Author Archives: uncommonjohn

There are a bunch of things I wish people would stop saying about parents. Here’s just one:  the persistent and pernicious idea that parents somehow don’t raise their children if those children are in daycare. I’ve seen  hundreds of statements … Continue reading →

I’m so sorry. I’m afraid I’ve got more to say about that sleep training study.  As you know I have attacked a study that claims to show that sleep training causes no long-term harm to children. I want to be … Continue reading →

Have you ever heard the term “evidence-based?” It’s often used by health experts, authorities (or the media) as code for ‘You really gotta listen to this information because it’s, like, totally true and  proven by SCIENCE!” Use the term evidence-based … Continue reading →

Like everyone else I feel just terrible about what happened to Amanda Todd, the teenager from BC who committed suicide last week. But, honestly, I don’t know where the media gets off boiling this down to a simple case of … Continue reading →

It never ceases to amaze me how, for almost any parenting technique or strategy you could name, it’s possible to find a professional naysayer.  The latest example is swaddling, which several professionals came out against in an article in yesterday’s … Continue reading →

When I blogged last week about the study which supposedly showed that sleep training  via Ferberizing, cry it out, controlled crying, controlled comforting –  whatever you want to call it – has no long term ill effects on children, I … Continue reading →

Here’s yet another study that shows that being a father, or more to the point, acting like one, affects men’s hormones. This one was a study of Filipino fathers, led by Lee Gettler, a former student of James McKenna, the … Continue reading →

Today  I read the worst parent oriented advice quote I’ve ever seen. “Positive stress creates growth in the child, in the form of coping skills and frustration tolerance that serve to be critically important throughout the life span.” This quote … Continue reading →