Giving children household chores at an early age helps to build a lasting sense of mastery, responsibility and self-reliance, according to research by Marty Rossmann, professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota. In 2002, Dr. Rossmann analyzed data from a longitudinal study that followed 84 children across four periods in their lives—in preschool, around ages 10 and 15, and in their mid-20s. She found that young adults who began chores at ages 3 and 4 were more likely to have good relationships with family and friends, to achieve academic and early career success and to be self-sufficient, as compared with those who didn’t have chores or who started them as teens.

Babies at high risk for becoming allergic to peanuts are much less likely to develop the allergy if they are regularly fed foods containing the legumes starting in their first year of life.

Children can learn to eat new vegetables if they are introduced regularly before the age of two, suggests a University of Leeds study.

Even fussy eaters can be encouraged to eat more greens if they are offered them five to 10 times, it found.

På fjärde våningen i det stora Kulturhuset vid Sergels torg finns Rum för Barn. Här finns ett stort spännande bibliotek fullt av böcker och en bildverkstad där du kan måla och bygga i olika material. Hos oss kan du alltid läsa och låna böcker, måla, bygga, lyssna på en saga eller sjunga en sång.

School is a place where children are compelled to be, and where their freedom is greatly restricted — far more restricted than most adults would tolerate in their workplaces. In recent decades, we have been compelling our children to spend ever more time in this kind of setting, and there is strong evidence (summarized in my recent book) that this is causing serious psychological damage to many of them. Moreover, the more scientists have learned about how children naturally learn, the more we have come to realize that children learn most deeply and fully, and with greatest enthusiasm, in conditions that are almost opposite to those of school.

Brunkeberg förvandlas till ett jättelikt veckolångt äventyr. Världens bästa barnfestival Maxat för mini fyller Parken, Torget och Scenen med ett fyrverkeri av aktiviteter och upplevelser för alla mellan 0–13 år. I år blir det extra mycket dans med uppvisningar, filmer, workshops och mängder av prova-själv. En maxad festivalvecka för åttonde året i rad med plats för energi och lugna stunder för hela familjen bland galenskaper och grönska.

For 75 years, Finland's expectant mothers have been given a box by the state. It's like a starter kit of clothes, sheets and toys that can even be used as a bed. And some say it helped Finland achieve one of the world's lowest infant mortality rates.

Cognitive neuroscientist Sid Kouider of CNRS, the French national research agency, in Paris watched for swings in electrical activity, called event-related potentials (ERPs), in the babies' brains. In babies who were at least 1 year old, Kouider saw an ERP pattern similar to an adult's, but it was about three times slower. The team was surprised to see that the 5-month-olds also showed a late slow wave, although it was weaker and more drawn out than in the older babies. Kouider speculates that the late slow wave may be present in babies as young as 2 months.

Sweden is perhaps as renowned for an egalitarian mind-set as it is for meatballs or Ikea furnishings. But this taxpayer-financed preschool, known as the Nicolaigarden for a saint whose chapel was once in the 300-year-old building that houses it, is perhaps one of the more compelling examples of the country’s efforts to blur gender lines and, theoretically, cement opportunities for both women and men.

Plastnappar, ballonger och foppatofflor. De flesta föräldrar har liten eller ingen aning om hur många kemikalier som omger deras barn. Miljöjournalisten Katarina Johansson vill få oss att tänka efter och börja ställa krav.