The Writer's Weekly

Good morning to you all!

I read a couple of articles in the newspaper this morning that seemed so obvious to me.

First of all there was a study done on breast-fed babies versus formula-fed babies and the researchers found that the breast-fed babies ended up with higher IQs (on average) than the formula-fed babies.

I have always wondered why people would even consider feeding their babies formula. OK there are some circumstances when it's necessary, but there is a reason why women produce milk. It's for the baby! I don't understand how anyone could imagine that artificially produced formula (coming from another animal completely) could possibly benefit a human child the same way breast milk does.

The second article was obvious and disturbing at the same time. A study was done on new parents to find out how much knowledge they have gained about their child's life stages and developmental milestones. One third of the respondents scored four or less on a scale of eleven. They basically flunked the questionnaire about age-appropriate development and appropriate parental expectations.

The study further found that the group that scored the lowest on the questionnaire had the poorest interactions with their children.

This seems so obvious to me. If you are expecting a child and you don't read any books, magazines or watch any shows on babies and children and the different developmental stages, well, what would you expect! That's like working at a job that you know nothing about. Do you think you're going to do a good job and understand all the intricacies of that job? No, of course not.

But in this case it is your children, and yourself as well, that pay the ultimate price. You end up raising children without any knowledge of their abilities at certain ages. You will then expect too much or too little from your child at different stages and either option is damaging.

I have always found it frustrating that we are over-educated about everything in our society except how to raise our children.

I couldn't put down books and magazines when I was pregnant and when my son was younger. Even now I still read articles on age-appropriate expectations of pre-adolescent children. I mean, I'm not omnipotent, sometimes I need help, support and ideas.

Anyway, that's the type of person I am. I find out what I want to know about everything that is important to me. And being a mother is the most important creative project I have ever and will ever be involved in.