This article examines the possible role played by African folk literature, taking Setswana folktales as a case in point, in justifying and perpetuating the abusive behaviour so often witnessed and decried in postmodern society. We found some evidence that certain folktales may depict real-life child abuse by adults (male and female), and, indeed,…

The purpose of this article was to introduce the newly developed scale of Child's Attachment to his/her Kindergarten Teacher and adapted scales of child's attachment to his/her mother and father. The main goal of the research was to analyze the relationships between child's attachment to his/her mother, father and kindergarten teacher. One hundred…

Early childhood care and education is an important stage in preparing children for primary schooling. Research indicates that participation in this phase has beneficial effects on later schooling particularly at the primary school level. Early diagnosis of special educational needs and intervention are essential in this stage if a child is to…

Early intervention and early care providers reported frequently encountering families with multiple economic, social and mental health challenges. Providers endorsed needs for mentoring and training to understand specific problems, to gain knowledge of community resources, to be able to talk with families about challenges and to recognize and…

The purpose of the present study was to compare the understanding of conventional time concepts by urban preschool children reared in poverty with that of their peers not raised in poverty. The questionnaire used in this study was based on the original work of Ames. Thirty-six children ranging in age from three to five years of age participated in…

This study carries forward the exploration of joint attention engagement in children from 18 to 24 months of age enrolled in "low-quality" childcare centers. Childcare providers and children were videotaped to capture social interactions in the classroom including duration and bids for joint attention. One-half of 48 childcare providers were…

One of the important nutrients during pregnancy is vitamin A or related compounds called retinoids. Although it is well-known that vitamin A deficiency may be detrimental to foetal development, overdosage of retinoids might cause developmental defects, particularly affecting the central nervous system development of the foetus, causing hindbrain…

Research provides evidence that fathers can promote the development of their children's literacy skills, including reading books to them that are appropriate, engaging their children in discussions about books they read, recording in a notebook the books the children have read and encouraging their children to read more books. This review presents…

This study investigated the humorous activity of two infants, 18 and 21 months old, in their infant group childcare setting. This was a qualitative study that followed two infants for four months. Through participant and non-participant observations, journal writing and interviews, data were collected on children's involvement in humorous…

The main purpose of our study was to assess the effects of prenatal tobacco smoke on respiratory symptoms and on doctor consultations in a birth cohort of 445 infants who had no smoking mothers and who had no postnatal exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). Before and after delivery, questionnaires and interviews with mothers were…

Children's feelings and beliefs about peer relationships were examined as a possible mediator between mothers' positive and negative emotional framing and children's (n = 46) behavior with peers. Mothers' emotion framing was assessed as they and their young children read a picture book depicting emotionally-laden content, but no printed text.…

Interactive behavior of 90 Israeli toddlers was observed with mothers and caregivers in one-on-one free play interactions. Children were examined with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, and adults completed self-report measures. Observations were coded for both the quality of adult-child interactive behavior and for the quality of adults'…

Little is known about the feeding behaviors and problems with feeding in toddlers. In the present questionnaire study, data were collected on the feeding behaviors and feeding problems in a relatively large (n = 422) sample of Dutch healthy toddlers (i.e. 18-36 months old) who lived at home with their parents. Results show that three meals a day…

Reading development is said to progress in a series of developmental skills and stages that need to be acquired by emerging young readers. The literature on Greek braille reading and its development found that print readers opt for the same text decoding strategy even at the initial stages of development. This article explores the development of…

This paper reports a longitudinal study that explored the relationship between children's thinking and self-esteem. The level of self-esteem can serve as a powerful motivational force. Because positive self-evaluations are emotionally pleasurable, we are generally motivated to act in ways that enable us to feel good about ourselves. Self-esteem…