Amy Webb's Page

Dr. Richard Friedman, a professor of psychiatry, recently wrote an article published in the New York Times that I found to be both thought-provoking and somewhat disturbing. In the article he discussed the idea that sometimes even the most well-meaning and caring parents produce children…See More

With the school year winding down and summer just around the corner, many kids may think it’s time to turn off their brain. Parents, you know that there is a certain amount of “brain drain” that tends to happen during the summer when kids are not in school everyday. To help prevent this, summer is a great time to focus on learning skills and knowledge “outside the box” of the usual worksheets and homework. We all know that lifelong learning is important for everyone, even adults. Much research…See More

In response to some posts in the past, some readers have made comments along the lines of, "Duh, why do we need research to figure that out." I personally do not take offense at such comments because I'm not the one doing the research, I'm just reporting it. Besides that, I have at times felt the same way about some of the research I've read. These comments, however, did cause me to think and really consider why it is important that we, as parents, take the time to even glance at child…See More

Parents out there you know how it goes: you play the same game over and over again with your toddler or you help them put together a puzzle. This is the daily "stuff" of parenting and you may feel it doesn't make a difference. Well, turns out, it does make a difference! A recent study from the University of Montreal and the University of Minnesota shows that how parents interact with young…See More

In the last post, I discussed the origins of Attachment Theory and how researchers first began to conceptualize infant-parent attachment. Psychologist Mary Ainsworth first began studying and testing her theory of attachment in Uganda in the mid-1950s. She intensely observed mothers and infants in their homes in Uganda several hours a day for up to nine months. Upon returning to the U.S., she continued a similar type of study in Baltimore with a sample of American mothers and infants. Ultimately…See More

The word "attachment" is used a lot in parenting magazines and often comes up in discussions among parents. Of course, all of us have some notion of what the parent-child attachment is all about, but in child psychology theory and research "attachment" has a very specific meaning. In fact, a whole line of research has developed focused solely on attachment theory. So I thought I'd offer a little background on what psychologist mean when they discuss attachment.The academic understanding of…See More

We all know that parents arguing is not a great thing, especially if it happens in front of their children. New research from the University of Rochester, Syracuse University and University of Notre Dame, however, is showing that parental conflict may also affect how children perform in school. One recent study followed 216 6-year-olds over a period of three years. The children's teachers were asked about the kids' behavior at school such as interaction with peers, participation in classroom…See More

You may have heard the recent uproar about Baby Einstein's parent company, Disney, offering refunds on many of their DVDs after research has emerged that "educational" videos for infants and toddlers do live up to their claims. This comes after a growing number of research studies have shown little or no correlation between children's viewing of such videos and advances in language development. In fact, some research has shown delays in children's language development associated with viewing…See More

At some point or another many parents have placed their infant in front of a mirror and wondered if their child could understand that it was their own reflection they were seeing. Based on the infant's reaction, most parents realize pretty quickly that their baby doesn't really understand that it is themselves in the mirror. This raises the question of when do babies and young children begin to develop a sense of self? Child psychologists have used this mirror test in a creative way to help…See More