms are found in human brains…”

It’s a fact that a baby’s cry means something. Every time. Letting a baby cry at night time or any time for that matter is stressful and detrimental for the child. It changes the child’s body and brain in ways that will effect him it her for the rest of their life.

Navaraez states that ignoring a baby’s request for help damages nerve function, kills neurons in the brain, undermines self regulation, and destroys trust and self confidence in the child. It also effects the sensitivity of the caregiver when they ignore their human instinct to care for their young. This article, The Con of Controlled Crying, tells more about why crying it out is not good for babies.

Responding efficiently to a baby’s needs on the other hand builds brain cells, helps the body grow, and creates trust and feelings of self-worth and love. Babies are born expecting the same attention that they received in the womb; comfort, closeness, warmth, and love. Breastfeeding, using a baby carrier or wrap (i.e., “babywearing”), and responding to a baby’s cry gives a secure feeling to the baby like they had in utero. Simply listening to your baby and listening to your heart makes for a happy, healthy baby and parent.

Here is a video by parenting expert, Dr. William Sears with tips for putting your baby to bed gently and peacefully.

Dr. Sears’s Top Baby Sleep Tips

Breastfeeding Brings Out the “Mama Bear” In Moms

Bunmi — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 23:46:39 +0000

The Daily Mail reported recently that scientists have discovered that breastfeeding mothers protect their young in a way that mirrors how grizzly bear mothers protect their cubs. Apparently, moms who nurse their babies are more fearless and maternally aggressive when it comes to looking after their young.

“In what is thought to be the first study of its kind on humans, researchers have shown that breast-feeding helps dampen a woman’s fear by lowering her blood pressure and changing levels of hormones.

They say the effect – known as ‘maternal defence’ – is very similar to that seen used by female bears, lions, deer and even hamsters to fearlessly protect their young from predators.

Although women will probably never need to defend their babies like animals in the wild, researchers say this courage helps them better cope with the stresses of being a mother.” -DailyMail.co.uk

The scientists studied a group of 60 women- a third of whom were breastfeeding, a third of whom were bottle feeding and a third that didn’t have children at all.

“Each was asked to compete in a computer challenge against one of the scientists, who was behaving deliberately rudely while the woman’s child – if she had one – was in an adjoining room.

If the woman won, she was allowed to press a button to make a sound blast to the loser as an act of aggression.

She could press the button as hard and for as long as she liked.”

Nursing moms held down the alarm twice as long and made it twice as loud. The study also monitored blood pressure. Nursing moms had blood pressure that was ten points lower than bottle-feeding moms and twelve points lower than women without children.

The benefits of breastfeeding more babies has always been clear- now it seems as if there is a new benefit for moms: decreased stress and increased confidence & courage when it comes to caring for their children.

Read the entire article here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2032810/Breast-feeding-makes-new-mothers-fearless-protect-young-like-grizzly-bears.html