International Day of People with a Disability.

Today is International Day for People with a Disability, and there have been various events around Australia to mark the occasion, including the Special Olympics 2013 Asia Pacific Games in Newcastle, Awards, art shows, a radio program and a sausage sizzle.  No doubt politicians will be photographed at these or other events as they promote the new National Disability Insurance Scheme which is already under fire for delays in processing and inadequate funding.

The Day was launched 21 years ago by the United Nations at the end of Decade of Disabled Persons, with the aim of moving towards a series of goals towards full accessibility in all areas of life for all people.  Like all such lofty goals, the steps have been small and much remains to be done.

The idea of disability encompasses so much: physical, intellectual, emotional/psychological/psychiatric often compounded by social factors like family structure, income, religious beliefs etc.  Degree of disability is also an issue.  Some people, of course, have multiple disabilities with very complex needs.

There is no united disability community as all these areas of disability tend to have different needs and interpretations of goals like inclusion and accessibility, and are often in competition for funding to further the cause of their own particular needs.  Divisions exist, for example, within the deaf community about cochlear implants with some arguing that this technology undermines and devalues those who have managed their disability by creating their own parallel community with its own (sign) language and activities.  It is also not unusual to hear people with a particular disability claiming to less or more disabled than those with another.  And I was always amazed when a disabled friend used to criticise another girl in a wheelchair as being 'someone who gives disabled people a bad name.'

I have previously written about the impact on a family of having a baby born with a disability, but disabilities can become gradually apparent over a period of time, happen as the result of accidents, other injuries or illnesses.  While the disabled person is the one who bears the primary consequences, other people like parents, partners, children and friends can also find their lives changed as a result.  A young woman I know, Susie, has written a blog about her life and that of her son Ollie, since he was diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder.  I hope she will write for us soon telling the story of the early stages of their story as she tells powerfully of her feelings as the diagnosis was made.  A few days ago, however, she wrote a summary of what she and her family have gained over the past year.  She doesn't gloss over the hard parts but instead celebrates the positive.  Perhaps this should be what we all do on this International Day of People with a Disability.

Jo's story: life as a nanny.

Today we have as our guest blogger, Jo, who is one of the consultants at Rogan Family Care.  I had to really twist her arm to get her to write for us, but I'm sure you'll agree she has done an excellent job of  telling her story and reflecting on her life as a nanny. When you read it you will understand how fortunate we are to have her and her wealth of nanny experience as part of our team. 

My name is Jo, and I have been working with children full time since 1997. Originally I wanted to be a child psychologist so that's what I studied at Uni.  In my final year I ran out of funds so, while I looked for a job, I volunteered at an Early Learning Centre.  After a few weeks they offered me a permanent role and I loved it so much I stayed there for three years.  I was very fortunate to work with some amazing teachers. Through their instruction, my previous studies, and professional development, I learnt a lot about children and a whole lot about myself.  

My first real nanny job was after school care for a daughter of one of the parents at the centre. Then, like most nannies, I gained more work through word of mouth recommendations.  I signed up to a few nanny agencies and worked as a temporary nanny and agency centre worker.  I can't recommend enough to people who are new to the childcare industry how important it is to be exposed to a wide variety of centres and in home situations.  You'll see some less than great ones for sure, but what you'll gain from the experiences will give you so much to draw on in your future career.

After a while I settled down and worked for one family at a time again. This is still my favourite type of nanny work.  The bonds you build with the children and parents can last for many years after you stop working with them.  Seeing your hard work pay off when previously 'difficult' children respond to consistency and positive attention and watching 'unconfident' parents become more empowered is really rewarding.  

As many nannies do, I started taking work that included extensive overseas travel. With the years of experience came positions with 'high-profile' families.  Inevitably I encountered my share of 'difficult' clients, which I think is par for the course in this industry.  These more difficult experiences reinforced to me how important job satisfaction really is, and, on a personal note, that money really can't buy happiness. 

Most nannies I know who work for ‘high-profile’ clients are very good at multitasking.  I never really encountered the cliché ‘sit in the cafe and chat’ nannies you sometimes hear about. Helping run a large home, with household staff, travel, purchases, parties, appointments, school applications and basically doing whatever a client wakes up wanting can be a real challenge.  It can also be a hell of a lot of fun.  You meet people and have experiences that most people never will.  I think this is because being a nanny is such an 'inbetween/ambiguous' position in a large household.  You can't hide downstairs with the other staff.  Even though you're an employee you still go where the family goes (and if you have a great boss, you get to go some fabulous places without them as well!)  

I've learnt so much about myself through working with children.  Being exposed to so many different situations, countries, and ways of living definitely changed my life. 

I'd recommend nannying as a profession to anyone wanting a career with children.  If you love children, are open to new experiences, thrive on challenges and routines, and don't feel embarrassed singing Wiggles songs in the supermarket, it could be the career for you. 

Children watching disasters on the TV news

The horrific scenes of the aftermath of cyclone Haiyan are playing relentlessly on news services and no one could fail to be moved by such devastation.  The one good thing that may come from this repetition is that more and more people will be moved to donate to the relief appeals.It has however made me think about the effects on children and young people of graphic news footage and stories of some of the horrors of our world.

Many studies have made recommendations about the amount of time that children should spend watching television, or in front of computer screens, generally because of concerns about children's health, weight and learning.  The University of Michigan has a digest of findings from a number of studies in the USA. In Australia, the Raising Children Network gives recommendations for the number of hours for different age groups and last weekend, noted children's author, Mem Fox questioned the amount of time that children spent in front of smart phones and tablets.

The content of news bulletins has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years.  Such events as the attacks on the World Trade Centre, the tsunami in 2004, the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in 2011, periodic Australian bushfires and now typhoon Haiyan have had massive, graphic coverage.  These are events that children do need to know about because they are part of the world in which they live, and they are often aware of the parents' reactions to these events, but at the same time, they also need reassurance that they are in no immediate danger.

Television news services unfortunately, in an effort to ensure that people will watch their evening news bulletins, sometimes show graphic footage in the midst of prime children's viewing time, although public pressure has seen some reduction in this.  I have also, occasionally, heard warnings to viewers like "the following footage is likely to shock some viewers", but usually by the time I find the remote control it is too late.  If we as adults are shocked, it is also likely to expect that children will be shocked.  We cannot rely on the belief that they are "too young to understand".  That, in fact, is precisely the issue...we can put things in context, understand that this is shocking but that we are personally in no immediate danger, but pictures of planes flying into buildings, people drowning, or fires approaching are immediate dangers in the minds of many children.  It is the images that they see, the sounds they hear, that they respond to, not the detailed explanations of the news analysts which are often in language they don't understand using concepts that are beyond their grasp. 

In The Netherlands, since 1980, there has been a short nightly broadcast of the news aimed at children aged between 9 and 12 which aims to make the main stories intelligible to children in this age group   This seems to be like our ABC program, Behind the News, whose current feature story on typhoon Haiyan is in simple language and focuses in simple form on what happened and what the people need now, and is in sharp contrast to last night's adult news which constantly mentioned and showed footage of bodies being removed. A Dutch study in 2002 found that even this children's news produced a fear reaction in more that 30% of children, though this was much less than the nearly 50% reaction to adult news. 

What does this mean for parents and carers?

• If children watch the news, watch with them.
• Talk about the news stories with children in terms that they can understand.
• Reassure children that they are safe, that people are helping eg aid workers, police, firemen.  Check the article from the Dutch study which lists stories that children find particularly troubling.
• Use Behind the News or News on 3 (Daily at 7.55pm on ABC3) to help children understand the stories.
• Mealtimes are for eating and talking, not for watching the news or any other television.

LINK
http://childrenandmedia.org.au/resources/fact-sheets
This is an excllent resource for information and guidance about children and the media in Australia.

When is drinking alcohol an issue?

As many people will tell you, I like a drink (of the alcoholic variety)...and in fact, when looking at photos there is often a drink in my hand or on the table.  For that reason, when some of the children visiting my house 'Trick or Treating' the other night were accompanied by mothers with their wine glasses in their hands, I initially laughed but on reflection I find myself feeling quite uneasy.

Alcohol consumption is very high in Australia and its effects show up in many ways:

• Public drunkenness.  Whether at the big Spring Carnival race meetings, or at bars and nightclubs or almost any social gathering, it is increasingly common to see drunken behaviour, and often results in fights and brawls, vandalism and general anti-social behaviour.
• Health problems. Long term alcohol use is associated with many diseases including forms of cancer, obesity, liver disease, damage to unborn children, cognitive impairment and self harm.  Fortunately many mothers now limit their alcohol consumption during pregnancy and while breast feeding.
• Social problems.  Relationship breakdowns, violence against women and many crimes are strongly associated with alcohol use, and of course, despite drink drive legislation still many road accidents and deaths are the of impaired judgement following alcohol use.

Some time ago, the 'government" was showing an ad where children were imitating their parents' alcohol consumption that always made me think: What is the example we are setting our children???

Is it possible to have a social gathering without alcohol?

What lesson are our children learning from the way we drink on every possible occasion?

Today has been Cup Day in Melbourne.
There have been images on TV showing various groups enjoying the races, accompanied by champagne, beer and whatever else people choose to drink.
No doubt people have been booked for drink driving and other alcohol related offences.

What messages have your children picked up form this?

Does this concern you?

Safe products for babies and toddlers

In the good old days, we bought or received (new or pre-loved) a bassinet, a pram, a baby's bath, a pusher (now known as stroller!), a cot and perhaps a changing table.  There wasn't much choice and designs were pretty basic.  We knew enough about safety issues to ensure that the paint used wasn't lead based, and that there were places where straps could be attached.

As in all areas of modern life, design, fashion, cost and safety factors have taken over the provision of baby and children's needs.  The canvas seat that hooked over the front seat has been replaced by all manner of super safe baby and toddler capsules and seats; old wicker or smarter vinyl prams on massive suspensions have been replaced by slick modern, easily folded contraptions and so it goes.  The cost of all the latest equipment has become amazingly high although the pre-loved baby fairs are booming.

What brought all this to mind was an article in the weekend news about new safety concerns with prams.  It was particularly concerned about the safety of seats for toddlers on prams, but also raised the issue of children jamming their fingers in folding mechanisms.  Many children are treated in Australian hospitals each year as a result of incidents connected with prams, mostly falls from them.

It seems to me that while minimum standards for pram manufacturers are important, parents themselves need to use some commonsense when using all children's equipment.  For example:

• Babies and toddlers should always be strapped into prams and strollers;
• Brakes should be applied before putting the baby into or out of the pram/stroller; 
• Children should not be left unattended on changing tables: have everything needed for the change and cleanup ready before putting the baby on the table;
• Children should always be strapped into high chairs and not left unattended;
• Toddlers should be strapped into their car seats before putting the baby into the car and the baby should be removed first before releasing the toddlers;
• Prams/strollers and carry baskets should never be placed behind or next to the roadside door of a car;
• All children should be securely fastened in the car and any children not travelling should be held by the hand by another adult or inside the house under an adult's supervision before a car moves off.

Equipment for babies and children is regularly reviewed by the Australian Consumers' Association and results are published in their magazine Choice and online.  Guidelines for choosing equipment are given as well as reviews.  While detailed reviews need to be paid for there is a free 'Guide for Expectant Parents' that can be downloaded to help sort out what will be needed and how to make choices. The Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne also has a Safety Centre which can be visited by appointment as well as a website which looks in more detail at safety in the home, including fact sheets and other material to download and a very useful home safety check list.

Previous posts related to safety:
Safe Pedestrians 17/09/2012
Children, nannies and cars 09/09/2012
Safe Summer  11/12/2012