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When my son was in pre-K, the director came up to me and suggested I attend a lecture on why boys learn differently.  As my son was only four, I didn't think about it too much and I certainly didn't attend the lecture. But now I am seeing why.  I've been fortunate in that my son, now almost 13, is a good student and we don't have to harangue him (most of the time) about doing his work.  But I am seeing that boys learn differently and an article in today's New York Times puts its finger on that difference. David Leonhardt writes in, "A Link Between Fidgety Boys and a Sputtering Economy," that t he gap in behavioral skills between young girls and boys is even bigger than the gap between rich and poor. "By kindergarten, girls are substantially more attentive, better behaved, more sensitive, more persistent, more flexible and more independent than boys, according to a new paper from Third Way, a Washington research group," he reports. By eigh...

Have you ever wondered why more boys than girls suffer from autism ? Now experts may have the answer. Blame it on mutations. It takes more mutations to trigger autism in women than in men, which may explain why men are four times more likely to have the disorder, according to a new study as reported at newswise.com. The study found that women with autism or developmental delay tend to have more large disruptions in their genomes than do men with the disorder. Inherited mutations are also more likely to be passed down from unaffected mothers than from fathers. Together, the results suggest that women are resistant to mutations that contribute to autism, the Web site notes. “This strongly argues that females are protected from autism and developmental delay and require more mutational load, or more mutational hits that are severe, in order to push them over the threshold,” newswise quotes lead researcher Evan Eichler, professor of genome sciences at the University of Washington ...

It's a fact. Yes, boys gain differently than girls. According to medlineplus.com, being on a sports team helps school-aged jboys not to gain weight, but it doesn't help girls.  But girls who drank milk stayed thinner than boys who did.  Some things hurt both. "Eating school lunch regularly increased the risk of obesity by 29 percent for boys and 27 percent for girls. Watching two or more hours of television a day boosted the odds of obesity by 19 percent for both genders," reports healthday.com, which posted the story. You'd think eating lunch would be a good thing, but sadly, judging by my son's middle school cafeteria, the foods served there are high-fat, high-sugar and high-salt. The good news?  Childhood obesity rates have dropped a little in the last year.  Experts put it down to breast-feeding, more nutritious meals for low-income children, and Michelle Obama's encouragement to move more. Why do girls have more padding than boys? Some s...

First, it was obesity .  Now it's bullying .  The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has just announced that bullying is a public health problem.  I guess it still counts if it happens in your family , too. Sadly, the CDC has proposed this because of its link to suicide, according to Howard Mandel. Mandel writes that the suggestion has been made that "educators and health care professionals should consider broadening their focus beyond just providing services for those who are already involved in bullying or suicide-related behaviors, but also towards developing strategies to prevent bullying and suicidal behavior from happening in the first place." Makes sense to me.  I remember when I was in school back in the '60s and '70s, bullying went on and no one pretty much talked about it.  Kids being shaken down for their lunch money.  Being ridiculed because their teeth stuck out, or wore glasses (me).  I even had a friend with cerebral palsy who had a...

What's your take?  Are you vaccinating your 12-year-old for HPV? As we all know, HPV is the human papillomavirus and it causes cervical cancer in girls, along with other cancers.  It makes me uneasy, as I'm sure it does others, to think of my son having sex -- it seems 'way too early to be worried about this -- but I've made arrangements for him to have the vaccine. I became a teenager and young adult in the '70's, when everyone was having sex, all the time, in just about any place, with just about anyone.  Thank God, this was before HIV and AIDS.  But somewhere along the way, I got the virus and though it hasn't harmed me in any way, I don't want the same to happen to my son. Both the Centers for Disease Control  (CDC) and Prevention and the American College of Pediatrics now recommend that both girls and boys be vaccinated against HPV, newswise.com reports. Michael Douglas (probably inadvertently) called attention to its ability to cause he...