The effects on children of the increase in single parents is no longer much debated. They do less well in school, are less likely to graduate, and are more likely to be involved in crime, teen pregnancy, and other behaviors that make it harder to succeed in life. Research at the Brookings Institution shows that social mobility is much higher for…

The author presents insights from various readers of "ExchangeEveryDay" regarding trends in the world of family child care. Kathleen Reticker of Acre Family Child Care in Lowell, Massachusetts thinks an increasing trend in Family Child Care is the pressure to emulate a Center, instead of seeing family child care as a different model. Over the…

One hundred percent literacy is a relatively modern goal. According to The Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago (n.d.), writing was invented in 3200 BC. However, it was not until the Industrial Revolution, in the 19th century, that large numbers of ordinary people began to read and write. Today, most people believe that becoming a…

Recent social policy discourses in Aotearoa New Zealand focus on vulnerable children's well-being and the detrimental, long-term and costly impacts of child poverty. The discourse pervading much of the policy labels children and young people as "vulnerable" or "at risk" or "in crisis", a view, which we argue, is both…

In this article, the author talks about the growing pattern of migration experiences for professional people and the impact these have on the well-being of the family as a whole and individual family members who reside outside their home countries for prescribed periods of time. It is easy to argue that the experiences of such families are far…

In this article the authors reason that current reform efforts in education--such as those fueled by Race to the Top (www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop) or the Common Core Standards (www.commoncorestandards.org)--emphasize the need to improve teacher preparation programs in ways that ensure graduates are ready for the realities in today's…

This article presents an interview with Shonda Schilling, wife of retired professional baseball pitcher Curt Schilling. In addition to her role as mom, advocate, and author, Schilling is also a melanoma survivor and the Founder of Shade (http://www.shadefoundation.org), a non-profit organization dedicated to eradicating melanoma through the…

The pull for family is strong, almost primeval, most likely it is evolutionary, and for those lacking the benefit of family or Family Privilege, the loss of family is painful and profoundly sad. Young people who struggle to cope without stable family connections are profoundly aware of their lack of "Family Privilege." In this article, the author…

This paper expresses serious reservations regarding the increasingly popular Bourdieu-inspired notions of "institutional habitus" and "family habitus" in education research. Although sympathetic to the overall theoretical approach and persuaded of the veracity and importance of the empirical findings they are used to illuminate, it argues that,…

Using the work of Judith Butler on gender regulation, Black Feminist Thought (BFT), and autobiographic storytelling, this piece illustrates how essentialist notions of gender, and discourses related to gender create conflict in shaping identity construction for a Black woman academic and single mother (BWA/SM) in the United States. This piece…

The study by Tefft et al. (2011, in this issue) is one of the few studies that have explored the impact of pediatric powered mobility on families. The parents who participated in their study reported increased satisfaction with their children's social and play skills, ability to move independently, sleeping patterns, and public perception of their…

For young bilingual students a feeling of connection to their background languages and cultures forms one important aspect of their developing identities. This paper addresses some of the findings from a larger study examining students' understandings of their identities as bilingual. The study involved students who are part of a bilingual program…

In response to Meyer and Crawford's article on how nature of science and authentic science inquiry strategies can be used to support the learning of science for underrepresented students, I explore the possibly of reconciliation between the cultures of school, science, school science as well as home. Such reconciliation is only possible when…

J. E. Grusec and M. Davidov's article (this issue) about domains of parenting and their links with different aspects of childhood outcome raises both interesting questions and challenges. Four of these concerns are discussed in relation to early childhood. First is the issue of bidirectionality. Recent studies highlight the contribution of…

The author grew up as an Illinois farm girl, born in 1922. Both her mother and her grandmother had been teachers trained in Froebelian progressive education methods, and both knew the value of building on children's interests. At about age 9, she became interested in butterflies and made her own museum, including rocks, butterflies, and insects…