According to a BYU study, grandparents can help kids be kinder, more involved, and sometimes even a little smarter.
Read and decide if the sentences below are true or false?
1. The number of hours parents spend with their kids each day is the best predictor of their children’s physical and emotional health.
2. The researchers in the study found that physical presence and psychological presence are hardly the same thing.
3. Children who felt close to at least one grandparent exhibited higher pro-social behavior.
4. Grandkids only performed better in school when they were aware of the fact their grandparents provided some financial assistance.
5. The researchers concluded that grandparents have a positive influence on their grandkids that is similar to the effect of the parent-child relationship.
6. Spending less time with children but being focused on them is more effective than spending more time with them but being distracted.
7. Grandparents are never hesitant when it comes to spending more time with their grandkids.
8. Research shows that being a grandparent is the most important and satisfying thing for the minority of grandparents.
Key: 1. F; 2. T; 3. T; 4. F; 5. F; 6. T; 7. F; 8. F
Glossary
- to pitch in – to join in and help with an activity
- bandwidth – the ability or time to deal with a situation, especially one that involves a large amount of information or a number of problems
- to dive in – to start doing something with enthusiasm
Practice makes perfect
Six sentences have been removed from the text below.
Choose from the sentences A-F the one which fits each gap.
Grandma’s Influence Is Good for Grandkids
(…) Living with your parents has its benefits 1. ……………………………………….. —their grandkids. Because two new studies join the evidence that grandmothers can enhance the survival of grandchildren. That is, 2. ……………………………………. The results appear in the journal Current Biology.
Humans are unusual in that the females live long past the age at which they stop having babies. 3. ”………………………………………… . Most of the organisms will reproduce up to their very last moment.”
Patrick Bergeron, professor of biology at Bishop’s University in Quebec.
This increase in post-reproductive longevity is often explained by the so-called “grandmother effect.
“Because family members share their genes, there could still be a benefit for postmenopausal women to increase their genetic footprint 4. ………………………………………. .”
To explore the “grandmother effect” hypothesis, Bergeron and his colleagues examined nearly 200 years’ worth of French-Canadian population records from the 17th and 18th centuries.
“At the time, life was tough. In some years, a third of the kids were not even making it to one year of age.” 5. ……………………………………………………………. . “Families with grandmothers alive were larger by about two and the survival of these grandchildren to age 15 was much improved.”
This beneficial effect was only seen when the matriarchs lived nearby. Which suggests that grandmothers help by playing an active role in their grandchildren’s lives. Unfortunately, 6. …………………………………………. .Which brings us to the second study. (…)
Researchers (…) found that the benefits associated with having a grandmother on hand depended on her age. Once grandma hit 75, the grandchild survival benefit disappeared—and then some.
“In other words, it was better for grandchildren to have no living grandmother at all than it was to live with an old one or one that was in poor health.” (…)
So a healthy grandma helps make for a healthy grandchild. If “over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house” isn’t too long a trip.
A. unless grandma’s too old or lives too far away.
B. by helping their daughters to rear larger families
C. that role is tougher for them to fulfill as they get older.
D. at least when it comes to raising your kids
E. We don’t really see that in nature.
F. But the researchers found that having a grandmother still alive was a definite plus.
In order to read the whole article/check your answers, go to: https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/grandmas-influence-is-good-for-grandkids/
Key: 1D; 2A; 3E; 4B; 5F; 6C;
Discuss:
- ”It takes a village to raise a child.” Do you agree?
- ”Living with your parents has its benefits when you have children.” Would you agree?
- Were you raised by your grandmother/grandparents?
- Did your grandparents live far away from you when you were a kid?
- Did you have a close relationship with your grandparents?
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Read:
https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/who-shares-fake-news-research.html
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