Something New To Feel Guilty About

[GeorginaA]

Messy Homes 'Affect Children'

looks around at the complete tip that is masquerading as a "living room" at the moment

Oh well.

What I want to know is how they found 8000 sets of twins that had presumably been separated one into a neat home and one into a messy home?!! Doesn't that strike you as a set up?

Every time one of these reports comes out, I'm more and more inclined to agree with a quote that was on a recent Beeb radio show:

"The American neuroscientist Steve Peterson has said, only half-jokingly, that, as far as brain development goes, the only advice he?d give parents is "Don't raise your children in a closet; don't starve them; and don't hit them over the head with a frying pan.""

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In respect of the messy home or keeping them in the closet?

Both georgina - you should see essbee's house - gorgeous men lie around everywhere littering the house and the kids have to be squeezed into a cupboard under the sink to save space and keep them quiet. At least they get water that drips from the pipes, and if they're specially good essbee gives them a crust of stale bread.

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Yes, she is joking - they get medised with every meal, not just as a special treat.

Sounds great, when can I move in?

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Got a small cupboard spare for my dd?? And I'll sleep in the garden in your tent, with the 22 men, so I won't bother you!!!

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Ah, but if 23 men were in there already where would I fit?? See, I had remembered that!!! On the other hand, it wouldn't be too much of a bad thing if it was a big squeeze!!! And dd will do very nicely in a drawer thankyou!!!

If it's any consolation, there was another item in the very same news bulletin that said that over clean homes are to blame for asthma and allergies - so once again we can't win!

It doesn't say in the article that the twins were seperated, it says that some were in tidy organised homes and others were in noisy chaotic homes.

My dd's have no chance though I can barely remember what colour our living room carpet is half the time, lol It only appears every now and then and it's so nice when I find the carpet but it does seem to disappear again far too quickly.

After getting the results of my DS's highers this year, the children in the tidy homes did a lot better than my DS who lives in a pigstye
Plan - tidy up more regularly throughout the year.

Linnet: surely the implication is there though? It mentions the need to get shared genetic material but in different situations - to prove it was nurture not nature that made the difference.

I remember a similar study a long while back (can't remember what it was trying to prove now... something to do with the nature/nurture debate) and then it transpired that the "researchers" made up a fair number of the "twins" just to prove their theories because they couldn't find enough separated twins to do the study on... That's what made me suspicious.

if the twins weren't separated why use them as examples over any other children? I'm a twin and I would say that sharing is the thing that has ruined my life

It does not say anythng about twins being separated. I think they are just trying to reiterate the point that 2 children experienced the same findings, despite genetics.

Still trying to find the actual study paper. In the meantime, here's a discussion on the fraudulent twins study I was thinking of... Bewitching Science

Weird ... why bother with twins though... surely same environment + same genes isn't going to prove anything?!

I obviously don't have my brain in gear tonight.

It is a very strange article altogether

And the original fradulent twin study The Cyril Burt Affair - where it was considered fraud that he had found 52 separated twins - a situation considered very rare (which is why 8000 rang huge alarm bells).

But on rereading you're right, it doesn't say they were separated - I just assumed they were because otherwise it just doesn't really make sense... well, to me anyway. Hopefully it makes sense to the researchers otherwise their funding is going to get cut short veeeeery soon now.