Posts Tagged ‘Parenting’

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Teacher Fired for Finding and then Extinguishing School Fire

July 23, 2013

fire

If you can be fired for saving young children by extinguishing a school fire you can be fired for anything:

A daycare teacher in Florida was fired last week because she, of all things, put a fire out at her school.

Michelle Hammack worked at Little Temples Childcare facility in Arlington, Florida. While her students were napping last week, she smelled something burning in the school. Naturally, she went to check on the problem.

“I just leaned over and peeked around and there was a fire in the oven,” Hammack said. “I ran in there and opened it to try to put it out, and the fire alarm started going off.”

Hammack rushed back to her classroom, woke up her sleeping students, and took them outside. All other teachers in the school followed suit. After Hammack did a head count of her students, she went back into the school to make sure the fire hadn’t spread.

“When I got to the third classroom by the kitchen, I could see that it was just a contained fire in the oven,” she told the local CBS News affiliate in Jacksonville.

Hammack then grabbed a fire extinguisher, opened the oven, and put the fire out. The fire department then came to the school, inspected the then-extinguished fire, and told staff and students that they could re-enter the school.

But instead of being applauded for her handling of the fire, Hammack was fired.

“I fired her only because she left her room,” owner Olga Rozhaov said. “Even though children are sleeping, the teachers are supposed to be there.”

Like any one of us in her situation would be, Hammack is mad about being fired.

“It probably would have progressed had it not been put out before that. I didn’t start the fire. I put it out.”

But Rozhaov is standing behind her decision to fire Hammack.

“It’s not acceptable, and if anybody else does the same thing, I will fire again. I will fire them. No question,” she said.

Fortunately for Hammack, The Department of Children and Families is investigating the situation. Unless something we’re not being told about happened, you’ve got to think, or at least hope, Hammack will be getting her job back.

 

Click on the link to read Teacher Strip Searches Students in a Bid to Catch them Cheating

Click on the link to read Students Asked to Submit an Assignment Arguing that ‘Jews are Evil’

Click on the link to read School Instructs Students on How to Become Prostitutes

Click on the link to read Some Teachers Just Desperately Want to get Fired

Click on the link to read The Case of a Teacher Suspended for Showing Integrity

Click on the link to read Primary School Introduces Insane No-Touching Policy

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Posted in Professional Conduct | 1 Comment »

Tips for Keeping Kids Engaged Over the Holidays

July 22, 2013

 

textas

Courtesy of thenewstribune.com:

1. Visit the library. Most libraries have summer programs in which kids can earn prizes for reading.

“Summer is a time when kids and teens can dig into things they’re interested in,” said Ellen Duffy, youth services coordinator for the Timberland Regional Library system. “Even more than helping kids gain and maintain reading skills, the library is about keeping the excitement about reading and learning and life alive and active. It’s about giving kids and teens opportunities to explore, to play, to make friends — to discover new characters and places in books.”

2. Encourage your kids to turn off the television, get outside and play with friends. If supervision is a concern, check with your local parks and recreation department for a playground program.

3. Keep healthful snacks around the house. Kids — especially those who are at risk of obesity — gain more weight during the summer, mostly due to snacking and lack of exercise. Registered dietitian and nutrition expert Keri Glassman has a wonderful list of healthful snacks for kids (including mini-pizzas and banana ice cream) at nutritiouslife.com/kids-zone/.

4. Give math meaning. There are plenty of ways kids can practice math around the house, from using fractions while cooking to tracking daily temperatures. For more everyday activities that reinforce math and other economic skills, go to familyeducation.com and click on “Stop Summer Brain Drain.”

5. Play board and card games. Many games encourage counting, strategy and problem-solving.

7. Create art. Keep those fine motor skills and creative juices in tune through art. Pick up a craft kit, consider signing your child up for an art class, or simply break out the sidewalk chalk on a sunny day.

8. Don’t forget communication skills. Suggest your child to keep a journal or write letters to loved ones. (Yes, the Postal Service is still operating, and using it might be a good way to sneak in a social studies lesson, too.)

 

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

Click on the link to read Introducing the App that will Give Parents Nightmares

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Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Who Needs the Right Answer When You Can Think Like a Child

July 11, 2013

 

 

The clip above demonstrates more than just cuteness. It captures children who are not yet interested in wealth, answer with creativity and insight and are not afraid of being wrong. You ask those same questions to teenagers and you will possibly find cynicism and insecurity on show.

Cuteness has a short shelf life but confidence is of eternal significance. We must help our young maintain their confidence and creativity long after their ‘cute’ period is behind them.

Click on the link to read Teaching Perfectionists
Click on the link to read Teaching Children to be Honest Yet Respectful
Click on the link to read The Children of Today Show a Lack of Respect For Authority
Click on the link to read Our Real Heroes are Not Celebrities or Athletes

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Posted in Child Development | 1 Comment »

How Much Privacy Does a 6-Year-Old Need?

July 10, 2013

phone

 

Surely young children require supervision and boundaries far more than they need privacy!

Parents of children as young as six fail to keep tabs on their mobile phone use for fear of ‘invading their privacy’, according to a new survey.

Almost 60 per cent of mothers and fathers questioned said they did not monitor their child’s mobile phone activity.

Of those, one in four said they chose not to check in order to respect their infant’s privacy.

The majority of parents – 42 per cent – said they never got around to checking what their youngsters were using their phones for, while 13 per cent said they trusted their child with the device.

Over 2,000 parents of children aged 10 or younger who owned a mobile phone were questioned for the survey, which was carried out by mobileinsurance.co.uk.

The survey revealed there are children as young as six in possession of a mobile phone.

Nearly 80 per cent of parents whose child had a phone with a lock or pass-code on it admitted they would not know how to access it.

This is despite the fact that children could be using their smartphone to access the internet.

The firm behind the survey urged parents to ensure their child’s access to online content was suitably restricted.

According to website director Jason Brockman, mothers and fathers should monitor children’s mobile phone use as a means of ‘keeping them safe’.

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 Parenting | Leave a Comment »

A Father’s Advice to His Daughter About Beauty

July 9, 2013

body

 

Father Chris Cook penned this wonderful letter to his young daughter Susan:

Dear Susan,

Right now your biggest concern in life is figuring out how to get around the child-proof locks on the kitchen cabinets, but one day you will deal with much bigger issues. Being a woman, one of these will be the problem of beauty and the emphasis put on it by nearly everyone in the world.

You will soon learn that the world is obsessed with beauty. As a woman, you will be bombarded with magazines, ads and commercials full of beautiful people telling you that you’re not pretty enough as you are. I wish I could tell you to ignore all of that, but it’s naïve of me to think you can go the rest of your life immune to the barrage of “beauty tips” thrown out by complete strangers.

There are lots of clichés out there about beauty. “Beauty is only skin deep,” “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” and so on, but as with most clichés, they say a lot but don’t mean much. So here is some real, practical advice about beauty.

The definition of beauty is intentionally vague. Find your own meaning for it. Don’t let somebody else define it for you.

From the day you were born, your mother and I have tried to tell you how beautiful you are. We have also tried to tell you how kind and caring you are. We value the last two much more than the first one.

One day somebody – it may even be one of your best friends – will tell you that something about you is ugly. Remember that just because one person says something negative about you doesn’t mean everyone in the world feels that way. That works both ways, though. If you think somebody else is ugly, keep your mouth shut. Just because you think so doesn’t mean somebody doesn’t think he or she is the most beautiful person in the world.

Also, whether you tell them to their face or not, calling someone ugly or fat reveals an ugliness in your soul that not even the prettiest smile can erase.

There may come a time when a boy breaks up with you and starts dating a girl you think is prettier than you. Don’t sweat it. People like that are never satisfied with what they have, and there’s no use trying to change them. Let him go chase the next best thing for the rest of his life.

Yes, beauty will get you certain things in life, mostly attention. Sometimes it’s not good attention, and sometimes all it does is call attention to what you glaringly lack in other areas. Like personality.

There has never been a perfect person. NEVER. Everybody has something about their appearance they want to change, and there are lots of people out there who claim to have a way to correct those things. All those people want is your money. Don’t part with your hard-earned cash just to buy a cure for what someone else labels an imperfection.

There’s nothing wrong with throwing on a nice outfit and doing whatever you feel like to make yourself feel pretty. Just make sure that what you see in the mirror is what you like and not what somebody else will like.

When you ask your husband/fiancé/boyfriend the question, “Do I look pretty?” his answer should always be, without hesitation, “Yes” or some form of that. If he says anything else, he probably isn’t right for you.

Do not end or begin a friendship based on that person’s looks or style. Do not think that surrounding yourself with popular, attractive people will make your life any easier. Befriending people of different backgrounds who have a range of outlooks and goals in life, however, will make you a well-rounded person capable of connecting with folks from all walks of life. That’s called a life skill.

Do not choose your role models based on looks, either. Or the fact that they’re on TV all the time. One of your mother’s role models is Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She is an amazing lady. Google her.

If you can get up every morning, look in the mirror and be happy with how you look, you will have achieved something that few people in the world ever will. If you can look at your friends and see what makes each of them beautiful, you will wind up with more friends than you can count.

You should also know that your mother and I are not immune to any of these things. We have both broken several of these rules at some point in our lives, and if you ask, we will tell you how stupid we were and how negatively those decisions affected us. Yes, we have learned and grown from those mistakes, but sometimes the lessons are very hard and have irreparable consequences. I have at least one friendship that ended because I was unable to overlook how that person chose to dress.

Our hope is that you never have to experience that. But remember – no matter what you look like, what clothes you wear, what color your hair is, whether you have the expensive new shoes everyone else does or the cheap imitations, we love you.

And for the record, your mom’s Jack Rogers aren’t real. They’re from Payless.

Love,

Dad

 

Click on the link to read The Call to Stop Telling Your Children they are Beautiful

Click on the link to read School Official’s Solution to Harassed Teen: Get a Breast Reduction

Click on the link to read Self-Esteem Crisis Even More Serious than the Obesity Crisis

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Posted in Body Image | Leave a Comment »

We Must Allow Parents to Parent

July 8, 2013

caf

The proposal to ban parents from packing a lunch for their children is sheer lunacy. Whilst some packed lunches clearly contain too much sugar and fat, this is none of our business.

What’s next? The Government providing consequences for children just in case parents spoil their children by not setting parameters? The Government recruits personal trainers to switch off family television sets and take the children for a run?

And anyway, the lunchbox ban will be limited to lunch. What about breakfast? What about dinner? What about snacks and weekend restaurant visits and holidays?

Why can’t we just allow parents to parent without them being restricted, judged or lectured? Surely, a much better approach is to educate and work with parents rather than taking away their ability to do what they think is right for their own children:

Parents who make packed lunches for their children should stop, as it is making them fat, government food advisers warn.

Restaurateurs Henry Dimbleby and John Vincent argue school dinners are healthier than packed sandwiches, crisps and fizzy drinks, in a report to be published next week.

The report will also suggest that take-up must rise to at least 50 per cent to improve nutrition in meals and to save school dinners.

The pair’s school lunch plan, which will be launched this week alongside education secretary Michael Gove, also puts it down to head teachers to improve quality and take-up of school lunches.

‘A lot of heads will feel exasperated by this,’ Ian Bauckham, head of Bennett Memorial Diocesan school in Tunbridge Wells, Kent told The Sunday Times.

‘Many focus on a limited number of high priorities and we already have a big agenda to raise academic standards.’

As reported earlier this year, cooking lessons at school will become compulsory for children ages seven to 14 from September as the Government aims to ensure they can make up to 20 dishes before taking their GCSE exams.

And don’t get me started with compulsory cooking lessons at school. Remember when teachers were charged with the responsibility of helping students to read, write and become numerate? Boy, times have changed!

 

Click on the link to read my post on Tips For Parents on Packing a Healthy Lunch Box

Click on the link to read my post Exercising Wont Help Overweight Children: Study

Click on the link to read my post School Weigh-ins Are an Insult Rather Than a Solution

Click here to read my post ‘Considered Too Obese to Keep His Kids‘.

Click on the link to read Charity Pays for Teen’s Plastic Surgery to Help Stop Bullying

Click on the link to read my post, ‘Sparing Young Children the Affliction of Body Image‘.

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Posted in Childhood Obesity | Leave a Comment »

Seven Valuable Tips for Raising Your Child’s Self-Esteem

July 7, 2013

 

myself

Courtesy of education.com:

  1. Remember that we all make mistakes. It is important to remember that no one is perfect. Demanding perfection from your children causes them to be anxious and depressed. They feel like they will never be good enough. Start a new rule in your home: it is more important to try to be good enough, than to try and then feel badly about not being perfect.
  2. Pay attention to what you say. Pay attention to what you say to yourself around your children. The negative things you say about yourself will be remembered by your children, and your children may in turn repeat that about themselves. Always talk to yourself nicely when your children are around. (Talk nicely to yourself when they aren’t around, too.)
  3. Teach respect. Treat your children and your spouse with respect. That doesn’t mean you give in to them, it means you don’t interrupt when they are talking and you listen attentively. Address them lovingly. No matter how old your child is, he needs to be talked to respectfully.
  4. Hug your child. Affection tells your child you love him, and he is worthy of love. Remember, teens need as much if not more hugs than small children do.
  5. Keep your promises. Parents who are never on time or change plans constantly raise children who don’t trust. If you cannot trust others, you cannot feel good about yourself. If you grew up in a home where no one followed through, change that for your child.
  6. Give your child responsibility. Parents must give chores and follow through with consequences if they aren’t done. This teaches your child he is part of the family and his work is necessary to help the family. Parents who don’t give their children chores raise kids who think they really don’t matter to the family. This leads to disengagement of the family.
  7. Show interest in your child’s interests. Any interest your child expresses is an opportunity to raise her self-esteem. Talk to her in regards to her interest. Listen to her. Buy her books, take her to appropriate museums, or join a group with other people who share that interest. When you show interest in your child’s interest, you make your child feel valued and important. This encourages her to be more curious. Children with healthy self-esteem are more curious because they aren’t afraid to take risks. They believe they will not fail and if they do they will be okay.

 

 

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 Parenting | Leave a Comment »

Robbie Williams Offers to Take Drugs With His Daughter

June 26, 2013

robbie

This is one of many examples why most of our celebrities don’t deserve the right to be seen as legitimate rolemodels for our children:

BRITISH singer Robbie Williams would take drugs with his daughter if she ever wants “to go there”.

The 39-year-old singer and his wife Ayda Field welcomed Theodora Rose into the world in September last year.

Robbie famously battled drug addiction and alcoholism in the past, but has since become sober.

The star insists he’d dabble again if his daughter ever wanted to experiment.

“I doubt she’ll be like me. Touch wood, and follow that with a lot of love and a lot of luck, she won’t go there or have to go there,” he told Sunday Style magazine.

“If unfortunately that does happen, I’ll know what to do. Which is make sure she’s got the best drugs possible – and take them with her.”

Robbie has written a song for his young daughter, which was inspired by his substance abuse and the dark times he experienced as a result.

The former Take That star says the lyrics go into detail about his history.

“It goes, ‘Sit down, close the door I think it’s time you knew the score, why you feel weird.

“One day you’ll be told about, how Daddy let his demons out, yeah he makes them scream and shout. So what better when you’re old enough, and you’re out on your own and stuff, if you start losing hold of love it’s because…

“Your uncle sells drugs, your cousin is a cutter, your grandma is a fluffer, your grandad’s in the gutter, your mother is a nutter, you’re a mad motherf**ker.”

Robbie also revealed in the interview that his daughter is friends with Adele’s eight-month-old son Angelo.

“Her son and my daughter go on play dates. Little Peanut is on the list of potential suitors for Teddy,” he smiled.

Click on the link to read A Frightening Look at the Effects of Drugs (Pics)
Click on the link to read Trick, Treat or Cocaine?

Click on the link to read Hilarious Parenting Checklist

Click on the link to read Hilarious Video of Twin Toddlers Sleeping at the Table

Click on the link to read The Most Effective Anti-Smoking Ad Ever Conceived

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Posted in Drugs | Leave a Comment »

Did I Read Right? TV Good for Schoolwork?

June 23, 2013

 

tv

I can’t see how excessive TV watching could possibly improve a child’s schoolwork. It certainly doesn’t do anything for the quality of my report writing:

Parents have for years rationed the amount of television their children can watch in the belief that too much will scramble their offspring’s brains.

Now a study suggests the opposite is true – that children who are glued to the screen for hours a day can significantly outperform classmates who watch considerably less.

It also found that other family rules imposed by parents hoping to boost their children’s academic prowess, such as insisting on regular bed or meal times, make only a relatively small difference.

While TV has been consistently blamed for diminishing children’s brain power, University of London academics found those who watched three or more hours a day were three months ahead of those who watched less than an hour a day.

The report’s lead author Dr Alice Sullivan, senior academic at the university’s Institute of Education, admitted the results, particularly those regarding television, were ‘contrary to expectations’.

She added that the educational value of children’s television had been ‘underestimated’. ‘It may also help expose some children to a broader vocabulary than they get at home,’ Dr Sullivan said.

Their findings were part of an  analysis that set out to examine claims made by politicians, including David Cameron, and others that parenting skills were more important than social background in determining how well children do at school and in later life.

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There Should Be No Children Left on the Outer

June 17, 2013

 

class

One of the responsibilities of a school is to fight to ensure that each and every one of its students is afforded the rights and respect of being treated as an equal. It doesn’t matter whether they have a disability, learning difficulty or if they have a different cultural or religious background, they must be made to feel welcome, equal and important.

Whilst this photo above may be discounted as an unfortunate error, it is not a good look, and unfortunately represents the kind of image that burns in the hearts of those who were discarded and rejected during their schooldays:

They’re the pictures parents treasure forever: a class photo that captures an entire school year in an instant.

So imagine the confusion and upset mom Anna Belanger felt when she discovered her son had been placed off to the side in his Grade 2 class photo, simply because he was in a wheelchair.

‘I couldn’t comprehend how the photographer could look through the lens and think that this was good composition… this just boggled the mind,’ she said.

In the photo, the class is sitting in three rows with the teacher standing on the left.Anna’s son Miles Ambridge, who’s 7, is seen several feet away leaning from his wheelchair with a huge space separating him from his classmates.

‘Being picked on and being set aside is horrendous and this was what was happening,’ said Mrs Belanger, of New Westminster, British Columbia.

She said that being in a wheelchair comes with an additional set of challenges for Miles, who was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy at 13 months, a genetic disease that attacks nerve cells in the spinal cord.

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Posted in Special Needs | 1 Comment »

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