KidCity: Everything Kids

~1 million kids drugged for no reason

kidcity — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 13:10:45 +0000

ADHD and medicating children is a subject dear to my heart. I find society and parents can be quick to label children who don’t fit into the norm as “abnormal.” Instead of wondering whether the norm needs to be changed (kids sitting at desks for 6 hours a day? weren’t we busy hunting for food and running around for the first 34,900 years of our existence) we blame it on those who aren’t submitting to the normative.

Hopefully this article will get people thinking about the issue more closely. It comes from CNN’s Health page.

CNN recently reported that many psychologists are seeing a lot of misdiagnoses of ADHD. Readers had a lot to say about that.

Now studies are backing up anecdotal evidence that ADHD gets inappropriately applied to many children.

An analysis by economist Todd Elder at Michigan State University suggests that about 900,000 children who have been told they have ADHD in America may not have the condition at all. The study will appear in the Journal of Health Economics.

Elder found that how old a child is relative to peers in the same class also affects teacher perception of ADHD symptoms. In other words, teachers tended to perceive ADHD symptoms more in younger kids than older kids, even in the same grade. Younger children were also more likely to take stimulant medication for ADHD. The study authors suggest that children who are young for their grade may get an inappropriate diagnosis because teachers mistake their immaturity for ADHD.

The age at which a child starts school influences teachers’ perceptions of whether the child has ADHD-related symptoms, but does not as strongly affect the parents’ perceptions, the study said. Data for this research came from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Cohort.

Another study in the Journal of Health Economics, led by William Evans at the University of Notre Dame, found similar results regarding the age of the child and the likelihood of ADHD diagnosis. Researchers looked at data from the National Health Interview Survey, the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, and a nationwide private insurance company.

Both Elder’s and Evans’ studies found that being young in a grade more than doubles the likelihood of receiving an ADHD diagnosis or treatment. Evans’ study says:

Since ADHD is an underlying neurological problem where incidence rates should not change dramatically from one birth date to the next, these results suggest that age relative to peers in class, and the resulting differences in behavior, directly affects a child’s probability of being diagnosed with and treated for ADHD.

The cost of a misdiagnosis on the health and well-being of a child is tremendous, Elder writes. Chronic stimulant medication for ADHD may lead to possible cardiovascular problems and a reduction of children’s growth rates, studies have found. These medications also take a substantial toll on the family. Elder estimates that $320 million to $500 million is annually spent on ADHD treatments for children who inappropriately received the diagnosis.

Kids: A Call for Peace Flags!

kidcity — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 15:38:07 +0000

I just got this press release from the Rubin Museum. I LOVE this museum and think this is a brilliant activity for kids. It also happens to be on my birthday (which, OK is also Ghandi’s birthday if 100 years before).

In anticipation of both the International Day of Non-Violence, and the RubinMuseum’s Peace Lab Family Day on October 2nd, we’re collecting home-made peace flags from people of all ages. The peace flags—arriving from as close as Chelsea and as far away as Dharamsala—will be strung together and hung throughout the museum on October 2nd.

Call for Peace Flags!
In celebration of the International Day of Non-Violence, and the Rubin Museum’s Peace Lab Family Day, people of all ages are invited to create and submit their own peace flag. The completed flags will be strung together and hung throughout the museum during Family Day on October 2, 2010.

The International Day of Non-Violence marks Mohandas “Mahatma” Gandhi’s birthday, and his philosophy of satyagraha, or non-violent resistance. The peace flags hung at the RubinMuseum will reflect peoples’ personal interpretations, feelings, and thoughts about satyagraha and what peace means to them.

Peace Flags
-1 foot x 1 foot squares of fabric are available to pick up at the main entrance at the RubinMuseum of Art, or use your own piece of 1 foot x 1 foot fabric or paper.
-Use words, pictures, and any medium you like to express your thoughts and feelings about satyagraha and peace.

-Return your completed peace flag to the RubinMuseum’s front desk during museum hours; to 140 W. 17th Street during closed hours; or send it to Rubin Museum of Art: 150 West 17 Street; New York, NY 10011; Attn: Family Learning.

-All submissions are due by September 20, 2010.

Family Day: Peace Lab
October 2, 2010; 11:00am – 6:00pm
The RubinMuseum will turn in a peace lab for a day, where families can explore and experiment with what makes us feel peaceful or impassioned, through art-making, live music, storytelling, tours, and even a scent station. $7 per child.

Rubin Museum of Art
150 West 17 Street (between 6th and 7th Avenues)
212-620-5000
www.rmanyc.org

Affectionate mothers build confident kids

kidcity — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 12:30:20 +0000

My husband, knowing how strongly I feel about attachment parenting, forwarded this BBC article to me. To summarize, warm mothers who lavish affection but don’t over-mother (car seats on planes when the kids are 10 anyone?) led to kids better able to deal with stress and disappointment. The study was done in the USA.

Motherly love does breed confidence

Being lavished with affection by your mum as a young child makes you better able to cope with the stresses and strains of adult life, say researchers.

Hugs, kisses and expressive declarations of love appear to rub off and foster emotional resilience.

The results are from nearly 500 people, from the US state of Rhode Island, who were studied as children and adults.

A secure mother-child bond may be key, the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health reports.

But experts say it is important to know when to stop. Over-mothering can be intrusive and embarrassing, especially as children grow older.

Maternal warmth

High levels of motherly affection are likely to facilitate secure attachments and bonding, say the study authors, led by Dr Joanna Maselko.

This not only lowers distress but may also help a child to develop effective life, social, and coping skills, which will stand them in good stead as adults.

In the study, a psychologist rated the quality of interactions between the mothers and their eight-month-old children during a routine developmental check-up.

The psychologist judged how well the mother responded to her child’s emotions and needs, and gave her an “affection score” based on the warmth of the interaction.

Thirty years later, the researchers approached the children, who were now adults, and asked them to take part in a survey about their well-being and emotions.

The group was also asked whether they thought their mothers had been affectionate towards them, with responses ranging from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree”.

The results revealed that children whose mothers gave them lots of affection handled all types of distress better.

In particular, the children of warm mothers were far better at dealing with anxiety than those of emotionally cold mothers.

The researchers said: “It is striking that a brief observation of level of maternal warmth in infancy is associated with distress in adult offspring 30 years later.”

They said the findings added to the growing evidence that early childhood helped set the stage for later life experiences, but said the influence of other factors, such as personality, upbringing and schooling, could not be ruled out.

Dr Terri Apter, a psychologist, writer and senior tutor at Newnham College, Cambridge, has studied the effects of mother-child relationships.

“What you really want is responsiveness as well as affection – a mother who is in sync with her baby,” she said.

“Babies are not born knowing how to regulate their emotions. They learn by being distressed and being soothed.

“And a responsive mum will pick up on cues that a child has had enough.”

A responsive mum will know not only when to give cuddles but also when to stop.

“If she is being responsive she will say: ‘You are a big 12-year-old and I guess it is embarrassing if I kiss and squeeze you like I did when you were a baby’. And she won’t make you feel bad about it,” added Dr Apter.

Drowning does not look like Drowning

kidcity — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 15:29:07 +0000

A friend of mine shared this over email. As we once had a boy drown not 6 feet away from us at a resort pool, it is important enough to reprint on the web. According to the email it is from USCG rescue Swimmer Mario Vittone. He is a marine safety specialist with the U.S. Coast Guard.

The new captain jumped from the cockpit, fully dressed, and sprinted through the water. A former lifeguard, he kept his eyes on his victim as he headed straight for the owners who were swimming between their anchored sportfisher and the beach. “I think he thinks you’re drowning,” the husband said to his wife. They had been splashing each other and she had screamed but now they were just standing, neck-deep on the sand bar. “We’re fine, what is he doing?” she asked, a little annoyed. “We’re fine!” the husband yelled, waving him off, but his captain kept swimming hard. ”Move!” he barked as he sprinted between the stunned owners. Directly behind them, not ten feet away, their nine-year-old daughter was drowning. Safely above the surface in the arms of the captain, she burst into tears, “Daddy!”

How did this captain know, from fifty feet away, what the father couldn’t recognize from just ten? Drowning is not the violent, splashing, call for help that most people expect. The captain was trained to recognize drowning by experts and years of experience. The father, on the other hand, had learned what drowning looks like by watching television. If you spend time on or near the water (hint: that’s all of us) then you should make sure that you and your crew knows what to look for whenever people enter the water. Until she cried a tearful, “Daddy,” she hadn’t made a sound. As a former Coast Guard rescue swimmer, I wasn’t surprised at all by this story. Drowning is almost always a deceptively quiet event. The waving, splashing, and yelling that dramatic conditioning (television) prepares us to look for, is rarely seen in real life.

The Instinctive Drowning Response – so named by Francesco A. Pia, Ph.D., is what people do to avoid actual or perceived suffocation in the water. And it does not look like most people expect. There is very little splashing, no waving, and no yelling or calls for help of any kind. To get an idea of just how quiet and undramatic from the surface drowning can be, consider this: It is the number two cause of accidental death in children, age 15 and under (just behind vehicle accidents) – of the approximately 750 children who will drown next year, about 375 of them will do so within 25 yards of a parent or other adult. In ten percent of those drownings, the adult will actually watch them do it, having no idea it is happening (source: CDC). Drowning does not look like drowning – Dr. Pia, in an article in the Coast Guard’s On Scene Magazine, described the instinctive drowning response like this:

1. Except in rare circumstances, drowning people are physiologically unable to call out for help. Th e respiratory system was designed for breathing. Speech is the secondary or overlaid function. Breathing must be fulfilled, before speech occurs.
2. Drowning people’s mouths alternately sink below and reappear above the surface of the water. The mouths of drowning people are not above the surface of the water long enough for them to exhale, inhale, and call out for help. When the drowning people’s mouths are above the surface, they exhale and inhale quickly as their mouths start to sink below the surface of the water.
3. Drowning people cannot wave for help. Nature instinctively forces them to extend their arms laterally and press down on the water’s surface. Pressing down on the surface of the water, permits drowning people to leverage their bodies so they can lift their mouths out of the water to breathe.
4. Throughout the Instinctive Drowning Response, drowning people cannot voluntarily control their arm movements. Physiologically, drowning people who are struggling on the surface of the water cannot stop drowning and perform voluntary movements such as waving for help, moving toward a rescuer, or reaching out for a piece of rescue equipment.
5. From beginning to end of the Instinctive Drowning Response people’s bodies remain upright in the water, with no evidence of a supporting kick. Unless rescued by a trained lifeguard, these drowning people can only struggle on the surface of the water from 20 to 60 seconds before submersion occurs.

(Source: On Scene Magazine: Fall 2006)

This doesn’t mean that a person that is yelling for help and thrashing isn’t in real trouble – they are experience aquatic distress. Not always present before the instinctive drowning response, aquatic distress doesn’t last long – but unlike true drowning, these victims can still assist in there own rescue. They can grab lifelines, throw rings, etc.

Look for these other signs of drowning when persons are n the water:

* Head low in the water, mouth at water level
* Head tilted back with mouth open
* Eyes glassy and empty, unable to focus
* Eyes closed
* Hair over forehead or eyes
* Not using legs – Vertical
* Hyperventilating or gasping
* Trying to swim in a particular direction but not making headway
* Trying to roll over on the back
* Ladder climb, rarely out of the water.

So if a crew member falls overboard and every looks O.K. – don’t be too sure. Sometimes the most common indication that someone is drowning is that they don’t look like they’re drowning. They may just look like they are treading water and looking up at the deck. One way to be sure? Ask them: “Are you alright?” If they can answer at all – they probably are. If they return a blank stare – you may have less than 30 seconds to get to them. And parents: children playing in the water make noise. When they get quiet, you get to them and find out why.

If you have any questions at all – please post them in the gCaptain forums under “maritime safety”

disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily those of the Department of Homeland Security or the U.S. Coast Guard.

iPhone FREE bumper case starts today

kidcity — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 12:46:12 +0000

Today, apple began their free iPhone bumper case program for existing and new owners of the IPhone 4.

First, you must click on this link to apply via their iPhone app.

It grabs your IMEI and serial number to make sure you have an iPhone 4 and then you pick a bumper or case. Both of which are shipped to you for free in 2-4 weeks.

Make These Toys: Family Road Trip Ready

kidcity — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 12:38:02 +0000

In getting ready for our goin’ South roadtrip, we’re looking for things we can do on the road that are light, easy and don’t ruin the earth. Today I discovered Make These Toys. A very clever, easily toted paperback giving details on how to make 101 toys from, mostly, common household objects.

In step-by-step, well explained directions, the author shows how to transform things like the cardboard tubes inside paper products into kaleidoscopes and nesting dolls; tyvek envelopes into pinwheels and magnetic fishing games, and wire hangers into magic wands and whirligigs. None of the crafts require specialized skills (like sewing) and the most complicated tools you’ll ever need are pliers or an embroidery hoop.

The projects are not simple, most require some precise cutting, gluing or folding and this is definitely a do-together task. But the instructions are excellent with call-out boxes alerting you in advance to everything you’ll need and plenty of illustrations guiding you along the way.

We usually do the advance prep for these kinds of projects in the hotel room the night before, or at dinner and then leave the decorating or minor assembly to the kids during the long drive.

It seems like a fun way to save money, make something together and not be the cause of more plastic packaging cluttering the ocean.

DISCLOSURE: This review is entirely objective, like everything KidCity does. When I discovered this book, I called the publicist and invited her to send us a copy of the book to review. I did not receive any financial or other compensation for this or any other articles on the site.

Local Food & Healthy Eating Events

kidcity — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 18:53:16 +0000

Season Eating Workshop
July 13, 7-8 pm
Why are you better off eating potatoes in the winter, and bitter greens in the
spring? Does meat have a season? (answer: yes!) Are low-fat, raw foods, and
Atkins type diets just silly fads? (answer: yes and no!) You’ll learn the
answers to these questions, as well as why eating a seasonal food based diet is
better for your health, the health of the environment, AND the economy.
Sustainable NYC, 139 Avenue A (8th & 9th Streets), Manhattan
$12
Lara Adler – Holistic Health Counselor contact@laraadler.com, 917 669-9238

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“Please join me this Wednesday evening for a reading and discussion based on my
new book, “The Locavore’s Handbook: the Busy Person’s Guide to Eating Local on a Budget.” Come even if you already have a copy–the discussion on how to vote with your fork for a sustainable food system (without breaking the bank or your
already packed schedule) will be lively!”

Leda Meredith coordinates al CSA in Park Slope and works at New York Botanical Garden. The Locavore’s Handbook: The Busy Person’s Guide to Eating Local on a Budget by Leda Meredith is “The essential guide for anyone with limited time, cash, and space who wants to incorporate locally grown foods into their lifestyle.”

July 14, 7-8 pm
Bluestockings Bookstore, 172 Allen St. (between Stanton and Rivington, one block
south of Houston and 1st Avenue), Manhattan

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Healthy Eating and Wellness Workshop: Summer Foods!
Saturday, July 17, 2 pm
El Catano Community Garden, 171 East 110th Street, Manhattan
Now that it is summertime we bet you are spending more time outside in
the fresh air and less time inside cooking in your kitchen. Why not make some
fresh and delicious treats outside for a change?!

Come out This Saturday, July 17th, for our 2nd Healthy Eating & Wellness
Workshop in the El Cataño Community Garden in East Harlem!
We’ll be learning about great foods to eat during these hot summer months
that are not only easy to prepare but will also help to cool you down! All
participants will take home a FREE pitcher full of a special homemade iced tea
blend which you will help prepare in the garden!

REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED! To register please email Charlie Reynoso at
creynoso@nyrp.org by Friday, July 16th.

Baby Zoo Animals Around the World

kidcity — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:12:22 +0000

ZooBorns is a new website I discovered while doing research on the kangaroos at the Bronx Zoo. The site focuses exclusively on photos, videos and news of baby animals born at wildlife parks (zoos).

The founders, Chris and Andrew, are New Yorkers who apparently love baby animals as much as kids do. I particularly love the photos, they’re a nice size and good quality.

Face Painting Art Video

kidcity — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 15:12:29 +0000

This artist, James Kuhn, at first seems a bit spooky or wierd. But when you or your kids stare for long enough the magic appears.

Clinton Cove Submarine Bottle

kidcity — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 09:23:15 +0000

101 FREE (or cheap) OUTDOOR New York City Things to Do with kids: SUMMER 2010 Edition.

83. Clinton cove Submarine Bottle

Clinton Cove (55th & Hudson River)
New York, NY
(718) 636-3514
Official Site
Site

WHY GO?

83. Hit the Bottle! Run around the submarine bottle sculpture at Clinton Cove Park.

WHERE

View 101 FREE & Cheap Things to Do with Kids in NYC Before They Turn 10: Summer Edition in a larger map

PHOTOS

VIDEOS