subject: Should Parents Say "no" More Often? [print this page] Trampolines are too dangerous for childrenTrampolines are too dangerous for children. That's the opinion of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which also said adding safety nets makes little difference. In 2009 almost 100,000 injuries were attributed to trampolines. Data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System show most accidents happen when multiple people are jumping on the mat, with smaller children being 14 times more likely to be injured. Twenty-nine percent of injuries to children ages 6-17 were fractures or dislocations. The percentage for children under age 6 was 48%. When the AAP said trampolines were not safe for children, they weren't "jumping to conclusions".
Children under age 14 are too young for contact sports. That's the opinion of neurosurgeon Robert Cantu, author of "Concussions and Our Kids". By age 14 children's heads are about 90% adult size and their necks and bodies are strong enough to steel the head against blows. Also by age 14 children's brains are better protected by the protein myelin. Unfortunately, there's no specific set of risk factors for diseases like chronic traumatic encephalopathy - a dementia associated with blows to the head - although cases as young as 17 have been identified. Young children are "headstrong" mentally - not physically.
Background television - although no one is watching it - is bad for children of all ages. A study published in the journal Pediatrics surveyed more than 1,400 English-speaking households in 2009, asking them to relate a typical day. According to the study, background TV lowers the quality of interactions between parents and children, lowers children's performance on tasks requiring focused thinking and lowers children's attention during playtime. On average children are exposed to 4 hours of background TV a day. Although children in single-parent households and poor households were exposed to the most, turning off televisions would help "turn on" all children.
Yes, it seems parents have more to say "no" about; but they are also saying "no" to themselves. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported births in 2011 went down for the fourth year running - to less than 4 million. However, as the decline was 1% - opposed to the 2-3% declines of previous years - it may be a sign the effects of the recession are coming to an end. The births per woman also dropped to below 1.9 - which means the U.S. population isn't quite stable. Maybe the recession affected our sense of humor so there was less "kidding".
