The UK government has announced plans to apply a complete ban on “junk food” advertising online. This is being seen as the hardest set of restrictions on digital marketing in the world and is a legislation designed to help tackle obesity in the UK. The plan has received mixed responses, with wide support from health campaigners but harsh criticism from industry and the advertising industry. The proposed ban, which has entered a six-week consultation period,…
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A study has found that young children are better able to resist temptation and wait for greater rewards if they take into consideration the opinions of others. New research from the University of California at San Diego and Zhejiang Sci-Tech University conducted two experiments with 3 and 4 year olds in China in a new version of the classic “marshmallow test”. The children were given two options – receive one marshmallow immediately or wait and receive two….
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Letters from children asking Lego to remove single-use plastic bags has prompted the brand to replace its plastic packaging with paper bags. From 2021 Lego will introduce recyclable paper bags to package its loose bricks and will be investing up to $400m (£310m) over three years to improve its sustainability. This includes exploring alternative materials for the plastic Lego bricks themselves, such as bio-bricks which use sugar cane as a component. Lego Group chief executive…
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A new study by researchers at the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation has found that the global fertility rate has nearly halved to 2.4 in 2017 and is expected to fall below 1.7 by 2100. Falling fertility rates mean nearly every country could have shrinking populations by the end of the century with 23 countries including Spain, Japan, Portugal and Thailand expected to see their populations halve by the year 2100….
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Children’s charity Barnardo’s has released a report this week that looks at how COVID-19 has affected the mental health of children and young people in the UK.  A survey of 4,000 eight to twenty-four-year olds looked at the impact of the pandemic and found that 41% were feeling more lonely than before lockdown, 38% were more worried, 37% more sad and 34% more stressed. A third said they had more trouble sleeping, which could have…
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A study from Cambridge University’s Faculty of Education and the LEGO Foundation has found that children whose fathers spend time playing with them at a very early age may find it easier to control their behaviour and emotions. The research used data from 78 studies in Europe and the USA between 1977 and 2017 to look at how mothers and fathers play with children aged 0 to 3 years and how play affects their development….
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Family Kids & Youth has just completed the third wave of the Wellbeing and the Internet study – this time the research was carried out in lockdown and some key findings were presented on Tuesday at the University of Cambridge’s eNurture webinar that looked at mental health and schools. The study has given us a fascinating insight into how 7-16-year olds in the UK have coped with being separated from friends and family members, and…
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A study by UCL Institute of Education (IOE) suggests that children in the UK are spending an average of 2.5 hours a day doing homework while in lockdown. The study used data from an online survey of 4,559 children from households throughout the UK in the last two weeks of April. It reveals that one fifth of pupils, the equivalent of two million children in the UK, did no schoolwork at home, or less than…
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This week the UK government has announced a £1 billion package to help pupils catch up on teaching missed during the coronavirus lockdown. The “Covid catch-up plan” will include £350m to pay for a tutoring scheme for the most disadvantaged pupils as well as £650m to be shared across state primary and secondary schools during the next academic year. Education secretary Gavin Williamson said: “This package will make sure that every young person, no matter their age or…
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Reading has considerable benefits for children’s emotional and social development, but many families will be struggling to keep up with reading routines during the coronavirus pandemic. Video-call shared reading (VCSR) has increasingly become a way for children to be read to during lockdown while families are forced apart and nurseries and schools are shut. Through their experience of observing and participating in VCSR, Professors Natalia Kucirkova and Trude Hoel from the University of Stavanger, Norway, have pulled…
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