TV's Emote Control

Another study to file in the Facts Parents Already Knew category: Children glued to the tube are numb to what goes on around them--even painful medical procedures.

Italian researchers have found that kids being stuck with a needle while watching television reported a third less pain as those not watching TV, and more disturbingly, only half the pain as those who were comforted by their mothers.

In other words, the distracting power of cartoons is twice as mind- and body-numbing for children as a parents' soothing touch.

Perhaps we should slap a "For Prescription-Use Only" label on our televisions. Being absorbed in television may even release pain-reducing hormones in children, speculated the study's lead author, Carlo Bellieni, a father of three and a neonatologist and pediatrician. "We have demonstrated the excessive power of television," Bellieni said. "I believe that this power must be controlled and reduced."

It could be that parental comfort has the reverse effect, convincing children that "something must really be bad" if they need to be soothed, said Dr. Brenda McClain, director of pediatric pain management services at Yale University. But no one suggests deserting a child under a needle. "Children who are experiencing pain in health-care settings of course need the supportive presence of a parent to help them cope effectively," the study concludes.

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Cash for Grades

Will you reward your child with money for good grades this year? Or should he or she learn simply for the sheer joy of it?

Cash moves some children to achieve at school, reports AP's Ben Feller. One mom, who gives her 12-year-old $5 per A, compares rewarding good grades to bribing toddlers with M&Ms for potty-training. But a Texas high school teacher, who sees kids who get new cars for their As, finds cash incentives disappointing.