"Earth, the only planet with free choice in the Milky Way Galaxy"

“.. A billion years ago, they (Pleiadians) went through a change and they went through a shift, and they had free choice. Back then, they were the only planet that did in their time, and eventually they went through a metamorphosis of consciousness. ”

“.. So again, we tell you that the ones who came to help seed you approximately 100,000 to 200,000 Earth years ago were the Pleiadians who had gone into graduate status and who had changed consciousness. They had become quantum with free choice, and you have parts of their DNA within you. ..”

“..You're surrounded by divine beings who keep you safe and will continue while this planet of only free choice – the only one at the moment – makes its decision. You're turning the corner of consciousness and they all know it, for they've all been through it and they remember it. Oh dear ones, consciousness is volatile! You've seen it change so slowly, but it's about to change faster. It's not going to take generations and generations as in the past. Instead, you're going to see real-time changes. Humans won't wait to have children for them to grow up and have children. ..”




"The Quantum Factor" – Apr 10, 2011 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Galaxies, Universe, Intelligent design, Benevolent design, Aliens, Nikola Tesla (Quantum energy), Inter-Planetary Travel, DNA, Genes, Stem Cells, Cells, Rejuvenation, Shift of Human Consciousness, Spontaneous Remission, Religion, Dictators, Africa, China, Nuclear Power, Sustainable Development, Animals, Global Unity.. etc.) - (Text Version)

“.. In time, the quantum factor will be discovered on this planet. When it is, it will be highly controversial, and it's going to fly in the face of logic and 3D and the way things work via the scientific method. The ramp-up to all this is difficult. The old souls in front of me have signed on to work this new energy and they've waded through lifetimes, just waiting for this. What would you do as a scientist if the experiments before you had "a mind of their own"? What would you think if magnetics, gravity and light could only be assembled in a certain way that created healing and never a destructive alignment? All this is going to redefine some of the basic forces in the Universe. Intelligent design is only the first, and even today many astronomers and physicists still think it's an anomaly. 

That will be the next largest discovery on the planet. It's been held back from you because it takes a higher vibrating consciousness to create and understand it. When any planet discovers a quantum energy and is able to use it, you could go to that planet and know that you will meet high-consciousness entities. This has never been given to you before that, for within the quantum factor contains the secret of interplanetary travel using large, entangled states. There are ways of doing things you never thought could happen. You can throw away your rocket ships. You're on the edge of that.  ..”

“… And so, dear Human Being, you have the ability to start to return to an energy that you thought you'd lost, where Human beings are allowed to live longer and it doesn't destroy the environment. They don't overcrowd themselves because they can control it through their minds instead of laws... and through wisdom.

Some day you'll meet the star seeds, your Pleiadian sisters and brothers. They're even here now, since they are quantum. You've got Pleiadian ancestors who live a very, very long time in a graduate situation in a planet that went through the test just like yours. And it developed a quantum factor. They have benevolence and they have quantum energy. That's how they get here instantly and return, and they'll never interrupt your free choice. That's also why they don't land and say hello. Instead, they sit and cheer on the sidelines for what you've finally done. They are waiting with you to celebrate the December solstice of 2012... the half way point of the 36 year shift you are in. …”

"Demystifying the future" + "Physics in the next 500 years"(#) - May 16-17, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (#) (This channel will become a historical channel in the future, prove that Kryon is a real communication from the Creative Source/God to Humanity - "Our Family") - (Text version "Physics in the next 500 years")

1 To seea nd measure multi-dimensional/quantum physics, instrument (super-cooling quantum plasma lens)

2 Two more laws of multi-dimensional physics revealed: explanation of dark matter & acknowledgement of free energy (controlling mass)

3 God in the atom. God has - provable - part in physics. Intelligent/benevolent design. (Will bring religion and science together)

4 Human Consciousness is an attribute of physics. (Pleiadians - Humans ancestors / Humans free choice only planet in the Milky Way Galaxy. Other galaxies have their own spiritual systems and physics)

5 Coherent DNA. Multidimensional DNA coherent between dimensions will give Enhanced DNA

The Key to Life is Balance

The Key to Life is Balance

Blossom Goodchild and White Cloud Live! (12 November 2020)

ABSOLUTE PROOF THE CHANGE HAS BEGUN. Blossom and White Cloud speak.

UFO's / ET's

UFO's / ET's
One of the first of many UFO photographs taken by Carlos Diaz-Mexico.
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Lee Carroll is an American channeller, speaker and author.
Originally an audio engineer, Carroll claims that he began to channel communication with an entity from a higher dimension called Kryon in 1989. He describes Kryon as an angelic loving entity from the Source (or "Central Sun") who has been with the Earth "since the beginning" and belonging to the same "Family" of Archangel Michael.
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The information he publishes, both printed and online, is intended to help humans ascend to a higher vibrational level.

Greg Braden "If we are honest, truthful, considerate, caring and compassionate, if we live this each day, we have already prepared for whatever could possibly come on 2012 or any other day, any other year, any time in our future."

The annual Perseid meteor shower

The annual Perseid meteor shower
Google: The annual Perseid meteor shower is happening now in today’s doodle on our home page. (11 Aug 2014)
Showing posts with label Mothers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mothers. Show all posts

Friday, February 5, 2016

Mum Films 'GHOST BABY' In Cot Next To Her Sleeping Daughter After Spotting 'SPIRITS' On Monitor




Related Articles:

Is this a GHOST caught on a baby monitor screen? Terrified mother claims to have filmed 'apparition of a parent and child' hovering over her sleeping daughter

Ghostly figures: Terrified Jade Yates claims to have
filmed the apparition of a mother and child above her baby


"The Humanization of God" – Jul 16, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: The Humanization of God, Gaia, Benevolent DesignShift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Guides and Angels, Communication with God, Wars in Heaven ?, The Love of God, (Old) Souls, Global Unity,....  etc.(Text version)

“… Guides and Angels

Let us talk about what I would call the worst-case scenario of humanizing God, and it touches the core of so many of you. It's in how you visualize guides and angels. Now, this is going to be vastly different from so much you've been told. So be prepared to think differently. This will not diminish any divine entity, just enhance it to bring it into alignment with multidimensional thinking.

Do angels exist? Absolutely, but not as you think or have been taught. Are there helpers? Absolutely, but again, not like you think. When angels visited Humans in ancient days and the events were written about by those who were there to witness the experience, I can guarantee it was a lot different than they could express on paper. When an angel appears before a Human, it looks like a swirling ball of energy, sometimes even fire that is not hot and does not consume anything. Angels are not in Human form and never have been. They are multidimensional beings, not in 3D. Yet you want to put skin and wings on them and give them a name! Why? It makes you feel better about them. We understand that.

"Who are they?" You give them names; you give them attributes. This angel does this; this angel does that. What if I told you they were all together? You would react. You'd say, "I don't like that. I want them to be individuals and do different things." Humans want angels to be the "divine factory workers for God," each with a task. It's not that way! When you breathe the air, does it line up as individual molecules with names and tasks, then enter your lungs in a row? Get used to the concept of what they call in physics entanglement. It's a word used in the quantum world that describes an odd attribute of matter that seems to be "connected to everything all the time."

I want you to get used to something that is profound and beautiful. You are part of everything! You're not separated from it. You belong to it. You may be individual bodies in 3D, but in a multidimensional world, you are connected to everything! ..."



"... The Truth About Angels

I want to talk about angels. I really haven't done this much before. Kryon is not an angel, but rather a helper. My partner has called me a benevolent angel of the New Age, but that's not exactly right. I'm a helper. Believe me, if you saw an angel you'd know the difference.

Number one: Are angels real?

Absolutely! Yes.

Number two: Who or what are they?

There is a system, dear ones, of benevolent help for this planet. It's so complex that it's very difficult to discuss with you since you are biased to what you think it is. Where are angels? What do they do? How often, who are they, where do they come from? I'm going to give you some information that some won't like, and some will.

Physical visits: Angels come when they are needed, and they come from the central source. Normally, it's at various points in Human time for both humanity in general and for individuals. Each time they come, it is spectacular. Not one of them is corporeal. Again, Humans have decided that when an angelic entity visits them, in order to make the visit credible or explainable, they must put skin and wings on them and give them a name. Humans color their outfits white [which signifies purity], draw pictures of them, put halos on them, and report them in spiritual history. But that's not what they look like. They are multidimensional beings, not corporeal.

It was probably Moses who described the appearance of an angel in the clearest way, as a burning bush. Fire which does not consume itself or a spinning ball of iridescence is a good description of angelic energy. Indeed, the burning bush was an angel. What's dramatic about angelic energies is that they appear when you don't expect as a ball of energy coming at you. Sometimes they come right through a wall! They are iridescent, some looking like fire, and they have a tendency to frighten a Human! Every single report in scripture describing an angel visit tells you that the angel immediately communicated, "Fear not!" Now, why would any of you be afraid of a beautiful woman with a halo in a white robe? [Kryon laughter] The reason the angel gives this message is because they don't look like that! Dear ones, they are not here to frighten you, but rather to present themselves in all their beauty and their majesty - so grand that some cannot even look upon them. Grand they are.

Now here's the part that you didn't expect. They are a collective. There's no such thing as a singular angel. You might see it as a single angel like you see your body as a single entity, but you are not aware of the soup of angelic power. Angels speak with many voices, but they speak in your head, not in the air as vibrations of sound. Angels normally do not speak to crowds. They speak individually to one Human or another, but it's the collective voice of many, perceived and "heard" as one.

"But Kryon, what about Archangel Michael? I know somebody who is channelling this beautiful, single angel. What about that?" The message from Archangel Michael comes from a group. It's a powerful group, but think of it as "group consciousness perceived as one". Kryon is the same way. All of us who represent the other side have these attributes. We are not corporeal and not singular.

The next thing is even harder to understand, and it's not what you have been told. There's no hierarchy of angels. None of them are above any other in a system of "who's the most powerful or who is in charge". Instead, they are part of the soup of God and they are all identically majestic. Some are appointed to be ambassadors for the others, but they are not higher than the others. They are here by design, and they give messages to help accelerate the benevolence and love of God within humanity.

Probably the most quoted angel is Archangel Michael, who you perceive is the highest of the high. However, Michael is technically a group and does not have a hierarchical position. It just looks that way because the messages are delivered in a specific area of importance to the planet. Michael will tell you, "I am one of many, all majestic, all containing the love of God, all beautiful, all benevolent, all for your service of humanity." But Human Beings want a hierarchy. This one's important; this one is not as important; this one you can throw away.

What is the hierarchy of your organs? Which ones don't you need? Which ones keep you alive? They all do! But you often single out the heart as the most important. Is that really true or does it simply "speak for all"? Oh, and which organ rebelled against the others and left the body? [Kryon smile]

Let's discuss the mythology of Lucifer. Here is an angel who didn't like what was going on, so he left. Or perhaps he did something wrong and was thrown out of God's house. Dear ones, do you see the Human bias here? This story is ridiculous and comes from "humanizing God". You can't take the Human attributes of judgment, war, fighting and drama and plug them into the majesty of the creator. But Humans have done that forever.

Nothing leaves the soup of God! It's pure energy that represents the totality of Spirit. It is finite - always the same quantity of parts [putting the expression into 3D for you]. God is the energy of creation, and it stays together like a mist that never moves out of a quantum containment of love. You can't take part of the mist away or it wouldn't exist! It is what it is and will always be perfect, and always the same, and always whole. Nothing adds or subtracts from the majesty of God.

You'll find angels all through history. They are representatives of the energy of creation. They have no gender, because they are energy. They're not male or female, and they're all equally as strong. They're beautiful, multidimensional messengers giving help to humanity. The only thing that separates them is their type of "service", or their "specialty". But they are always part of us, even when they are seemingly separated, and speaking to you. I know who they are, and I've watched them work. I'm a messenger too, but not an angel. ...."

Friday, November 15, 2013

Twins were born, but haven't realized that (Video)






Related Articles:

Question: Dear Kryon, my two sisters and I are triplets. We've been told that we are one soul in three bodies. I was under the belief that each body houses a separate soul. I think my ego is upset that I'm not an "individual" if this is true. Can you enlighten me on this?

Answer: The most difficult thing to explain to a Human is the concept of how something singular in appearance can be many things in reality. You appear to be one soul because you have one body. When angels are drawn in your books and paintings, even though they are multidimensional beings, you give them skin and wings and call them one name!

So you continue to believe in "one body, one soul." The reality is that every Human alive is multidimensional and is in many places at one time. Even as you sit there reading this, parts and pieces of you are in other places doing other things. Is that, then, one soul in many places, or many souls? The answer is both. Your single-digit dimensionality limits your concept of how this is, since everything before your reality is singular.

So the very premise of your question can't be answered, since nobody on the face of the earth has one soul. A better question would be, "Do your sisters share a singular purpose with you?" The answer, as your intuition told you, is no. They may have the same astrological aspects, but each Human is a separate piece of God, multidimensional and therefore not singular. Each is a different piece of God, on Earth in lesson to be independent.

The confusing part in all of this is what you do share with your sisters. You all share a common thread of divinity that might actually look like "one soul" to a reader (in 4D). This thread is your karmic bond, and why you all came in together the way you did. This has to do with potentials, past energies, and your current expression of lesson. But it's not the "same soul."

Again, we liken this to a bowl of soup. It is singular in appearance, yet fluid inside. You can't ask how many soups there are in the bowl. It's different for all, but each bowl is singular. The soup is the divinity. Don't ever let the container fool you. It may be the same size and color, but the soup in each is diverse and tastes different. It's composed of many parts that make up what it is. It might be nourishing or poisonous. Only the soup can decide what vibration it will be.

Celebrate this with me! Isn't it a wonderful situation that you have? The connection to your sisters is unique to humanity. Only twins and other multiple-birth Humans have it. This is why you will always be "connected" as long as you live. When one of you leaves, finally, watch what happens: You will still be connected! Multidimensional things are like that.


Question: Why do babies cry in their mother's wombs, and does it have any meaning?

Answer: Not any more meaning than why they often cry when they're born. It's just an infant's way of expressing displeasure with their surroundings... both in and out of their wombs.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Why we light up when we see a picture of our mum

Daily Mail, By DAILY MAIL REPORTER, 30th August 2010

She already holds a special place in your heart. But your mother also has a unique effect on your brain.

A glimpse of a mother's face excites brain cells more than pictures of other people, from celebrities to fathers, a study shows.

It is thought the intricate bonding process that takes place in the first months and years of life ensures that a mother is never far from a child's mind, even years later.

Light of your life: The new study has shown that people's brains 'light up' when they see an image of their mother

In one test, Canadian researchers measured the brain activity of volunteers as they were shown photographs of their parents, strangers and celebrities.

Images of a person's mother 'lit up' areas key to recognition and emotion. Fathers produced a lower response, followed by celebrities and, finally, strangers, the journal Brain and Cognition reports.

Toronto University researcher Dr Marie Arsalidou said: 'The fact that this activation is even seen in adults who have lived away from their parents for many years does suggest that it is a long-term effect.'

Meanwhile, a U.S. study found the sound of a mother's voice calms frayed nerves - with a phone call as soothing as a hug.

It looked at the role of oxytocin, a hormone that is known to play a role in the mother-baby bond.

The researchers at the University of Wisconsin- Madison made a group of seven to 12-year-old girls do a speech and solve a series of maths problems in front of strangers, which made them stressed.

A third were then comforted in person by their mother, a third spoke to their mother on the phone and the rest given a film to watch.

Levels of oxytocin rose quickly in those who saw or spoke to their mothers, and, to the scientists' surprise, within an hour, the girls who phoned their mothers were just as calm as those who were comforted in person.

Researcher Leslie Seltzer said: 'It's clear from these results that a mother's voice can have the same effect as a hug, even if they're not standing there.'

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Breastfeeding 'helps to boost IQ'

The government advises breastfeeding for first six months

More evidence is being put forward that breastfed babies eventually become more intelligent than those who are fed with formula milk.

Canada's McGill University found breastfed babies ended up performing better in IQ tests by the age of six.

But the researchers were unsure whether it was related to the breast milk itself or the bond from breastfeeding.

The study of nearly 14,000 children is the latest in a series of reports to have found such a positive link.

Long-term, exclusive breastfeeding appears to improve children's cognitive development

Professor Michael Kramer, lead researcher

However, one problem has been that some of the research has struggled to identify whether the findings were related to the fact that mothers from more affluent backgrounds were more likely to breastfeed and it was factors related to the family circumstances that was really influencing intelligence.

But the latest study attempted to take this into account by following the progress of children born in hospitals in Belarus, some of which ran breastfeeding promotion schemes to boost rates across all groups.

They found that those who breastfed exclusively for the first three months - with many also continuing to 12 months - scored an average of 5.9 points higher on IQ tests in childhood.

Teachers also rated these children significantly higher academically than control children in both reading and writing, the Archives of General Psychiatry reported.

Lead researcher Professor Michael Kramer said: "Long-term, exclusive breastfeeding appears to improve children's cognitive development."

But he added: "Even though the treatment difference appears causal, it remains unclear whether the observed cognitive benefits of breastfeeding are due to some constituents of breast milk or are related to the physical and social interactions inherent in breastfeeding."

Changes

Fatty acids found in breast milk are thought to boost intelligence, but the report said the physical and emotional aspect of breastfeeding may lead to permanent changes to brain development.

The researchers also suggested breastfeeding may increase verbal interaction between mother and child, which in turn could aid their development.

Nonetheless Professor Kramer said more efforts should be made to promote breastfeeding.

In England, the government recommends mothers breastfeed exclusively for the first six months.

But research shows while three quarters start off breastfeeding, just one in four are still doing it by six months.

Rosie Dodds, of the National Childbirth Trust, said: "This research certainly increases the evidence about the impact of breastfeeding.

"And I think what we now need is more effort put into supporting it."

Monday, December 24, 2007

Police: Baby Left In Car As Sitters Go To Bar

Child Left In Locked Car For About Half Hour, Police Say

Eyewitness News, POSTED: 2:20 pm EST December 24, 2007|

BAY SHORE, N.Y. -- Suffolk County police have arrested a Long Island woman and her boyfriend on charges of leaving an 18-month-old baby in a car while they went into a bar.

Investigators said a woman noticed the baby locked inside the car alone and called police.

Police arrived and found Ruth Campos, 19, and Chyan Gilbert, 21, inside a nearby bar. Both remain held on charges of endangering the welfare of a child.

Investigators said the child was in the car for at least half an hour and doesn't appear to be injured.

The child's mother left the baby with Campos while visiting relatives in upstate New York.

Police said the child is in a grandparent's custody.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Pregnant at 13, mum at 14, GCSEs at 15

Kaylib and Kizzy


By Tom Geoghegan, BBC News Magazine

As calls are made for sex education to be compulsory in all schools Kizzy Neal, 15, is one teenager with a lot on her plate - exams, boyfriends and looking after her seven-month-old son.

Kizzy was in her best friend's bedroom when she found out she was pregnant, in the summer of 2006. She was 13.

"I didn't stop crying for three weeks and I was really, really scared," she says, now aged 15. "I knew I'd done something wrong. Thirteen is not the ideal age to have a baby."

She had been fearful after having sex for the first time, unprotected, with Louie.

"Since I got pregnant, I've learnt so much about contraception, abortions and sex but at school I think I had so few sex education lessons."

While the father of her child rejected being a dad and moved away from Torbay in Devon, Kizzy never considered having her pregnancy terminated.

Kizzy Neal

As it went on, she became the target of abuse from people. She was spat at and her brothers were attacked because, her father Kevin believes, she chose not to abort it.

She has lost friends because of it but the same girls that had abused her changed their behaviour after she had baby Kaylib in May.

"When I was pregnant it was like 'You little so-and-so' but when I had the baby they were round the pram saying 'isn't he beautiful?'

"It was a bit two-faced. Without a baby, I didn't want to go out of the house and I was scared but as soon as I had the baby the people I was scared of were coming up being really nice to me."

The birth itself, in May, was the best moment of her life, she says.

"When they put him on my chest, I was so overwhelmed, you don't know whether to smile or cry or laugh or scream, you don't know what to do. It gives you a warm feeling in your tummy."

Sacrifices

From that moment on, says Kizzy's mother Kerry, who is in her 40s, the atmosphere changed. "There was so much negativity about Kizzy having the baby in the first place then when he was born there was so much joy and excitement and everyone loves him."

Kizzy returned to college in September, leaving her mother to look after Kaylib while she studies for six GCSEs. She wants to be a member of Parliament but if that doesn't happen, to be an occupational therapist.

But although Kizzy may look like any other student in the classroom, she is constantly reminded of her responsibilities as a parent because of the sacrifices she has to make and what she describes as her lost childhood.

"I miss being able to get up and go out when I want to and doing teenage things. I can't do these things as much anymore but I do get help from mum and dad so I get the chance to be a child as well as a mum."

She has made a programme with BBC Three about her experience to show other teenage girls that motherhood is "not all about cute babies, it's hard work".

"It's hard to let go of your childhood, you have to break away from that, you have grow up really fast, you have to mature quickly. It's hard getting to grips with being a mum and how to look after your child the best you can."

It's even harder without a father, and earlier this year Kizzy took Kaylib to Southend to meet his dad. On her way home, it struck Kizzy that the two probably won't meet again.

"I was thinking about the baby growing up without a dad and thought I'd let him down. It's ideal to have a mum and a dad and to have a proper environment but it's very different for me. He's got as much love as he needs, even without a dad."

Giving out condoms

Kizzy's story is not uncommon in the UK, which has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in western Europe.

There are 80,000 girls under 19 getting pregnant each year, according to Brook sexual health charity, and on average four out of 10 have the baby. But the rate is falling and sexual education is working, says chief executive Simon Blake.

"It is reducing. We've got a teenage pregnancy strategy that is working. Good quality sexual education and access to services is a real part of the solution."

Last week, campaigners called for sex and relationships education to be made compulsory in all schools. The Terrence Higgins Trust, the NSPCC and the National Union of Teachers said no schools should be able to "opt out of delivering good sex and relationships education to their pupils".

Kizzy believes her school takes the wrong approach by too readily giving out condoms and "promoting sex".

It is claimed 11 other girls at the school also became pregnant, which the school strongly denies.

The school says it devotes considerable resources to sex education and says part of its message is to teach youngsters to delay having sex until in a stable, loving relationship. It also has a confidential drop-in centre called Tic Tac that offers advice on sexual health, abortion and contraception.

Tic Tac has been held up by the government as a model of good practice but Kizzy's father Kevin believes its work undermines a parent's efforts to instil abstinence in a child. His daughter accepts it was her mistake but her fears that having Kaylib meant the "end of fun" have not been realised.

"Every day that goes by," she says, "there's something he does that makes me laugh."

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Mom: Web hoax led girl to kill herself

Yahoo News

By BETSY TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer

DARDENNE PRAIRIE, Mo. - Megan Meier thought she had made a new friend in cyberspace when a cute teenage boy named Josh contacted her on MySpace and began exchanging messages with her.

Megan, a 13-year-old who suffered from depression and attention deficit disorder, corresponded with Josh for more than a month before he abruptly ended their friendship, telling her he had heard she was cruel.

The next day Megan committed suicide. Her family learned later that Josh never actually existed; he was created by members of a neighborhood family that included a former friend of Megan's.

Now Megan's parents hope the people who made the fraudulent profile on the social networking Web site will be prosecuted, and they are seeking legal changes to safeguard children on the Internet.

The girl's mother, Tina Meier, said she doesn't think anyone involved intended for her daughter to kill herself.

"But when adults are involved and continue to screw with a 13-year-old, with or without mental problems, it is absolutely vile," she told the Suburban Journals of Greater St. Louis, which first reported on the case.

Read More ....

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Births to Unwed Mothers Increase to Record Proportion in U.S.

By Elizabeth Lopatto

July 13 (Bloomberg) -- More than a third of all U.S. births in 2005 were to unwed women, the highest level ever reported, according to data released today by the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics.

The increase to 37 percent may be due to more unmarried couples living together, people getting married later in life, restricted access to birth control and concern among older women that fertility declines with age, experts said. Pregnancy among teenagers fell as fewer had sex and more used contraceptives, the report's authors said.

Unwed mothers are more likely to have children with lower birth weights and a higher infant mortality rate, and their offspring are at higher risk of living in poverty, according to the report. Even after controlling for the mother's age, the children are at greater risk, said report co-author Stephanie Ventura, the chief of reproductive statistics at the National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Maryland.

``In many cases, there's a socio-economic situation that's not as favorable,'' Ventura said in a telephone interview on July 11. ``Many of these women don't have the same nutritional opportunities, even before they're pregnant.''

Read More ....

Sunday, July 1, 2007

Key to a good marriage? Share housework.

By DAVID CRARY, AP National Writer, Sun Jul 1, 6:54 AM ET

The percentage of Americans who consider children "very important" to a successful marriage has dropped sharply since 1990, and more now cite the sharing of household chores as pivotal, according to a sweeping new survey.

The Pew Research Center survey on marriage and parenting found that children had fallen to eighth out of nine on a list of factors that people associate with successful marriages — well behind "sharing household chores," "good housing," "adequate income," a "happy sexual relationship" and "faithfulness."

In a 1990 World Values Survey, children ranked third in importance among the same items, with 65 percent saying children were very important to a good marriage. Just 41 percent said so in the new Pew survey.

Chore-sharing was cited as very important by 62 percent of respondents, up from 47 percent in 1990.

The survey also found that, by a margin of nearly 3-to-1, Americans say the main purpose of marriage is the "mutual happiness and fulfillment" of adults rather than the "bearing and raising of children."

The survey's findings buttress concerns expressed by numerous scholars and family-policy experts, among them Barbara Dafoe Whitehead of Rutgers University's National Marriage Project.

"The popular culture is increasingly oriented to fulfilling the X-rated fantasies and desires of adults," she wrote in a recent report. "Child-rearing values — sacrifice, stability, dependability, maturity — seem stale and musty by comparison."

Virginia Rutter, a sociology professor at Framingham (Mass.) State College and board member of the Council on Contemporary Families, said the shifting views may be linked in part to America's relative lack of family-friendly workplace policies such as paid leave and subsidized child care.

"If we value families ... we need to change the circumstances they live in," she said, citing the challenges faced by young, two-earner couples as they ponder having children.

The Pew survey was conducted by telephone from mid-February through mid-March among a random, nationwide sample of 2,020 adults. Its margin of error is 3 percentage points.

Among the scores of questions in the survey, many touched on America's high rate of out-of-wedlock births and of cohabitation outside of marriage. The survey noted that 37 percent of U.S. births in 2005 were to unmarried women, up from 5 percent in 1960, and found that nearly half of all adults in their 30s and 40s had lived with a partner outside of marriage.

According to the survey, 71 percent of Americans say the growth in births to unwed mothers is a "big problem." About the same proportion — 69 percent — said a child needs both a mother and a father to grow up happily.

Breaking down the responses, the survey found some predictable patterns — Republicans and older people were more likely to give conservative answers that Democrats and younger adults. But the patterns in regard to race and ethnicity were more complex.

For example, census statistics show that blacks and Hispanic are more likely than whites to bear children out of wedlock. Yet according to the survey, these minority groups are more inclined than whites to place a high value on the importance of children to a successful marriage.

The survey found that more than 80 percent of white adults have been married, compared with about 70 percent of Hispanics and 54 percent of blacks. Yet blacks were more likely than whites and Hispanics to say that premarital sex is always or almost always morally wrong.

Among those who have ever been married, blacks (38 percent) and whites (34 percent) were more likely than Hispanics (23 percent) to have been divorced.

Delving into one of the nation's most divisive social issues, the survey found that 57 percent of public opposes allowing gays and lesbians to marry. However, opinion was almost evenly divided on support for civil unions that would give same-sex couples many of the same rights as married couples.

Asked about the trend of more same-sex couples raising children, 50 percent said this is bad for society, 11 percent said it is good, and 34 percent said it made little difference.