Posts Tagged ‘Child Welfare’

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Are We Doing Enough to Make Our Children Happy?

May 6, 2014

 

stairs

 

A new survey tells us the same gloomy details about how unhappy our children are. It’s not that I discount their findings or wish to in any way dismiss the issues raised, but where is the companion article with ideas and initiatives for making our children happy.

The internet and other technology are not to blame for the state of our children. Blaming these things both undermines the problem and makes it harder to raise solutions.

So my message is to read this with a desire to make a difference rather than to wallow in the current state of affairs:

 

Children’s happiness drops after the age of 11 as they get caught up in modern issues such as cyber-bullying, online porn and sexting, a study has found.

Charity and youth workers surveyed almost 7,000 children over three years and found girls were far worse affected than boys.

Their self-esteem, ’emotional well-being’ and satisfaction with their community sank sharply after the age of 11, continuing to get worse up to the age of 16.

Boys’ happiness, meanwhile, remained far more stable.

The researchers blamed the march of technology as one of several factors making teenagers unhappy.

Dr Simon Davey, Programme Leader of the Emerging Scholars’ Intervention Programme, said: ‘Technology and the pace of change have accelerated pressures, made them more extreme and increased competition.

‘Girls in particular are more vulnerable to social pressures affecting their confidence and capability.

‘Measuring well-being – one of the ultimate expressions of confidence and capability – has been difficult for us but [these] well-being tool helps us take a quantitative view for the students we work with.’

The study, carried out over three years by around 50 youth charities, is due to be released on Tuesday.

In total the charities surveyed 6,890 children aged 11 to 16 – 3,176 girls and 3,714 boys – and ranked them on eight measures of happiness.

They were overall satisfaction, self-esteem, emotional well-being, resilience and satisfaction with friends, family, community and school.

Click on the link to read Why Getting Our Kids to Toughen Up is a Flawed Theory
Click on the link to read  Stop Pretending and Start Acting!

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Posted in Child Welfare | 1 Comment »

In My Opionion Pedophiles are the Same as Murderers

March 13, 2014

cowan

Whilst it was a relief to see the evil killer of poor young Daniel Morcombe receive his guilty verdict, it came with a most horrifying revelation.

Only after a trial verdict is delivered can the criminal record of the accused be released to the public. It turns out that Daniel’s killer, Brett Peter Cowan, has a past:

Daniel Morcombe’s killer Brett Peter Cowan was finally found guilty when the longest-running police investigation in Queensland’s history came to a dramatic end on Thursday.

Fairfax Media can now reveal Daniel was not Cowan’s first victim.

Ten years before taking Daniel from a Sunshine Coast bus stop, Cowan lured a six-year-old boy into the bush in the Northern Territory.

Cowan viciously raped the little boy on a rusted car wreck, leaving him with severe head injuries, a collapsed and punctured lung, a deep cut at the base of his scrotum, a bloodied nose and scratch marks over his torso.

The boy was found wandering naked, dazed and distressed near a petrol station on the Stuart Highway and taken to the Royal Darwin Hospital where he was placed in intensive care.

Cowan, then aged 24, initially denied having any involvement in the attack, but confessed when questioned a second time by police.

He told police he needed help and requested to be imprisoned in the Moreton Correctional Centre in Queensland, where he could participate in a sexual offenders treatment program.

Cowan was already a repeat offender by this stage. In September 1989, Cowan took a seven-year-old boy into a public toilet in Brisbane, where he digitally and orally raped the child.

Cowan was sentenced to seven years’ jail for his assault on the boy in the Northern Territory, but his non-parole period was set at no more than three years and a half years.

How can they let a man who has raped and nearly killed a child out of prison within 4 years? Why is there such a gulf between the sentences of child sex offenders and murderers? To me they are highly comparable.
In my opinion a child sex offender should receive a similar sentence to a murderer, and should they ever re-offend upon release, they should never see light of day again.

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Posted in Child Welfare | 3 Comments »

Governments Should Ban Schools From Imposing Toilet Rules

March 10, 2014

 

toilet roll

I have vehemently opposed school toilet rules for some time, arguing that it is unfair and unhealthy to impose such a rule. The evidence seems to back up my claim:

Some primary school children are at risk of developing kidney and bowel problems because they have difficulty getting permission from their teacher to go to the toilet.

And others say they are avoiding the school toilets because of where they are located and worries about sanitation and security.

Almost 1,000 school-aged children attending eight Irish primary schools in the east coast were surveyed and 545 children responded.

While, overall, children had a positive perception of their school toilets, and used them if they needed to, around 57pc said they experienced difficulties going to the toilet.

The findings emerged in a survey of pupils by Maeve Smyth, a public health nurse with the Health Service Executive (HSE) in Wicklow. She was prompted to investigate the issue after school-aged children attending her bedwetting clinic said they found difficulties following their care plans while at school.

“These children described how they were reluctant to use the school toilets and permission was often denied,” she told the nursing and midwifery conference at the Royal College of Surgeons.

“Significantly, 57pc of the children had difficulties getting permission from the teacher to use the toilet when they needed to.

“And 34pc of children also intentionally avoided using them. These findings were significantly related to age, location, sanitation and security.”

She added: “Prolonged postponing increases the risk of, or exacerbates the problem of, urinary and bowel disorders.”

A spokesman for the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) said the finding that 34pc of children intentionally avoided using school toilets should be further investigated by the schools concerned.

He said: “Regrettably, sanitation was an issue in some schools due to government neglect of school buildings. While progress has been made in many schools in recent years, there is still a backlog of schools awaiting funding.

“A school board has a duty to ensure that the overall hygiene of a school is of an acceptable standard. But where it is identified that it is of a less than acceptable standard, then the board should be funded by the Department of Education to urgently redress the situation.”

He added: “In general, the union advises against children being forced to line up to go to the toilet at specific times.

“Where possible, children should be facilitated to go to the toilet when the need arises. However, this is not always possible where toilets are external to the classroom.”

 

Click on the link to read Even Prisoners Don’t Have to Beg for Toilet Paper

Click on the link to read School Makes Children Pay to Use the Toilet

Click on the link to read School Toilet Trial is a Terrible Idea

Click on the link to read Schools Putting Spy Cameras in Toilets and Change Rooms

Click on the link to read A Toilet Break is a Right Not a Privilege

Click on the link to read Even Prisoners Get to Use the Toilet

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Posted in Child Welfare | 3 Comments »

Where is the Deterrent For Teachers Who Have Sex With Their Students?

January 17, 2014

 

Children at school

One of the problems with the unacceptable trend of teachers having sexual relations with their students is that the penalties are often lenient.  Suspending the teacher is not good enough and this is evidenced by the rise in incidents. Teachers who have engaged in a relationship with their students must spend time behind bars:

Almost 1,000 teachers have been accused of having a relationship with a pupil in the past five years, according to figures from state schools. Of these, just over one in four faced police charges.

The figures, obtained by BBC Newsbeat through a freedom of information request, show that between 2008 and 2013, at least 959 teachers and other school staff were accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a pupil.

At least 254 of these cases (26%) led to a police charge, the findings show, although Newsbeat said it was not clear from the responses how many of these cases led to a prosecution, conviction or the teacher being dismissed.

The data is based on responses from 137 councils who were asked how many school staff had been suspended, dismissed or faced disciplinary action after being accused of some form of sexual relationship with a pupil. The statistics apply to state schools under local council control.

Donald Findlater, a child abuse expert with the Lucy Faithfull Foundation told Newsbeat: “If a child develops the courage to say something, we have to take it seriously.

“That does not mean we have to assume it is absolutely true, but we have to take it seriously and investigate it.”

He said he agreed that a false claim could ruin a teacher’s career, but added that research conducted for the government had shown that just 2% of allegations against teachers were malicious.

Teaching unions said teachers who abused their position should face the full consequences, but they had concerns about the impact of false claims.

Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, told the BBC: “There can be misunderstandings and malicious allegations are made, so it is critical that investigations are carried out quickly with due process.”

 

Click on the link to read 6 Tips for Kids Who Worry Too Much

Click on the link to read Since When is Trying to Sell Your Baby a “Joke”?

Click on the link to read A World Where Sex Offenders Have “Human Rights” and their Victims Have None

Click on the link to read Schools Pick and Choose What They Implement

Click on the link to read 8 Year Old Indian Girl Divorces her 14 Year Old Husband

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6 Tips for Kids Who Worry Too Much

January 8, 2014

 

worry

 

Courtesy of psychologist Daniel B. Peters, Ph.D.:

1. Make a worry list.
Have your child make a list of all his or her worries and fears, both small and large. Just the act of recognizing and writing down worries can sometimes make the scary emotions seem less intimidating for your child. This allows you to identify which worries and fears you want to work on with your child, tackling one by one together.

2. Practice thinking strategies.
Help your children convert their worries into reassurances by teaching them new thinking strategies. For example, if their consistent worry is “I am afraid my mom won’t pick me up from school,” have them replace it with “I know my mom is coming for me because she ALWAYS does.” Together, you can say each worry and fear and come up with new sentences to combat the old. Practice these with your kids until they become habitual replacements for the old, incessant worries. This is a key skill for building resilience.

3. Don’t skimp on sleep.
Make sure your child gets enough sleep on a regular basis. Well-rested equals well-equipped mentally and physically to deal with minor daily stresses. The National Sleep Foundation recommends that 3- to 5-year-olds get 11-13 hours a night, 5- to 12-year-olds get 10-11 hours per night, and teens get 9.25 hours per night (although some do fine with 8.5 hours).

4. Make good nutrition a priority.
Make sure your child gets a steady dose of protein throughout the day. Many kids experience low blood sugar, also known as hypoglycemia. Low blood sugar usually occurs a few hours after breakfast and it looks and feels a lot like anxiety: they feel dizzy, start sweating, feel weak, and their heart beats really fast. Staying away from caffeine and energy drinks is also recommended as they mimic the effects of adrenaline and cause people to feel anxious.

5. Get some exercise.
Exercise burns adrenaline. If it’s not already a part of your child’s daily routine, add daily exercise to your child’s plan, and let him know that not only is it good for his body, but it will help keep the Worry Monster away. Exercise can include any activities that your child enjoys such as swimming, shooting baskets, hiking, soccer, dodge ball, tennis, martial arts, jumping rope, rock climbing, bicycling, dancing, gymnastics or yoga. Anything that increases your child’s heart rate will help fight the Worry Monster.

6. Don’t underestimate distraction.
Arm your children with a little healthy distraction. Let them pick a favorite activity such as ten minutes on the computer playing a brain game, time out for reading a favorite book, watching a half hour television show or bike riding around the block — and allow them to do that activity whenever a worry attack comes on. This allows them to combat worry with pleasure and takes their mind off the often paralyzing thoughts and feelings brought on by the Worry Monster. Before you and they know it, they have been distracted from their worries.

 

Click on the link to read Since When is Trying to Sell Your Baby a “Joke”?

Click on the link to read A World Where Sex Offenders Have “Human Rights” and their Victims Have None

Click on the link to read Schools Pick and Choose What They Implement

Click on the link to read 8 Year Old Indian Girl Divorces her 14 Year Old Husband

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Posted in Child Welfare | Leave a Comment »

Since When is Trying to Sell Your Baby a “Joke”?

December 28, 2013

 

ad

 

There is absolutely nothing funny about the ad above. I have no sympathy for parents who find it funny to put their children up for sale on websites, even if they only did it for a laugh:

A young mother tried to sell her four-month-old boy on the internet for £150,000, it emerged last night.

The 20-year-old advertised the ‘beautiful’ baby for sale on the Gumtree classifieds website on Boxing Day.

Police and social services were alerted after scores of people saw the ad and dialled 999.

Officers traced the woman and took the child and his two-year-old brother into care.

Last night the single mother, who suffers from post-natal depression, said the advert was just a ‘silly joke’ that backfired.

She claimed she had been dared to post it, but had no intention of going through with the sale and has been left devastated that her two sons have been taken away.

The full-time mother from Bradford said: ‘I had been joking with my ex about selling sperm and eggs and he sort of dared me to put up a baby for sale – but I didn’t mean our children.

 

Click on the link to read A World Where Sex Offenders Have “Human Rights” and their Victims Have None

Click on the link to read Schools Pick and Choose What They Implement

Click on the link to read 8 Year Old Indian Girl Divorces her 14 Year Old Husband

Click on the link to read Meet the Ten Year Old Girl Who has had a Thousand Criminals Arrested

 

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Schools Pick and Choose What They Implement

December 22, 2013

 

 

 

davis

Another tragic death from a needless school shooting. And what is the response? Further security protocols. The call to arm teachers.

Why is it that countries always borrow from other countries when it comes to mimicking academic achievement, but not when it comes to other crucial aspects of school life? I hear a lot about implementing the Finish model of education to try and garner similar results. But what about copying from a country that has had very few violent related school incidents?

Take Australia for instance. Since Australia implemented its strict gun laws which involved a tax payer funded gun buy-back scheme, we have seen no gun violence in our schools that I am aware of.

Of course change is much harder for the US because of gun rights in its constitution.

But how many school deaths do we tolerate before we make a change that is crying out to be made. They say guns don’t kill people, people do.

Tell that baloney to the poor parents of a gun victim!

 

Click on the link to read High School Fitted with a Shooting Range

Click on the link to read 8 Year Old Indian Girl Divorces her 14 Year Old Husband

Click on the link to read Meet the Ten Year Old Girl Who has had a Thousand Criminals Arrested

Click on the link to read Tips For Kids in Dealing With Exams

Click on the link to read First Prize for a Primary School Raffle: A Rifle

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Posted in Child Welfare | 4 Comments »

8 Year Old Indian Girl Divorces her 14 Year Old Husband

November 20, 2013

fatima

I try to understand and appreciate different customs and traditions, but I can’t pretend to approve of arranged child marriages like this one:

An eight year old girl has become the youngest person ever to be divorced in India after she was married off aged just four.

Fatima Mangre was given away by her father Anil, from the Shravasti district of Uttar Pradesh state, in an arranged a marriage with 10-year-old Arjun Bakridi.

However when the boy arrived four years later to take his new bride away, Anil said he wanted the girl to wait until she was 18 before leaving.

He said: ‘I finally realised that this practice of marrying off daughters so young was wrong and that she should have a childhood, and that it was my duty to provide that.’

However Arjun’s father Dipak was unhappy with the decision, and an argument broke out after which Anil filed for divorce.

Click on the link to read Meet the Ten Year Old Girl Who has had a Thousand Criminals Arrested

Click on the link to read Tips For Kids in Dealing With Exams

Click on the link to read The Harmful Effects of Yelling at Students

Click on the link to read First Prize for a Primary School Raffle: A Rifle

Click on the link to read Another Reason why Television is Unealthy for Children

Click on the link to read The Spoiled Twins with their £70k First Birthday Party (Photos)

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Meet the Ten Year Old Girl Who has had a Thousand Criminals Arrested

November 5, 2013

sweetie

A brilliant invention that has helped protect innocent children from sick, evil predators:

A Dutch organization for children’s rights has identified more than 1,000 sexual predators after creating a computer-generated Filipino girl named ‘Sweetie’ to entice them to ask for child porn.

The Dutch chapter of the group Terre des Hommes created the 10-year-old girl and then posed as her on internet chat rooms to conduct a sting operation to unmask webcam child-sex tourists.

For two-and-a-half months during the spring, the researchers pretended to be the girl while working undercover in a warehouse in an industrial part of Amsterdam – and the results were instant.

They were quickly approached by more than 20,000 predators from 71 countries, and on Monday, they gave the identities of 1,000 of these allegedly predators to Interpol. Of these, 254 came from the U.S.

‘The moment we got online, we were swamped, like an avalanche,’ TDH special projects director Hans Guyt said in a webcast from the Hague, the Globe and Mail reported.

‘If we don’t intervene soon, this sinister phenomenon will totally run out of control,’ he added.

He said webcam sex with minors – which usually involves men from Western countries paying children from impoverished countries for sex shows – is still ‘a cottage industry’ and need to be stopped.

‘It’s still not too late,’ Guyt said. ‘Our worst scenario is that the same thing will happen with this as has happened with child pornography – that is now a multi-billion dollar industry in the hands of criminal gangs.’

Terre des Hommes has posted a documentary about its 10-week investigation on YouTube and begun a petition aimed at pressing police and politicians to do more to halt such illegal sex shows.

‘We do not need more laws… present legislation is suitable and more than enough to cover these acts,’ Guyt said as he called for a ‘novel approach’ to policing the problem.

Terre des Hommes’ novel approach involved using Sweetie as an online disguise for a group of researchers who then chatted to potential clients online.

‘We were swamped by men looking for contact, looking for sexual activities with us,’ Guyt said.

During a demonstration for AP on Monday, one of the researchers logged into a public chat room as Sweetie – identifying himself by her purported age, gender and country of origin.

Seconds later, multiple pop-up dialogue boxes began appearing on his screen from people using pseudonyms and soliciting a girl who had clearly identified herself as 10 years old.

One chat between the researcher identifying himself as Sweetie and one of the online users started with Sweetie asking: ‘What you want see?’

The user responded: ‘U.’

Sweetie replied: ‘What u pay for?’

And the user added: ‘Naked.’

As the conversation progressed, they agreed a $20 fee to be paid by a wire transfer and Sweetie asked for the person’s Skype address, but took the chat no further.

Guyt said Terre des Hommes, using basic research techniques and not hacking, was able to identify 1,000 adults from 71 countries who solicited Sweetie.

The group did not identify any of them to media, but passed the results of its investigation to Interpol.

 

 

Click on the link to read Tips For Kids in Dealing With Exams

Click on the link to read The Harmful Effects of Yelling at Students

Click on the link to read First Prize for a Primary School Raffle: A Rifle

Click on the link to read Another Reason why Television is Unealthy for Children

Click on the link to read The Spoiled Twins with their £70k First Birthday Party (Photos)

Click on the link to read 5 Tips to Help Children Cope With Stress

 

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5 Tips to Help Children Cope With Stress

August 22, 2013

 

stress

Courtesy of stressfreekids.com:

1. Help children put words to their feelings. Ask them if they feel nervous, scared, or worried. Ask them what is making them feel that way.

2. Acknowledge your child’s feelings and encourage the use of positive statements. Often children do not understand the outcome of an action or change. Instead of realizing their favorite teacher will be back tomorrow..they might think she is gone forever. Create positive statements for the situation.

“I am safe. My substitute teacher is fun. My teacher will be back soon.”

3. Introduce stress management techniques to  children. Parents and teachers can easily teach and use techniques like breathing, positive statements, and visualizing on a regular basis. Lesson Plans are available.

4. Establish a bedtime routine that helps kids relax. Soothing music or relaxing stories.  Indigo Dreams: Kids Relaxation Music promotes sleep and relaxation.

5. Spend reassuring quality time with children. Parents and teachers can  laugh and play together. Singing songs like The More We Get Together, This Is The Way We Laugh And Play and If You’re Happy And You Know It can be a liberating and fun stress reliever that you and your children can enjoy together.

 

Click on the link to read The Spoiled Twins with their £70k First Birthday Party (Photos)

Click on the link to read School Introduces a Virginity Test for its Students

Click on the link to read Seven Valuable Tips for Raising Your Child’s Self-Esteem

Click on the link to read Top Ten Compliments Your Children Need to Hear

Click on the link to read Tips For Parents of Kids Who “Hate School”

Click on the link to read 20 Reassuring Things Every Parent Should Hear

Click on the link to read Parents and Teachers Should Not Be Facebook Friends

 

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Posted in Child Welfare | 1 Comment »

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