Link to Original Article A wet diaper detector to alarm mom or dad is soon coming to Twitter! So odd, at first. Then funny. "Can't seem to remember to change your baby's diapers? That's what social media is for." LOL. Great piece, Mr. Cooper. But is it? Now for the not-so-funny part. (I usually hate to be a party-pooper or rain on someone's parade.) OK. Taking some of the guesswork out of caring for Baby seems like a great idea without a downside. Who needs anxious uncertainty and guesswork in parenting? The clever idea is so obvious and simple, it seems elegant: A

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Link to Original Article IN THE WAKE OF THE BOSTON MARATHON TERRORIST ATTACK: NATIONAL AND INDIVIDUAL PSYCHIC TRAUMA AND HEALING Since a school shooting in 1988, the author has studied and written on the causes and effects of terror and violence. Here are some pieces relevant today, the end of another traumatic and healing week in America. For more please visit here. HEALING A NATION 9-11 NATIONAL TRAUMA (2002) [What America is going through now illustrates a phase in recovery from violent trauma. We offer below an approach to understanding this process and an example of

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Link to Original Article More and more, recent press coverage is now intelligently exploring children's interactive media consumption via touchscreens. "Is this explosive trend extending to the very young a menace or boon?" is what people wonder, and the answer is usually a reasonable "Maybe a boon, but we need more research." And there follow debates among experts. This is hardly helpful. Parents cannot wait for the science to catch up because they urgently need an answer. "How do we effectively parent the touchscreen generation?" - How's a parent to compete with the iPied iPiper? "The same candy-colored, magically engaging, sleek

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MyDigitalFamily announces several time-saving new features to give educators and parents even more control and convenience in managing online iPad use and establishing good media consumption habits.

A recent study shows that Internet addiction is powered by genetics (http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/german-researchers-find-possible-internet-addiction-gene/2012/08/31/681f1724-f37a-11e1-b74c-84ed55e0300b_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines_nonlocal). Eitan Schwarz, MD, also known as Dr. S, the expert Chicago child & adolescent psychiatrist, Northwestern University medical school faculty member, and inventor of ZillyDilly, responds, "The study needs replication. Nevertheless, genetic determinism is not an excuse for neglecting children's media consumption. In fact it is a powerful reason to bring strong environmental counter- forces beginning

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Link to Original Article Brilliantly engineered, intelligent, cute, engaging "crib robots" will soon be marketed for infants and toddlers, but will most likely affect brain wiring for core personality and other human qualities. Avoid such devices, despite the fascination, until we know they are safe in the long run. According to recent NY Times stories, major toy companies are developing and introducing interactive digital media for babies and toddlers (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/08/technology/in-a-fisher-price-lab-apps-are-childs-play-prototype.html?_r=2 and http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/04/after-14-years-furby-has-returned/?nl=technology&emc=cta4_20120712#comments). I call these toys CRIB ROBOTS, and as a child psychiatrist am urgently alarmed about their potential damage to the underpinnings of the future personalities of babies and youngsters

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Link to Original Article Teen risk-taking is biologically rooted and precedes the entrepreneurship we need as a society. While online evils cannot be totally avoided, parents and teachers must start teaching good judgement in consuming media from the early years as they do traffic safety, hygiene, and later, good driving.   As a veteran child psychiatrist, I know that the generic cause of tragic incidents such as Skout's and that well-dramatized in David Schwimmer's "Trust" ultimately cannot be completely prevented. From an evolutionary and neuroscience / psychology POV, teens are necessarily hard-wired and socially sanctioned to be "entrepreneurial", as are most mammalian

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Link to Original Article DAVE, good observation. As a child psychiatrist, I understand the passion to derive from an earlier period of a person's development where the distinction between the "I" and the "you" and the "it" does not yet exist. An example is what we call the "transitional object", the Teddy bear, blankie, sucking thumb, etc. and the toy, the doll, invested with personal psychological value, meaning, and a reality way beyond their actual reality. In grownups we see this commonly in how we feel about our cars and toys, sports teams, movie stars, and even theater and movies where

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