Here's what we've been talking about on 'Easy Mornings with Jeff Harkness'...

Monday - May 7th 

THINGS PARENTS SHOULD NOT SAY TO THEIR KIDS (Yahoo!)

"I don't care." Little kids love to share details...of their playground conversations with friends, of the cloud formation they think looks like a sea serpent, of why they squeezed an entire tube of toothpaste into the bathtub. And sometimes? Parents just don't want to hear the specifics. But beware of saying "I don't care!" because you're cutting off communication with your child and saying that something important to him or her isn't so important to you.

"Act your age!" Your daughter is seven years old but you think she's acting like she's three...and you tell her so. Pincus says this common reaction is less about the child's behavior and all about the parent trying to manage his or her own frustration. The child may, in fact, be acting their age.

"Say you're sorry!" Your preschooler takes a toy from another child and makes him or her cry. You instantly tell your child to say sorry for his or her actions. You're trying to teach your child to be compassionate, which is a laudable goal. But "forcing a child to apologize does not teach a child social skills," says Bill Corbett, a parent educator, author, and producer/host of the parenting TV show "Creating Cooperative Kids." Young children don't automatically understand why they have to apologize. Corbett says that if parent forces a child to say they are sorry, "it could delay the child's natural acceptance" of apologizing.

"Don't you get it?" You've taught your kid how to catch a baseball five times over. Or how to add and subtract fractions. But when your child shows signs that it's not clicking for him or her, you hastily ask, "Don't you get it?" Learning specialist and author Jill Lauren tells Team Mom on Shine that this comment is degrading. "If the child 'got it,' which he desperately wants to do in order to please his parent, it would be clear. Implicit in a 'don't you get it' comment are the judgments of 'Why don't you get it?' followed by 'What's wrong with you for not getting it?' While a parent may not mean to send those messages, that is the message the child receives."

"I'm going to leave without you!" Your kid refuses to leave the toy store or a park and you are going to be late for an appointment. So you issue an ultimatum sure to freak your child out: "I'm going to leave without you!" For young kids, fear of parental abandonment is very real. But what happens when your threat doesn't work? "The biggest problem is that we want our kids to believe what we say. For a whole host of reasons, we need our kids to believe us. If you want them to believe what we say is true, we cannot say something that is patently false," says Deborah Gilboa, a family doctor, parenting speaker, and mom of four boys. The result is that the child quickly learns that mom or dad makes empty threats.

Tuesday - May 15th

Researcher Professor Steven Robertson, of Leeds Metropolitan University, attributed the results to a sense of camaraderie, guy talk and the feeling of being part of a team. Zoe Hellman, head of public health at Weight Watchers, which funded the research and may start running men-only meetings around the country, said: 'A lot of the men did say that they felt a very female-dominated meeting might put them off contributing or talking about things that were important to them.' (Daily Mail)

Wednesday - May 16th

A new study suggests that the "you are what you eat" philosophy applies to books too. Researchers have found that when you lose yourself in a work of fiction, your behavior and thoughts can metamorphose to match those of your favorite character, according to the study published early online in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Geoff Kaufman, a post-doctoral researcher at Tiltfactor Laboratories at Dartmouth College found that experience-taking can lead to real changes in the lives of readers.

What the researchers can't say yet is whether those changes are brief or long-lasting. Kaufman suspects novels can sometimes be life-changing. "If you've got a deep connection with the characters, it can have a lasting impact," he says. "It can inspire you to re-read something. And then the impact can be strengthened over time." (MSN)

Thursday - May 10th
 

In a recent survey, a majority of participants said that composing the "right" text message to a woman was more frustrating than approaching her in the first place and even knowing what to say after that awkward first kiss.

PR Web reports that TSB Magazine, a website providing sex and dating advice for men, presented readers a list of traditionally confusing aspects of dating. Of all the most obvious potential pitfalls, when to text and what to write took top place as the most difficult areas when it came to dating. Of the candidates who took part in the survey, 32 percent voted texting as their number one issue while 22 percent admitted that knowing how to rescue an awkward conversation with an attractive woman was a significant hurdle.

Following closely behind, 18 percent of men complained that it is often hard to know when and how to 'lean in' for the uncomfortable first kiss and negotiate the cringe-inducing conversation that precedes and follows the moment. (EliteDaily)

Friday - May 18th

Women shouldn't trust the opposite sex when it comes to fashion advice, according to new findings.

Many men admitted they were too scared to offer their true opinion on their partner's wardrobe while 70 percent said they didn't want to hurt their other half's feelings when they were posed with the question: Do I look fat in this?

One in 10 said they felt an honest answer would upset their partner and ruin their weekend, while a quarter of men admitted they had lied so they wouldn't have to continue shopping. (Daily Mail)