By Paul Fox
Why Play Is Important
Play is one of the many ways that children learn. Children who have access to a wide range of well selected toys and an opportunity to experience varied playtime are more likely to be challenged and stimulated. Studies have found that they reach higher levels of intellectual development, socialization and emotional development regardless of their sex, race or social class.
Parents and carers should be looking to encourage play with toys that stimulate mental development and are appropriate for the child's abilities. Toys should also be responsive to the child's movements and provide feedback for the child (either physically, visually or auditory) when manipulated. Whether playing alone or with others, quietly or with enthusiasm, play is the way children explore their world, learn new sensations and create imaginary friends and places.
Learning New Skills
When a child reaches for a toy they immediately begin to develop their early hand and eye coordination, strength, balance and agility. Toys such as activity centers, block letters, shape sorters and games will help your child develop many new skills. Toys and games that are used with playmates encourage sharing, cooperation and communication. Remember that very young children especially, find the idea of sharing difficult until they have understood the concept of ownership. Wooden blocks and construction toys will assist in developing spatial play, whilst jigsaws, dominoes, puzzles and other board games are great for logical play. Physical activities will vary depending on age but using balls and skittles and push and pull along toys are excellent for developing strength and coordination. Discussion, singing and story telling can accompany books and many other types of word and picture games. Parents and carers should encourage the use of children's' dolls (male and female), action and character figures, costumes for dressing up and hand and finger puppets for imaginative play.
Research has shown that through play children learn how to plan, communicate and solve problems. Play encourages them to develop language and social skills and to use imagination and creativity to develop relationships and playact out situations.
Children who are encouraged and supported to play are happier, better adjusted, more cooperative and more popular with their peers than those who do not have the time set aside to play and explore the world. Children will have a tendency to play longer when a wide selection of toys is available. It is not always the most expensive or imaginative toys that provide the greatest stimulation and enjoyment. It is often better to have a selection of different toys than one very expensive one.
Play Pointers
To enable children to get maximum benefit from their playtime they should feel safe, secure and comfortable in their surroundings, with supportive carers present and a wide assortment of toys to encourage varied playtime.
You should try to choose toys that are fun for your child to play with. To be fun they should match the child's maturity and challenge his or her skills. Try to have a selection of toys that offer a wide variety of features and activities (providing feedback for the child), bright primary colors and black and white contrasting coloring, different textures and a selection of sounds which will ensure continued stimulation and interest for the child.
From an early age children should be encouraged to be involved in the selection of their toys. Any good toy shop should allow you to try out the toys with your child and enable you to gauge your child's reaction to the product. Toy shops should also offer advice on suitable products for you to try based on experience and recommendations and advice on safety aspects as well.
Playtime should be all about fun for your child and for you so encourage playtime whenever you both feel it is appropriate. Do not force children to play or push them to play games that may be too difficult for them or if they are just not in the mood! Also remember that children also need to know how to play on their own, especially to develop imaginative play. Always allow them some playtime alone to create their own games and learn to enjoy their own company. Do not feel guilty about leaving your child to play alone (supervised of course) as you will see the benefit of this as your child grows up.
Most importantly enjoy playtime and have fun!
Posted by Mok Hui Yin, T3
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Ten Interactive Games for Parents and their Toddlers
Dr. Clare Albright
1. "Shadow" your child. Toddlers savor their independence but feel more secure and content when their parent shows great interest in their explorations.
2. Pretend that you are a kitty or a doggy and follow your child around on all fours. If you can really get into your new role, your child will have loads of fun. Imagination games can be a focal point of your play together for the next few years.
3. Keep a selection of different bubble pipes and bubble wands on hand for variety. Bubbles - such a low priced toy - can provide hours of connection and enjoyment for you and your toddler.
4. Keep on playing variations of peek-a-boo and patty cake, even though you may have been doing this for a couple of years already!
5. Hold your child firmly in your arms and spin your body around three or more times while saying, "I spin my baby around and around!" When you stop spinning, hold your child until the dizziness passes for both of you.
6. Hold your child in your lap like an infant - and roll them up towards your face - and down - over and over again. This movement will make you look like you are lifting weights - and your child may howl with laughter....
7. Say, "uhhhh buhhhhhhhh!" right in your child's face. Most children howl with laughter!
8. Put a "rasberry" on your child's tummy by blowing on their belly button. This one is usually good for a squeal of delight followed by laughter and giggles.
9. Put your child in your arms on the bed and roll from left to right singing, "Sailing...sailing....over the ocean blue." This game is easier if you are laying down and you roll your child to the left and then to the right while singing...
10. Make funny sounds with your child and purchase books that focus on funny sounds. Toddlers love funny words like "zap" and "pop".
Posted by Mok Hui Yin, T3
1. "Shadow" your child. Toddlers savor their independence but feel more secure and content when their parent shows great interest in their explorations.
2. Pretend that you are a kitty or a doggy and follow your child around on all fours. If you can really get into your new role, your child will have loads of fun. Imagination games can be a focal point of your play together for the next few years.
3. Keep a selection of different bubble pipes and bubble wands on hand for variety. Bubbles - such a low priced toy - can provide hours of connection and enjoyment for you and your toddler.
4. Keep on playing variations of peek-a-boo and patty cake, even though you may have been doing this for a couple of years already!
5. Hold your child firmly in your arms and spin your body around three or more times while saying, "I spin my baby around and around!" When you stop spinning, hold your child until the dizziness passes for both of you.
6. Hold your child in your lap like an infant - and roll them up towards your face - and down - over and over again. This movement will make you look like you are lifting weights - and your child may howl with laughter....
7. Say, "uhhhh buhhhhhhhh!" right in your child's face. Most children howl with laughter!
8. Put a "rasberry" on your child's tummy by blowing on their belly button. This one is usually good for a squeal of delight followed by laughter and giggles.
9. Put your child in your arms on the bed and roll from left to right singing, "Sailing...sailing....over the ocean blue." This game is easier if you are laying down and you roll your child to the left and then to the right while singing...
10. Make funny sounds with your child and purchase books that focus on funny sounds. Toddlers love funny words like "zap" and "pop".
Posted by Mok Hui Yin, T3
Dear Mr Jesus..
Recorded in 1985, "Dear Mr. Jesus" featured group member Sharon Batts, then 6 years old, on lead vocal.
The lyrics of "Dear Mr. Jesus" deal with child abuse and are sung from the perspective of a girl writing a letter to Jesus, expressing her concerns after seeing a news report about a "little girl beaten black and blue" by her parents. At the end of the song, the narrator concludes her letter saying, "Please don't tell my daddy, but my mommy hits me too." (source:wikipeia)
@Credits to Koh Mei Poh
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Capgras delusion
-------> brief introduction
The Capgras delusion (or Capgras syndrome) is a disorder in which a person holds a delusion that a friend, spouse, parent or other close family member, has been replaced by an identical-looking impostor. The Capgras delusion is classed as a delusional misidentification syndrome, a class of delusional beliefs that involves the misidentification of people, places or objects. It can occur in acute, transient, or chronic forms.
The Capgras delusion is named after Joseph Capgras (1873-1950), a French psychiatrist who first described the disorder in 1923 in his paper co-authored by Reboul-Lachaux,on the case of a French woman who complained that corresponding "doubles" had taken the places of her husband and other people she knew.
Above words are from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capgras_Syndrome
Alice in Wonderland syndrome
-------------------------brief introduction
Alice in Wonderland syndrome (AIWS, named after the novel written by Lewis Carroll), also known as Todd's syndrome, is a disorienting neurological condition which affects human perception. Sufferers may experience micropsia, macropsia, and/or size distortion of other sensory modalities. A temporary condition, it is often associated with migraines, brain tumors, and the use of psychoactive drugs.It can also present as the initial sign of the Epstein-Barr Virus . Anecdotal reports suggests that the symptoms of AIWS are fairly common in childhood, with many people growing out of them in their teens. It appears that AIWS is also a common experience at sleep onset.
The AIWS is a result of change in perception as opposed to the eyes themselves malfunctioning. The hallmark sign of AIWS is a migraine, and may in part be caused by the symptom itself. AIWS affects the sufferer's sense of visual, sensation, touch, hearing as well as one's own body image.
The most prominent and often most disturbing symptom is that of altered body image: the sufferer will find that they are confused as to the size and shape of parts of (or all of) their body.
The eyes themselves are normal, but the sufferer 'sees' objects with the wrong size or shape and/or finds that perspective is incorrect. This can mean that people, cars, buildings, etc. look smaller or larger than they should be, or that distances look incorrect; for example a corridor may appear to be very long, or the ground may appear too close.
In addition, some people may experience more intense and overt hallucinations, seeing things that are not there and misinterpreting events and situations in conjunction with a high fever.
---above descriptions comes from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_in_Wonderland_syndrome
Sleeping Beauty Syndrome
>>>>more information about the girl with the syndrome :
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1249895/Louisa-Ball-Real-life-Sleeping-Beauty-sleeps-weeks-time.html
---------------------brief explanation
Kleine-Levin syndrome
Kleine-Levin Syndrome or KLS (also known as Sleeping Beauty Syndrome) is a neurological disorder characterized by recurring periods of excessive amounts of sleep and altered behavior.
At the onset of an episode the patient becomes drowsy and sleeps for most of the day and night (hypersomnolence), waking only to eat or go to the bathroom. When awake, the patient’s whole demeanor is changed, often appearing “spacey” or childlike. They also experience confusion, disorientation, complete lack of energy (lethargy), and lack of emotions (apathy). Individuals are not able to attend school or work or care for themselves. Most are bedridden, tired, and uncommunicative even when awake.
Most patients report that everything seems out of focus, and that they are hypersensitive to noise and light. In some cases, food cravings (compulsive hyperphagia) are exhibited. Instances of uninhibited hypersexuality during episodes (mostly males) and instances of depression (mostly females) have also been reported.
Affected individuals may go for a period of weeks, months or even years without experiencing any symptoms, and then they reappear with little warning. In between episodes those diagnosed with KLS appear to be in perfect health with no evidence of behavioral or physical dysfunction.
The cause of Kleine-Levin syndrome is not known. Thus, family support and education are the best management currently available.
>>>>above descriptions from wikipedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleine-Levin_syndrome
Received form: Jolyn Hong, T3
Child Poverty
In the time it took you to watch this short video, 28 children died of hunger related causes...
P.O.V.E.R.T.Y
P oor children living in
O verpopulated nations
V iciously
E xploited and in conditions of Emergency
R uthless rules
T hreat their lives , lives that Yearn and
Y ell out for a better tomorrow!!!
Credits to Chea Yee Mun, T3
Top 10 Terrible Issues Facing Children Worldwide
10 Violence through Indoctrination
Palestinian children are taught to hate Jews, to glorify “jihad” (holy war), violence, death and child martyrdom almost from birth, as an essential part of their culture and destiny. As captured on an Israeli video documentary produced in 1998, a “Sesame Street”-like children’s program called the “Children’s Club” — complete with puppet shows, songs, Mickey Mouse and other characters — focused on inculcating intense hatred of Jews and a passion for engaging in and celebrating violence against them in a perpetual “jihad” until the day the Israeli flags come down from above “Palestinian land” and the Palestinian flag is raised.
In Madrasas, Islamic schools for study of pure Islamic religion, the culprits are the religious teachers; and the victims include helpless innocent underage students. The sacred teacher-student relationship is given a new definition in these Islamic schools. Following is the bitter experience of a 12 years old madrasa student from Kenya who was rescued during January 2003.
9 Poverty
According to UNICEF, 25,000 children die each day due to poverty. Around 27-28 percent of all children in developing countries are estimated to be underweight or stunted. The two regions that account for the bulk of the deficit are South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Some 1.1 billion people in developing countries have inadequate access to water, and 2.6 billion lack basic sanitation. Almost two in three people lacking access to clean water. Some 1.8 million child deaths each year as a result of diarrhea. For the 1.9 billion children from the developing world, there are: 640 million without adequate shelter (1 in 3), 400 million with no access to safe water (1 in 5) and 270 million with no access to health services (1 in 7). 10.6 million died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5 (same as children population in France, Germany, Greece and Italy.) 1.4 million die each year from lack of access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation. 2.2 million children die each year because they are not immunized. Millions of parents in developing countries must daily cope with the fact that their children may not survive the first critical years of life; in many cases, the diseases that threaten their children’s lives are preventable.
8 Life as Refugees
Of the 50 million refugees and displaced people in the world, approximately half are children. War is the primary factor in the creation of child refugees. It is also a principle cause of child death, injury, and loss of parents. In the last decade, war has killed more than 2 million children, wounded another 6 million, and orphaned about 1 million. Children also flee their homes because they fear various forms of abuse such as rape, sexual slavery, and child labor. Circumstances of birth also play a role in depriving children of a legal home. Each year 40 million children are not registered at birth, depriving them of nationality and a legal name.
The combined ravages of AIDS and war have created a large pool of orphan refugees and displaced children, particularly in Africa. The toll of Rwanda’s civil war, for example, left orphan children to head some 45,000 Rwandan households, with 90 percent of these headed by girls. “Separated Children” are those under age 18 and living outside their country of origin without parents or legal guardians to care for or protect them. Every year, about 20,000 separated children apply for asylum in Europe and North America. Overall, children account for approximately half of all individuals seeking legal asylum in developed countries. Separated children are not often legally recognized as refugees in western countries. In Europe, for example, where there may be as many as 50,000 separated children at any given time, only an estimated 1-5 percent of those who apply for asylum are granted refugee status.
7 Lack of Access to Education
More than 100 million children do not have access to school. Of the children who enroll in primary school, over 150 million drop out, while user fees, including levies, are still charged for access to education in 92 countries and that such charges have impact on excluding girls. 77 million children worldwide are not able to go to school due to lack of funds. For socially disadvantaged segments of the population like poor inhabitants of cities, AIDS orphans and the physically challenged, any access to education is often particularly difficult to obtain. The consequence of this lack of access to education is that 15 percent of those adolescents between 15 and 24 in third world countries are illiterate.
Location often contributes to a child’s lack of access and attendance to education. In certain areas of the world it is more difficult for children to get to school. For example, in high-altitude areas of India, severe weather conditions for more than 7 months of the year make school attendance erratic and force children to remain at home. Gender also contributes to a child’s lack of access and attendance to education. In 25 countries the proportion of boys enrolling in secondary school is higher than girls by 10% or more, and in five; India, Nepal, Togo, Turkey and Yemen, the gap exceeds 20%. The worst disparity is found in South Asia, where 52% of boys and only 33% of girls enroll; a gap of 10%. Enrollment is low for both boys and girls in sub-Saharan Africa, with rates of just 27% and 22%. Girls trail respectively behind. It is generally believed that girls are often discouraged from attending primary schooling, especially in less developed countries for religious and cultural reasons.
6 Child Neglect
Neglect is an act of omission, or the absence of action. While the consequences of child neglect can be devastating, it leaves no visible marks. Moreover, it usually involves infants and very young children who cannot speak for themselves. James M. Gaudin Jr., in “Child Neglect: Short-Term and Long-Term Outcomes”, reported that, compared with non-maltreated and abused children, neglected children have the worst delays in language comprehension and expression. Psychologically neglected children also score lowest in IQ (Intelligence Quotient) tests.
Emotional neglect, in its most serious form, can result in the “non-organic failure to thrive syndrome,” a condition in which a child fails to develop physically or even to survive. According to Gaudin, studies have found that, even with aggressive intervention, the neglected child continues to deteriorate. The cooperation of the neglectful parents, which is crucial to the intervention, usually declines as the child’s condition worsens. This shows that it is sometimes not that easy to change the parental attributes that have contributed to the neglect in the first place.
Parental neglectful behaviors include not keeping the child clean, not providing enough clothes for keeping warm, not making sure the child attended school, not caring if the child got into trouble in school, not helping with homework, not helping the child do his best, not providing comfort when the child was upset, and not helping when the child had problems. The prevalence of childhood neglect ranged from 3.2% in New Hampshire, United States, to 10% in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 19.4% in Singapore, and 36.4% in Pusan, Korea.
5 Child Labor
An estimated 211 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 are working around the world, according to the International Labor Organization. Of these, 120 million children are working full time to help support their impoverished families.
There are millions of children whose labor can be considered forced, not only because they are too young to choose to work, but also because they are, in fact, actively coerced into working. These include child bonded laborers — children whose labor is pledged by parents as payment or collateral on a debt — as well as children who are kidnapped or otherwise lured away from their families and imprisoned in sweatshops or brothels. In addition, millions of children around the world work unseen in domestic service — given or sold at a very early age to another family.
Forced child laborers work in conditions that have no resemblance to a free employment relationship. They receive little or no pay and have no control over their daily lives. They are often forced to work beyond their physical capacity and under conditions that seriously threaten their health, safety and development. In many cases their most basic rights, such as freedom of movement and expression, are suppressed. They are subject to physical and verbal abuse. Even in cases where they are not physically confined to their workplace, their situation may be so emotionally traumatizing and isolating that once drawn into forced labor they are unable to conceive of a way to escape.
4 Child Prostitution
In Thailand, NGOs have estimated that up to a third of prostitutes are children under 18. A study by the International Labor Organization on child prostitution in Vietnam reported that incidence of children in prostitution is steadily increasing and children under 18 make up between 5 percent and 20 percent of prostitution depending on the geographical area. In the Philippines, UNICEF estimated that there are 60,000 child prostitutes and many of the 200 brothels in the notorious Angeles City offer children for sex. In India as many as 200,000 Nepali girls, many under the age of 14, have been sold into red-light districts. Nepalese girls, especially virgins, are favored in India because of their fair skin and young looks. Every year about 10,000 Nepalese girls, most between the age of nine and 16, are sold to brothels in India. In El Salvador, one-third of the sexually exploited children between 14 and 17 years of age are boys. The median age for entering into prostitution among all children interviewed was 13 years.
3 Internet Child Pornography
The internet is a virtual playground for child predators. It is a place that operates largely outside of the law. While trading in pedophile pornography is illegal, lack of adequate funding means law enforcement officials are able to investigate just two percent of their leads. Also, according to Interpol statistics, only one-half of one percent are ever prosecuted.
On a show that aired September 2, 2008, Oprah Winfrey showed a map that clearly conveyed how fast one pornographic image of a child being molested can spread. From a computer in Washington, DC, the image spread within 24 hours, all across the United States. The demand for new images and videos is so high that authorities report they are tracking increasingly brutal pornography with younger and younger victims.
2 Trafficking and Slavery
Trafficking is the fastest growing means by which people are forced into slavery. It affects every continent and most countries. Currently, children are trafficked from countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sudan and Yemen to be used as camel jockeys in the UAE. Furthermore, Anti-Slavery International also has evidence that children are also being trafficked to be used as camel jockeys in other Gulf states including Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, and also internally in Sudan. The use of children as jockeys in camel racing is itself extremely dangerous and can result in serious injury and even death. Some children are also abused by the traffickers and employers, for example by depriving them of food and beating them. The children’s separation from their families and their transportation to a country where the people, culture and usually the language are completely unknown leaves them dependent on their employers and de facto forced laborers.
According to UNICEF, over 200,000 children work as slaves in West and Central Africa. Boys are usually sold to work on cotton and cocoa plantations while girls are used as domestic servants and prostitutes. In some cases, children are kidnapped outright and sold into slavery while in others, families sell their children, mostly girls, for as little as $14.
1 Military Use of Children
Around the world, children are singled out for recruitment by both armed forces and armed opposition groups, and exploited as combatants. Approximately 250,000 children under the age of 18 are thought to be fighting in conflicts around the world, and hundreds of thousands more are members of armed forces who could be sent into combat at any time. Although most child soldiers are between 15 and 18 years old, significant recruitment starts at the age of 10 and the use of even younger children has been recorded.
Easily manipulated, children are sometimes coerced to commit grave atrocities, including rape and murder of civilians using assault rifles such as AK-47s and G4s. Some are forced to injure or kill members of their own families or other child soldiers. Others serve as porters, cooks, guards, messengers, spies, and sex slaves.
Credits to Chea Yee Mun,T3
Palestinian children are taught to hate Jews, to glorify “jihad” (holy war), violence, death and child martyrdom almost from birth, as an essential part of their culture and destiny. As captured on an Israeli video documentary produced in 1998, a “Sesame Street”-like children’s program called the “Children’s Club” — complete with puppet shows, songs, Mickey Mouse and other characters — focused on inculcating intense hatred of Jews and a passion for engaging in and celebrating violence against them in a perpetual “jihad” until the day the Israeli flags come down from above “Palestinian land” and the Palestinian flag is raised.
In Madrasas, Islamic schools for study of pure Islamic religion, the culprits are the religious teachers; and the victims include helpless innocent underage students. The sacred teacher-student relationship is given a new definition in these Islamic schools. Following is the bitter experience of a 12 years old madrasa student from Kenya who was rescued during January 2003.
9 Poverty
According to UNICEF, 25,000 children die each day due to poverty. Around 27-28 percent of all children in developing countries are estimated to be underweight or stunted. The two regions that account for the bulk of the deficit are South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Some 1.1 billion people in developing countries have inadequate access to water, and 2.6 billion lack basic sanitation. Almost two in three people lacking access to clean water. Some 1.8 million child deaths each year as a result of diarrhea. For the 1.9 billion children from the developing world, there are: 640 million without adequate shelter (1 in 3), 400 million with no access to safe water (1 in 5) and 270 million with no access to health services (1 in 7). 10.6 million died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5 (same as children population in France, Germany, Greece and Italy.) 1.4 million die each year from lack of access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation. 2.2 million children die each year because they are not immunized. Millions of parents in developing countries must daily cope with the fact that their children may not survive the first critical years of life; in many cases, the diseases that threaten their children’s lives are preventable.
8 Life as Refugees
Of the 50 million refugees and displaced people in the world, approximately half are children. War is the primary factor in the creation of child refugees. It is also a principle cause of child death, injury, and loss of parents. In the last decade, war has killed more than 2 million children, wounded another 6 million, and orphaned about 1 million. Children also flee their homes because they fear various forms of abuse such as rape, sexual slavery, and child labor. Circumstances of birth also play a role in depriving children of a legal home. Each year 40 million children are not registered at birth, depriving them of nationality and a legal name.
The combined ravages of AIDS and war have created a large pool of orphan refugees and displaced children, particularly in Africa. The toll of Rwanda’s civil war, for example, left orphan children to head some 45,000 Rwandan households, with 90 percent of these headed by girls. “Separated Children” are those under age 18 and living outside their country of origin without parents or legal guardians to care for or protect them. Every year, about 20,000 separated children apply for asylum in Europe and North America. Overall, children account for approximately half of all individuals seeking legal asylum in developed countries. Separated children are not often legally recognized as refugees in western countries. In Europe, for example, where there may be as many as 50,000 separated children at any given time, only an estimated 1-5 percent of those who apply for asylum are granted refugee status.
7 Lack of Access to Education
More than 100 million children do not have access to school. Of the children who enroll in primary school, over 150 million drop out, while user fees, including levies, are still charged for access to education in 92 countries and that such charges have impact on excluding girls. 77 million children worldwide are not able to go to school due to lack of funds. For socially disadvantaged segments of the population like poor inhabitants of cities, AIDS orphans and the physically challenged, any access to education is often particularly difficult to obtain. The consequence of this lack of access to education is that 15 percent of those adolescents between 15 and 24 in third world countries are illiterate.
Location often contributes to a child’s lack of access and attendance to education. In certain areas of the world it is more difficult for children to get to school. For example, in high-altitude areas of India, severe weather conditions for more than 7 months of the year make school attendance erratic and force children to remain at home. Gender also contributes to a child’s lack of access and attendance to education. In 25 countries the proportion of boys enrolling in secondary school is higher than girls by 10% or more, and in five; India, Nepal, Togo, Turkey and Yemen, the gap exceeds 20%. The worst disparity is found in South Asia, where 52% of boys and only 33% of girls enroll; a gap of 10%. Enrollment is low for both boys and girls in sub-Saharan Africa, with rates of just 27% and 22%. Girls trail respectively behind. It is generally believed that girls are often discouraged from attending primary schooling, especially in less developed countries for religious and cultural reasons.
6 Child Neglect
Neglect is an act of omission, or the absence of action. While the consequences of child neglect can be devastating, it leaves no visible marks. Moreover, it usually involves infants and very young children who cannot speak for themselves. James M. Gaudin Jr., in “Child Neglect: Short-Term and Long-Term Outcomes”, reported that, compared with non-maltreated and abused children, neglected children have the worst delays in language comprehension and expression. Psychologically neglected children also score lowest in IQ (Intelligence Quotient) tests.
Emotional neglect, in its most serious form, can result in the “non-organic failure to thrive syndrome,” a condition in which a child fails to develop physically or even to survive. According to Gaudin, studies have found that, even with aggressive intervention, the neglected child continues to deteriorate. The cooperation of the neglectful parents, which is crucial to the intervention, usually declines as the child’s condition worsens. This shows that it is sometimes not that easy to change the parental attributes that have contributed to the neglect in the first place.
Parental neglectful behaviors include not keeping the child clean, not providing enough clothes for keeping warm, not making sure the child attended school, not caring if the child got into trouble in school, not helping with homework, not helping the child do his best, not providing comfort when the child was upset, and not helping when the child had problems. The prevalence of childhood neglect ranged from 3.2% in New Hampshire, United States, to 10% in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 19.4% in Singapore, and 36.4% in Pusan, Korea.
5 Child Labor
An estimated 211 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 are working around the world, according to the International Labor Organization. Of these, 120 million children are working full time to help support their impoverished families.
There are millions of children whose labor can be considered forced, not only because they are too young to choose to work, but also because they are, in fact, actively coerced into working. These include child bonded laborers — children whose labor is pledged by parents as payment or collateral on a debt — as well as children who are kidnapped or otherwise lured away from their families and imprisoned in sweatshops or brothels. In addition, millions of children around the world work unseen in domestic service — given or sold at a very early age to another family.
Forced child laborers work in conditions that have no resemblance to a free employment relationship. They receive little or no pay and have no control over their daily lives. They are often forced to work beyond their physical capacity and under conditions that seriously threaten their health, safety and development. In many cases their most basic rights, such as freedom of movement and expression, are suppressed. They are subject to physical and verbal abuse. Even in cases where they are not physically confined to their workplace, their situation may be so emotionally traumatizing and isolating that once drawn into forced labor they are unable to conceive of a way to escape.
4 Child Prostitution
In Thailand, NGOs have estimated that up to a third of prostitutes are children under 18. A study by the International Labor Organization on child prostitution in Vietnam reported that incidence of children in prostitution is steadily increasing and children under 18 make up between 5 percent and 20 percent of prostitution depending on the geographical area. In the Philippines, UNICEF estimated that there are 60,000 child prostitutes and many of the 200 brothels in the notorious Angeles City offer children for sex. In India as many as 200,000 Nepali girls, many under the age of 14, have been sold into red-light districts. Nepalese girls, especially virgins, are favored in India because of their fair skin and young looks. Every year about 10,000 Nepalese girls, most between the age of nine and 16, are sold to brothels in India. In El Salvador, one-third of the sexually exploited children between 14 and 17 years of age are boys. The median age for entering into prostitution among all children interviewed was 13 years.
3 Internet Child Pornography
The internet is a virtual playground for child predators. It is a place that operates largely outside of the law. While trading in pedophile pornography is illegal, lack of adequate funding means law enforcement officials are able to investigate just two percent of their leads. Also, according to Interpol statistics, only one-half of one percent are ever prosecuted.
On a show that aired September 2, 2008, Oprah Winfrey showed a map that clearly conveyed how fast one pornographic image of a child being molested can spread. From a computer in Washington, DC, the image spread within 24 hours, all across the United States. The demand for new images and videos is so high that authorities report they are tracking increasingly brutal pornography with younger and younger victims.
2 Trafficking and Slavery
Trafficking is the fastest growing means by which people are forced into slavery. It affects every continent and most countries. Currently, children are trafficked from countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sudan and Yemen to be used as camel jockeys in the UAE. Furthermore, Anti-Slavery International also has evidence that children are also being trafficked to be used as camel jockeys in other Gulf states including Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, and also internally in Sudan. The use of children as jockeys in camel racing is itself extremely dangerous and can result in serious injury and even death. Some children are also abused by the traffickers and employers, for example by depriving them of food and beating them. The children’s separation from their families and their transportation to a country where the people, culture and usually the language are completely unknown leaves them dependent on their employers and de facto forced laborers.
According to UNICEF, over 200,000 children work as slaves in West and Central Africa. Boys are usually sold to work on cotton and cocoa plantations while girls are used as domestic servants and prostitutes. In some cases, children are kidnapped outright and sold into slavery while in others, families sell their children, mostly girls, for as little as $14.
1 Military Use of Children
Around the world, children are singled out for recruitment by both armed forces and armed opposition groups, and exploited as combatants. Approximately 250,000 children under the age of 18 are thought to be fighting in conflicts around the world, and hundreds of thousands more are members of armed forces who could be sent into combat at any time. Although most child soldiers are between 15 and 18 years old, significant recruitment starts at the age of 10 and the use of even younger children has been recorded.
Easily manipulated, children are sometimes coerced to commit grave atrocities, including rape and murder of civilians using assault rifles such as AK-47s and G4s. Some are forced to injure or kill members of their own families or other child soldiers. Others serve as porters, cooks, guards, messengers, spies, and sex slaves.
Credits to Chea Yee Mun,T3
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
PROPOSAL ON STATELESS PEOPLE,STREET KIDS
Kota Kinabalu: A third country may be asked to accept Sabah’s stateless people and street children.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar, who floated the idea, said this could be one of the solutions to the perennial illegal immigrant problem in the State.
He said while deporting illegal immigrants could be done easily it was the Stateless people and street children that posed a big problem.
"If we can identify (the illegals) like, for instance, that they are from Indonesia or the Philippines, we can give them travel documents that come from their embassies and then send them back.
"Where we have problem is when the people do not have anything, some not even a birth certificate É no country wants to accept them," he said at the end of this two-day visit, here, Friday.
In light of this, he said banking on countries willing to take in these people could be a good idea.
"Like the Rohingyas (in the peninsula), we previously discussed with the United States who were willing to accept about a few thousand into their country," Syed Hamid said.
He said apart from these issues, Malaysia also had other things to consider pertaining to Stateless people and street children such as human rights, children’s rights and international law.
The United Nations considers those without documents and not accepted by their countries as refugees, he said.
"The most complex issue is people without documents É how are we to deal with this? We cannot simply take and send them to some country (as) they will say ‘they are not ours’.
"But we can understand the fear of the locals," Syed Hamid said, adding they had deported more than 100,000 illegal immigrants since 2000.
He said the Cabinet Committee on illegal immigrants headed by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak would meet soon to discuss solutions and areas to tackle in Sabah as well as other parts of the country.
"Ultimately I think we will have people who (really) understand the issue, which is complex and technical É it cannot be only from our side. We will call up people from the State," he said.
He also urged the people in Sabah not to be overly sensitive and emotional about the issue, adding the media could help in this matter.
To a question, he said there was no need for a Royal Commission of Inquiry to look into claims that illegals obtained identity cards through the backdoor.
"I think we have stated, where they are Malaysians we cannot go back to question their rights as citizens.
"I cannot question (for instance) when I look at you and ask because you look different from me where do you come from, how did you get your citizenship. That is not within my power.
"I think citizens are bound by the constitution of the country.
"And I do not think (for) every issue we face we have to establish a Royal Commission," Syed Hamid said.
THE Government is thinking about placing anti-narcotics officers in certain countries to better combat the drug menace.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid said Malaysia could secure more valuable information, especially on international drug rings if the officers, called drug liaison officers, were stationed outside the country and worked with the enforcement authorities there.
"We have our intelligence and police-to-police relations with (for example) Interpol but sometimes it is good to have our people there to improve intelligence gathering and moreover the interaction would be on a constant basis.
"I am seriously looking into this possibility, at how best we can do it," he said after a briefing with the heads of the Narcotics Crime Investigation Department (NCID).
Also present was Bukit Aman NCID director Datuk Zulhasnan Mohd Najib.
He said based on the briefing they found that there was a tendency for international drug syndicates to use Malaysia as their transit point.
Syed Hamid is also worried about Malaysians being manipulated by the syndicates and being used as couriers for drugs.
"We looked at their modus operandi at how they lure our people, especially girls, to be part of their syndicate, even to the extent of pretending to want to marry them.
"And they (Malaysians) end up being arrested outside the country," he said.
He explained that Malaysia has its Special Branch officers, for instance in Thailand, but their tasks involve mainly gathering of general intelligence.
"They (Special Branch officers) look out for everything, and it is not they cannot do the work, but we do not want to overburden them.
"Since we have the NCID, we want to have these liaison officers there where they will focus only on drugs," Syed Hamid said.
But he admitted the implementation of this programme might take a while.
"The sooner we can do it the better but we have to take into account the technical and logistical requirements. It cannot be implemented immediately."
Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar, who floated the idea, said this could be one of the solutions to the perennial illegal immigrant problem in the State.
He said while deporting illegal immigrants could be done easily it was the Stateless people and street children that posed a big problem.
"If we can identify (the illegals) like, for instance, that they are from Indonesia or the Philippines, we can give them travel documents that come from their embassies and then send them back.
"Where we have problem is when the people do not have anything, some not even a birth certificate É no country wants to accept them," he said at the end of this two-day visit, here, Friday.
In light of this, he said banking on countries willing to take in these people could be a good idea.
"Like the Rohingyas (in the peninsula), we previously discussed with the United States who were willing to accept about a few thousand into their country," Syed Hamid said.
He said apart from these issues, Malaysia also had other things to consider pertaining to Stateless people and street children such as human rights, children’s rights and international law.
The United Nations considers those without documents and not accepted by their countries as refugees, he said.
"The most complex issue is people without documents É how are we to deal with this? We cannot simply take and send them to some country (as) they will say ‘they are not ours’.
"But we can understand the fear of the locals," Syed Hamid said, adding they had deported more than 100,000 illegal immigrants since 2000.
He said the Cabinet Committee on illegal immigrants headed by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak would meet soon to discuss solutions and areas to tackle in Sabah as well as other parts of the country.
"Ultimately I think we will have people who (really) understand the issue, which is complex and technical É it cannot be only from our side. We will call up people from the State," he said.
He also urged the people in Sabah not to be overly sensitive and emotional about the issue, adding the media could help in this matter.
To a question, he said there was no need for a Royal Commission of Inquiry to look into claims that illegals obtained identity cards through the backdoor.
"I think we have stated, where they are Malaysians we cannot go back to question their rights as citizens.
"I cannot question (for instance) when I look at you and ask because you look different from me where do you come from, how did you get your citizenship. That is not within my power.
"I think citizens are bound by the constitution of the country.
"And I do not think (for) every issue we face we have to establish a Royal Commission," Syed Hamid said.
THE Government is thinking about placing anti-narcotics officers in certain countries to better combat the drug menace.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid said Malaysia could secure more valuable information, especially on international drug rings if the officers, called drug liaison officers, were stationed outside the country and worked with the enforcement authorities there.
"We have our intelligence and police-to-police relations with (for example) Interpol but sometimes it is good to have our people there to improve intelligence gathering and moreover the interaction would be on a constant basis.
"I am seriously looking into this possibility, at how best we can do it," he said after a briefing with the heads of the Narcotics Crime Investigation Department (NCID).
Also present was Bukit Aman NCID director Datuk Zulhasnan Mohd Najib.
He said based on the briefing they found that there was a tendency for international drug syndicates to use Malaysia as their transit point.
Syed Hamid is also worried about Malaysians being manipulated by the syndicates and being used as couriers for drugs.
"We looked at their modus operandi at how they lure our people, especially girls, to be part of their syndicate, even to the extent of pretending to want to marry them.
"And they (Malaysians) end up being arrested outside the country," he said.
He explained that Malaysia has its Special Branch officers, for instance in Thailand, but their tasks involve mainly gathering of general intelligence.
"They (Special Branch officers) look out for everything, and it is not they cannot do the work, but we do not want to overburden them.
"Since we have the NCID, we want to have these liaison officers there where they will focus only on drugs," Syed Hamid said.
But he admitted the implementation of this programme might take a while.
"The sooner we can do it the better but we have to take into account the technical and logistical requirements. It cannot be implemented immediately."
Ages and Stages DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONES for receptive & expressive language acquisition
| Ages and Stages DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONES for receptive & expressive language acquisition Receptive Language Birth 0-3 months 4-6 months 7-12 months 1-2 years 2-3 years 3-4 years 4-5 years | ||||
| Expressive Language Birth 0-3 Months 4-6 months 7-12 months 1-2 years 2-3 years 3-4 years 4-5 years |
Second baby for former cancer patient after tissue transplant
A former cancer patient has made medical history by giving birth to two daughters after her fertility was restored with ovarian tissue that had been frozen.
Stinne Bergholdt, a doctor from Odense, Denmark, is the first woman in the world to give birth twice after undergoing the procedure, though seven others have had one child.
Writing in the journal Human Reproduction, doctors said that the birth of Dr Bergholdt’s second child, Lucca, demonstrated the long-term success of the procedure.
Dr Bergholdt, now 32, was given a diagnosis of Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare cancer that mainly affects the bones, in 2004. Before starting chemotherapy, which would have left her sterile, part of her right ovary was removed and frozen. In December 2005, after successful treatment, six strips of frozen ovarian tissue were thawed and transplanted on to what remained of her right ovary.
After mild ovarian stimulation she became pregnant and gave birth to her first daughter, Aviaja, in February 2007.
The following year Dr Bergholdt returned to the clinic where the transplant took place for in vitro fertilisation for a second baby. The treatment was not necessary, however — a test revealed that she had conceived again naturally.
Professor Claus Yding Andersen, from the University Hospital of Copenhagen, who has pioneered the technique and treated Dr Bergholdt, said: “As long as the tissue remains properly stored in liquid nitrogen, it could remain functional for 40 years.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article7040280.ece
Stinne Bergholdt, a doctor from Odense, Denmark, is the first woman in the world to give birth twice after undergoing the procedure, though seven others have had one child.
Writing in the journal Human Reproduction, doctors said that the birth of Dr Bergholdt’s second child, Lucca, demonstrated the long-term success of the procedure.
Dr Bergholdt, now 32, was given a diagnosis of Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare cancer that mainly affects the bones, in 2004. Before starting chemotherapy, which would have left her sterile, part of her right ovary was removed and frozen. In December 2005, after successful treatment, six strips of frozen ovarian tissue were thawed and transplanted on to what remained of her right ovary.
After mild ovarian stimulation she became pregnant and gave birth to her first daughter, Aviaja, in February 2007.
The following year Dr Bergholdt returned to the clinic where the transplant took place for in vitro fertilisation for a second baby. The treatment was not necessary, however — a test revealed that she had conceived again naturally.
Professor Claus Yding Andersen, from the University Hospital of Copenhagen, who has pioneered the technique and treated Dr Bergholdt, said: “As long as the tissue remains properly stored in liquid nitrogen, it could remain functional for 40 years.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article7040280.ece
Touch in the Midwifery Arts
Touch in the Midwifery Arts
The midwife greets the mother and sits down in front of her. She lifts the mother’s dress and begins to firmly massage and palpate the abdomen. She assesses the position and health of the fetus, feels the lie of the uterus and aligns the energy flow through the abdomen. During the prenatal massage the mother and midwife talk about the expected baby, the woman’s health and her family. The midwife will perform a massage at every prenatal visit, during the birth and at postpartum visits. The mother’s mother may also massage her, as will her mother-in-law. The mother will then massage the new child. This dynamic web of touch has been played out all over the world, connecting midwives, mothers and massage, for thousands of years.
Before Western medical practices displaced traditional midwifery, the touch and massage of a midwife or birth attendant was a central component of prenatal care around the world. In the absence of obstetrical tools and gadgets, a midwife had her eyes, ears and hands to diagnose and assist pregnant women. Honed by constant practice, the midwife’s senses of observation and intuition were finely tuned. Today, traditional healers and midwives skillfully integrate the ancient healing arts of massage and midwifery, as they have for thousands of years.
Prenatal massage and compassionate touch during the childbearing year are more than a primitive practice or luxurious pampering; they are an essential and vital part of holistic maternity care. The medical model of birth ignores and trivializes the therapeutic value of touch during pregnancy and childbirth. In the medical model, childbearing is analyzed from a pathological and intellectual perspective. Obstetrical and gynecological practices support the deprivation of human touch, pathologize the female body, increase childbearing morbidity and place women in a subservient role to the institution. However, pregnancy is not a pathological event or an intellectual construct; it is a healthy, primal and life-giving process. Compassionate touch of the mother during pregnancy and childbirth is essential for the development of maternal touching of the infant. Tactile stimulation of the newborn is necessary for healthy development and immunological resistance.
Traditional midwives serve birth through their touch and intuition, holistic ways of learning that respect and nurture the ecology of birth. Interventions, questions and exams induce neocortical activity and the production of catecholamines (stress hormones) that interrupt the labor process. Intuitive touch and massage allows for midwife and mother to communicate without stimulating the neocortex and intervening in the natural rhythm of birth. Touch is the primal language of life; the language that speaks to the deep mind of a laboring woman and the awakening senses of an infant. Massage and healing touch enhance the body’s natural ability to sustain health and give birth. The integrity of midwifery care depends upon compassionate communication that respects the primal process of birth and women’s autonomy.
Credits to Tan Yee Ling, T3
The midwife greets the mother and sits down in front of her. She lifts the mother’s dress and begins to firmly massage and palpate the abdomen. She assesses the position and health of the fetus, feels the lie of the uterus and aligns the energy flow through the abdomen. During the prenatal massage the mother and midwife talk about the expected baby, the woman’s health and her family. The midwife will perform a massage at every prenatal visit, during the birth and at postpartum visits. The mother’s mother may also massage her, as will her mother-in-law. The mother will then massage the new child. This dynamic web of touch has been played out all over the world, connecting midwives, mothers and massage, for thousands of years.
Before Western medical practices displaced traditional midwifery, the touch and massage of a midwife or birth attendant was a central component of prenatal care around the world. In the absence of obstetrical tools and gadgets, a midwife had her eyes, ears and hands to diagnose and assist pregnant women. Honed by constant practice, the midwife’s senses of observation and intuition were finely tuned. Today, traditional healers and midwives skillfully integrate the ancient healing arts of massage and midwifery, as they have for thousands of years.
Prenatal massage and compassionate touch during the childbearing year are more than a primitive practice or luxurious pampering; they are an essential and vital part of holistic maternity care. The medical model of birth ignores and trivializes the therapeutic value of touch during pregnancy and childbirth. In the medical model, childbearing is analyzed from a pathological and intellectual perspective. Obstetrical and gynecological practices support the deprivation of human touch, pathologize the female body, increase childbearing morbidity and place women in a subservient role to the institution. However, pregnancy is not a pathological event or an intellectual construct; it is a healthy, primal and life-giving process. Compassionate touch of the mother during pregnancy and childbirth is essential for the development of maternal touching of the infant. Tactile stimulation of the newborn is necessary for healthy development and immunological resistance.
Traditional midwives serve birth through their touch and intuition, holistic ways of learning that respect and nurture the ecology of birth. Interventions, questions and exams induce neocortical activity and the production of catecholamines (stress hormones) that interrupt the labor process. Intuitive touch and massage allows for midwife and mother to communicate without stimulating the neocortex and intervening in the natural rhythm of birth. Touch is the primal language of life; the language that speaks to the deep mind of a laboring woman and the awakening senses of an infant. Massage and healing touch enhance the body’s natural ability to sustain health and give birth. The integrity of midwifery care depends upon compassionate communication that respects the primal process of birth and women’s autonomy.
Credits to Tan Yee Ling, T3
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