A lack of sleep doesn’t just turn children into a grumpy handful, it may also accelerate their cellular ageing – a process that could have long-term health effects. Telomeres – the caps at the ends of our chromosomes – get shorter every time our cells divide, and when they get too short, it is thought that cells are no longer able to divide to repair and replenish the body – a sign of ageing. Some small studies in adults have suggested that sleep might be linked to telomere length.

German schools are increasingly asking unruly and hyperactive children to wear heavy sand-filled vests in an effort to calm them and keep them on their seats, despite the misgivings of some parents and psychiatrists. The controversial sand vests weigh between 1.2 and six kilograms (2.7 – 13Ib) and are being used by 200 schools across Germany.

"Share bags" of sweets and chocolates should be banned because children simply eat them all in one go, campaigners have said. Action on Sugar has called for a total ban on price promotions on confectionery after it found retailers offering bumper "sharing packs" at better value than smaller "individual" sizes. More than one in five adults (22 per cent) eat the sharing bags alone, in one go, with the figure rising to 35 per cent among 16 to 24-year-olds, its survey found.

Dr. Michael Ulich became a pediatrician for a simple reason: he wanted to help kids. Ulich, who has practiced at Minden Pediatrics for the past 12 years, recently wrote The Times a frustrated email. "I am a local pediatrician in Minden and have had patients that are born to mothers who test positive for meth, marijuana or other illicit substances," he wrote. "As a mandated reporter, I call the state hotline for CPS and the local CPS office, and they will not open a case on the legal guardian."

For decades, researchers have demonstrated the numerous ways in which parents can positively influence their children’s development. This includes how confident they are, how well they do in school and how they interact with their friends. Far less attention has focused on the impact of children’s relationships with their brothers and sisters, despite the fact that most people grow up with at least one sibling and they tend to spend more time with one another than with parents or friends.

For several decades, the UK sent children across the world to new lives where many were abused.

Here's one for all the parents out there: Is it OK to let your child eat peanut butter at Target? A mother on a New York parenting blog wrote Monday that while shopping at the store, she gave her four-year-old daughter a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and "a woman stopped me to lecture me about peanut allergies." The child's mother then asked other moms on UrbanBaby if it was now unacceptable to eat peanut butter in public.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD), in an affidavit to the high court, said that the Delhi Police, on a trial basis, used the FRS on 45,000 children living in different children's homes. Of them, 2,930 children could be recognised between April 6 and April 10.

Parents run ragged by their children may have suspected it all along. Youngsters have greater energy levels than professional endurance athletes, scientists have discovered, meaning it is virtually impossible for the average adult to keep up. And for mothers and fathers hoping that tiring out their little ones will ensure a good night’s sleep, be warned. Children also have a impressive recovery time, and will be back to their hyperactive best quicker than parents can say ‘lie in.’

Reader Vera called my attention to this video of a great mind gone bad. Here is an eleven-year old student at a community college who was hosted for this video at Hellenic College Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology (HCHC), an Orthodox Christian liberal arts college and seminary in Brookline, Massachusetts.

State Senator Patty Birkholz, who died yesterday, was a classy lady who fought for the environment and tried to make this state a better place. She was a proud Republican who nevertheless wasn’t afraid to break from her party on occasion to do the right thing.

Hundreds of babies are dying needlessly in England every year because their mothers smoke, drink, use drugs, or are obese, a new study suggests. Researchers from UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health compared death rates of under-5s to those in Sweden, a country with similar levels of economic development and healthcare. They found that deaths occur one and half times more often in England, equating to 600 extra deaths a year.

For human beings to function socially, they need to be able to perceive, understand, and talk about others’ mental states, such as beliefs, desires and intentions. There is no consensus among researchers as to when children develop this ability. Previous research indicates that it emerges around the age of four, but research at Lund University in Sweden shows that children can demonstrate this ability earlier – within social situations that they experience together with an engaged adult.

High doses of vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) were found to be effective in helping treat severe child malnutrition, a new study conducted in Pakistan’s Punjab province suggests. Researchers from the University of the Punjab (PU), Lahore, and the Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) said doses of vitamin D3 supplements, alongside regular treatment for malnutrition, significantly helped a group of 185 malnourished children aged 2—58 months to gain weight and height, as well as improve motor skills and learning abilities.

An Indian policewoman is being praised for breastfeeding an abandoned newborn and possibly saving his life in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. "I just couldn't bear it," she said. "I felt like my child was crying and I had to feed the baby." Authorities said they received a call from a local shopkeeper, who spotted the newborn near a construction site in the capital city of Bangalore.

For the millions of adults who grew up watching him on public television, Fred Rogers represents the most important human values: respect, compassion, kindness, integrity, humility. On Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, the show that he created 50 years ago and starred in, he was the epitome of simple, natural ease. But as I write in my forthcoming book, The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers, Rogers’s placidity belied the intense care he took in shaping each episode of his program.

In a 3-year study, psychologists found children with strong sibling relationships experience less distress in response to future fighting between parents. Generally, children who experience recurrent destructive conflicts between their parents are at a higher risk of later developing mental health problems. However, a new longitudinal study published in Child Development finds that strong sibling bonds can offset the negative effects of parental strife.

In 1997 photographer Chris Leslie taught basic camera techniques at Sarajevo’s Bjelave orphanage and sent the children off to capture their city. This year he returned to see how their lives had unfolded.

In our culture we like to speculate about the effects of different parenting styles on children. A lot of this debate is wasted breath. Twin studies – that compare similarities in outcomes between genetically identical and non-identical twins raised by their biological or adopted parents – have already shown us that parental influence is far more modest than we usually assume.

Researchers at Children's HealthWatch, based out of Boston Medical Center (BMC), found that children who experienced both pre- and post-natal homelessness and those who experienced homelessness for longer than six months were at highest risk of negative health outcomes. These findings, published in Pediatrics, illustrate the urgent need to intervene and rapidly house children and families experiencing homelessness to minimize the negative health outcomes.