The Art of Roughhousing is a new parenting guide that exhorts the value of old-fashioned horseplay between parents and children. The authors, physician Anthony T. DeBenedet, M.D., and psychologist Lawrence J. Cohen, Ph.D., are both fathers who believe that roughhousing is critical to a child’s physical development and self-esteem.

Their book comes complete with simple diagrams that explain rowdy but safe roughhousing moves to parents. The book is seen by child experts as part of the “take back childhood” movement that is a backlash to the pressures of school and organized activities that many children are subject to.

Read more about the art and science of roughhousing on the official Art of Roughhousing website. To get an ideas about what kind of roughhousing kids like, see this YouTube video.

A recent survey of over a thousand moms has revealed just how important technology has become to the modern family. More than 70% of moms told researchers that they don’t go for more than one day without using the Internet. Almost 80% of moms said they consider their cell phone to be a necessity, compared to about 40% who feel that way about their landline. When asked how old children should be before they use technology, 1 in 3 moms said their children used a laptop or cell phone by age 2.

The survey was conducted by The Parenting Group, parent company of Parenting Magazine, Parenting.com and the BlogHer network. Read more about this survey in this BlogHer post.