Wellbeing
Children denied joy of nature, says National Trust
March 2012
She called for children to be taught outside on a weekly basis.
Trust chief executive Dame Fiona said: "Children are missing out on the sheer joy and physical and mental well-being of being able to play outside and experience nature in all its messiness. "It's partly technology and it's partly a sort of nervousness. The freedom for children to roam unsupervised has shrunk by 90% since the 1970s. "The world is a different place and people have become very anxious about the risks - real or perceived." She called on schools to take the initiative and to change the way they teach children.
"The world is changing. It is more recognised now that some of these more innovative ways of teaching are just as effective for literacy and numeracy as sitting in the classroom in a very structured way."
The trust, which has nearly four million members, believes the cloistered upbringing of children could be harmful. It cites figures that shows children are three times more likely to hurt themselves falling out of bed than by falling out of a tree.
Dame Fiona added that children needed to take risks and that it was wrong to apply health and safety culture to the countryside. "It's a matter of knowing where the risks are but not trying to wipe them away," she added.
British children are culture starved, study says
February 2012
Millions of British children are "culture starved" as they have never been to an art gallery, theatre or museum, a study has claimed.
The research, commissioned by Visit Birmingham, found four in 10 children had never been to an art gallery, while a quarter of parents had never taken their offspring to the theatre. One in five parents said they did not think their child would be interested.
The study surveyed 2,000 parents of five to 12-year-olds around the UK.
It also found 17% of children had never visited a museum, while one in 10 had not been outside their home town to visit other sites in the UK. Half of parents said they made little effort to educate their children about culture or history and relied on schools to do so.
A quarter said they could not afford to visit attractions with 28% saying they did not have the time and 18% believed their child was "too young for culture". However half said they were more likely to take their children sight-seeing when they were abroad on holiday.
When asked what cultural activities their children had participated in, the most popular was learning an instrument (39%), with ballet (24%), painting (23%) and singing in a choir (22%) the next most popular activities.
Emma Gray, from Marketing Birmingham, which runs the Visit Birmingham campaign, said it was important for all generations to embrace cultural activity. "Culture can take many kinds of forms and it's essential our children are encouraged to get involved with this at any early age," she said. "A few trips during the year to museums, landmarks or even cultural festivals will prove to be memorable, informative and fun occasions for youngsters."
Happy St. Nicholas Day
December 2011
St. Nicholas Day - December 6th
This was predominantly a Dutch tradition that is now celebrated all over Europe. When the Dutch settlers moved to the United States, Sinterklass became Santa Claus or Father Chrtistmas.
Traditionally, this celebration differs from Christmas Day. The story tells us that in the Middle of the 4th Century, an Abbot called Nicholas was born in Turkey. Nicholas was well known for his piety and benevolence. Abbot Nicholas was especially remembered for his care and protection of young children.
One such tale of his kindness tells of a father with three daughters who was very worried that he would not be able to provide them with a dowry when they became married. Nicholas heard of this man and went to his house. He stood by the man's widow and when a moonbeam shone into the room, Nicholas tossed in a bag of gold. He did this each night until the man had three bags of gold - one for each of his daughters.
From this legend came the placing of gold coins, small gifts and fruit in the shoes and stockings of children during the night before the feast of St. Nicholas. In some homes across Europe, St. Nicholas may appear with his companion, Zwarte Piete, also known as Black Peter. He carries a big red book, where he reads reports about the children's behaviour. If the child has been good, they may receive a small gift. However, if the report is not so good they may find twigs or even coal left in their shoes!
This was predominantly a Dutch tradition that is now celebrated all over Europe. When the Dutch settlers moved to the United States, Sinterklass became Santa Claus or Father Chrtistmas.
Traditionally, this celebration differs from Christmas Day. The story tells us that in the Middle of the 4th Century, an Abbot called Nicholas was born in Turkey. Nicholas was well known for his piety and benevolence. Abbot Nicholas was especially remembered for his care and protection of young children.
One such tale of his kindness tells of a father with three daughters who was very worried that he would not be able to provide them with a dowry when they became married. Nicholas heard of this man and went to his house. He stood by the man's widow and when a moonbeam shone into the room, Nicholas tossed in a bag of gold. He did this each night until the man had three bags of gold - one for each of his daughters.
From this legend came the placing of gold coins, small gifts and fruit in the shoes and stockings of children during the night before the feast of St. Nicholas. In some homes across Europe, St. Nicholas may appear with his companion, Zwarte Piete, also known as Black Peter. He carries a big red book, where he reads reports about the children's behaviour. If the child has been good, they may receive a small gift. However, if the report is not so good they may find twigs or even coal left in their shoes!
Primary aged children need 9 hours of sleep
September 2011
A study by the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB in Spanish) and Ramón Llull University have researched the relationship between the sleeping habits, hours slept, and academic performance of children aged between six and seven years of age. Experts have found that sleeping less than nine hours, going to bed late and no bedtime routine generally affects children's academic skills.
"Most children sleep less than is recommended for their intellectual development, which is hindered because the lack of sleep cannot be recovered. This is the first Spanish study that proves that losing out on hours of sleep and bad habits affect schoolchildren's academic performance," stated Ramón Cladellas, researcher at the Faculty of Psychology at the UAB.
The study's authors, published in the journal Cultura y Educación, assessed a total of 142 primary schoolchildren (65 girls and 77 boys) from different schools and which did not have any sleep-related pathological changes. Parents were asked to fill out a questionnaire, concerning the children's habits and number of hours slept per night. The experts also assessed a series of academic skills: communicative, methodological, transversal and specific.
"Although the sample of children sleep almost 8 hours, their sleeping habit shows us that 69% return home after 9pm at least three evenings a week or they go to bed after 11pm at least four nights a week. As such, pupils that sleep 8 or 9 hours have a worse performance than those that sleep 9 or 11 hours," the experts pointed out.
Losing out on hours of sleep and bad habits produced negative effects, especially on more generic skills (communicative, methodological and transversal) which are essential for academic performance. However, there is a lesser effect on the specific skills, more related to cognitive aspects, such as memory, learning and motivation, and they are seen to be more altered by irregular sleep patterns.
"To this end, the lacking hours of sleep distorts children's performance in linguistic knowledge, grammar and spelling rules, and key aspects in the organisation and comprehension of texts, to name a few examples. They are basic skills, meaning that if the pupil, due to a lack of sleep, develops problems in this area, it could have a repercussion on all subjects," explained Cladellas.
The authors concluded that maintaining a healthy sleep pattern at this age contributes to positive cognitive development. They suggest that parents attend prevention programmes to become more aware of the matter.
"Nowadays, there is great concern because children are glued to the television, computers, and videogames, but the same importance is not given to them going to bed at the same time every night," concluded Cladellas.
Singing can boost children's wellbeing
March 2011
Singing in school can make children feel more positive about themselves and build a sense of community, research based on 10,000 children suggests. An evaluation by the Institute of Education of England's national singing programme, Sing Up, found a clear link between singing and well-being.
It also found that children who took part in the programme had a strong sense of being part of a community. The Institute of Education's independent three-year study, commissioned by the Sing Up programme, is based on data collected from 9,979 children at 177 primary schools in England.
"We've always maintained that singing, alongside its brain-training benefits, can help children to grow in confidence and create stronger communities and now we're able to prove it with hard evidence."
The research comes just days after ministers said they were safeguarding the funding of music in schools at the present level for one year ahead of a major funding shake. But there are no guarantees on music funding after 2012.
Life outside the box
September 2010
The conversation continued to the point where the younger chap defended his position by listing a plethora of activity he and his brother would indulge in after each school day and on the weekends. These included playing games together, reading some great books, playing outside and making stuff, playing at the park and talking to Mummy and Daddy. This little boy promoted four main activities: playing, reading, talking and creating.
Electronic media is believed by Waldorf Steiner teachers to seriously hamper the development of the child's imagination - a faculty that is understood to be central to the healthy development of an individual. Waldorf teachers are not alone in this belief. Every week, national newspapers are reporting on the unhealthy and plug-in and play lifestyles our children lead and the detrimental effect it has on them physically, emotionally and mentally.
So the question, “what do you do if you are not watching TV?” is one that we should all contemplate if we have the best interests of our children at heart. Reflect back on your own childhood and you will probably have memories of board games on rainy days, going for weekend walks and games between friends and siblings that entertained for hours. I remember playing in a tree in our garden with my brother. It was the perfect base for many adventures and hours of creative play.
In today’s security conscious society, parents are faced with having to create secure and safe play environments, and this is one of the main factors for the over use of television. Parents who are fearful become hedged in with their thinking and as a result, their own creativity becomes disaffected.
The other day, I happened to meet a local bush craftsman. He runs courses for children in Surrey and Kent woodland areas, where they build camps, identify trees, learn how to build fires and generally have a super time in the great outdoors. His 6-year-old son is a natural artist and has developed a talent for not only drawing wildlife, but also being able to capture the animal’s essence and spirit in his paintings. There is no doubt that he has learnt this skill from the amount of time he has spent observing animals in their natural habitat.
At times, when you look out the window, the thought of being rained on, blown away by the wind, and even snowed on is perhaps not the most appealing way to spend an afternoon together. However, we took our 6-month-old baby for a walk in the snow the other day and he was mesmerised by the white flakes falling down. I know that this was a wonderful experience for him.
The Forest School movement, which originated in Scandinavia and runs children’s woodlands courses over in the UK, are fantastic learning environments. They believe that some children learn best when they are allowed to access their learning from the natural world, especially those children who learn kinaesthetically.
We ended our school week at Bloo House yesterday afternoon by playing a board game together. The children and I were setting up the game when one asked, “Melissa, why do we play games like this?”
Another child answered, “Do you remember when you asked me what I do instead of watch TV, well this is one of those things. If we play this game together we will laugh, talk, play and think.” The youngest child in the group then responded, “Yes, and that’s fun for my imagination!”