Research carried out by Dr. Nicole Keith of the Indiana University suggests that there is a link between the cleanliness in the home and maintaining a healthy level of physical activity. "Are the types of people who take care of their bodies the same types of people who take care of their homes?"
An article that portrays a different perspective on the controversial child benefit cuts in the UK. According to Rachel Cusk, ‘For middle class women child benefit is not just about money. It is a rare acknowledgement that their labour has value.’
The article looks at two different studies, LSE researcher Dr. Wendy Sigle-Rushton’s study linking the amount of time husbands spend in housework with divorce rates and a study carried out at Clayman Institute Gender Research at Stanford University which looked at the role housework plays in academic scientists’ productivity. Based on these studies, the authors recommend professionalising household labour.
There are some topics that usually get written off because they are considered to be either a minefield of stereotypes (feminist claims), easily manipulated (immigration), or not worth discussing at all (housework). The combination of these themes can be explosive because it highlights something that is rarely brought up in debates about immigration: the care children and the elderly receive in First World countries is given at the expense of immigrant women who stop looking after their own children in their countries of origin.
Regular family meals have proven to show that teenagers are more likely to receive better grades at school and less likely to turn to substance abuse and other bad behaviours. Even if it’s not very long this time is seen as valuable, where children have in some way, the support of their parents.
Finding the time to sit down together as a family for dinner can be a challenge. But a challenge that is apparently worthwhile. After decades of decline, there is evidence that many families are making the effort to gather at the dinner table – the place that seems to help reinforce the family unit.
53% of people think poor parenting is the main cause of bad behaviour and 85% blame parents for allowing children to become out of control. So maybe a little help at a particularly difficult time from a ‘super-nanny’ could be hugely effective; a ‘helping-hand’ would make parenting easier.