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Newborns
Parents easily understand the importance of monitoring every aspect of their babies' lives. In order to assure the child's physical, emotional, and mental well being, parents are involved in feeding, sleeping, diapering, soothing, and teaching. Parents assume (correctly) that it is their responsibility to be so involved.
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Toddlers & Preschoolers
Parents usually need no encouragement to maintain their involvement in the lives of their toddlers and preschoolers, especially in the arenas of nutrition, sleep, and physical activity.
Now we would like to encourage you to begin monitoring the impact of society and culture on your preschooler.
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Elementary Age
Children of this age are incorporating parental values - whether 'taught' or 'caught'. If you have not taken time to determine what values you want your children to learn, do it now so you can be deliberate in your teaching. Make a very specific list that you can refer to - and have your children refer to - when making decisions.
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Adolescents
It turns out Tom Gregory was exactly right when he decided to ask his question of parents at 10 p.m. The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University found the later teens are out on school nights, the more likely they are to use alcohol or drugs – even if they are at a friend’s home. 50% of teens coming home after 10 p.m. say they have been with other teens who are using alcohol, marijuana or other drugs – and this is data from 2008, so incidence is most likely higher now. CASAColumbia August 2008 National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse XIII: Teens and Parents
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Scientific literature on benefits of monitoring
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Two recent articles in Pediatrics add to the growing literature demonstrating how important it is for parents to be involved in every aspect of their children's lives.
One study of 12 to 14 year old girls in Sweden found that those who had early physical maturation were at much greater risk to become problem drinkers if their parents provided minimal supervision. Dickson DJ, Laursen B, et al. "Parental Supervision and Alcohol Abuse Among Adolescent Girls" . Pediatrics 2015; 136(6): 617.
A much larger meta-analysis of parental monitoring studies between 1984 and 2014 confirmed that adolescents who experienced higher levels of parental monitoring delayed sexual intercourse and other high risk behaviors. Dittus PJ, Michael SL, et al. "Parental Monitoring and Its Associations with Adolescent Sexual Risk Behavior: A Meta-Analysis. Pediatrics. 2015; 136 (6)
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