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Filed under: In The News, Research Reveals Teens

Do you really want to drain your retirement fund to pay for your kid's education? Credit: Getty Images

"Don't worry about your mother and me, son. We can live in a packing crate under the bridge. You know how we enjoy camping. You just go off and get yourself a college education."

Sound like you?

If so, it's a growing club. According to U.S. News & World Report, some 6 percent of parents decided to break into their retirement accounts this year to help send their children to college.

That figure is up from 3 percent 2009, and, the report says, the average amount withdrawn from 401(k)s, IRAs and other retirement accounts jumped from $5,318 in 2009 to $8,554 this year.

While money in IRAs can be used for college expenses, you can't withdraw money from 401(k)s -- at least not without paying 10 percent or more in early withdrawal penalties.

The magazine reports IRA money qualifies for an exemption for room and board expenses if the child is at least a half-time college student. IRA owners still have to pay income tax on withdrawals. Roth IRA owners younger than age 59½ must pay tax on the portion of the withdrawal that comes from investment earnings.

College costs might qualify for a 401(k) hardship withdrawal if employees can demonstrate an immediate and heavy financial need for the money and show that other sources of income have been exhausted, the magazine reports.

Parents who earn more than six figures a year generally withdrew the most from their retirement accounts, according to the magazine. And families generally used more of their retirement to pay for private colleges than public schools.

Parents with a child attending a private college withdrew an average of $1,254 from their retirement accounts in 2010. In contrast, families with a student at a public school withdrew an average of $414 for a four-year college and $241 for a two-year institution.

Who needs a nursing home where they change the linens every single month, anyway?

Related: Saving for College? Plan Ahead

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Filed under: Gadgets, Books for Kids, Family Time

Our recent roundup of interactive picture-book apps for the iPad focused on fancied-up classics like "Alice in Wonderland" and "Green Eggs and Ham." But there's plenty of new material out there in the world of finger-swipe page-turning. Here, we take a look at five popular non-classics that got the iPad treatment.

iTunes

"The Pedlar Lady of Gushing Cross" by Jacqueline Rogers & Matthew Talbot-Kelly (Moving Tales, $4.99)
Here's a folktale with an ancient feel presented in the most groundbreaking way possible. This story of an old hermit woman who leaves her desert home in search of a dream feels utterly magical -- in the story itself; in the sage-like British-accented narration by the wonderful Mark Doherty; in the haunting musical score; and most of all, in the dynamic three-dimensional, fully-animated illustrations. Every "page" of this book looks like a clip from an Oscar-winning animated short. It's truly stunning.

iTunes

"Bartleby's Book of Buttons Vol. 1: The Far Away Island" (Octopus Kite, $2.99)
Lift-the-flap books have just evolved. This is the story of a strange, little mustachioed man (he could be the less-wealthy cousin of Monopoly's Uncle Pennybags) who collects buttons -- the kind you press, not the kind you use to fasten clothes. As he sets off on a trip to a mysterious island, readers guide him along the way, pressing the many, many buttons that line every page of this virtual book. Buttons will get Bartleby dressed, turn stoplights green, launch ships, and even help him escape from a volcano. There's no voiceover, so pre-readers will need some assistance, but the play factor will resonate with readers of almost any age.

iTunes

"Icarus Swinebuckle" by Michael Garland (Giant Atom, $1.99)
To paraphrase the old poster from "Superman: The Motion Picture," you will believe a pig can fly. In this endearing tale, a poor shoemaker pig risks eviction, putting aside his paying work to focus on building the wings he believes will allow him to soar through the sky. The thoroughly satisfying ending is not exactly what you'd expect. Kids can either have the book read to them (by the talented Greville Sockett) in a mode that includes some animated scenes, or they can read it themselves in a mode that allows them to tap any word they don't know to hear it read aloud.

iTunes

"Logan and the Upside-Down Sea" (Iskandar, Inc., $2.99)
Kids can also read along with this is-it-real-or-just-imagination story about a young boy who sets off to a magical land to find his sister who disappears during a game of hide-and-seek. There are a number of cool interactive features throughout (for example, kids can help Logan assemble a hot air balloon). And the app makes nifty use of the iPad's tilt-rotation feature at one critical point in the story. The book/app works best for first graders or younger.

iTunes

"Violet" by Allison Keeme (My Black Dog Books, $2.99)
No voiceover here, so the misadventures of this young girl who fancies herself a sort of secret mad scientist will need to be enjoyed by kids old enough to read to themselves or kids with parents who are willing to read to them from an iPad. The very original premise -- young Violet, in her guise as Phantom Girl, decides to "time travel" by turning the clock forward an hour and then watching her unwitting family show up too early for everything -- is a funny one, and both the book and its innocently mischievous heroine are quite likable. There are a few point-and-click interactive hot spots on the pages, but nothing too fancy. This is an e-book you want to read for the same reasons you'd read a good-old-fashioned non-digital picture book: Story and art. And fortunately, they're pretty good.

Related: iPad, Read Me a Story

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Filed under: In The News, Research Reveals Babies, Development Big Kids, Research Reveals Big Kids, Development Tweens, Research Reveals Tweens, Health

She's a lot younger than she looks. Credit: Corbis

If you're still on the fence about how you feel about attachment parenting, new research findings about early puberty in girls may send you over the edge.

In a study published this week in Psychological Science, researchers suggest that babies who do not form a secure attachment to their mothers will be more likely to enter puberty early.

These findings are notable in light of growing evidence that girls in the United States are starting to mature at earlier ages than ever before -- even as young as 7 -- and both early puberty and poor infant attachment raise concerns, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Girls who enter puberty earlier are at higher risk for certain cancers, including breast cancer, and are likely to engage in sexual activity earlier, which increases the risk of sexually transmitted disease and early pregnancy. Poor attachment in infants has been linked to a higher risk of anxiety, depression and other psychological problems later in life.

Previous research has implicated other factors -- such as nutrition and obesity -- in the early onset of puberty in girls, but the researchers suggest infant bonding should be added to the list, according to the newspaper.

The study, based on data collected on 373 white female participants in the comprehensive National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care, was conducted by psychologist Jay Belsky of Birbeck University London and an international team of researchers.

To gauge whether babies were "securely attached" -- or emotionally distant -- from their mothers, researchers separated the babies from their mothers, and then reunited them and observed their reactions.

"A securely attached baby typically greeted her mother's return by smiling, vocalizing and reaching toward her parent; babies who looked away, fail to acknowledge or both advanced to and retreated from their mother upon her return were rated 'insecurely attached'," according to the Times.

Researchers found that the more "insecurely attached" to her mother a baby girl was at 15 months, the earlier she would enter puberty and mature sexually. These results were consistent regardless of when their mothers entered puberty -- a strong hereditary determinant in a girl's sexual maturation, according to the study.

Notably, baby girls who were not determined to be securely attached to their moms were nearly two-and-a-half times more likely to begin pubertal changes by the age of 10 1/2, and to have pubic hair, breast development and get their periods by 13 1/2, according to the Times.

The researchers theorize that the process of evolution may explain their findings. They suggest that insecure and unsupportive family relationships accelerate puberty, so that females can mate and reproduce earlier, which would give them an advantage in environments where survival -- and, therefore, reproduction -- may be comprised.

In secure and supportive family relationships, females would mature later, so mating and reproduction would occur later, giving them an advantage in environments where survival is less difficult, according to the study.

The Times reports that Belsky has spurred controversy with studies suggesting that long hours of child care for infants and young children outside the home may weaken a child's attachment to their primary caregiver -- usually Mom -- and negatively affect the child's later behavior at school.

"The importance of an infant's attachment to Mom is not widely debated. But debates have long raged over what factors -- a child's temperament, the mother's employment outside the home, a depressed parent -- may contribute to the security of that bond," the researchers say.

Related: More Girls Entering Puberty Early, Study Finds

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