All posts tagged: childhood

Childhood Sexual Abuse Can Cause Lasting Damage

Childhood Sexual Abuse Can Cause Lasting Damage

Published by Jenni Sidey

The case of Christa Pike, now back in prison after surviving a botched execution for the murder of her classmate Colleen Slemmer 30 years ago, raises so many difficult and disturbing questions. Pike was the first woman in the state of Tennessee in 200 years to receive the death sentence. Beneath all of these events lie the traumatic facts of Pike’s early years. I had interviewed people who had committed violent crimes as teens for my book, Before Their Crimes: What We’re Misunderstanding about Child Trauma, Youth Crime, and the Path to Healing, which made me think about a more specific aspect of the life she had before her crime: sexual abuse that began when she was age 2 and repeated throughout her childhood, up to age 17. Pike’s seizures during infancy revealed that she had sustained brain damage due to her mother’s alcohol abuse during pregnancy. She was diagnosed with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, FASD, which describes a range of neurodevelopmental deficits that can result from prenatal alcohol exposure. This can affect physical, cognitive, …

Tori Spelling looks unrecognizable in childhood photos that have to be seen to be believed

Tori Spelling looks unrecognizable in childhood photos that have to be seen to be believed

Published by Daniella Wilson

Tori Spelling is sharing a glimpse into her larger than life childhood — with some head-turning photos. The Beverly Hills, 90210 actress grew up in Los Angeles, raised by parents Candy and Aaron Spelling, the latter being one of Hollywood’s most prolific producers. When she was 17, the family moved into the famed Spelling Manor, which is larger than the Taj Mahal. And in honor of the Dancing With The Stars alum’s brother Randy Spelling’s birthday, she shared a slew of photos of the two as kids. © InstagramTori and Randy in the late 1970s Taking to Instagram, Tori first shared a series of candid selfies with Randy, followed by a photo of the two with four of her five children, who she shares with ex-husband Dean McDermott. Among the many photos throughout the years were some dating back to the 1970s, in which Tori looks unrecognizable with short brown hair, a far cry from her now signature platinum blonde, and bangs. “A selfie fail that somehow became my favorite picture of us,” Tori then …

9 Things That Were Everywhere 20 Years Ago But Have Slowly Disappeared With Anybody Noticing

9 Things That Were Everywhere 20 Years Ago But Have Slowly Disappeared With Anybody Noticing

Published by Jenni Sidey

“The only constant is change,” as the old saying goes, but that seems especially true over the past couple of decades. Arguably, day-to-day life hasn’t changed as much since the Industrial Revolution as it has in the 21st century, in ways both good and bad, as technology has exploded and altered nearly every aspect of life. Some of these changes are obvious, of course. Social media didn’t exist at all at the turn of the century, and AI seemed so futuristic back then that the idea of having it as a feature in our hand-held supercomputers sounded like a hackneyed sci-fi plot. But other changes in our lives are much more subtle. Recent discussions on Reddit revealed a surprising handful of changes that have flown under the radar in recent years, despite how massive some of them are. A few things that used to be everywhere 20 years ago but have slowly disappeared: 1. Red eye in photos Hydrargyrum | Wikimedia Commons | Canva Pro Wait, what happened to red eye in photos?! The once-ubiquitous phenomenon …

8 Comfort Settings People Who Sleep With A Fan On Have From Childhood

8 Comfort Settings People Who Sleep With A Fan On Have From Childhood

Published by Jenni Sidey

If my bedroom fan isn’t on, I won’t be able to fall asleep. I’ve been like this since I was a kid. It’s the sound. It makes me feel safe and comforted. Most kids, when they are really little, develop self-soothing techniques to help them relax or make them feel better when they are upset. The fan sound is a perfect example of that. It’s like the grown-up version of sucking your thumb. If someone still needs to sleep with a fan on because they got used to it when they were little, they probably keep other quirky comfort settings from the past. Comforting habits people who can’t sleep without the sound of a fan often have from when they were kids: 1. They sleep with a TV on DC Studio | Shutterstock If you had nightmares as a kid, this might resonate. Things that go bump in the night can be anxiety-inducing.  Our parents didn’t always go to bed as early as we did, and if they were awake watching TV, the muffled sound …

Free-Range Kids Who Grew Up With Very Few Rules Struggle With 7 Things As Adults

Free-Range Kids Who Grew Up With Very Few Rules Struggle With 7 Things As Adults

Published by Jenni Sidey

Children who grew up with very few rules may look back on their free-range childhood as a time when they could do almost anything they wanted, but as adults, they realize they also needed guidance.  Walking to school on their own, or simply not having anything on their schedule, wasn’t necessarily a problem when they were kids, but as they grew up, certain traits they developed often began to cause issues as adults. These struggles may feel familiar to adults who remember having plenty of freedom and (very) little guidance as kids. Free-range kids who grew up with very few rules may struggle with these 7 things as adults: 1. They struggle with self-discipline Kids who had a lot of freedom as children, with little supervision, often struggle with self-discipline as adults. Permissive parenting is a parenting style in which parents may be very loving toward their children, but they set few rules or expectations. This might mean buying a toy after saying no or letting a teenager ignore their curfew without following up. The …

Kids Who Are Deeply Loved By Their Grandparents Usually Carry 6 Memories For The Rest Of Their Lives

Kids Who Are Deeply Loved By Their Grandparents Usually Carry 6 Memories For The Rest Of Their Lives

Published by Jenni Sidey

When grandparents truly love their grandchildren unconditionally, they prioritize making memories together. Grandparents are such a special thing, and are there for their grandkids from the moment they’re born. They offer support and spoil them endlessly, but they also create lifelong memories in childhood that they carry into the rest of their lives. 6 memories kids remember for life when they are deeply loved by their grandparents: 1. Special holiday traditions Mikhail Nilov | Pexels Deeply loving grandparents often create little traditions, especially when the holidays arrive. Maybe you have a grandmother who always baked her secret recipe pumpkin rolls every Thanksgiving. Or on Halloween, your grandparents invited you over so you could surprise them in your costume. These traditions may seem perfectly ordinary, but they have a special place in your heart. And even though you’re no longer a kid, you continue these traditions to honor your grandparents, looking back on lovely memories. As psychologist Michele L. Brennan said, “Holiday traditions are an important part to building a strong bond between family, and our …

Joan Collins remembers late sister Jackie with childhood photo and poignant five-word message

Joan Collins remembers late sister Jackie with childhood photo and poignant five-word message

Published by Daniella Wilson

Joan Collins remembered her late sister Jackie with a touching childhood photograph to mark what would have been the bestselling author’s 89th birthday on October 4. The actress shared a black-and-white picture of the pair standing together outdoors, long before their careers took them from London to Hollywood. “Happy heavenly #birthday to my dearest #sister @jackiecollins – always in my heart,” Joan wrote, adding heart and feather emojis. © InstagramJoan Collins shares sweet photo of herself and her sister, Jackie Collins The photograph captured the sisters posing in front of large palm leaves, with a stone building behind them. Younger sister Jackie wore a collared dress with a bow in her hair, while Joan smiled beside her in a light-coloured top and shorts. Fans share their memories of Jackie Joan’s followers responded with messages of support, while one shared a personal recollection of meeting Jackie at a charity event. The fan explained that she had nervously approached the novelist to say hello and apologised for interrupting her. According to the commenter, Jackie replied: “In that …

In a 99-Cent AriZona Iced Tea Can, Echoes of Childhood Autonomy and Fleeting Freedoms

In a 99-Cent AriZona Iced Tea Can, Echoes of Childhood Autonomy and Fleeting Freedoms

Published by Sam Flores

NEW YORK (AP) — Four quarters used to buy a can of AriZona Iced Tea. You’d crack it open and savor the artificially flavored, high-fructose-corn-syrup-sweetened drink between fits of giggling on the walk home from school. For some, the can symbolized childhood autonomy. It was among the first solo purchases a kid made or a reward for satisfactorily completed chores. With inflation, a 99-cent thirst-quencher is a matter of nostalgia for adults with matured beverage tastes. An AriZona “tallboy” — the printed price on the can serving as a measuring stick for the value of a dollar — remains especially affordable and instructive for American youth with allowance, disposable income from part-time wages or birthday money. Founded in 1992, AriZona Beverage Company first launched drinks in Brooklyn, New York. The 99-cent cans launched in 1997. Popularity — and profitability — of the drink came soon after. But it was the price sticker that promoted a kind of utilitarianism — a warning to shop owners looking for a higher profit margin. Countless American preteens and teenagers …

Inside Tori Spelling’s 0 million childhood home — a megamansion bigger than the White House

Inside Tori Spelling’s $120 million childhood home — a megamansion bigger than the White House

Published by Daniella Wilson

Once upon a time, in a land known as 90210, Tori Spelling was growing up in the second largest house by official living space in the Los Angeles metropolitan area — larger than the White House, and the Taj Mahal. The star of Beverly Hills, 90210 is the daughter of the late Aaron Spelling and his wife Candy Spelling. Her father was one of the most prolific television producers in American television history, having produced more than 3,000 hours of television, including plenty featuring his daughter. Spelling, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants (who changed their last name from Sperling), got his start in Hollywood as an actor in the early 1950s, during which he also worked as a script writer and gained experience as a producer. He produced his first success, the detective series Burke’s Law, while working for Four Star Television in the early 1960s, becoming a pioneer of the multiple guest star format.  © Getty ImagesThe Spellings in 1993 He eventually founded his own production companies, and besides Beverly Hills, 90210, he …

Building the bigger picture on childhood obesity

Building the bigger picture on childhood obesity

Published by skeptic

Researchers across Europe are pooling data and expertise while working with schools, hospitals and families to find better ways to tackle childhood obesity. Dr Eleftheria Vellidou believes childhood obesity in Europe has reached epidemic proportions, and the figures back her up. Around one in four children aged 7 to 9 in Europe are living with overweight, including obesity, according to the latest World Health Organization Europe survey, which examined about 470 000 children in 37 countries. Rates climbed sharply for decades and have only recently levelled off, but experts still consider the figures alarming. Beyond the physical toll, obesity in childhood can bring bullying and stigma. It raises the long-term risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer and other serious illnesses, too. Vellidou, a biomedical engineering researcher at the National Technical University of Athens, is a member of the team coordinating BIO-STREAMS, a four-year EU-funded research initiative involving experts from across Europe. Seeing the bigger picture Obesity has complex biological, environmental, behavioural and genetic roots, yet many public discussions focus on food choices and physical activity alone. The …