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The prevalence of obesity in minors is increasing in the United States. Childhood obesity is rounded at a critical stage as approximately 15.3% of children aged between 6 and 11 and 15.5% of adolescents ages 12 to 19 are overweight, and an additional 15% children and 14.9% adolescents are at risk for overweight.
Childhood obesity is on the rise and the victims are all at risk to developing Type II Diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and other obesity-related diseases at a very young age. So early in their development stage and their life expectancy already becomes predetermined limited. And at their short lifespan their memories are crammed with insults, bullying, and destruction of self-esteem. What could be the reason for their mishap?
The reason for this is two-fold. First is the genetic-factor adding to the vulnerability for childhood obesity and second and most notably, the passing-down of poor lifestyle and eating habits.
Sorry to say but the current age is made up of digital generation kids spellbound by inactive indoor entertainment and fast food convenience. Surrounded by computers, video games, and the television, children are hard to pull from the couch to have a healthy and worthwhile physical activity outdoors. And even when they eat it’s difficult to keep them from sweet and fat-saturated snacks impossible for them to burn-off.
Finally when they go to school the bad custom is enforced ever more as virtually all kids do the same. The result, widespread childhood obesity. So what should the parent do?
Not to be obese themselves is one. Yet childhood obesity is such a serious condition that efforts of providing a good example through proper nutrition and efficient exercise at home still requires established guidelines that will help parents and school-systems make significant changes against the problem.
These weight-health guidelines are crucial to educate all children about the perils and reality of childhood obesity and encourage them to participate in all efforts dealing with the issue. Encouragement of children to eating healthy foods and getting plenty of exercise shall produce results rather than futile if the health measures are imposed. Parents need to ensure their children about the importance of choosing healthy habits. Yet, they also need to make the assurance that such healthy alternatives are available.
Concerned individuals should keep with the USDA The Prescription for Change And Healthy School Nutrition Environments. School canteen meals should comply with nutritional standards and guidelines, while providing plenty of food choices and introducing new foods to keep the menu healthy and interesting; additional vending machines and packaged snacks should represent the 5-major food groups in the Food Guide Pyramid; students should have designated mid-day lunch periods at a healthy environment; and all decisions made by the school-system regarding student consumption should be based on nutritional goals and guidelines, and not on profit.
Efforts should also include education and information on healthy eating habits as well as active school activity programs for students from Kindergarten through Grade 12.

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NEED AND CONTEXT

It has been observed that the recent economic growth in the Asian cities indicate that there has been a breakdown of traditional support systems such as the family because of rapid urbanization and modernization. Moreover, a large number of people are living below the poverty line in impoverished environment in urban and rural communities. Their acute needs for housing, food, health, education, and incomes are the very forces that push adolescents to look for a means of livelihood on the streets, engage in prostitution, be hooked up with crime/drug syndicates, or become victims of sexual and physical abuse. It is a battle of bare struggle for daily survival and contributes in every ways they can. Any measure to penalize parents of such children will only result in further abuse and oppression of people who are already disadvantaged. Such children struggle hard in getting the most essential requirements to meet the basic needs of life and such children need special attention and educational intervention. These disadvantaged adolescents are generally malnourished and often anemic; many of them physically stunted, suffer psychologically from undue family pressures and abuses and are neglected at home. They tend to develop low self-esteem from broken families, single-headed households because of the death, separation, or labor migration of one of their parents. Moreover, they live in slums and squatter communities, sub-human conditions and are susceptible to crime syndicates and gang conflicts, substance/drug abuse, and gambling.

In the developing and under developed countries like India and Thailand a large percentage of population live below the poverty line and adolescents from such environment face difficulties in getting access to good education. It is therefore felt that in both the surround adolescents are of in the process of development and failure to meet their developmental need have lend to safe and serial destructions behaviors. Adolescents lack necessary life skills for cape up in to the realities and challenges of life. Adolescents accords for the largest portion of the world?s population and have been on an increasing trend and there are ?230 million Indian adolescent in the age of group of 4 to 19? that (Population and Health IndoShare, 2006). Moreover, it is expected that this age group will continue to grow reaching over ?214 million by 2020? (United Nations (UN) 2000) due to has traditionally been a male dominated society and has a strong son preference in most part of but Indian girls tend to be discriminated against by their families and also demographic trends indicate deep-rooted gender discrimination. In India, the condition of disadvantaged adolescents resembled that of their centers pail Thailand. Indian Young adolescents are facings serious problem of lack of access to reliable knowledge on the process of growing up reproductive health practices and value system. There has been a need to provide education on the developmental changes and needs during teenagers. This may reduce the risk of future.

Today, almost every Indian and Thai whether rich or poor, young or old, is exposed to much that is foreign, largely because in the last two decades India and Thailand has become one of the region?s most popular tourists destinations. At times, the growing economy and favorable investment opportunities have also attracted many foreign multinationals, which continue to add to the already fair large expatriate community. However, despite the intensity of their exposure to ?foreign? influences, particularly western cultures and lifestyles, Indian and Thai culture remains a solid influence within family life and early childhood. From birth, Indian and Thai adolescents are still much more deeply immersed in culture than they are exposed to foreign influences despite the fast-paced changes that have been affecting Indian and Thai adolescents. The adolescents of deferred families are emotionally disturbed and driven adrift as wanderers, delinquent children with im-permissive behaviors such as loitering, gambling, drug addiction, crime, truancy, prostitution, and begging, illegal dealings. As the consequence of these adverse behaviors, cases of illegal pregnancy, baby abandonment, and HIV/AIDS infection are becoming more and more severe.

There also reported, ?Thai Children are spending more time in talking and chatting on the phone and the trendiest models of mobile phones, love hanging out with their friends at night, the drugs problem and the loss of Thai identity and shopping for brand name products. The latest fashion among the hobbies of many of today?s Thai children is they are becoming increasingly violent and blaming society and their own families for their behavior and involve in premature sex, drugs and aggressiveness?. ?The study found that despite the well-to-do family backgrounds of the teens surveyed, most of them shared a common problem of loneliness, depressive tendencies and a need for love?. The gap between parents and children is greater than ever before, arising from broken families or from families which faille to inculcate morals in their children because they havenless time for their children and had left them to the peril of sick and violent society in Thailand (Aphaluck Bhatiasevi, Thongbai Thongpao 2002), (Tong Thum Struggles, 2006)

With the best intention and efforts of the education as a social instrument, it is possible to promote the complete welfare of disadvantaged population. Among the several types of disadvantaged adolescents, Adolescents forced to enter the labour market, adolescents affected by HIV/AIDS and adolescents affected by narcotic drugs need special attention. They have trouble in getting proper guidance to overcome personal problems and require proper guidance and counseling to become aware of the ill effects narcotic drugs, labour market and HIV/AIDS. It may not be possible to develop awareness in the expected manner through normal school curriculums. Hence, a separate educational intervention, which is nothing but a planned programme of educational guidance, organized to meet the scientific and psychological needs of disadvantaged adolescents in the age group of 13-16. Hence, in this study, an attempt will be made to study the educational adjustment of disadvantaged adolescents and to find out the impact of a structured educational intervention programme in developing proper awareness and attitude towards reproductive health, drugs, sexuality and values.

The present study examined the impact of an educational intervention programme on the knowledge and attitude on disadvantaged adolescents in Northern India and Thailand. The study intends to assess and compare the knowledge about the process of growing up, HIV/AIDS awareness, values and attitude of teen-age students staying in the schools. Reproductive health education is a key strategy for promoting preventive measures among teenagers.

METHOS

The sample for the study consisted of 225 disadvantaged adolescents who included 125 adolescents from India (Chennai Himmat Slum area, Jammu region) and Thailand (Yong People Develop Chiang Mai and Teresa Anusorn Foundation (Ban Teresa) Chiang Rai, Province). The sample populations of disadvantaged adolescents are residents of orphanages and slum area and studying in high school classes in the age of groups from 13 to 16 years. Data was collected by administering knowledge test consisted of items on process of growing up HIV/AIDS, reproductive organs and their functions family planning and parenting and attitude scale to measure beliefs and practices about sexuality and abstinence. An experimental design consisted of experimental and control group was formed. Questionnaires were translated from English to Hindi and Thai, (mother tongue of the respondent), then back in to English to ensure that no meaning was lost in translation. There were use two groups of learner: both the groups were given Pre-Test as well as Post-Test, where experimental group were given intervention programme and control group was not be given any intervention programme.

Control group: - there were in two states: ten administrators conducted face-to-face interviews and Focus groups with disadvantaged adolescent in India and Thailand.

First state, in India country; 10 Indian administrators were called the Indian disadvantaged adolescents from there house at Slum area (Jammu), meeting for data collected were an adjustment questionnaire in each of person and groups by Hindi (mother tongue of the respondent).

Second state, in Thailand country: 125 questionnaires in Thai (mother tongue of the respondent) were administered to the Thai disadvantaged adolescent of two orphanages, I collected later the questionnaires.

Intervention / Treatment Programme

Experts: Facilitators who were willing to participate in the study were invited for receiving community sensitization, booklet distribution, and CD training;

Experimental group: 200 students (and also inmates) belonging to Channai Himmat, Slum area (Jammu, India), Teresa Anusorn Foundation (Ban Teresa), and Yong People Develop (Thailand) who had got least scores namely, were given one day training programme on intervention or treatment as;

In the morning: the orientation and participants programme concentrated on basic issues such as general framework of adolescent growth, and consisted of discussions and demonstrations. The training programme practiced the activities to develop the knowledge level and the attitude about HIV/AIDS, drug abuse and reproductive health education

In the afternoon until evening: the revised questionnaires were administered to the experimental group in 3 sessions as: (a) the personal details. (b) The knowledge level and attitude were administered to find out themselves and whenever they had doubt in understanding the items, the administrators made them easy by giving supplementary examples. In addition, (c) group discussed for preparation of suggestive measures to improve and policies.

Design of the study

An educational intervention programme consisting of awareness activities presented through media presentation, discussion and interaction was presented to the experimental group. Universals and multivariate analysis of the data were used to assess the impact of interventions and to identify the predictors of change in knowledge and attitude. Significant changes in terms of gain between pre-test and post-test was observed.

Analysis

The completed questionnaires were collated and entered into the computer. The data was entered and analyzed using SPSS. After verification and reduction of data, descriptive frequencies were completed. This was followed by uni-variate and multi-variety procedures to assess the impact of the interventions and to identify other predictors of change in knowledge and attitude. Analysis was stratified by sex shown how responses to the variables of knowledge and attitude, differ boys, girls, age, and education. Descriptive statistics was used to profile the study population. Knowledge and attitude was then used to explore the demographic variables associated with HIV/AIDS, drug abused and reproductive Health Education. The following statistical techniques were applied in the present project: Paired Samples ?T?-test and ?F?-test.

FINDINGS

The demographic profile of the 250 Indian and Thai respondent questionnaires is shown the relationships between demographic characteristics of Indian and Thai were founds Indian boys (54.40%) less than Thai boys (56%), and Indian girls (45.60%) more than Thai girls (44%). In the same age group of Indian and Thai 15 years old, and the same of the secondary school of Indian: (Standard: 9) and Thai: (Grades 3), had significant .05 is shown in Table 1.

Answers were grouped in comparing scores from Indian and Thai disadvantage adolescent after received a treatment on knowledge and attitude about HIV/AIDS, drug abuse and reproductive health education, all participating (N= 200) were group interviewed and after the intervention had significant difference is (0.05), are shown in Table 2-16.

The findings also revealed significant differences between boys and girls in knowledge and attitude towards reproductive health education. Implications of the study for the awareness programmes were suggested.

DISCUSSION

In many Northern states of India and Thailand, the HIV/AIDS, drug abuse and reproductive health needs of Indian and Thai disadvantaged adolescents are either poorly understood or not fully appreciated. Evidence is growing that this neglect can seriously jeopardize the HIV/AIDS, drug abuse and reproductive health education needs and future well-being of them.

The policies addressed the effectiveness of the programmed to highlights what there needs to be done to promote and protect to the disadvantaged adolescent in India and Thailand in the future as: all schools should develop textbooks making learning interesting by following extensive community sensitization in support of adolescent reproductive health education appropriate in Indian and Thai cultural and tradition. Because of Indian and Thai culture and tradition, adolescents kept learning by them long time ago that, made them grow up in the wrong life and have been against morality.

Indian and Thai adolescent problems erupt from families and by themselves after they have been sexually abused or because their families could not understand adolescent behavior and teach them about reproductive health education and sexual health education. Such as should improve in knowledge and attitude among school-going adolescents with the media modern of families. In addition, it was found that sexually abused violated in Indian and Thai adolescents should learn and practice self-protection and should gather knowledge of the Child Rights and much more.

India disadvantaged adolescents

1. Indian disadvantaged adolescents are neglected from home, school and there country of the knowledge. They tend to undeveloped of the confidents and very poorly of the knowledge, attitude about Reproductive Health, drug and HIV/AIDS. Thus as, should to improve and increase and learn the knowledge attitude and understanding of disadvantaged adolescents

2. In India, the responsible organizations both governmental and non-governmental of India have to develop policies for adolescent and should to include HIV/AIDS education and health programme in schools curriculums. In addition, those reproductive health educational services for adolescent girls are especially needed in schools and families.

3. Parents, families, teachers and administrators in orphanages or schools should be encouraged to discuss or give guidance and approval about reproductive health education, drug and HIV/AIDS with their disadvantaged adolescent.

Thailand disadvantaged adolescents

1. Should to improve and increase the knowledge attitude and understanding of disadvantaged adolescents in Northern about reproductive health education and sexual health education.

2. Especially, in Northern, Thailand having spread of higher Drug and HIV/AIDS, thus as should to teach or train to get about the knowledge attitude and understanding of reproductive health to adolescents and parents more then other.

3. The reproductive and sexual health education should be included in the curriculum for the second level ? primary education (Grades 4-6), Third level ? secondary education (Grades 1-3) and Fourth level ? secondary education (Grades 4-6). It is too late to start from Third level ? secondary education (Grades 1-3) in Thailand thus; the Ministry of Education has to prepare a new policy to put this subject at the Basic Education Curriculum Standard as soon as possible.

4. It appears that in Thailand media has caused a change in sex related values among adolescents. With the misuse of Internet in getting information on sex related issue supplemented by the use of Cell phone, TV, VCD, DVD and booklets is increasing Crime problems of sexually abused. Thus, the qualities of the textbooks or booklets to be distributed to the adolescents.

TABLE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I thank to Dr. Y. N. Sridhar, Guide of Research for me. I would like too many helpful and thank the following students, Mr. Kasame Sakonllapap, Mr. Santi Jongkongka, Mr. Prasarn Ruansang and people for their supported. I thankfulness to Father Carlo Luzzi, Mother Elisa Cavana, Father Niphot Thiengwiharn and my family, for contributing to this study by providing funding.

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Childhood Disintegrative Disorder Overview
Childhood disintegrative disorder is a severe loss of social, communication and other skills classified in a group of disorders called “Pervasive Developmental Disorders.” Onset is usually after the age of four. The signs and symptoms are similar to autism, although autism usually occurs at an earlier age and is more common.
Pervasive developmental disorders include:
? Childhood disintegrative disorder
? Autism
? Asperger’s syndrome
? Rett syndrome
? Pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified
A Viennese educator, Theodor Heller, first described the condition. Childhood disintegrative disorder is also known as Heller’s syndrome after Theodor Heller.
Signs and symptoms of childhood disintegrative disorder include:
? Normal development for at least the first two years of life
? Significant loss of previously acquired or learned skills before age 10 in at least two of the following areas:
1. ability to say words or sentences
2. ability to understand verbal and nonverbal communication
3. social skills and self-care skills
4. bowel and bladder control
5. play skills
6. motor skills (ability to voluntarily move the body in a purposeful way)
The lack of impairment occurs in at least two of the following areas:
1. social interaction
2. communication
3. repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests and activities
Childhood disintegrative disorder may occur abruptly over the course of days to weeks or gradually over an extended period of time. There is seldom found an underlying medical or neurological cause.
Further research is difficult due to the limited number of children diagnosed with childhood disintegrative disorder, although more research is needed at this time. Experts suspect there may be a genetic basis or that an autoimmune response plays a role in the development of childhood disintegrative disorder.
Treatment
Treatment for childhood disintegrative disorder is about the same as for autism; there is no cure for this disorder. Treatment may include:
? Medications: There are no medications specifically to treat childhood disintegrative disorder. Severe behavior problems like aggression and repetitive movements can sometimes be controlled by antipsychotic medications.
? Behavior therapy may be used by psychologists, speech therapists, physical therapists and occupational therapists, parents, teachers and caregivers.
Prognosis for children with childhood disintegrative disorder is usually poor and worse than for children with autism. Children with this disorder often need residential care in a group home or long term care facility.
Source: Mayo Clinic
Disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for informed medical advice or care. You should not use the information in this article to diagnose or treat any health problems or illnesses without consulting your pediatrician or family doctor. Please consult a doctor with any questions or concerns you might have regarding your or your child’s condition.
This article is FREE to publish with the resource box.

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SEX EDUCATION AMONG CHILDREN

The reason we boast sometimes on Indian culture, is because it has rich values, values that are of high morale and unique to the world. Values are something on which our life thrives. We find organizations thriving on values, families stand united on its values, and the very humanity stands on human values. Without values, an individual would have no identity. We deliver value when we execute pride in holding our national symbols. We deliver value when we show respect to our elders. We owe value when we look at each female with the respect as high as that for a mother. And it is these values, that brings in us courage to hold against the odds. It is these values that help us to go ahead in life along with our family, with our friends, with our colleagues, with the society and with the nation all together. No doubt, values are as important as our life itself.

One of these great Indian values is about educating our children to hold against the most devastating erotic feelings towards opposite gender, the so called ?Sex?. Sex is a powerful temptation and it requires very strong values to hold upon it. However, it is now days challenged by educated section of society, particularly the followers of western culture, in the name of exposing the mystery to the curious and immature child.

The conclusion made by these literates is that it is a prevention methodology, which would make the next generation safe from the perils of Sex. Universally, prevention is better than cure, goes as a law, but the question remains ? Is sex education a prevention, cure or an experiment the result of which is either not known or is deliberately being forced in the society? What if you have educated a child in sex and he fails to hold his temptations thereafter? What would you call that situation ? the prevention failed or the medicine failed? Let us try to understand prevention in a better way. If I am not mistaken, prevention is a boundary, a boundary that tells you what lies on the other side. At a broad level, there are three types of boundaries:

? First, we are completely aware what lie on the other side of the boundary. For example, nearly every one knows the after effect of smoking.

? Second, we are partially or unaware of the negative factors and accept the boundaries as a part of cultural values, with the awareness of the positive factors within the boundary. For example, if we do exercise, we say it is a preventive measure from bad health. The details of bad health may not be known in completeness to the doer, but there is a straight conception that fits to his mind ? exercise is good for health.

? Third, we are completely unaware of positive or negative factors on either side of the boundary. For example, doing some rituals as a religious practice.

If Sex education is a prevention boundary, it should find a place in one of the above category. First, why do we need this education? A simple answer is that we do it sometimes. Second, how do we do sex (even with our spouse): in privacy or publicly? Do we discuss it out openly with friends and expose our spouse to them? If answers to these questions is ?No? and convincingly ?No?, then the first boundary lies with the adults itself ? how can they talk sex with their children or students, when we cannot practice it before them? We have to understand a very important aspect here. If we dare to talk such things with children, we are breaking away the boundary of respect and regard straight away (they or we not able to talk sex with each other signifying that there is some regard that produces this shyness or hesitation). We are undoubtedly introducing a concept that would teach our children to go beyond this boundary and easily practice sex, the barriers being broken and broken by teachers and parents first. During childhood, sex is a curiosity and hence is not known to them completely. All they know is that it is considered wrong by elders and is practiced between parents. Curiosity can take shape of temptation and temptations would lead to doing the wrong, if children are not taught of values that can help them prevent the temptation. Talking to them about sex would kill their curiosity and give birth to educated temptation. Thus, sex education so seeming to be an experimented cure, would necessarily lead to side effect of practicing sex as an educated practitioner. Sex education would in fact as a catalyst in producing sexual practices, and can in no way be a preventive measure. This education has no relation with feelings like temptations. Temptations can be only held by practice of cultural values, may be as a fear to breach the respectful barrier. Preventive measures are healthier and positive aspects, and can be talked and propagated positively towards everyone. Holding to values and teaching our children to remain in boundaries is actually a preventive measure and would protect majority of them from committing the hazard.

The proposed solution is still experimentation ? the world is yet to see a generation that would be protected from practicing sex early during childhood and teenage after getting educated on sex. The proposed solution of sex education is thus very much risky and it can totally devastate the society if it fails to deliver the purpose, provoking children to enter premature sexual relations.

The intuition and notion of sex education as a solution started to create the awareness towards the deadly disease ?AIDS?. It is a disease born out of sex and can spread out of various reasons which includes unsafe sex, blood transfusion, etc. The first unseen and politicized mistake is acceptance by the society that people need to be aware of this disease and should adapt to safe sex practices. At this point it seemed unquestionably correct, as adults were to be educated for usage of condoms. Unfortunately, this was the stepping stone towards growing errors. The ground error is that it is accepted that adults cannot hold from doing extra-marital and pre-marital affairs. And the true solution negated is ? people not educated on values and importance of holding on values. It is here values plays its importance and Indian value in this term is very much known to the society ? no extra-marital affairs and no pre-marital affairs ? complete honesty with the partner and thus complete dedication towards their home leading to a life that is happy and supported by your relations and respected by outsiders ? No possibility of AIDS in existence.

But more ground fact is that above values cannot be achieved unless it is inculcated in people when they are still ripe, when they are as young as children. Childhood is a state where you shape up your character. It takes huge effort for adults to change their nature, but not for a child. Values inculcated in children can help them grow to a brighter and healthier personality. This seems to me so simple to execute, simple because it can very easily get passed on to following generation as family values. In fact, it is still a part of Indian culture, which by the weapon of sex education, being totally devastated under the umbrella of the word ?EDUCATION?. What is wrong in asking our children to respect elders and consider every woman as respectable as our own mother and sister? It is all about building this strong and positive perception in our little gems. In fact, would we dare to call our little angels as angels and gems, the moment we realize that he has adopted to means like sex which is not suitable to his age, which his mind would not absorb to the fullest of the concept, where there would be every chance for him to slip towards experiencing it because now the education is exposing the vulnerable erotic and ecstatic feelings which is yet in abnormal form of curiosity in the child ? would we still dare to call our children as angels and gems. Will he not start challenging his patience by thinking the same about his relations? Will he then enjoy respect and regards towards any of the opposite gender? And I wonder why it is not thought that once sex goes into the education stream of children, children would by natural manner start talking about it among them. A child boy will talk to a child girl about their sex knowledge ? a boundary that protects every child (at least most of them), from sexual pitfalls at early age would be totally destroyed. Is this what our modern parent expects from their children? As long as children do not talk about sex, they would fear to break the boundary and majority of the generation can be saved. But once, this is broken, majority of the generation would be devastated.

I sometimes ponder, why is human so weak to not realize the problems of practices like sex education? Why didn?t they look at societies which has already experimented this as a solution? We can very well go into the western education system where sex is a compulsory education and try to quantify and derive statistics on whether it has actually helped children from doing sex. The facts would be un-amazingly opposite to what is being proposed. They are exposed to sex as an adoptable practice, they are aware of how to protect from sexual disease, for instance by using condoms, and they simply enter into actually doing it. Why don?t we realize a simple thing, children would experiment everything if they are given the freedom? As responsible adults, we are to guide children about wrong and right and not expose them to the wrongs and the means to do the wrongs without getting harmed.

It would be surprising to understand that foundations of such human weaknesses are laid down by modern western thinkers, who adopt the theory and practice of allowing children to do what they wish. These thinkers believe that children require information about everything that they see and hear and if not provided they will get it from wrong sources, and hence, as responsible parents and elders we should share with them all problems like sex, deaths, hazards, etc. Truly speaking, there is a very thin boundary between good and bad, between right and wrong, so thin that once you cross, there is nearly no regret, no comeback. People often start smoking or drinking, with an attitude to taste ? how it feels ? and the boundary is broken. Next time, it is not the first time and they do it with the intention that it would be the last time and the action repeats. Why can?t we straightaway put into the minds of our children to keep away from these things by letting them realize that it is bad ? very bad? Some parents agree to this as the impact of smoking is quite visible to them. How can it happen that all other behaviors of life don?t have similar negative impacts? It is seriously required to define the boundary of right and wrong in all that we do. For instance, philosophers and psychiatrists are now provoking people to talk sex with children. They believe that they will learn it from wrong sources and stealthily, which would create negative behavior in them. How silly? Why can?t children be allowed to consider it wrong as long as they are children? Why aren?t they allowed to learn about such things as they grow in boundaries and learn to practice it only in right manner at right time? Why are these great thinkers so eager to take away the opportunity of self ? development from these children, which nature has provided them? Nature doesn?t allow children to do sex and hence it is wrong for them as long as they are children. What is wrong in telling them that it is wrong and bad when actually it is wrong at their stage? They automatically will learn its importance and usage when they grow and such children will respect sex and practice it religiously as a part of married life.

Accepting that children would learn sex from wrong sources, is actually an acceptance to the happenings in the society around ? cultural degradation in social environment remains unchallenged and in fact attains maturity by allowing the upcoming generation to get educated on it and practice it untimely. Children would grow physically weak, and to much greater extent mentally weak if they endeavor to unfold their temptations through sexual education. The next generation is being challenged for their superiority of behavior and the induced sex education would surely overthrow the master culture of respect and regard.

We need to help our children to enhance their resistive power, their tolerance power, their patience, their understanding to respect and regard the values taught by parents and teachers. We cannot simply accept that our children would learn from wrong source about habits that are tempting, if we do not allow them to learn from us. We cannot make our children so weak that they go for anything that fulfills their mental desires and curiosity. We need to develop in them right from their childhood a habit to hold on temptations, so that they get matured enough to handle toughest situations in life. Indian culture have always taught children to grow up by practicing patience, yoga, respect towards elders, and all positive aspects that can create a great individual. Isn?t it necessary for our society to have stable families with respectable practices?

If Indian values and practices that taught children of such high attitude are considered as Stone Age by modern tutors, this would be unfortunate for the country. It is so simple to understand that people of Stone Age were used to living in nudity, and if we have grown rich in knowledge and understood the importance of clothes in societies, we have to respect clothes. Clothes are the first indication of boundaries against sex and children are to be protected from media which breaks this boundary. Let us promise to help our upcoming generation to become strong mentally, brace enough to fight these petty temptations and grow powerful in their thinking so that they are capable of doing great tasks.

SEX IN HINDUISM

Swami Vivekanand said, ?In west, every woman other than mother is a wife. Among Hindus, every woman other than wife is a mother.? I do not know other religion, than Hinduism, which teaches values of so high regard. Such high values exist because sex was never neglected in Indian philosophy ? it was rather researched to be a powerful source of energy in any individual. It was understood that any energy has to be utilized in the boundary of natural law and hence, sex was to be practiced by recognized partners, only for specific purpose and within age boundaries. It was recognized that mastering sex required immense control on the self and practicing it only with partners required even greater control on self. Going beyond this to practice it only for the purpose of reproduction, to meet the purpose of nature, was even tougher. Thus, this natural power of every creature was considered as a natural power and as usual, every natural power in Hindu philosophy holds a Deity in its name. Thus, ?Kamadeva? (Deity of lust) came into being. Sex became a concept of worship and anything worship-able was never misused.

Sex as a study went deep to unfold all its secrets for Ayurvedic practitioners. But for the common people, it remained a respectable action. This is one major reason, why we do not find any major disease related to sex known in Indian societies. People often quote examples of ?Khajuraho? as a symbol of Hindu sex ? which is very wrong ? why was such sensual images created in caves? Were such caves a general practice of production? How many books of Hindus describe Sex as openly as ?Khajuraho?? The answers to these questions, clarifies, that there must have been some purpose behind ?Khajuraho? which is lost in the past.

Hinduism has never taught utilizing any natural power in negative fashion ? unlike modern science. And sex is one such power that exists in Hinduism within natural human boundaries.

It is often seen that one bad belief by virtue of its natural capacity draws another bad belief. If Sex education among children is an attempt to molest the future of nation, the Long Leaders by virtue of their devastating attitude build one after another similar attitude ? producing Reservation into system that can eradicate the unity of the nation and prove the critics that Casteism is a part of not only Hinduism, but also of Hindu nation ? in which case, the concept of Secularism would be lost and immediately the Hindus would get attached to it.

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The importance of early childhood development and all the government funding that will be funneled to new and old programs is a hot topic of discussion right now. Over the next few years the US government is promising to send billions of dollars to retool and update the education system as we know it today into a more efficient and effective system for our kids today and for future generations. That’s a lot of pressure when you think of it that way.

So what are some of the more popular talking points when it comes to restructuring our education system and development of our children? There is a lot of emphasis being put on expanding and more funding to programs like Head Start and other early childhood development programs like pre-school for all kids. Also the increase of charter schools to give parents and kids more options in their local neighborhoods.

Early childhood schooling is not the only focus of all this new government funding. There are also discussions on how to improve the quality of our teachers with the general consensus being some sort of system based on merit and performance. A system based on performance would seem like a nobrainer to me especially when it comes to creating an environment that inspires teachers to do better for the kids they teach.? As long as the system comes from the discussion of all parties involved and not just a system that is pushed on the teachers unions by the government.

I think one thing that I have seen being discussed that could have an immediate effect if put into place is changing the time frame of the traditional school year of September to June. A three month break is way too long and from an era of days gone by. To give our kids every opportunity the basics of the school system will need to change. Perhaps rearranging the school schedules to have a few shorter breaks every ten weeks instead of one long break in the middle of the summer. Three months away from the education system can not be helpful to a kids retention levels for what they are learning.

Now these points of early childhood programs like Head Start, pay scales based on performance,pre-school for all kids and longer school days or school schedules are just a few of the directions that all this new government funding is being thrown at. The question that a lot of people have with all this talk of change for the education systems is how can we count on the government to make these changes. People have every reason to have a certain level of skepticism when you consider that the failing public school system that we have in place now is a product of the same government that is promising us all these changes. I guess it will be a matter of wait and see how all this new funding for early childhood programs, new schools and teachers pay will play out for our children and their future.

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Everyone knows the physical ramifications of childhood obesity, but when it comes to the psychological aspects, psychiatric science is playing catch up a bit.
While it is well known that a child or adolescent who suffers from childhood obesity is picked on and isolated from peers, the exact consequences and the extent of emotional damage are just not being uncovered.
Scientists and researchers at the Department of Psychology, University of Ghent, Belgium explored the causal relationship between childhood obesity and psychosocial adjustment in combined clinical and non-clinical samples of 139 obese children and 150 non-obese children. The kid’s ages ranged from 9 to 12 years and matched for age, socioeconomic status, and gender.
Parents for the children were asked to fill out and complete a Child Behavior Checklist for a Perceived Competence Scale for Children.
Kids suffering from childhood obesity reported far more negative physical self-perceptions than their non-obese peers and they scored lower on general self-worth. According to their parents, the obese children of the clinical sample appeared to have more behavior problems.
The depths of childhood obesity go even deeper because children, who are obese and remain that way for some time, suffer from a host of psychological scars, culminating in self esteem issues so severe that they can become anti-social and reclusive.
Fact of the matter is, childhood obesity can have a lasting impact on the psyche of a child. This is primarily because our society places so much importance on physical attractiveness as it relates to thinness, and that, coupled with misinformation about some of the causes of childhood obesity, can cause distress for overweight kids.
Obese children often feel isolated and lonely and are often the butt of jokes and magnets for ridicule.
What is the remedy?
Education. People need to understand the root causes of childhood obesity, and realize that not all causes are due to “a lack of will power” as is perceived by most.
It is important that educators and parents become sensitive to the issues associated with childhood obesity. While kids will always establish something of a pecking order, adults must counter balance this by instilling confidence in overweight children, especially since child’s self-image is often affected by the perceptions of peers.
A mixture of public education with parental guidance will help a child who is overweight move past the painful periods between pre-adolescence and adult hood and could lead to the eradication of childhood obesity altogether.

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Early Childhood Special Education Early childhood Intervention came out as a chain from Special Education for special children. Later on it was converted to a system that supports both the child with delays in their development and their parents, through providing them information, moral and emotional support. Since the delays in child’s development can become really complex if not given proper attention at the right time, that’s why the goal and the aim of the Intervention is to provide the child with right kind of treatment and therapies to boost up the developmental process of the child in order to minimize their delays. Intervention provides the child with special education and treatment, from the child’s birth and lasts until the child reaches the age of 3. Most of the early childhood interventions started of as research units in the Universities like Syracuse University, USA etc. In the beginning it was just called Childhood Intervention but since it was confused with other fields like mental health of adolescents, hence from 90’s onward, to the represent the age group the intervention deals with, the name was changed to Early Childhood Intervention. www.360career.com/? Early Childhood intervention came into being as a result of researches made during 60’s and 70’s regarding children having delays in their development. The research concluded that the sooner the child gets attention and treatment for its delay the better it is, and same goes with the parents of the child as well, that if they are supported and advocated sooner the stronger they become. Some of the major aims of the intervention are to provide support and advocacy to the child’s parents and support their child’s developmental process. Its second objective is to focus and advance the process of development in communication and movement skills. Thirdly it aims to enhance the coping confidence of the child and last but not the least, it aims the prevention of problems that may come forward in future. Early Childhood intervention is provided in three forms, either at some centre, at home or a mixture of both. The intervention is usually funded by the Government, but it some cases it is either charitable, fee paying or a mixture of both. In America another type of system is used which is called Response to Intervention (RTI), that provides the intervention academically to those children who have learning difficulties and helps diagnose their learning difficulties at a group of individual level. The RTI method was formed by the researchers as an alternative way of determining the learning difficulties of the children by the ability-achievement discrepancy model, in which children are requirement to show discrepancy among their IQ and academic achievements, measured by standard tests. Hence RTI clarifies and brings out the Specific Learning Disability. The main aim of RTI is the prevention of academic failure of children through strategic progress measurement and gradually increasing research based interventions designed for the children who are consistently facing difficultly in learning. RTI also assist the schools by providing intervention to those children who are having difficulties in their learning process before they start failing.For more information about Early Childhood Special Education visit:http://www.360career.com/content/Early-Childhood-Special-Education.asp

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Culture refers to the “traditions, rituals, beliefs, and values that are shared amongst a group of people.”? Each person is a part of at least one culture.? Some families participate in several cultures.

Multiculturalism refers to the “sharing of many cultures.”

The first goal of a multicultural program is to assist children with recognizing differences, as well as similarities, among all people.? Allowing children to explore varying cultures creates opportunities for them to see that even when people have different customs and traditions, they often share some common traits, too.
Children learn that people can be different and unique, yet still have much in common.? Such realizations help young children learn to accept differences and aid in eliminating prejudice and racism.? These realizations assist children with accepting and respecting people from all cultures and backgrounds.
The second goal of a multicultural program is to encourage cooperative social skills.? As children learn to accept differences and similarities among people, they can work and get along with others better.? They begin to see other’s viewpoints and individuality. The multicultural classroom assists children from minority cultures in developing cooperation and social skills in a setting that may be unfamiliar to them.? Their self-esteem is boosted as they are recognized and accepted for their individuality. They feel good about themselves as other children recognize the worth of their traditions and customs.? The early childhood program that is culturally sensitive will build the self-confidence of its children by integrating the cultures of all the children into learning experiences.

The first ingredient for a successful multicultural program is the classroom teacher’s knowledge of diverse cultures.? Take time to learn the backgrounds of your students, as well as the populations represented in your geographic area. Educate yourself on their beliefs, values, foods, and customs.? Share those with children as you incorporate them into learning experiences. Encourage children to ask questions that help them understand more about others who have a different background from their own.
Learn the traditions of each child in your classroom.? What holidays do they celebrate?? How do they celebrate birthdays?? How are they parented?? What are their favorite foods and family traditions?
The second ingredient a preschool teacher must have to successfully implement a culturally diverse classroom environment is an attitude of acceptance and respect for other cultures.? It requires an open mind that accepts and respects differences.? Children model what they see, so the teacher’s inclusion and acceptance of different ideas, customs, and traditions helps them learn to accept and respect.

Helping children to compare, contrast, and learn about other cultures without making judgments about them requires this attitude of acceptance and respect. As teachers lead children to respect others who are different, they will begin to appreciate individuality.? As children grow and mature with these attitudes, they will have social skills that not only accept, but also applaud individuality.
The third critical ingredient for a teacher’s success in implementing a culturally diverse classroom is the ability to add a multicultural perspective into curriculum planning and classroom management skills.? This requires careful consideration of children’s cultures and traditions, and
necessitates planning to help other children experience them in learning centers and activities.

How does your program “measure up” as a multicultural environment?? Do you have multicultural materials?? Is diversity accepted and applauded?? Is the community well represented? Having children of differing cultures in the class can offer firsthand experiences and insight.? The customs and traditions of their cultures should definitely be represented in the learning environment.
Remember that providing the children with a multicultural program helps boost self-esteem and teaches them about acceptance and diversity.? A multicultural program will help children understand and work well with others as they grow and mature.

Learn more about creating a multicultural classroom. Visit ChildCare Education Institute to discover over 100 online child care training courses that meet the continuing education requirements of the child care industry.? Register for a sample course and try online learning today!

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Good communication between parents and caregivers in the early childhood setting is very important.? Both parents and caregivers have a goal of providing children with the best learning and growing environments.? Caregivers should strive to create trust between the parents and themselves so they can work together for the good of the children.

Creating trust between parents and caregivers involves using an open communication system that benefits the children, parents and caregivers. Caregivers are better able to help children learn when they communicate with the parents about the child.? They learn from the parents about each child’s family, culture, home life, and language.

In the early childhood setting, we communicate with parents for a variety of reasons.? In all our interactions with parents, we should create a positive and trusting environment by being respectful and honest.

After parents have decided to enroll their child, seize your chance to get to know them and encourage them to become involved in the classroom or at the facility.? Greet parents at arrivals and dismissals.? Make parents, who may be uncomfortable with the school environment, feel at ease.

Tell parents about yourself and your goals for the children in your class.? Let them know when you are available for meetings with them. Explain the child care facility’s policies and answer any questions they might have.? Inform them of any special events.

It may be hard to communicate with parents who have long work schedules.? You may not even see many of these parents because they send another relative or a close friend to transport the child to and from the facility.? Other parents may find it hard to get involved in special activities because of an evening work schedule.? Keep these parents informed of classroom happenings and special events through written notes, telephone or email communication.

We communicate in various ways and with many different styles.? When we practice methods of positive and open communication, we can get to know parents and encourage them to build a partnership with us.? Children, parents and teachers all benefit from the partnership.

Learn more about encouraging parent participation. Visit ChildCare Education Institute to discover over 100 online child care training courses that meet the continuing education requirements of the child care industry.? Register for a sample course and try online learning today!

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REMEDIES:

?21st Century Approaches for Fixing Education

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A MINI SYNOPSIS

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By

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James L. Horend, MS, Ed-Adm

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? 6/5/2009

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It?s a national disgrace! And from all the evidence it?s in shambles and badly broken!? Heard that before? I?m sure you have. All who analyze and report on the state of education in America agree ? our system is failing or should I say has failed. And it continues to get worse - if that?s possible. Why? The entire system is archaic, backward, outmoded and irrelevant!

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After years of tweaking it, throwing money at it, implementing many, many innovative programs at the local and state levels, not to mention nationwide, none has made more than a very small dent in the downward spiral that has our high school graduates currently scoring lower in both math and science than many of the graduates in other free-world countries. That?s inexcusable, unacceptable and unconscionable.

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My plans and recommendations for reforming this fractured system are presented in condensed form here and in much greater detail in ?REMEDIES?*. They are based on my life-long research and interest in educational betterment as well as my personal observations during my seven years of classroom teaching and 23 years as a principal.

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In this synopsis I address and highlight six starting-point remedies for the new education model that I believe are needed to fix the existing system. These remedies address the developmental years from birth through ?grade 4?. My firm belief is that once implemented, these remedies will bring about the reversal of the current educational spiral and will provide the foundation upon which to build a total reform of our floundering system ? from birth through post graduate school. They are:

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I anticipate these remedies and reforms in this new model will be viewed and judged by the usual skeptics as nothing short of too radical and totally impossible, by the experts as probably impossible but interesting or as the long-awaited answer by those who truly understand the learning process, the uniqueness of each child and the archaic nature of the curriculum.

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To start with I am proposing the immediate establishment of a National New-Born Registry of every child born in this country! (Remember I said my remedies would be viewed and judged as too radical or impossible.)?

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The goals of this registry program are first to function as a pre-school-school tracking system that monitors and documents the progress of all children during their preparation for entering the formal school system. It becomes each child?s permanent data bank.

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The second goal is to have the individual?s cumulative record continue to follow the child throughout his or her entire school career and serve as the basis for all ensuing educational decisions. The technology to make this happen already exists.

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Next, on to the concept of the Individualized Learner Program; another vital and long overdue remedy. Revamping and replacing the entire Pre-K- 4 curriculum with a new model will create one tailored to support the learning needs of each individual and is briefly outlined here.

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How does this Individualized Learner Program meet the need each child has for learner-appropriate materials and a learner-appropriate work environment? In the new model when a child enters a mandatory pre-K program or approved, age-appropriate program anywhere, the child arrives with National New-Born Registry documentation; the teaching team receiving the child immediately transfers the data into a school based master computer, then staffs and places the child. It?s a process similar to starting a medical chart with a detailed history.?

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The data will consist of all acquired core knowledge and readiness skills ? or deficiencies ? and will include social as well as academic information. A supervising master teacher and team will know exactly where to begin in order to develop an individualized learning plan for the new learner. The plan entries ? gleaned from approved programs of individual skills and content contained in the National Skills and Core Knowledge Data Bank - are then modified or added to throughout each day as the child progresses. It will serve as a reporting and accountability tool accessible to the child?s parents and all other professionals or agencies working for or with the child. Confidentiality will be strictly maintained in accordance with appropriate laws and policies.

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A key component of this Individualized Learner Program is that the data will follow the child ? the learner - throughout his school years no matter what school the child enters or transfers to ? any time of the year and anywhere in the nation. ?

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The National Skills and Core Knowledge Data Bank, a vital, supportive and integrated component of the new model is treated in much greater detail in ?REMEDIES? but is too long and detailed for this mini synopsis. The primary function of the data bank is to serve as the universally accessible repository for a comprehensive core of relevant content and skills - a national curriculum for all pre-K through 4 children.

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To accomplish the goals and assure the success of this new model education system requires providing remedies for two additional interconnected weaknesses in the existing system:?? Time-On-Task and the School Year. It is not enough to have a great program and then to have it fail because inadequate time was devoted to implementing and utilizing it.

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Productivity in our society is based on a combination of many factors, but one measure related to production and easy to measure is time-on-task. When you look at our current education model it is easy to see that our schools are not spending nearly enough time-on-task. We are out of touch with the real world and the need to keep up with the increasing knowledge explosion that challenges us all every day.

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If you ask the schools to educate a student ? any student ? and to do it in 13 years, you would think that would be ample time to come up with an excellent finished product, but it is obviously based on a flawed model that doesn?t work. In the new education model the time-on-task for learners and staff and the proposed modifications of the school year are radically different from the currently accepted standards. In the new model the 180 day school year is expanded to 225 days for students and longer more for staff. Students will get between 1,800 and 2,025 more hours of time-on-task per year or for an 85% (+/-) increase for each student per year!? Spread that increase over 13 years, combine it with top-notch teaching teams, an Individualized Learner Program based on relevant skills and content selected from the National Skills and Core Knowledge Data Bank and the excellent finished product becomes a reality!

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Staffing and Compensation are two more major components of the new model requiring a brief introduction here. In order to attain the goal of providing every child with the best education possible we must begin by radically altering current staffing patterns.

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The Staffing goal for the new model is to provide supervising master teachers in every classroom supported by a team of two associate professional teachers, paraprofessionals, student trainees, parents and other volunteers.? No longer will having one teacher, standing in front of 25 to 35 seated at-their-desks students be the accepted standard. It is not the way the very best teachers teach. And even the best teachers have their hands tied much too much of the time by the that?s-the-way-we-do-it staffing patterns, curricular requirements, testing demands and time constraints currently in vogue in our schools today.

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The implications for teacher salaries ? Professional Compensation - are obvious.? My suggested guidelines are that supervising master teachers should receive compensation ranging from a minimum of $200,000 to $250,000 and up. Associate teachers should start from a minimum of $ 150,000 and top out somewhere around $200,000. These salaries reflect the high level of performance and accountability and time required in the new teaching-profession model. Further, they make teaching attractive to those high quality graduates entering the work force who very often turn away from teaching due to more lucrative opportunities elsewhere. Higher salaries will also help to quell the high rate of attrition that costs US taxpayers millions and millions annually.

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Chapters and topics about job creation, staffing, tenure, apprenticeship programs, parental and community involvement, testing programs, effects on student confidence and self esteem, failure rates, dropout numbers, bullying behaviors, childhood obesity levels, truancy, drug use, child abuse, criminal behaviors, - the list goes on and on ? will all be found in ?Remedies? upon its publication. And if you would like a much expanded version of this Mini Synopsis, click on the Education ?REMEDIES? link on my life coaching website at: http:/wwwlifecoachingservice.net ?(You may need to right click & click on ?open hyperlink?.)?

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*REMEDIES: 21st Century Approaches for Fixing Education by James L Horend

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(? by James L Horend 6/5/09)

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No reprint or other use of this article or its contents may be made without the express written consent of the author.

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