Extra Votes for Parents, Healthy Body Image, and Fish Art

Newswire

Extra Votes for Parents?

"If [governments] are not ready to stand up proudly and give voice to the rights of children, then they should put into place reforms that magnify the voices that already exist. The most important would be reforming an electoral system that disenfranchises all those younger than 18 by allowing their parents to cast additional votes for each of their children. Maybe only then when they have to actually look their electorate in the eyes will there be sufficient resolve to make child rights the priority that a commitment [the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child] made 20 years ago stated it should be."
- Miles Corak, former research coordinator and lead researcher of the 2005 UNICEF Report Child Poverty in Rich Countries, writing in yesterday's Toronto Star

A Powerful New Anti-Bullying Tool:
Positive Body Image

Reflections of Me: Body Image and Self-Esteem (a preventative educational program designed for use from kindergarten through Grade 8) is one of the tools Ontario teachers are using to combat bullying in the classroom. It is designed to teach children to accept differences in others and to resist harassment and bullying based on body image.

The curriculum – which was developed by the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (EFTO) – recently won the Canadian Medical Association's Award for Excellence in Health Promotion. It consists of a video, curriculum materials designed for each grade level, and a brochure for parents.

According to the EFTO, parents play a key role in determining how children feel about their bodies and in promoting healthy body image in general. Parents can remind kids that genetics have a lot to do with a person's weight, size, and body type; reinforce the idea that all bodies are acceptable; challenge put-downs related to physical appearance and be a positive role model with regard to body image; encourage kids to tune into their own internal hunger and fullness cues; promote exercise and healthy eating as ways to nurture your body; and celebrate the uniqueness of all people.

Related:

Body Talk: The Straight Facts About Fitness, Nutrition, and Feeling Great About Yourself by Ann Douglas and Julie Douglas

One Fish, Two Fish, Rainbow Fish, Whitefish....

The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources' Kids' Fish Art Contest is back for its 7th year. Kids in grades 4 through 12 have until December 18th to submit a drawings of one of this year's official fish -- the rainbow fish or the whitefish -- in its natural habitat, along with an essay about habitat protection (see official contest rules for details). The winning design will be used on the 2010 Young Angler's License.

Best Summer Ever: Day 60

August 29
Plan to Take a Play Break

Stash a ball or a Frisbee in your bag so that you and your kids can swing by the playground and take a play break in the middle of running your back-to-school errands.

Related:

Scientific American: The Serious Need for Play: "According to a paper published in 2005 in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, children’s free-play time dropped by a quarter between 1981 and 1997....As early as preschool, youngsters’ after-school hours are now being filled with music lessons and sports -- reducing time for the type of imaginative and rambunctious cavorting that fosters creativity and cooperation."

Photo Credit: Ann Douglas, 2009.

Best Summer Ever: Day 43

August 12
Start Laying the Groundwork for a Fabulous Fall

 The decisions you make during the weeks ahead will affect your stress level this fall.

Take time to think through what you're committing to as a parent before you sign on too many dotted lines.

For example, when you’re signing your kids up for extra-curricular activities, consider the time slot carefully. If the practice times are going to disrupt family mealtimes on a regular basis, you may want to see if there's another organization in the community offering the same activity at a less disruptive time. Sometimes you have a choice; other times you don't. But you'll never know unless you do some asking around.

Photo Credit: Ann Douglas, 2009.

Best Summer Ever: Day 21

July 21
Put Your Rainy Day Plan in Place

Our expectations of summer tend to be sky-high. We want every day to be the stuff of which tourism promo videos are made -- not something on YouTube tagged "family vacation fail."

If Mother Nature rains on our parade - literally or figuratively - it's hard not to take it personally.

But into each Canadian season a little precipitation must fall. That includes summer, too.

So having some rainy day activities in mind (in case an outdoor fun day gets rained out at the last minute) is simply a summer sanity preserver.

Here are a few ideas that could very well save the day.

• Hit the library, virtually or in person.
• Plan an indoor picnic with another family.
• Visit an art gallery or museum (i.e. The Science of Spying at the Ontario Science Centre).
• Find out what else is happening in your neighborhood.
• Make your own fun. Tackle a DIY project in your backyard, basement, or at your kitchen table.

Photo Credit: Ann Douglas, 2009.

Best Summer Ever: Day 13

July 13
Get Cycle Smart

Host a bike rodeo in your driveway or at a nearby park so your kids can work on their bike safety skills.

Then teach them how to do some basic maintenance on their bikes so that their bikes will be ready for the next family cycling adventure.

Related:

Canada Safety Council: What to Teach Your Children About Bicycle Safety

Utah Department of Health: Bicycle Rodeo Skills Packet (.pdf)

Cascade Bicycle Club: Organizing a Bicycle Skills Rodeo (.pdf)

Photo Credit: amandabhslater "Cycle Path," 2008 (Creative Commons).

Pay to Play: On Profit and Priorities

My 11-year-old son and I visited an indoor play centre with my sister and her two preschoolers yesterday. It was the first time I’d ever been to one of these places.

I guess I was hoping for something more than what was on offer -- a more enriched version of what I'd experienced with my kids at Ontario Early Years Centres (which, being publicly funded, are free). What I encountered was the opposite: a highly commercialized pay-to-play enterprise. And I had to pay $8 for my child to get in.

Instead of puppet theatres and dress-up centres; water tables and sandboxes; ride-on toys and construction sets; paint easels and craft tables; and other activities geared to kids of various ages (the images I carry with me from many happy days spent at Ontario Early Years Centres), the pay-to-play place featured toys and climbing equipment plus pay-more-as-you go extras: pay-to-play carnival games; a snack bar; a birthday party room and birthday cakes, and other amenities, tucked away behind closed doors, ready to be unlocked for the right price.

In the for-profit world, the bottom line has a way of trumping service and common sense. The single staff member working the customer service desk had to juggle phone calls (birthday party and cake bookings) with meeting the needs of parents-and-kids. She did her best, but it isn't easy trying to be the receptionist, order desk clerk, cashier, and customer service rep all at the same time. What got lost, as a result, were the elements that make for a truly child- and parent-centred experience. What was on offer was a spacious room with toys. That’s all.

Parents tell me that they frequently seek out privately-operated play facilities because their local Ontario Early Years Centre is too crowded or it only operates part-time hours or its not as convenient to their home. And, of course, Ontario Early Years Centres only address the 0-6 age range. There aren't publicly funded drop-in centres for kids ages 6-12. That means that what’s available at any given time is very much determined by where you live, the time of year (summer camp and March Break camp season vs. after-school or weekend programming), and your ability to pay. (These types of programs are typically offered on a user-pay system.)

This makes me wonder why we parents have been so willing to reach into our own pockets to pay for access to indoor play spaces? Why aren’t we asking governments to create neighborhood playgrounds (both indoor and outdoor) and parenting centres (perhaps in unneeded schools or schools with excess space) staffed by early childhood education professionals (the people who know how to create the best environments for children to learn and grow)?

So here's what I'm thinking.

Given what we’ve learned about the key determinants of health and what leads to lifetime success and well-being, it doesn’t make sense for governments to default to the private sector when it comes to meeting the needs of children. Issues of universal access vs. ability to pay inevitability arise. If it’s in the public’s interest for children to have safe places to play, shouldn’t the public invest in those spaces and ensure that the programs that they deliver incorporate the best evidence about children and learning (to say nothing of parent support)?

Besides, at a time when taxpayer dollars are being reinvested in all kinds of different projects, don’t you think it’s time we asked ourselves and our governments what brick or mortar project could possibly warrant greater investment than the next generation of citizens? If we fail to invest in our human infrastructure, all the other infrastructure investment won’t matter at all.

Related:

• UNICEF: The Childcare Transition
• Martin Prosperity Institute: Ontario in the Creative Age

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RESEARCH NEWS: The Public Health Agency of Canada has just released new findings about Canadian women's experiences of pregnancy, labour, birth, and postpartum. “What Mothers Say: The Canadian Maternity Experiences Survey” and “Mothers' Voices —What women say about pregnancy, childbirth and early motherhood" are available at www.publichealth.gc.ca/mes.

Engaging The Whole Child in Learning

 “Holistic education engages the head, heart, hands and spirit of the child.
It is a curriculum that makes connections –
community, earth, soul, subject and mind-and-body connections –
and it develops intuition and inquiry.”

- From the curriculum documents for The Whole Child School,
a Toronto District School Board
alternative school which opens this fall

The parents who received phone calls telling them that their children had secured spots in The Whole Child School reacted as if they had won the lottery. And, as it turns out, they had. Demand for spaces in the new school  was so great that the school had to conduct a lottery to allocate spaces as fairly as possible, says Shari Walczak, a mother of two who has been serving as parent co-chair of the school’s organizing committee.

When The Whole Child School opens its doors this September, it will start out with seven classes: three combined JK/SK classes (Walczak’s 4-year-old son will be in one of those classes); full classes at the Grades 1, 2, and 3 level; and a combined Grade 4/5 class. The school will grow with its students, eventually offering classes from JK through Grade 8.

It isn’t difficult to see what has attracted students to this publicly-funded alternative school. The Whole Child School (which will be sharing space with Roden Public School in the Gerrard and Coxwell neighborhood) will be following a holistic curriculum that has been developed by a highly skilled team of educators, with input from Professor John P. Miller of the Department of Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto.

One of the key challenges that the school’s founders foresee will be managing parent expectations. No school is perfect--even if the curriculum documents make The Whole Child School sound like a learning paradise on earth. What the Whole Child School community can promise to do is be open to learning from the mistakes that will inevitably be made as the school gets through its novice year. “We’ll be learning and adjusting and changing as we go.”

Walczak and other members of the organizing committee are counting on The Whole Child School’s parent community to play a hands-on role in shaping the school during this first, formative year. “We’re looking for a real time commitment and involvement level from our parents. We want them to be involved with everything from fundraising and identifying potential partnerships to providing input on the curriculum and vision.”

If all goes well, The Whole Child School could end up serving as a model for the kind of education every child should be receiving in order to be able to meet the challenges of the future, says Walczak. “We would love for The Whole Child School to become the norm for all children down the road.”

"Holistic education is an effort to cultivate the development of the whole human being.  Where conventional schooling views the child as a passive receiver of information and rules, or at most as a computer-like processor of information, a holistic approach recognizes that to become a full person, a growing child needs to develop – in addition to intellectual skills – physical, psychological, emotional, interpersonal, moral and spirited potentials.  The child is not merely a future citizen or employee in training, but an intricate and delicate web of vital forces and environmental influences."

- Ron Miller, one of the major thinkers and contributors
to the field of holistic education, on the role holistic education
has to play in the development of the whole child,
quoted on The Whole Child School website

Destination ImagiNation: Non-Profit Program Emphasizes Creativity, Teamwork, Problem-Solving Skills

"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that don't work.”
Thomas Edison

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? That’s how we should look at our not-quite-successes, but, all too often, we forget that there’s an upside to making mistakes. We increase our knowledge of what doesn’t work.

That’s the kind of smart thinking that allowed Thomas Edison to accomplish what he did. If it had been paralyzed by a fear of failure, he might never have had that bright flash of discovery.

It's also the kind of innovative learn-through-discovery kind of thinking that underlies a Destination ImagiNation a non-profit program for kids that combines creative thinking, team work, problem solving and ends up with fun.

The program may not be very well known in Canada, but it’s extremely well established in other parts of the world. Each year, DI (a community-based, non-profit, volunteer-driven educational organization) works with more than 250,000 children and young adults in 50 U.S. states and more than 40 countries around the world.

Kids on two- to seven-member teams are challenged to find solutions to both instant challenges and team challenges (which take many months to solve). They present their solutions to appraisers in tournament-style settings. (See second video, below.)

When team members are first confronted with their menu of challenges at the beginning of the DI year (each team tackles five challenges each year), the initial reaction is likely to be, “There is no way we we’re going to be able to solve this problem,” says Kris Bordessa, mother of two, DI volunteer, and the author of the book Team Challenges: 170+ Group Activities to Build Cooperation, Communication, and Creativity (Zephyr Press).

But then they get down to business and the impossible starts to look plausible -- even probable.

Everything is very hush-hush, of course (as is the case with all the very best clubs and discoveries).

One of the cardinal rules of DI is that there is no parental interference. In fact, if a parent suggests a solution or material for the team challenge, the solution or material suggested by the parents is declared off-limits. Kids are taught to respond to helpful hints from well-meaning but overbearing parents with a powerful one-liner that is designed to remind moms and dads that DI is supposed to be building skills in kids, not parents: “That’s a great idea, mom/dad. But now we can’t use it."

The DI year builds toward state (or provincial), national, and global championships. But even at the highest levels, competition is kept in perspective, Bordessa stresses. “There’s no sense of, ‘Ha! We won.’”

Bordessa’s two boys have reaped the benefits of being involved in DI. (Her oldest son has been involved for seven years.) “They’re better at solving life’s little problems. Little things don’t throw them the same way any more. They’re capable of looking at several different ways of solving the same problem. And they are better at communicating whatever it is they want to say.”

These videos will give you a sense of what DI is all about. For specific information about the costs involved in purchasing DI curriculum materials, visit the DI store or contact CreativePrograms.org (a DI affiliate in the GTA).

Playing for Keeps

This is the second part of a two-part series on kids and sports.

In my previous post, I talked about a really important study ("Kids and Sports") published by Statistics Canada back in June. That study talked about which kids are most likely to participate in organized and informal sports in Canada -- and which kids are most likely to be left out of the game.

In this follow-up post, I want to talk about why there's so much more to this issue than initially meets the eye.

It would be easy to assume that this issue is simply about helping kids to stay fit. If that were the case, you might argue that there are plenty of other ways for kids to get fit than by participating in the local soccer league or shooting some hoops after dinner with a group of neighbourhood kids. Kids could jump rope or work out to an exercise video. In other words, you'd be focusing on ways of getting kids' bodies in motion. 

What isn't obvious at first is that being involved in organized sports like soccer or taking swimming lessons allows kids to acquire important skills that are as much about learning about life as they are about learning to play a particular sport. Playing sports allows kids to channel their energy, competitive, and aggressiveness in constructive ways; to develop teamwork and leadership skills; and, starting from when they are very young, to develop important school readiness skills (skills that can help to ease their transition to school). Kids who participate in organized sports and lessons in physical activities score more highly in such school readiness measures as receptive vocabulary, communication skills, number knowledge, and copying and symbol use. What's more, kids who participated in unorganized sports at least once a week score more highly in cooperative play than other children.

Studies examining school readiness have demonstrated that children from lower income households often lack some of the skills that are associated with readiness for school. All but one of the skills that children from lower-income households tend to be lacking (as compared to children from more affluent households) can be gained through participation in organized sports (receptive vocabulary, communication skill, number knowledge, copying and symbol use) or unorganized sports ( cooperative play). There isn't any research to demonstrate that the other skill that children from lower-income households tend to be lacking (attention) can be gained through participation in sports.

There are also significant health consequences to be considered. Researchers at Simon Fraser University conducted an eight-year longitudinal study of Canadian children, focusing on the relationship between early neighbourhood environment and children's body-mass index percentiles. They found that young children living in the lowest income neighbourhoods face an increased risk of becoming overweight or obese between childhood and early adolescence as compared to children living in more affluent neighbourhoods. The researchers concluded that reduced food choices and poorer opportunities for physical activities were responsible for the unhealthier outcomes. They recommended that "policies to prevent neighbourhood disparities in overweight...focus on young children."

There are other compelling reasons for dealing with the childhood obesity problem, too. Researchers at Queen's University found that children who are overweight or obese are more likely to be the targets and the perpetrators of bullying than other children whose weight falls within the normal range. If we are aware of factors that put a particular group of children at risk of becoming overweight or obese (and therefore at greater risk of being bullied or becoming bullies), wouldn't it be socially irresponsible of us to choose to do nothing?

There's no denying it. Sports is serious stuff. It's about giving every child a fair shot at growing up healthy and strong and ready to learn. When some kids are denied access to the types of opportunities that they need in order to develop in healthy ways,  everyone pays the price later on. So knowing what we know now, we have some questions to ask of ourselves: what kind of world do we want for our kids? A winner-takes-all society, where some kids aren't even allowed in the game—or a level playing field, where every kid is invited to play?

Remember, we're playing for keeps.

The Uneven Playing Field

Kids may be over-scheduled these days, but it's not because they are spending all their spare time at the hockey rink, the soccer field, or the swimming pool. According to a study published last month by Statistics Canada, the number of kids participating in sports is on the decline. Just 56% of boys and 45% of girls ages 5 through 14 played sports in 2005 as compared to 66% of boys and 49% of girls the same age in 1992. That amounts to a 10% drop for boys and a 4% decrease for girls.

What's even more disturbing is the ugly truth you discover once you start asking which kids are being left out of the game. Statistics Canada researcher Warren Clark, the study's author, found that Canadian kids who miss out on organized and informal sports activities tend to fall into one or more of the following categories:

Children from low-income households (especially if they are girls). The sports participation rate for children from the lowest-income households (the bottom 20 percent) was 44% as compared to 68% for children from the highest-income households (the top 20 percent). The amount spent on sports-related expenses can be substantial, notes Clark, putting sports participation out of the reach of some children: "In 2005, 51% of two-parent households with children spent money on sports and athletic equipment. Those who made such expenditures spent an average of $579 during the year. In addition to these equipment expenses, families may also spend money on facility rentals, transportation to sports events, club memberships and competition entry fees in order to support their children’s participation in sports."

The sports participation gap between boys and girls increases as household income drops, suggesting that girls from lower income families are particularly disadvantaged when it comes to being involved in sports. This effect is particularly pronounced in single-parent families, according to Clark. "Under the strain of financial problems, lone parents may sacrifice the sports participation of their daughters, reasoning that sports have traditionally not been as important to young girls’ identities as they are to young boys."

Children living in urban areas—particularly if those areas are considered unsafe for outdoor play. Sports participation rates for children ages 5 to 14 range from a high of 58% in smaller cities and towns with populations between 10,000 and 50,000 to a low of 47% in Canada's three largest cities: Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. The 2005 General Social Survey found that sports participation rates were lowest (42%) among children in high-density areas where low-income families were most likely to be living.

Children of recent immigrants. Children of recent immigrants are least likely to be actively participating in sports. Even in soccer, participant rates for the children of recent immigrants are 10% as compared to 23% for children whose parents were Canadian-born. Making a living in a new country can be a challenge for many first-generation Canadians. As participation in sports often requires economic resources, children of recent immigrants may face financial barriers to sports participation. It's an unfortunate missed opportunity because internationally popular sports such as soccer may provide the children of recent immigrants with familiar ground on which to integrate into Canadian society.

All this data begs the question: what will it take to even the playing field for Canada's most vulnerable kids?

If you think the non-refundable Children's Fitness Tax Credit (introduced in 2007) was the answer, think again. The families most likely to benefit from the tax credit are those who need the incentive least: the children of high-income earners (a group of children who are already 1.5 times as likely to be participating in sports programs as the children of low-income Canadians). A non-refundable tax credit is only of benefit to a family which has tax owing. A non-refundable tax credit is of no use to a family living at or below the poverty line. Besides, you have to spend $500 (the maximum per child) to get $45 back -- a less-than-appealing proposition for a family that's having difficulty making ends meet.

So what's the solution? I wish I knew. It's clear that it will have to include affordable (or free) community-based sports programs. I'm sure a lot of people are working on these issues right now. It would be great if some of the people who care passionately about this issue could identify themselves, via this blog, to the rest of us so we will know who you are and where we can find you – so we can offer you support and ask what we can do to help raise awareness of this issue.

Bottom line? It's not okay that family income is becoming a key determinant of who gets to play the game and who gets to sit on the bench. How sportsmanlike is that, after all?

Note: In my next blog post, I'll be writing more about how playing sports (both organized sports and informal sports) during the early years makes a huge difference to the healthy development of kids – and what it means to us as a society when certain kids are denied that opportunity.