Happy Mother’s Day to the Mums of the New Century!

Mother’s Day is celebrated on Sunday 6th March 2016 in the UK, and it’s a great time to reflect on how wonderful mums can be. Mums can play an important role in helping you learn to read, write, draw and paint, and can help you develop in many areas. Findings from Child of the New Century (CNC) show that these things can have important consequences in later life as you grow up.

Some of the things we’ve learned from CNC about mums:

• If your mum is happy and healthy, you’re more likely to be happy and healthy too.
• Reading books often, going to the library regularly, and reading newspapers are 4 X more important than having a parent with a degree for your cognitive development.
• Many CNC mums go back to work after having a baby. Those of you whose mums worked developed just the same as mums who stayed at home.
• Researchers have found that children whose mums regularly talked to and cuddled them in their preschool years tend to display better behaviour and moods, and higher ability in reading and maths.
• Children who have a regular bedtime tend to do better at school in areas such as reading and maths than those who don’t.  The same researchers found that children who go to bed at the same time every night benefit from being in a better mood and generally get on better with others. Thanks mums!
• Young people whose mums helped them with reading, writing, drawing and painting when they were little tended to display better behaviour and moods, and better reading and maths skills.
• Young people whose parents played with them were likely to do more physical activity, including walking to school and taking part in sports.

By taking part in Child of the New Century, mums and their families are helping to make life better for others in your generation, as well as for future generations. Politicians, teachers, doctors, nurses, and others use findings from the study to improve services and inform policies to help young people. Each family is unique, and helps us to build a picture of a whole generation. If families choose not to take part, we can’t replace them with anyone else.

From the team here at CNC, we’d like to give a big thanks to all the mums – you’re great!