Another study for moms to try not to panic over: “Researchers measured the cognitive and verbal development of children at various ages and found lower scores for 3-year-olds whose mothers took jobs working 30 hours per week or more before the child was 9 months old.” An author of the study says: “There are effects, but they are not huge effects. Your child’s life will not be ruined.” She is also “very surprised that children of married couples were more affected than those of single mothers”, to which I offer the theory that single moms may try harder to make time to interact with their kids, compensating for the fact that they only have one parent. The article never mentions the world “father”, though the research paper might, nor does it mention the effect of older siblings. (via brig)