Ruth Anne Hammond

I was fortunate to attend a conference at Notre Dame University earlier this month entitled Human Nature and Early Experience: Addressing the Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness, which was hosted by Darcia Narvaez of Notre Dame’s Center for Children and Families. It was a gathering of top level scientists from multiple disciplines, including neuroscience, biology, medicine, anthropology, ethology, human development, psychology and combinations thereof. The list includes Allan Schore, Alison Fleming, Stephen Porges, Jaak Panksepp, (more…)

“ The present is a battleground where rival what ifs compete to become the future what is.”
-- The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell

What if we, as a society, decided that healthy and secure infants and young children were our most important, and therefore most treasured, guarantee of a future for our species? (more…)

I grew up in a family that was a typical White middle-class 1950s style family in many ways: a father who was trying to climb the corporate ladder, and a mother who was doing her best to fit into the mold of post-war dutiful helpmeet and mom, with two children, an older boy and a younger girl (me). That was the cosmetic face. (more…)

The other evening while I was out at a local museum salsa dancing with my family, we were taking a break and having a little something to eat out on the back patio, when I observed an interaction between a parent and child that was a disturbing reminder that love for children is not the same as respect for children. (more…)

If you didn't read the op ed piece in the L.A. Times last week entitled "Your Brain on Computers," you might find it interesting. I appreciated the balanced opinion piece by Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons about the effects on the brain of digital technology. They were countering Nicholas Carr's book, "The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains." Chabris and Simons are less convinced that organic changes are happening to the brains of internet users, but say we are becoming lazy thinkers because of the internet. They also argue that children's brains are "wired" through genetic programming and biochemical interactions, long before they are introduced to electronics. As an educator of parents and other adults who care for children, I want to add one important point: (more…)