Posts Tagged ‘kids’

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Keeping Kids Safe Online

February 5, 2012

I agree with Adam Turner. Cybersafety is something parents need to address. They have the primary duty to ensure that their children are following safe online practices.

As far as I’m concerned cybersafety is primarily a parent’s responsibility, just like teaching about stranger danger or how to cross the road safely. The fundamentals of cybersafety are no different to the real world; don’t wander off, don’t talk to strangers, don’t reveal too much about yourself and call a parent if you’re unsure of something.

Some parents might complain that it’s all too complicated, but it’s not if you take an interest in your children’s activities and take the time to learn the basics. Talk to them about computers and the internet. Ask them what they’re learning at school and what they’re doing at home. Take an interest, just as you should in their other activities. 

Turner suggests ways in which parents can better supervise their children:

A common cybersafety rule is that the computer stays in the living area, positioned in such a way that anyone who walks into the room can see what’s on the screen. If notebooks are permitted in the bedrooms for studying, perhaps it’s on the condition that they recharge on the kitchen bench at night. The same rule can apply for mobile phones, which can also help combat cyberbullying.

You can split cybersafety into two key areas. The first is protecting young children from accidentally stumbling across inappropriate content. This isn’t hard if you can set up a list of appropriate bookmarks and trust your kids not to wander. Installing an ad and pop-up blocker offers an extra layer of protection. If children can’t be trusted not to wander, even by accident, you might consider a whitelist plug-in for your browser, which lets you limit access to a specific list of sites.

The second area of cybersafety is hindering older children who are deliberately seeking inappropriate content. This area is much harder to deal with, as smart and determined kids will find a workaround to just about any security measure (remember, help is only a Google search away).

There’s a big market for desktop filtering software, but don’t walk away and trust it to do a parent’s job. In my experience it tends to cripple your computer, but your mileage may vary. If you do want to restrict internet access, look at services that are independent of your end device – particularly useful if your house contains a variety of internet-enabled gadgets.

It’s worth investigating the filtering options built into wireless routers. Some let you create blacklist and whitelists, or switch off the internet at specific times. You could even run a separate wireless network for the children, making it easier to control their access without affecting your own. Another filtering option is DNS-level services such as OpenDNS. 

Whilst teachers should also take an interest in cybersafety issues, it’s up to the parents to take the lead.

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Posted in Cyber Safety, Parenting | 2 Comments »

The Exploitation of Children Reaches a New Low

January 27, 2012

For a developed country like Australia to stoop so far as to allow cafes to give free food to children whilst their parents gamble is simply unacceptable.

CHILDREN are being offered free food as an enticement for their parents to play pokies, in what is being labelled as a gambling loophole.

The gambling watchdog is investigating as inducements for gamblers are banned in South Australia.

In one instance, Cafe 540 – on Port Rd, Allenby Gardens is offering the food to children of gamblers playing nearby poker machines at Tavern 540.

A spokesman for Cafe 540 said the business was a separate entity from Tavern 540 but acknowledged it was “under the same roof”.

He said the free food was served in an area totally separated from the gaming machines of Tavern 540 and was not an enticement to gamble. The Advertiser investigated the issue after a reader complained that the school holiday free food deal was offered “all day every day”.

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Posted in Child Welfare | Leave a Comment »

How to Get Kids to Eat From Their Packed Lunch

January 26, 2012

Hazel Keys, the author of The Clever Packed Lunch has come up with a system for getting kids to eat the contents of their lunchbox.

Below is a portion of an interview of Ms. Keys conducted by the Courier Mail:

Q: You’ve run a tuckshop – what’s your take on ensuring kids leave home each day with a properly packed lunchbox?

 A: It’s essential. A healthy nutritious lunch supports learning by allowing children to settle, focus and learn. Processed, refined and sugary foods have been shown to do the opposite.

Q: What motivated you to write The Clever Packed Lunch?
A: My many years of parenting and preparing school lunches resulted a system that I felt could benefit families and I wanted to share that.

Q: What are your three top tips when it comes to creating great packed school lunches?
1. Involve your kids in the preparation; listen to them and try to accommodate their preferences within the guidelines of health and balance.
2. Include plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, preferably choosing in-season varieties.
3. Choose “whole” foods and ingredients that are as close to their natural state as possible, like seeds and whole grains.

Q: You suggest parents should try to get their children actively involved in making lunchbox choices – what are the benefits?
A: This is a great way to achieve a number of goals, so that:
• children feel empowered
• they’re far more likely to eat their lunch
• they’ll learn how to cook and feed themselves healthily in the process.

Q: Can you give us an example of a delicious and balanced lunchbox that could turn fussy eaters into fans?
A: Kids are attracted to “fast” food, there’s no doubt, and in my experience they love pizza. Pizza can definitely be healthy as long as you use quality ingredients like (some) wholemeal flour, olive oil and organic tomatoes. I serve it with salad, or the mixed potato wedges recipe from the book, which uses sweet potato, a highly nutritious food. And then there’s my healthy chocolate cake recipe!

Q: It’s Sunday night and the fridge is looking bare any lunch items that can be made up from simple pantry staples?
A: Yes! I always keep small tins of prepared salmon in the pantry, along with dried egg (not wheat) noodles, and frozen vegetables like corn and peas. The other items I always have on hand are a wide range of seeds. The noodles, once cooked, can be combined with the salmon, veggies and some sesame seeds, perhaps with a little sesame oil.

Q: Top three sandwich combos?
A: Ooh, yes! For kids I find the following are popular:
– sliced turkey breast, cranberry sauce and sliced green apple
– salmon, chopped gherkin, egg mayonnaise and cucumber
– grated cheddar, creamed corn and diced red capsicum toasted

Q: We automatically think of sandwiches when it comes to packed lunches? Can you suggest three options we could consider instead?
A: Yes, I’ve a recipe in the book I call “Sleeping Dogs”, which is a healthy version of hot dogs or sausage rolls. Home-made dips with wholegrain rice crackers or pappadams are a nutritious gluten-free choice. And my personal favourite, also from the book; the creamed corn puddings, which are rich in eggs and served with sour cream and guacamole. Yummy!

Q: How important is it to include a treat?
A: I think it’s important not to give “treat” foods too much attention, but to demonstrate flexibility by including them now and again, although not in the lunchbox unless the food has a nutritional benefit, like quality dark chocolate. That’s a real win-win treat!

Q: You suggest doubling up lunch box prep with dinner – can you give us a couple of examples to get us thinking on the right lines?
A: When making meatballs I double the quantity and shape some into patties instead. I serve them for dinner in a wholemeal or multi-grain roll with lots of salad. And when I make chicken and corn soup, I add the uncooked chicken to the stock. Chicken cooked this way is both moist and tender and adds flavour to the soup. So I often double the amount of chicken, and once cooked, remove half. Then I freeze it and use it for Asian dishes another day.

Q: What do you think are the main issues facing families in relation to providing healthy lunches for children at school, and what solutions can you offer?
A: It seems to me that families are finding themselves over-stretched, and lacking the time and money to provide really nutritious lunches. I’m convinced that this is contributing to the growing issue of child obesity. My answer is to move away from packaged and processed foods and choose fresh, simple, high quality foods instead. So much of our money goes straight into the bin wasted on fancy packaging and clever marketing, and the ingredients are often inferior. Feeding ourselves properly takes a little effort, but it’s absolutely worth it. Good food, like charity begins at home and offers an opportunity to develop in your children healthy eating habits that will last a lifetime. It’s one of the greatest gifts you can give them. And there are clever systems that can make the process fast and efficient too, such as the one outlined in my book.

 

The author can be contacted at hazel@lunchideasforschool.com

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Posted in Child Development, Nutrition | 1 Comment »

The Importance of a Healthy Parent-Teacher Relationship

January 22, 2012

One of the most important skills of a successful teacher is the ability to harness positive interactions with parents. I believe that a teacher must consider themselves part of a team. After all, the parents and teacher form the three major stakeholders in a child’s education.

Such a notion is supported by expert Karen Campbell.

A GOOD parent-teacher relationship is important to every child’s learning journey and helps develop a memorable school experience.

That’s the opinion of Sunshine Coast education expert Karen Campbell.

And like any relationship, she says these need nurturing and constant attention to be of benefit to the child.

With the new school year only a week away, many parents may be meeting their child’s teacher for the first time.

“Parents have to realise that a teacher is such an important part of their child’s life,” Mrs Campbell, a tuition facilitator and former teacher, said.

“They need to introduce themselves to the teacher, and tell the teacher any special things about their child.

“Open communication is essential, so it’s important for parents to inform the teacher if there’s a problem at home such as a death, break-up or business failure.

“This allows teachers to develop an understanding and appreciate why a child may be behaving a certain way.”

Not all parents are easy to get along with and some employ methods that are not exactly to my liking, but I realise that a disconnect between myself and the childs’ parents is potentially destructive to the academic progress of the child.

It is important to work past any differences one may have and find common ground in the best interests of the child.

Tips for healthy parent-teacher relationships:

  • Re-introduce yourself to your child’s teacher by appointment
  • Inform your child’s teacher of any home-related problems
  • Volunteer to help with school activities
  • Make sure you adopt the same learning style at home as at school
  • Notify the teacher of any special talents or gifts your child may have
  • Open the lines of communication through casual conversations outside the classroom, for example, when dropping off your child or picking them up

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Posted in Parenting, Teaching Methods | 4 Comments »

The Role of Parents in Preventing Innovation in the Classroom

January 17, 2012

Whilst I believe that it’s the right of every parent to decide what is and isn’t appropriate at school, sometimes they go overboard. The parents that pulled their primary aged children from their school’s massage program (a program which gets children to massage each other) on the grounds that it was inappropriate, had every right to do so. What bothers me, is that by making the school’s program a big issue, they are in fact railroading future programs which may benefit their children.

As much as they may have disagreed with the outcome, the intention of the school was clearly commendable. They wanted to provide a more relaxed and harmonious environment for their students.

Parents are up in arms at a primary school where youngsters have been giving each other massages before lessons.

The ten-minute massage sessions were introduced at Sheffield’s Hartley Brook Primary School to help calm down pupils after lunch breaks.

School head Mrs Chris Hobson said the massage sessions have been a big success but some parents have withdrawn their children from the massage programme claiming it is ‘inappropriate’.

The Massage In Schools programme is designed to help pupils relax and concentrate after energetic lunchtime playtimes.

Parent Rachael Beer who has two children at the school said: ‘I just feel it is inappropriate for children touching each other. I do understand that children need calming down after lunch.

I just think there are better relaxation techniques out there that can help with that, such as yoga, that have the same benefits as peer massage that don’t involve them touching each other.

‘I think children like their own personal space. 

‘Many parents do feel the same way as me. If the head had consulted parents better, she would have a clear view of how parents feel about it.

‘Other parents are telling me they didn’t even know peer massage was being rolled out in school and they do feel uncomfortable with it.

‘I have opted my children out of it. They are then sat doing the actions to peer massage. I feel that those 20 minutes could be better spent doing something more academic.’

One of the big challenges educators of primary aged children have, is the ability to get their students to maintain concentration. It is very hard to keep young children engaged. Anxiety is also often prevalent, posing extra challenges on teachers to reduce the tension and keep the proceedings positive. An extra 20 minutes of academic studies is useless if the children are having trouble concentrating.

When parents make a school’s attempts at innovation difficult and take an idea born out of compassion and turn it into controversy, they discourage schools to want to do something new and different.

Innovation is the way forward in education. We all know our education system is flawed and it requires some fixing. That can only come about from thinking different and acting differently. When parents take a worthwhile idea and make it a media circus they are in effect rallying for the status quo.

Take a step back and observe the status quo. Is that what you really want?

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Posted in Parenting | 2 Comments »

Shy Students Should Be Allowed to Tweet Their Teacher in Class: Study

January 17, 2012

Last week I wrote a post on the challenges of teaching shy students. I gave an account of my struggles with one particularly shy student and the strategy I used to get him to talk. I have great empathy for the child that is too afraid to speak and understand the frustrations involved when teaching such a student.

However, I feel a bit uneasy about a recent study that promotes conversation via Twitter between shy student and their teacher.

The Courier-Mail reports new research from Southern Cross University has found strong benefits for the use of Twitter by students too embarrassed or uncomfortable to ask teachers questions in the time-honoured raised-hand method.

Southern Cross business lecturer Jeremy Novak, along with Central Queensland University’s Dr Michael Cowling, studied the use of Twitter among university students as a method for asking questions and gaining feedback without having to stand the stares and scrutiny of fellow students.

The positive feedback from students, particularly international students, has convinced the research team the use of Twitter technology could also be embraced by classrooms at high school and even primary school level.

In my opinion, shyness is not a genetic disease or impenetrable condition. To me, shyness is a result of a lack of self-esteem. Shy children act that way because they don’t feel valued. Instead, they feel judged, ostracised or labelled.

A teacher can do one of two things. They can either enable the shy student by using Twitter, or they can actually attempt to help that student find their feet and feel good about themselves.

“But who has the time for that? We have the curriculum to cover!”

This line sums up my frustrations with current educational thinking (as perpetuated through teacher training programs). In my opinion, it is every bit as important for a teacher to assist their students in matters of self-confidence as it is for them to teach them the curriculum. In fact, I would suggest that it is more important. Facts are learnt and forgotten. The average person on the street has long forgotten calculus and how many chemical elements make up the periodic table. What they wouldn’t have forgotten is how they were treated and how their experiences at school have changed them for the better or worse.

Why placate a shy person when you can change a shy person? Why play the game when you can show them that they have a voice and it’s special and unique and something to be proud of.

And besides, receiving Tweets in class is so unprofessional.What, am I supposed to stop my class so I can check my phone for a Tweet?

Trust me, as good a feeling as it is to teach children new skills or concepts, helping a child discover that they are important and that their thoughts and opinions matter is so much more rewarding.

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Posted in Child Welfare, Social Media | 9 Comments »

Six Tips For a Happy Classroom

January 6, 2012

These valuable tips come from Professor Dylan William, the inspiration behind the BBC2 series ‘The Classroom Experiment’.

* Stop students putting their hands up to ask questions – it’s the same ones doing it all the time. Instead introduce a random method of choosing which pupil answers the question, such as lollipop sticks, and thus engage the whole class.

* Use traffic-light cups in order to assess quickly and easily how much your students understand your lesson. If several desks are displaying a red cup, gather all those students around to help them at the same time.

* Mini-whiteboards, on which the whole class simultaneously writes down the answer to a question, are a quick way of gauging whether the class as a whole is getting your lesson. This method also satisfies the high-achievers who would normally stick their hands up.

* A short burst of physical exercise at the start of the school day will do wonders for students’ alertness and motivation. As any gym addict or jogger will tell you, it’s all about the chemicals released into the brain.

* Ditch the obsession with grades, so that pupils can concentrate instead on the comments that the teacher has written on written classwork.

* Allow students to assess the teachers’ teaching – they are the ones at the sharp end, after all. Letting pupils have a say is empowering and, if handled constructively, is highly enlightening.

I particularly like tip 5. We have become far too obsessed with grades. Comments from the teacher are a much better way of helping children achieve.

What ideas have you put into place that have improved the atmosphere of your classroom?

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Posted in Engaging Students | Leave a Comment »

It’s Time to Change the Culture of the Classroom

January 5, 2012

I have a confession to make. As driven as I am to help my students master the curriculum, there is something more important to me than their academic achievement. I would not be even remotely satisfied if my students were at or above the national standard in numeracy and literacy if they also happened to be bullying, bullied or struggling to cope with everyday life. Conversely, if my students were below national standards but were functioning well and getting along with each other, I would be far more satisfied.

That’s not to say that I don’t understand that a vital function of my job is to educate. I know that all too well. It’s just that I wont let that distract me from my mission in setting up a classroom that is caring, friendly and allows each child to express themselves in their own unique way.

I am sick and tired of reading about how bullying is causing kids as young as 7 to diet. It infuriates me that so little is done by teachers to protect young kids from this stigma and prevent bullies from causing distress. I know what I am claiming will be seen as a gross generalisation, but how many teachers are prepared to overlook a hurtful comment about weight or ignore the activity by the “in-crowd?”

No classroom should have an “in-crowd”. In-groups cannot exist without a readily defined “out-group”. It is a teacher’s job to foster a classroom environment without such divisions. It is more important than any equation or scientific experiment.

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Posted in Body Image, Bullying | 4 Comments »

Teaching Kids To Be Grateful

December 28, 2011

I have noticed that kids these days take things for granted on a far greater scale than when I was a child. It is much harder to please children and equally as hard to get a voluntary “Thank You.”

I imagine that Christmas is when this trend comes to the fore. As children are expecting gifts, there is a visible feeling of entitlement. The occasion mandates a good gift so what is there to be thankful for? If the gift isn’t up to their expectation, they feel that a public show of disappointment is appropriate because the gift bearer should had a better sense of occasion and made a better purchase.

What many young children may not be aware of is the stress involved with buying presents. Parents and family members go to great trouble and expense to buy quality gifts. All the child has to do is rip open the gift wrapping.

I like this piece by Stacey Schantz, about the importance of writing a thank you note:

I don’t know about you, but I’m still recovering from a fun-filled holiday. I have thoroughly enjoyed the look on my kid’s faces when they saw their presents Christmas morning, all the food, and most importantly, the quality family time.

But now that the presents are finished—and we’re putting our house back together—it’s important to me that my kids appreciate all the kindness and generosity that has been shown to them.

When I was growing up, my mother had a rule about presents: you couldn’t use the gift until you had properly said thank you. Many times, this meant a phone call to say thank you for the present. But as I got older, my mom instilled in me the importance of a thank you note.

I have been trying to instill that same gratitude for gifts in my children. We usually make a phone call or draw a picture, but now my 5-year-old is learning how to properly write a thank you note. In fact, I know the significance is getting through, because after receipt of one gift, my son whispered to me that he needed to write a thank you note because that was exactly what he had been hoping for—my heart melted.

This week, I’m determined to have my boys write notes to their grandparents, family and even Santa, to thank them for the wonderful gifts they received. We’re even going to include some drawings to sweeten the package.

Here are some tips to help your kids write thank you notes:

  1. Babies and young toddlers: Take a piece of construction paper and using finger paints, dip your child’s hand in the paint. Then make hand prints on the paper. Then you can write a thank you for the gift on the side. Trust me when I tell you that grandparents love this!
  2. Older toddlers: Have them color a picture, and then take a marker and then write in the thank you.
  3. Preschoolers: Take a piece of handwriting paper, have them draw a picture on the top half and then on the bottom half, pre-write the letter for your child using dotted-line letters that your child can trace and then sign their name.
  4. Elementary school: Give your child a head start by making them a template to follow. Sometimes the hardest part of a thank you note is knowing what to write. Elementary school kids can write the letters, but will feel less intimidated if you help them with the basic framework.  
  5. Middle/high school: Give your child a deadline. Tell them they have to have the notes completed by a certain date.

Believe it or not, your child will actually appreciate the present more because he or she took the time to do this. I know I always appreciate when people take the time to say thank you to me as well.

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Posted in Child Development | Leave a Comment »

Is There Anything Wrong With Rewarding Children for Good Grades?

December 25, 2011

I love the way this commonly asked question is answered.

Q:  Should we be rewarding our six year-old for getting high marks on her weekly spelling test? I know better. But I can’t seem to get her to believe in self-satisfaction for doing a good job. Help.

K.B.

 

A: I have seen this all too often in my career in education. Parents are very well intentioned and want to support their children’s learning. Rewards or bribes to perform well at school or elsewhere may work temporarily, but there is a big price to pay.

It teaches the child that learning is not worthwhile in its own right. These external rewards take away the joy of learning for learning’s sake, stifling curiosity, inquiry and creativity.

It teaches the child that a parent’s love is conditional. “If my parents want to pay me for doing well at school, what if I do not do well – will they love me then?”

In my experience, reflecting the child’s day at school back on them is a great way to go. When they tell you they got 100 per cent on a spelling test, you might say, “I bet that made you feel good!”

Similarly, when they achieve an unfortunate result, you might ask, “How did that make you feel?” This could provoke a supportive and warm conversation with your child about being frustrated that she wasn’t able to learn the words and that next time, she might do things differently.

Above all, the child needs to know you are there for them regardless of marks, behaviour, talent and ability. It is only when love is unconditional that children feel supported and can grow and mature.

Children have a very precious internal motivation to be good, and external rewards show the child that we do not trust their desire to be good or do the right thing. In short, the end result will be that the child will lose that natural internal motivation and external rewards will assume the default position. You will teach your child that nothing is worth doing unless they get something for it. I am certain this is not the lesson you want to teach.

Jean Bigelow Parent Educator/ School Principal

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Posted in Parenting | 2 Comments »

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