Recent news headlines about safer school supplies, new parents and sleep deprivation, and more.

Child health and wellness
A new report from the Royal Horticultural Society has found that when children work in school gardens they develop increased life skills, greater literacy and numeracy and are more responsive to the challenges of adult life.—Treehugger

A new study finds that girls are more likely today than in the past to start developing breasts by age 7 or 8. The issue is of concern for both medical and psychosocial reasons.—The New York Times (free registration required)

According to a study from the Urban Institute…49% of American babies born into poor families will be poor for at least half their childhoods. Those poor at birth are more likely to be poor between ages 25 and 30, drop out of high school, have a teen nonmarital birth, and have patchy employment records than those not poor at birth.—Center for Media Research

The Apps for Healthy Kids competition is part of First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! campaign. The competition calls on software developers, game designers, students, and other innovators to develop fun and engaging interactive tools and games that help communicate healthy lifestyle choices.—Supermarket Guru

Back-to-school
The Center for Health, Environment & Justice (CHEJ) has released a free Back-to-School Guide to PVC-Free School Supplies. In addition to phthalates, PVC can also contain lead, cadmium and organotins, all of which can have adverse health effects and have been linked to asthma, obesity and learning disabilities.—inhabitots

Parent wellness
Women who gain a lot of weight during pregnancy are more likely to have high-birth-weight babies, which may increase the children's risk of becoming obese later in life, a new study suggests.—USA Today

A recent sleep survey in the UK found that parents lose an average of six months’ sleep during the first 24 months of their child’s life. According to the Silentnight survey, about 10 percent of parents only managed to get 2.5 hours of continuous sleep each night.—inhabitots

The Good Men Project was launched in June and is one of a crop of new magazines...that cater to men with features about parenting, relationships, and mental health as opposed to articles about sex and sports common in some traditional men’s publications.—Boston Globe (via boston.com)