How to know if your Kid is Smart

I came across this latest news and I wanted to share it to all of you. Toddlers who use gestures more often have better vocabularies on reaching school age, US researchers say.

They say those who convey more meanings with gestures at 14 months have larger vocabularies at four-and-a-half years and are better prepared for school.

Parents and teachers could help children learn to speak by encouraging the use of gestures, say psychologists from the University of Chicago.

Their study, in Science journal, was announced at the AAAS conference.

'Hand-in-hand'

The researchers found that children from higher-income families with well-educated parents used more gestures as toddlers.

They also had higher vocabularies at school age.

"Our findings contradict the folklore," said Prof Susan Goldin-Meadow, co-author on the study.

"Your grandma always told you - if you're really articulate you shouldn't have to use your hands at all.

"That's typically what the upper class believes about itself.

"But our findings were surprising - we actually found extra gesturing in these high socio-economic status [SES] families.

"Gesture and speech go hand-in-hand.

"That's interesting and we need to explore what's happening here.

"Vocabulary is a key predictor of school success and is a primary reason why children from low-income families enter school at a greater risk of failure than their peers from advantaged families."

Pointing the way

Psychologists have long stated that families of higher income and education levels talk more with their children and speak to them in complex sentences.

But the study is one of the first to focus on whether gestures, too, have an influence on vocabulary and school preparedness.

The researchers studied 50 families from diverse economic backgrounds.

They recorded video of children with their parent, or primary caregiver, for 90-minute sessions, during ordinary home activities.

Fourteen-month-old children from high-income, well-educated families used gesture to convey an average of 24 different meanings during the 90-minute session.

Meanwhile, children from lower-income families conveyed only 13.

Once in school, students from higher-income families had a comprehension vocabulary of 117 (as measured by a standardized test), compared to 93 for children from lower-income families.

The paper does not establish a causal link between early child gesture and later child vocabulary.

But the authors suggested two possible mechanisms by which one might encourage the other.

"Child gesture could play an indirect role in word learning by eliciting timely speech from parents; for example, in response to her child's point at the doll, mother might say, 'Yes, that's a doll,' thus providing a word for the object that is the focus of the child's attention," they wrote.

The connection also may be more direct, since gestures allow children to use their hands to express meanings when they have difficulty forming words for them.

Babies get Stressed too

It seems the babies in ads for baby products are always happy and smiling. In reality babies don't smile all the time and are not always joyful. Irritability is the characteristic of almost every little kid. They experience anxiety and foremost babies cry, causing a lot of ruckus.

A baby doesn't make a concerted effort to cry. It is the instinctive response to the infant's sensation of being hungry, in pain or afraid. When a baby senses any of these things it inhales suddenly and then exhales with enough force to vibrate the vocal cords producing a sound commonly known as a "cry".

A crying baby certainly demands our attention. Most everyone will turn to look at a baby crying. The babies cry works when the mom or baby-sitter comes to comfort it and give it much needed attention.

For as long as there have been babies there have been parents soothing and caring for them. The four most successful and popular techniques for dealing with a fussy baby are listed below:

A fussy baby can be calmed by rocking back and forth (rhythmic motion). Singing and talking softly and calmly to a crying baby can help settle them down. You can also try to distract a fussy baby using visual cues. This means that you draw the babies attention to something colorful or interesting. This article answers how to handle, cradle and carry an unhappy baby. A baby's cry is natural, just as comforting the baby also comes naturally.

In addition, the suckling activity soothes a fussy infant. Babies do not necessarily require nourishment when they suckle. Think about a pacifier. If a newborn baby is upset or cranky, try swaddling it. The mother's womb is a custom fit, and the infant delighted in it. A simple thing like tightly bundling up a baby will make him feel comfortable and he will stop fussing at least for awhile. If you are unsuccessful with one method, like rocking the baby, move on to another method. Use different methods when attempting to comfort your fussy infant.

Want to get Pregnant Naturally?

One of the biggest news today is the birth of the octuplet,'s, from a mom named Nadya Suleman from California. Many wonder how they do it? It's unbelievable. Many couples can make a baby like almost every year but others couples can't. Here are tips to get pregnant naturally. maybe this tips can help couples who want's to have a baby even if its just one baby.

• Make love often during your fertile period (the five days loading up to ovulation). Keep in mind that baby making is a numbers game. Even if you do everything right you still have only 20 t0 30 percent chance of conceiving in any given cycle. If you got the stamina to make love at least every 48 hours, you will ensure that there's are fresh shipment of sperm waiting in the falopian tube at any given time.

• Don't hop up and run to the bathroom right after you make love lying down for at least five minutes after intercourse increases the odds that the sperm will be able to meet up awaiting egg to the all important event of fertilization.

• If you haven't stopped smoking do it now. Studies have shown that smoking just 10 cigarettes a day reduces woman's chances of conceiving by 50 percent.

• Ease up on coffee switch to decaf or give it up (sorry Starbucks) altogether. Caffeine is thought to restrict the growth of a developing baby by constricting blood vessels and reducing blood flow to the uterus. Another studies shown that excessive consumption of caffeine ( means more than 3 cups per day) mat contribute to fertility problems.

• Does your partner like to spend hours on the exercise bike at the gym? Tell him to do the treadmill instead. Some studies revealed that men who cycle more than 100 km per week put their fertility at risk. The repeated banging of the groin against the bicycle seat can damage critical arteries and nerves.

• Don't go on a crash diet, or starvation diets cause it can also affect your ovulation and fertility.

If you have tried all these but still having difficulties conceiving, don't be despair. Consult with your doctor and remember that you still have a lot of options to be consider.