Girls and PE

We all have horrible memories from PE lessons at school. From having a period to forgetting kit and running around in our horrible dark pants! It was never the most encouraging of lessons.

This seems to have filtered down to the next generations as reports show that many young girls are still refusing to participate fully in sports lessons.

A recent survey of 1,500 girls showed that only 12% reached the standard level of fitness by the age of 14. This is an alarming figure especially with the increase in the obesity epidemic sweeping the nation and the constant cutting to NHS budgets to deal with these health problems.

Many young people interviewed have stated that they find the sports offered overly competitive and un-feminine. So what can be done to avert this crisis in our youth?

It is easy to blame the teachers and say they should make the lessons more interesting. However they have a curriculum to adhere to and like many are restrained due to performance targets and league tables.

PE lessons should be allowed to work separate from the curriculum and be seen more as fitness classes. If this happened there could be much more variety offered and encourage girls to participate for their own benefit.

Would it be so wrong to ask the youth what they would participate in and then try and adapt the current offerings? Or is this just too easy…

Learning language through music

Children love music, whether it’s being sang a lullaby to go to sleep, clapping their hands to a nursery rhyme or dancing around to a song on Cbeebies!

How many times have you smiled and laughed at your little one humming and bopping along to a tune?

There are many positive affects on child growth and development. Research shows that music has an incredible influence on the brain and there are lots of benefits for children.

Why is Music Effective for Assisting Language Development?

Music has structure and rules (as does language)

Music ensures that the words are sequenced in a predictable order

Music offers a fun opportunity to learn new words and concepts through repetition (an important factor when helping to improve a child’s language skills)

Music encourages turn-taking behaviours (just like in conversation)

Music has rhythm (enabling actions to be combined with words to reinforce word meanings

Music has rhyme (encouraging children to become aware of words and their sounds, which also assists with developing their literary skills)

Music assists children to remember new words (particularly once the child has learnt the tune)

Music helps attention and listening skills

Music and movement assists physical development and coordination skills

Music motivates children to socialise, assisting emotional development

Musical involvement is known to enhance self-esteem and confidence

Speaking is a complex skill. Before children master this skill and utter their first understandable words they need to have developed a wide range of sounds. This comes from hearing and distinguishing different sounds as well as developing muscles in their jaw, mouth and tongue to be able to recreate and control those sounds.

Nursery Rhymes are a great way to encourage early language development. ‘Old McDonald’ is particularly useful as it uses the simple sounds and encourages children to mimic them.

Singing is beneficial as it is generally slower than normal speech and breaks down sentences and words into smaller segments to the beat. It also puts emphasis on different sounds. This helps children familiarise themselves with the structure of words and speech, improving their own language.

Who Can Benefit?

All children benefit from using music to aid language development. Nursery rhymes, singing and dancing are an essential part of childhood learning.

For children who have difficulty communicating, whether due to a language delay, a language disorder, a syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy, brain injury, trauma or bereavement, the benefits of music can be profound.

Recipe of the Week!

Chick Pea Curry

Chick peas are a very nutritious and cheap food – having dried ones in the cupboard ensures a cheap meal anytime (after soaking overnight).

 

 

Ingredients:

1 – 2 Tablespoons of light vegetable oil

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or crushed

1 apple, peeled and finely chopped (this is a very good way of using up an apple that has gone wrinkly but is not rotten)

1 green pepper, finely chopped (optional)

2 – 3 teaspoons of curry powder

1-2 tins of cooked chick peas (or soak dried ones overnight and cooked – cheaper)

1 can of tomatoes

handful of raisins (optional)

2 tablespoons of desiccated coconut (optional)

some frozen peas (a cupful or more if you really like them)

salt

Method:

Fry the onion, garlic and apple in the olive oil for a few minutes.

Add the curry powder and stir for a minute or two.

Add the tomatoes (chop them if needed) and green pepper. If you like really sweet tasting curry, then add the raisins and coconut. Cook for about 15 minutes at simmering level and then add your chick peas and cook for a further 10 minutes.

Shortly before the end of cooking time put some frozen peas in. Add salt to taste. We like this best with white basmati rice (you should get a whole kilo for unde £1 in the cheap supermarkets or value ranges) and lots of little toppings.

A very frugal variation of this is to make potato and pea curry by replacing the chick peas with value tinned potatoes.

Teenagers and Sex

No parent wants to believe that their teenager is sexually active but whether we like it or not most of them are.

It has been revealed in the medical journal The Lancet that Britain now has the third highest proportion of sexually active teens.

So what is the best way to handle this? Do we hark back to the bygone days and shy away from the topic or do we deal with the issue in a more positive way?

Many people think that to inform is to encourage and if teenagers are given to much information they will be more interested in “doing the deed.”

With STIs on the increase and teenage pregnancy rife they are doing it anyway and surely more open discussion about sex and how to practice it safely is a much better way to deal with it.

As parents you have to decide if you’d rather your child learn about sex from peers or from you.

Everything from music videos, magazines and films have pushed society to become more sexualised and this includes the developing generations.

You can pretty much guarantee that if your child is above the age of 10 that they have either shown an interest in learning about sex or have heard about it from a friend. The best way to prepare your child for sex, is to talk about it at an early age.

Make sure you child learns not only the biological explanation of sex but the social and moral implications of having sex. There is a lot of information out there on STIs and much more, have a look at the links at the bottom of this article that may be of use. Providing your teen with some useful websites will show how switched on you are and may open the channels for you to talk more openly.

Encourage your child to practice safe sex if they have sex, not only for the prevention of sexually transmitted infections but to reduce the risk of pregnancy as well.

Some parents believe that abstinence is the only answer but if you push abstinence onto a teenager that’s the best way to drive them into have sex at a young age. Teenagers are instinctively rebellious. Instead explain to them what happens when a teenager becomes pregnant. Sometimes morality isn’t the best deterrent, explaining the realistic results of their actions is more effective.

Sex education is given at school but the real responsibility lies at home so don’t leave it too late!

Tell us what you think. Have you had the talk yet or are you planning it?

Information for parents:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/parents/yourchildshealthandsafety/worriedabout/dg_10015927

http://www.scarleteen.com/for_parents

Helpful websites for teens:

http://www.brook.org.uk/

http://www.scarleteen.com/

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

Shwop Shop

You will probably already have seen the adverts about the M&S Shwopping campaign fronted by Joanna Lumley. If you haven’t then this is all the information you need.

At Likebees we think this is a fantastic idea, even in tough times we can find ways to keep giving.

This is a unique idea in conjunction with Oxfam to help fund much needed aid to those in poverty.

M&S have worked with Oxfam for four years and have seen over 10 million items donated, worth an estimated £8 million to the charity.

According to a study by Oxfam one billion items of clothing are binned by us each year and sent to landfill sites.

How many times have you sorted old garments for the charity shop and thought “These aren’t good enough” or been embarrassed at what you are giving in? Well don’t worry because this is not about simply reselling old items.

What they don’t sell will be recycled – high quality material could be made into new fabric, low quality will be used for things like loft insulation or car seat filling. So don’t worry about the state of the garment you have. Bras are often something that we wouldn’t dream of handing in but they are of great demand in Africa, so get it all gathered and get shopping!

Items don’t have to be from M&S so, next time you pop in store to buy something new, drop an old item of clothing into one of the Shwop Drops.

Don’t forget, whenever you complete a shwop, you can text or scan to enter a weekly prize draw to win a £100 M&S giftcard.

So come on everyone, get shwopping!

For more information click on the link below

http://plana.marksandspencer.com/about/partnerships/oxfam/shwopping

 

Monkisee Competition

The young mind is like a sponge and the sooner they start to learn the stronger their abilities become. The rate that a babies brain develops is unbelievable during their first five years.

The MonkiSee Reading Programme is a reading kit for babies that is a proven favourite. The contents have been selected to meaningfully engage, entertain, and educate little minds.

With music and poetry, along with puppets and real world images the programme is designed to increase vocabulary and teach little ones to read.

The MonkiSee Reading Programme contains Books, DVD’s and Flash cards.Flash Cards are a wonderful way to teach babies from 3 months old to 5 years old, how to read using the whole-word method. This is a proven method in developing the understanding of language in young learners.

It requires no effort for the developing baby to learn to read, just lots of fun stimulation which these reading kits provide.
Remember to be in with a chance to win like the monkisee facebook page, go to the blog about the giveaway and comment – “Thanks to Likebees.com I’m entering the competition giveaway.”

Go to www.monkisee.co.uk for information and product reviews.

Young Minds

If you are worried about your child’s mental well being don’t feel that you are dealing with this on your own. Unfortunately this is a growing problem, but help and advice is there and it can make a real difference to everyone.

If you are unsure of what is happening and you don’t feel comfortable speaking to anyone about it have a look at the web link below. There is plenty of useful information and tips for parents who may be dealing with mental health conditions in their children.

Childhood and teenage years are when mental health is developed and patterns are set for the future. So a child with good mental health is much more likely to have good mental health as an adult, and to be able to take on adult responsibilities and fulfill their potential.

Often demonised by society, thousands of children and young people are isolated, unhappy, have eating disorders and self harm, some even commit suicide. Many are likely to become victims of crime, grow up in dysfunctional families, or left to cope with illness, drugs and/or alcohol issues – not necessarily their own.

There is still a huge stigma around mental health which means children and young people are not getting the support they need. Disruptive, difficult, withdrawn and disturbed kids need to be supported and not just ignored or told off.

Saturday’s singer Frankie Sandford has recently spoken out about her battle with depression that developed in her teenage years. It is encouraging for someone who is looked up to by so many young girls to open up about a condition that attracts a lot of negativity. Hopefully this will encourage more young people to come out and talk about how they are feeling so that help can be put in place to make life happier and more manageable for them and those that love them.

Fact File:

Three children in every classroom has a diagnosable mental health disorder (and that’s just the ones that have been diagnosed)

One in five young adults show signs of having an eating disorder.

One in 12 deliberately harm themselves (and 25,000 of them are hospitalised each year because of this)

Nearly 80,000 children and young people suffer from severe depression.

Two young people kill themselves every day.

Weblink for those looking for some more information and advice.

http://www.youngminds.org.uk/for_parents