Parents should start reading to their children from infancy as means of propelling them towards literacy, says the US largest pediatric group. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued the directive as part of its new policy on Tuesday. The measure, the group said, can enhance child development and prepare young minds for early language and reading ability. “You’re not teaching a... 

British government will determine what is an acceptable degree of love and affection. State decides how much love a child receives and scofflaws will be sent to prison. Not loving a child to the degree mandated by a new standard established by the British state will result in a prison term for parents, according to The Telegraph. Under a new “Cinderella Law,” denying children love and affection... 

A Louisiana, Missouri father was prevented from saving his 3-year-old son from a house fire when cops tased him three times for attempting to enter the burning building. The fire started in a ground floor play room while the parents were asleep in the living room. The toddler was asleep upstairs in his bedroom. After waking up to the smell of fumes, the parents managed to get outside before calling... 

In the new school year, a new subject, mandatory sex education, will be introduced in all French schools. Children will be educated from the age of six. Sex education is intended to completely shift the perception of the traditional biological roles of males and females in the children’s minds, replacing them with the ideas about the so-called social gender. France has become a field for growing... 

Chubby North Korean communist dictator Kim Jong Un has plenty of food while the people are starving to death and to the point of being driven to madness and cannibalism. A starving man in North Korea has been executed after murdering his two children for food, reports from inside the secretive state claim. A ‘hidden famine’ in the farming provinces of North and South Hwanghae is believed... 

A Virginia mother was recently interrogated four times by police, and visited twice by social services, after neighbors spotted the mother’s children playing in their own yard unsupervised, and decided to report the non-incident to local authorities. According to Lenore Skenazy of Free-Range Kids, such hysteria and Stasi-style paranoia are becoming the norm in America, where children are being excessively... 

Parents, teachers and children gather during a protest against a new Chinese national education course in Hong Kong September 1,2012. Just days before the start of the school year, tens of thousands of Hong Kong residents took to the streets to protest what they believe is an attempt by authorities to ‘brainwash’ students. ­More than 40,000 people assembled outside government headquarters... 

Mark of the Beast: A Louisiana public school’s decision to purchase palm scanners to speed up lunch lines and payments has been met with religious opposition A Louisiana public school’s decision to purchase palm scanners to speed up lunch lines and payments has been met with religious opposition. Mother Mamie Sonnier said that she will not allow her children to participate in the scanner... 

Decline: The U.S. birth rate has hit its lowest point in 25 years, forecasters say The U.S. birth rate has plummeted to its lowest point in 25 years as would-be parents postpone having babies due to the poor economy. The average number of births per woman has fallen 12 per cent from a peak of 2.12 in 2007, when the economy began to falter. Now the rate is predicted to hit just 1.87 this year and 1.86... 

A new fatwa recently issued in Saudi Arabia suggests that Supreme Mufti of the country will allow giving girls into marriage at the age of ten. However, he only legalized the existing orders: here eight-year-old girls, with the consent of their fathers, are married off to old men. The laws of Saudi Arabia provide and even encourage the practice of early marriage of girls. “From ancient times... 

Sarkozy suspended his election campaign on Monday to visit the scene of the killings and announced a minute of silence in all French schools on Tuesday. A teacher and three students were killed when a man opened fire on parents and children waiting outside a school in Toulouse. Two incidents of “striking similarity” left three French soldiers dead last week. Local prosecutor Michael Valet said... 

Torn apart: The parents, left and right, with six of their children who they fear will be taken away from them. Although it sounds like a story from the Twilight Zone, it looks like in England it’s illegal to be fat. Four obese children are on the brink of being permanently removed from their family by social workers after their parents failed to bring their weight under control. In the first... 

The Chicago Tribune reports that a school in Chicago has banned students from bringing packed lunches from home – unless they have a medical excuse. Principal Elsa Carmona said her goal is protect students from their own unhealthful food choices, stating: “Nutrition wise, it is better for the children to eat at the school,” Carmona said. “It’s about the nutrition and... 

The Supreme Court has said Russell and Robalee Bruesewitz’s lawsuit was preempted under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986. The law grants drug companies immunity from certain lawsuits from injuries or deaths tied to vaccinations. A federal law grants drug companies immunity from certain lawsuits from injuries or deaths tied to vaccines, the US Supreme Court affirmed Tuesday. The family... 

The guidelines say that the word “parents” must replace “mum and dad”, and that teachers should educate pupils about civil partnerships and gay adoption rights. The British government is telling teachers to avoid using the words “mum and dad” as part of an effort to cut down on “homophobia” and increase acceptance of “gay families.” The...