Of course, parents have known this for years. But now science confirms that the sound of a whining person is almost impossible to ignore:

Psychologists from SUNY and Clark University put participants through the daft trial of trying to do maths problems while listening to a range of six sounds, including a screeching saw on wood, machine noise, a baby crying, motherese and whining, for a whole minute each. Weirdly, the whining sample actually came from an adult, as child actors could not “act out a sustained whining bout”. Previous research has shown adult and child whining to be similar enough to enable this substitution.

The study subjected both men and women, parents and non-parents, to the tests, who were rewarded for their troubles with either M&Ms or toy shop vouchers, depending on their childrearing experience.

After having looked at the maths results, the psychologists found that while all “attachment vocalisations” — meaning motherese, crying or whining — caused greater distraction than silence to the participants, a minute of whining resulted in a greater number of mistakes than machine noise or motherese. Furthermore, both parents and non-parents were affected similarly by whining.

Link | Photo by Flickr user emrank used under Creative Commons license

Researchers at the University of Zurich had twenty-four babies look at paintings by Pablo Picasso and Claude Monet. The ones by Picasso usually held their interest longer:

Immediately afterward, the young participants (who were seated on caregivers’ laps) were shown side-by-side images of two paintings — one by each artist. Experimenters observed how much time they spent gazing at each.

Those who had been looking at Monets preferred the Picasso. This was not a surprise; it was something different and interesting. But those who had been looking at Picassos also focused on the Picasso, suggesting “a spontaneous preference” for his work overrode the appeal of novelty.

“This preference appeared to be highly robust,” the researchers write, “and was observed (in follow-up experiments) even in the absence of very obvious artistic features such as bold colors, sharp contrasts, and the presence of figurative object-like elements.”

http://www.miller-mccune.com/culture/everyones-a-critic-babies-prefer-picasso-32221/ -via The Hairpin | Images: Monterey Museum of Art, Cummer Museum of Art

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It's funny, and even the kid's parents are laughing as the kitty cat futilely struggles against the thick glass at the zoo to get a snack. It's also...kinda weird. It's just about the weirdest cute cat YouTube video that I've ever seen.

via Doobybrain

I really like this kid/parent craft activity by Jill of Kitchen Fun with My Three Sons because, besides being neat, it looks quite achievable for the crafting-challenged. You'll just need to follow a few quite straight-forward directions:

For Ernie....cut a slit towards the bottom for his mouth. Roll up a fruit roll up tightly and then cut part of that for the nose. Cut a small piece for his tongue. Cut a mini marshmallow in half for his eyes. Cut a small raisin for the pupil on the eyes. Cut more of the raisins in half for his hair. Cut the reserved clementine peel for his ears.

For Bert...cut the reserved clementine peel for his nose. Cut the banana peel for his ears. Cut a mini marshmallow for his eyes. Cut a small raisin for the pupil on the eyes. Cut a slit for his mouth. Cut a small piece of fruit roll up for his tongue. Use 2 or 3 raisins for his eye brows. Cut raisins in half for his hair.

Link via Craft

Etsy seller crocheted this Shrek-style ogre (as opposed to, say, a Dungeons & Dragons-style ogre, which would be less cute but more awesome) baby beanie. She notes that it's from "a smoke and pet free home." I've never thought of it before, but that could be a critical selling point to many parents.

Link via Technabob

Laurence Rook, 13, was inspired by a TV show to design a burglar alarm that connects a home's intercom to a cell phone. This way, when a burglar rings the doorbell on a home while casing the area, the homeowner is notified and can speak from the outside intercom as though s/he is actually at home:

The device even produces a small amount of white noise to give any unexpected guest the impression they are speaking to someone inside the house on an intercom system.

The invention, which uses an inbuilt SIM card and existing mobile-phone technology, would also allow homeowners to give instructions to drivers making deliveries at their property.

Laurence has already sold 20,000 units to a telecommunications company.

Link via Blame It on the Voices | Photo: Craig Hibbert

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With twins, there's some distance between adorably cute and horror movie-creepy. This video is well toward the former rather than the latter category.

via Urlesque

Sissy's Magical Ponycorn Adventure is a flash game written and illustrated by five-year old girl named Cassie and programmed by her father, a 33-year old man named Ryan Creighton. Sissy, the main character, is on a quest to acquire ponycorns. Those are unicorn ponies, which are, of course, awesome in all ways. The game is free to play, although you can make a donation to Cassie's education. So go forth and play.

Link via Boing Boing

Although, like some sensible parents, I'm teaching my daughters Klingon and Ferengi, others prefer the more traditional route of Elvish from The Lord of the Rings. The age of Elves has passed, so it's sort of like learning Latin. Still, if that's what you're into, Etsy seller tiedyejedi has nursery decorations to get your tyke started on the Elvish alphabet.

Link via Geek Crafts

Lena Seow, Vrinda Khanna and Suzan Wines of I-Beam Design came up with this simple but brilliant design: a wall made of LEGO Duplo material. It creates an automatic play place and stimulates creativity:

"Children can build with or against gravity," says Wines, adding that the child's ability to impact the basic architecture of the play area by building on the wall is a large part of the appeal. "Everything a child builds becomes an integral part of the play-space architecture until a new construction is made," she says.

Link via OhGizmo! | Photo: HGTV

Born Rich, a blog devoted to chronicling the most expensive, luxurious items around the world, has a roundup of very pricey toddler care items. This is a portable potty by Amanda Jenner of Swarovski. Encrusted with crystals, it costs about $1136.

Link

If I could afford the age progression software, I would totally do this. Really, this is why teenagers were invented.

This image is from Lamebook, a compendium of amusing Facebook status updates. Presumably it's somewhere in the archives, but I'm at a loss to find it.

via The Agitator

In order to motivate student performance, a school district in Fort Worth, Texas, gave a 2011 Chevrolet Camaro to a student who demonstrated excellent attendance records and grades. Here's how the game worked:

They drew the names of 25 lucky students from inside the district's TV studio. Students earned tickets throughout the year based on their academic performance. Better attendance and higher grades meant more chances to win.

"We do a tally, and they receive their tickets, put their names on them, put them in the hopper, and cross their fingers and hope they win," Parker said.

Kenzie Deaton won the car. But she's only 14, so she'll have to wait a while before she can legally drive it.

Link via Jalopnik | Photo (unrelated) via Flickr user Vineesh Devasia used under Creative Commons license

Some of my fondest memories of my maternal grandparents consist of standing in front of the grandchild growth chart on their wall and getting marked whenever I visited. Then they moved and the chart was gone because it was just a part of the wall of the house. But with this project by Emily, a mother and crafter in Washington, D.C., those memories can be transported and kept indefinitely. At the link, you can find instructions and a cute picture of her daughter Molly standing with her growth chart.

Link via Craft

And it's time for you to walk on your own. Laura Miller's photoblog Walk is a tour of children who are still in strollers, though they're really old enough to walk on their own. Miller gets hate mail for her work.

Link via Nag on the Lake