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The series of tables below shows eight areas of human development, and groups the 40 Developmental Assets by these categories. The percentages of young people who report experiencing each asset were gathered from the administration of the Search Institute Profiles of Student Life: Attitudes and Behaviors survey to almost 150,000 6th- to 12th-grade youth in 202 communities across the United States in calendar year 2003.h

What time is it? What day is it? Oh gosh this bed feels so good. Why can't I just stay here all day. That would be the perfect vacation. Screw the Caribbean, I just want my bed. My bed with Netflix and cheesecake. And Tostitos. Guacamole, too. Mmm. Nachos. And sangria. I'll never be skinny. Maybe I should do that Facebook ab challenge. Because I need something fresh to fail at. I should do a cheesecake challenge. Try a new cheesecake every day.

What are they fighting about? A highlighter? In a room full of toys that I paid good money for, these kids are fighting over a highlighter? Speaking of toys, I should probably wash their stuffed animals. What if they're full of dust mites. What if there's an entire city of dust mites right behind Tenderheart Bear's eyes? A dust mite community with freeways and infrastructure and elected dust mite officials. I need to be more on top of this stuff. Why can't I be a normal, responsible, Pinterest mom? I haven't made my baby one sensory table or ice tray full of colorful little finger foods.

“The Boys Have Fallen Behind.” “Girls Lead the Nation in Reading Scores.” “Are Teachers Failing Our Sons?” Earlier this year, newspapers across the country ran these and other headlines in response to a March report by the independent Center on Education Policy (CEP) in Washington, D.C. The report, which outlined results on state accountability tests, raised alarm by noting that the percentage of boys scoring “proficient” or higher in reading was below that of girls at all grade levels tested and in every state for which sufficient data were available.

Results for the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also released in March, showed similar patterns (see figures 1 and 2). Boys in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, at both grades 4 and 8, reached each of the three NAEP reading achievement levels (basic, proficient, and advanced) at lower rates than girls with only two exceptions—and in those cases, boys and girls were essentially tied.

TEL AVIV, Israel, July 7 (UPI) -- A study of children from low-socioeconomic backgrounds found a continuous program of various sports helps ease aggression in boys, Israeli researchers say.

Keren Shahar, a student at Tel Aviv University's Bob Shapell School of Social Work, working with Professors Tammie Ronen and Michael Rosenbaum, said her study involved 649 children from low socioeconomic backgrounds and found sports helped improve self-control and discipline and lowered feelings of aggression in the children overall.

Shahar and colleagues analyzed a 24-week after-school program for grades 3 to 6 in 25 schools based on sports. Half the participants comprised a control group who did not receive sports instruction, and the other half were systematically introduced to a variety of sports for 5 hours a week.

When dads get involved, kids perform better in school. PTO fathers talk about how to get more men to participate.

Dads have long known their place in the PTO: behind a barbecue grill flipping burgers at the spring carnival. Or maybe hammering pegs to rebuild a school playground. But scenes from around the country show that dads are staking out new ground in their children’s schools.

In Starkville, Miss., Eddie Myles has 1st graders gasping for air as he leads them through a 10-minute cardio kickboxing workout on Career Day.

In Lutz, Fla., Ricky Spencer, president of Denham Oaks Elementary School’s Dads Club, leads 2nd graders through a reading of Captain Underpants. Tonight he’ll do some advance work on a spring golf tournament that last year raised $4,000.

In Aurora, Ill., Jim Paglia, last year’s president of the Gwendolyn Brooks Elementary PTA, makes his weekly appearance in his 8-year-old son’s classroom to help drill kids on spelling.