children news stories on Newser

Hey Kids: This Summer, Ditch the Gadgets

Matt Cantor — Fri, 11 May 2012 13:26:05 CDT

The Internet and iPads and smartphones are great for adults—but we need to take a hard look at what they're doing to our kids, warns a computer science professor at Yale. It may be tempting to let them sit down with an iPad come June, but such technology is...

Black Kids Not Receiving Equal Care in ER: Study

Matt Cantor — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 08:37:56 CDT

Black kids don't receive the same emergency-room care that white children do, according to a new study of 2,000 kids who sought treatment for abdominal pain in 550 hospitals. It found that black children were 39% less likely to receive painkillers than their white peers. The racial gap grew...

Kids Are So Cute ... Until Age 4.5

Matt Cantor — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 14:35:05 CDT

No one's saying that 5-year-olds can't be adorable—but it appears that they're past their prime, in cuteness terms. Researchers in Canada and China polled adults on the cuteness factor of kids from infancy to 6 years old. Subjects called the younger children cuter, with a big shift at age...

Barbie Will Get Bald Friend

Dustin Lushing — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 15:33:34 CDT

Barbie-maker Mattel is creating a special doll for children who have lost their hair to illness. The new doll will be bald and a friend of Barbie, and she'll come with fashion accessories including hats, scarves, and wigs. Earlier this year, a Facebook campaign that garnered 150,000 "likes" urged...

For Kids, Mom and Dad's Attitudes on Prejudice Rule

Evann Gastaldo — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 11:20:19 CDT

Where do kids get prejudiced ideas from? Adults—at least when the children are young. A new study found that when first-graders were told by an adult that another group of children was "mean," those first-graders in turn evaluated the other group as "mean"—even if they had a positive...

3 Girls, Mom Dead in Suspected Murder-Suicide

Mary Papenfuss — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 01:59:00 CDT

A mother and her three young daughters were found shot to death near a Missouri campground in what police believe was a triple murder-suicide. Each was killed by a single gunshot, and the weapon was found near the bodies, according to police. The four were not staying at the Bourbon...

Woman Fights to Get Kids Out of Jail in Nepal

Dustin Lushing — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 08:23:29 CDT

Nepal's extreme poverty rate leads to an unusual prison situation: Kids sometimes go to jail with their incarcerated parents because there's no alternative—it's that or the streets. CNN profiles a 28-year-old woman who has made it her life's mission to get these kids out of jail. Pushpa Basnet spearheads...

Utah Boy, 8, Takes Sis, 5, on Joyride

Rob Quinn — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 05:37:04 CDT

An 8-year-old Utah boy and his 5-year-old sister were unharmed after crashing the family minivan on an ill-fated late-night trip to the store. Cops say the boy—who made sure he and his sister buckled up before setting out on their midnight mission—barely made it out of the driveway,...

Brooklyn's New 'Coffee' Lovers: Tots

Matt Cantor — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 12:32:05 CST

Coffee: It's not just for grownups anymore. Brooklyn's Park Slope neighborhood is offering toddlers their own "babyccinos"—and the kids are loving it, the New York Daily News reports. At a little more than $1 per cup, the hot frothed-milk drinks—which have no coffee in them—let kids "feel...