Archive for the ‘Child Welfare’ Category

Newer Entries »

The Result of Sleep Deprivation for Kids

May 29, 2011

A new study suggests that there is a clear correlation between kids with limited sleep time and weight gain:

Preschoolers who do not get enough sleep are at higher risk of becoming overweight, researchers in New Zealand have concluded.

Getting less sleep seems to be related to increased body weight in children but doctors aren’t sure how.

Prof. Rachael Taylor of the human nutrition department at the University of Otago in Dunedin and her colleagues followed 244 children between the ages of three and seven. Young children who don’t get enough sleep risk becoming overweight. 

The children had their weight, height, body mass index and body composition measured every six months. Parents filled in questionnaires about the sleep and diet habits of their sons and daughters at three, four and five years of age. At those ages, the children also wore accelerometers to monitor their movements.

The boys and girls averaged 11 hours of sleep per day at all three ages.


Each extra hour of sleep per night at age three to five was associated with a reduction in BMI of 0.49 times and a 0.61 times reduction in the risk of being overweight or obese at age seven, the team found.

The researchers said the differences in BMI were from fat mass, which points to how poor sleep harms body composition in children.

The link remained after taking factors such as gender and physical activity into account.

As for why, the researchers proposed that having more time to eat and changes in hormones in the brain could affect appetite.

“The study is a valuable contribution to the understanding of the causal pathway whereby reduced sleep duration may directly contribute to overweight and obesity in children,” Professor Francesco Cappuccio and Associate Professor Michelle Miller from the University of Warwick said in a journal editorial accompanying the study.

Strengths of the study included use of accelerometers and sleep diaries, which offered reliable, direct and repeated measurements of time in bed and time asleep, the editorial said.

“It would do no harm to advise people that a sustained curtailment of sleeping time might contribute to long-term ill-health in adults and children,” the pair concluded.

What the article didn’t say is how many hours of sleep is ideal for a child?  Does it depend on the child? Surely, some children can make do with fewer hours than others?

Tags:, , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Child Welfare | Leave a Comment »

Talk About an Overreaction!

May 27, 2011

A school teacher expects her students to clean after themselves if they urinate on the toilet seat and is forced to take administrative leave!  It turns out that the child was allergic to bleach.  This story should have stayed in-house.  It is certainly not front page news, and even if you were of the belief that the teacher acted negligently, you would have to wonder how this story caused a media sensation and triggered emergency PTO meetings.

An elementary school teacher has been suspended and is being investigated by authorities after allegedly forcing children to scrub the school toilets with bleach.

For two years, Catherine Saur, from Hartford, Connecticut, would make any student who used the bathroom thoroughly clean the room after they were done, parents claim.

Some mothers and fathers said their children would wet themselves during the day to avoid the chore, while one eighth-grader had his hands seriously burned after suffering an allergic reaction to the bleach.

Last night’s emergency school meeting was called after principal Peter Dart sent a letter to parents to inform them the art teacher had been reported to authorities.

Principal Dart said he did not endorse or know about the practice until it came to his attention last week.

He said: ‘It is imperative that we pause, that we take stock in what we are doing. That we learn from this and that we move forward.’

Newsflash: Teacher’s make mistakes.  Some may consider this one to be a bigger one than I do, but for goodness sake, how unfair is it to this poor teacher to have her reputation muddied over what is fairly honest intentions.  Teacher’s should get their students to take an active and responsible approach to cleaning up after themselves from a young age.  Perhaps this teacher took the message a little too far, but she did not deserve the media frenzy she got.  Emergency PTO meetings?  Are you serious?  Seriously burnt?  That’s not what the mother says in the video?  Kids wetting themselves to avoid cleaning after themselves? C’mon media! Get your act together!

And Principal Dart, why don’t you come to the defence of your teacher?  By trying to minimise the negative PR of your school, you seem to be leaving your art teacher out in the cold.  I should be reading about how dedicated this teacher is and how she has a great rapport with her students and a genuine passion for teaching.  I should be reading about how she regrets her actions, has learnt from them and looks forward to resuming the job she loves so much.

Surely a statement like that will have raised the confidence of the public and helped to kill the story in the process.

Tags:, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Child Welfare, Parenting | Leave a Comment »

Injecting Botox into Children Should Be a Crminal Offence

May 15, 2011

This is no joke.  This should not be treated like a one-off case by an unstable parent.  These awful child beauty pageants, which contribute not even an ounce of worth or purpose to this world, are responsible for the flagrant abuse of children.  They must be shut down!  They are horrendous excuses for entertainment and the practices they espouse from parents borders on the criminal.

Take the case of the mother that readily admits to injecting her poor child with  Botox to eliminate any possibility of a wrinkle:

How sick is that?  How do we allow these pageants to continue when they provide us with nothing and instead encourage parents to treat their kids like circus animals!  I totally agree with John Kass:

… when I think of little-girl beauty pageants — after the story last week about Kerry Campbell, the idiotic mom injecting Botox into the face of her 8-year-old daughter Britney — all I can think of are three little words:

Shut them down.

Shut all those kiddie pageants down.

It’s easy for us to slam one ignorant parent who lives vicariously through her daughter, or slam a few parents who treat their children as if they’re painted dolls. We pronounce such parents fools and think we’ve won a great victory.

But this really isn’t about isolated cases, or even the entire, weird little-girl pageant scene. The larger story is how we Americans feel about ourselves, how we define beauty in the age of facial injections and lip shots and tummy tucks and liposuction and breast implants and hair transplants.

And as millions endure all that poking and prodding and tying and cutting, can’t you hear America groaning, begging: Desire Me, Want Me, Please Want Me Forever.

We put all that pressure on women to be young and cute into their old age, until even an 8-year-old isn’t young enough or cute enough, if her name is Britney, getting Botoxed.

It all starts with those little girls painted with lipstick, sprayed with tanning powder, with big hair and heels. They strut down those runways with that JonBenet Ramsey pout, training to become princess victims.

And the parents cheer as their young are sexualized.

In today’s age. how do we let these blasted things continue?

Tags:, , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Child Welfare | 4 Comments »

Poor Children Coming to School Tired and Hungry

April 15, 2011

This is a universal problem that requires a lot more attention.  Teachers are not given enough credit for their role in supporting kids that come to school with inadequate food or no lunch at all.  It is not widely known that teachers often spend out of their own pocket to ensure that their poorer students have what to eat.  But the problem still exists, and it must be addressed.

A concerted campaign from schools by working with charity groups to ensure that meals are provided for students of poor families should ensure that heartbreaking articles like this one will be a thing of the past:

Teachers are reporting a rise in pupils entering the classroom feeling tired, hungry and dressed in worn-out clothes.

A study by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers found almost eight-in-10 staff had pupils living below the poverty line and a quarter believed numbers had increased since the start of the recession.

One teacher from Nottingham told of a sixth-former who had not eaten for three days as her “mother had no money at all until pay day”.

A teaching assistant from a West Midlands comprehensive told researchers that some pupils had “infected toes due to feet squashed into shoes way too small”, while another member from Halifax reported a boy who was ridiculed in the PE changing room because his family could not afford to buy him any underpants.

Some teachers told how pupils were consistently late for lessons as parents could not cover the bus fare to school. Other children from middle to lower income families have been forced to cut out school tips because money is so tight, it was claimed.

The disclosure follows the publication of figures showing a rise in the number of pupils eligible for free school meals as families struggle to stay above the breadline in the recession.

Almost 1.2 million five- to 16-year-olds claimed free lunches last year – a rise of more than 83,000 in just 12 months.

Mary Bousted, ATL general secretary, claimed that problems would escalate further because of Government funding cuts – putting the Coalition’s social mobility drive in jeopardy.

“It is appalling that in 2011 so many children in the UK are severely disadvantaged by their circumstances and fail to achieve their potential,” she said.

“What message does this government think it is sending young people when it is cutting funding for Sure Start centres, cutting the Education Maintenance Allowance, raising tuition fees and making it harder for local authorities to provide health and social services.

“The Government should forget empty rhetoric about social mobility and concentrate on tackling the causes of deprivation and barriers to attainment that lock so many young people into a cycle of poverty.”

It is time that we made the most crucial issues in education our first priority and main focus.  As important as debate over class size, ICT, male teacher numbers are for improved educational outcomes, such discussion often takes over.  We need to get back to basics.  The basic requirement for a school is to look after the welfare of its students.  That makes health and bullying among the most important priorities in my book.Here’s an opportunity for schools and charity groups to work together to tackle a problem that shouldn’t even exist in the forst place.

Tags:, , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Child Welfare, Nutrition | 2 Comments »

Asperger’s Teacher Must Be Penalised for His Comments

April 1, 2011

I don’t know enough about Asperger’s Syndrome to be considered an expert on the condition.  Regardless, I am sure of this – a teacher who has a reputation for saying demeaning and insulting things to his/her students with some level of frequency needs to find another profession whether they have Asperger’s Syndrome or not.

I am a deep critic of the general lack of understanding and support given to students with autism and other related conditions, so I want to make it clear that I am not insensitive to the difficulties that such a condition poses on a person’s social skills.

Having said that, it is my belief that Robert Wollkind, if indeed it is proven that he did do what is alleged, needs to be fired for his behaviour:

A Connecticut high school teacher faces the loss of his job after asking a student, who is overweight, if he had eaten his homework. According to the Hartford Courant, officials in the Brookfield school district want to fire Robert Wollkind who, they say, has made a ‘string of inappropriate remarks over his 32-year career.’ Wollkind, a math teacher at Brookfield High School, was diagnosed in 2002 with Asperger’s Syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder in which individuals have normal or above intelligence but struggle with social, communicative and sensory skills. Wollkind has been on administrative leave since the November 2010 incident.

Lawyers representing the school district says that Wollkind has ‘used abusive language to others, including telling one student that he hated him.’ According to the News-Times:

The student, identified as “Student 21,” had been previously teased by peers about his weight, said the school district’s attorney Patrick McHale.

Wollkind’s personnel file also contains reported incidents of him screaming at a student, grabbing a student, and using “abusive and foul language” with students.

Wollkind counters that ‘many of those incidents have been described inaccurately.’

The fact that more than 1,000 Brookfield parents and students have signed a petition supporting him suggests he has some fine qualities as a teacher and that the parents of Brookfield are very understanding.

My issue is with his behaviour.  Teachers have an important role to fulfill that goes beyond the teaching of skills and knowledge.  They are there to build up the confidence of their students, empower them to take responsible risks and help them to realise their full potential.

Comments that hurt and strike at a child’s self-esteem do not belong in a teacher’s repertoire.  It hurts enough in the schoolyard by peers, but to get teased by your teacher is simply not acceptable and potentially destructive to the child.

Whilst I can understand that Mr. Wollkind’s jibe’s were a product of Asperger’s Syndrome, and I am deeply sympathetic to it’s likely influence over his actions, I am not sure I would want him teaching my child.


Tags:, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Body Image, Child Welfare, Childhood Obesity, Political Correctness | 8 Comments »

Calls for Scientology School To Be Investigated

March 25, 2011

I am not a big fan of Scientology and based on accounts of children and adults caught under its spell, I am deeply concerned about its growing numbers and influence.  I agree with Independent senator Nick Xenophon, who has pushed for Scientology’s tax-free status to be scrapped.

The latest of many controversies to come out of the Church of Scientology sees one of their schools accused of covering up its allegiance to the Church and allegedly using Government Funds intended for the school to help build a Church of Scientology headquarters.

A Melbourne school linked to the Church of Scientology spends among the lowest per student in Australia despite receiving thousands of dollars in government funding.

Yarralinda School in Mooroolbark has also come under fire for obscuring its affiliation with Scientology, in a flyer that spruiks the school as a ”no homework school”.

My School website reveals Yarralinda School spent $3727 per student in 2009, despite receiving $6171 per student in combined government funding and $4609 per student in fees. //

Victoria’s independent schools spend an average of $15,201 per student, while government schools spend an average $10,178 per student.

However, most of Yarralinda’s income – $7765 per student – was allocated to paying off debts, according to My School.

A former board member at Yarralinda, Paul Schofield, who resigned in 2009, alleged the school’s debt repayments were so high because the school had taken out a mortgage to lend money to the Church of Scientology for its headquarters in Ascot Vale.

”I was livid the school had been left with this debt in order to fund the Scientology building,” he said.

The Australian Education Union called on the federal government to investigate the use of government funding.

”The government is providing recurrent funding for very specific purposes, and it appears this funding is not being used for the purpose of education,” president Angelo Gavrielatos said.

Yarralinda principal Christel Duffy refused to comment on why the school’s spending per student was so low.

I am extremely weary of the Church of Scientology and hope Senator Xenophon is successful in his endeavours.

Tags:, , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Child Welfare | 1 Comment »

Newer Entries »