Video game Image

Video games are an evermore frequent element in the lives of children. Is that good or bad?

Some say they help develop children’s imagination, other say they do exactly the opposite.

Studies have shown that latest types of video games, particularly the ones that include violent scenes, are increasing children and teenagers’ level of aggressiveness; and what is even worse is that, once there, it hardly goes away, even if they stop playing the videogames.

This month’s edition of “Journal of Pediatrics” publishes three studies on this subject – two made in Japan and one in the United States.

Scientists have realized the extent of this problem when they noticed the same effects the violent videogames had on children of such different cultures.

Apparently, American youngsters dedicate up to 13 hours a week to playing video games and have about 3 favourite games. Japanese kids have chosen 5 favourite games.

Although they are a bad influence, scientists mentioned that parents are not to expect for their children to behave like serial killers just for playing a shooting video game; but it would be best if they managed to re-direct their children’s attention to more peaceful games.

Sarah Palin

Marc Antoine Audette, a Canadian comedian, has decided to make a prank call to none other than the Republican candidate for vice-president, Sarah Palin.

He telephoned the Alaska Governor and pretended to be the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, calling to congratulate her for the campaign and wish her good luck at the elections.

The six-minute talk was then broadcast on a radio programme in Montreal, Canada.

During their chat, Mrs Palin and fake President Sarkozy talked about several issues, such as how beautiful Carla Bruni (the President’s wife) was, how nice it would be to be able to organize a hunting trip together; they even joked about the prospect of Mrs Palin running for presidency eight years from now.

Mrs Palin has made no comments on this call but one of her spokespersons has declared the governor was somewhat amused by it.

Italian Riot Police

Last week, the Italian authorities, acting as per Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s instructions, have made major education cuts.

This law has not remained without an answer. Tens of thousands of people affected by it (teachers, students, even parents) have demonstrated against it on the streets of Italian cities like Milan, Turin, Venice, Naples and Rome.

Cutting the education budget with several billions of Euro is likely to cause the loss of almost 130,000 teaching jobs.

The organizers of the protests have said that 90% of the Italian schools have been closed and that almost one million persons marched in Rome, but there is no official statement regarding this aspect.

The new education law includes several changes of the teaching system: primary school children will have only one all-purpose teacher for five years, and they will receive grades, in order to evaluate their conduct.

The opposition is currently trying to raise the necessary number of signatures that will allow the organization of a referendum on these reforms.

Students of Vasquez High School

The Vasquez High School, in Acton, California, witnessed the death of yet another bullying victim. Teenager Jeremiah Finton Lasater, of 14, committed suicide in the boys’ restroom, on Monday, 20th of October.

The boy was a junior varsity football player, but his learning disability and his stature (he was 6-foot-5), made of him one of his colleagues’ favorite bullying targets. Even his fellow special needs students laughed at him and made pranks on him.

Students who remember having seen Lasater on the day of his death say two boys threw food at him in the cafeteria, and that at the end of the lunch break he went into the boys’ toilet and never came out. Then everybody heard the gunshot and they found the body of the boy who had shot himself in the head.

The school direction, friends and parents were all in a state of shock and were worried Jeremiah’s gesture could influence other depressed and bullied teenagers. The state of shock and grief quickly turned into one of anger when they found out there were people who actually knew all about the bullying episodes.

Unfortunately, when confronted, all those involved denied being aware of any such episode. Nobody wants to take the blame for the shocking death of a 14-year old nerdy kid, even though to his parents he was the best kid ever.

Enduro Africa Poster

South Africa’s Port Edward was the starting point for the 1,000-mile long charity rally, called Enduro Africa 2008. The eight-day long adventure started on Saturday.

Amongst the most notorious participants are Great Britain’s princes William, 26, and Harry, 24. The two will be competing with more than 80 other riders who are willing to put their effort into raising money for charity.

The funds raised though this race are destined to go to several humanitarian organizations such as UNICEF, the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund and Sentebale, a charity organization established by Prince Harry in order to help Lesotho children.

The two princes were delighted to compete in this race, considering that they get to help those in need by doing something fun at the same time; they both enjoy motorbikes and off-road circuits and practice this sport whenever their tight schedule allows them to.

They also appreciate the opportunity of actually spending time together as their military careers and royal duties keep them away from each other quite a lot.

Homecoming Queen and King Crowns

In Chicago, a 17 year old girl with Down syndrome has been crowned Homecoming Queen this month. Anne Jennings is probably the happiest person in Libertyville High School, as she has been chosen as their queen this year.

She and her best friends are now crossing the hallways with the largest smiles ever, and with the pride of knowing Anne is one of the most loved persons in the school.

She was elected queen on the 3rd of October and ever since her life has changed; it has been an enormous boost of self-confidence for her, and she now knows for sure that she is surrounded by friends and people who care about her. During high school she attended mostly special education classes, but she has always known to be a very good friend to people she had studied with in her early school years.

After graduating from high school, Anne will attend the Hawley Transition School in Mundelein, where she will be taught how to manage everyday tasks and how to keep a job.  At this moment, her biggest hopes are to go to college and marry her boyfriend.

Child Porn Computer Screen

Last week, the Ohio police arrested a 15-year-old girl for having sent nude photos of herself to several people in her classroom. Specialists say she most likely was not aware of state legislation regarding the publication of explicit sexual material over the Internet, and she was probably just trying to enhance her popularity quota.

Going from particular cases to the general context, psychologists are really worried about this fast developing, extremely harmful ‘trend’ which more and more teenagers follow by posting nude pictures of themselves on the Internet.
The reality show ‘bug’ is affecting them in the worst manner possible and they see the Internet as a possibility to gain fame and have their own show, without stopping even for a second to think about the consequences.

Under law, the photos of the Ohio girl are considered to be child pornography, which makes it possible for her and the receivers of the photos to be sentenced to several years of detention in a juvenile center.

Incidents like the one in Newark, Ohio have also been reported in Wyoming, New York and Pennsylvania and studies show that, if they haven’t posted nude self-photos yet, at least 70% of the 13-14 year old girls and even more boys have visited sexually explicit adult Internet sites already.

Beauvoir School, Washington

A few months ago, the Beauvoir School, located on the grounds of Washington National Cathedral, has been the scene of a child pornography investigation.

The accused was Eric Toth, aged 26, who had apparently taken pornographic photos of young boys with one of the school’s photo cameras. The whole scandal broke out when a fellow teacher accidentally found the pictures and went to the school direction and then the police.

Eric Toth had been teaching third-grade classes at the Beauvoir School for three years, without ever being suspected of such deed. In early June, he was dismissed from his job, the police got custody of the camera and the case was under investigation.

Ever since Toth has been impossible to locate, but his car was found at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, and the police found a suicide note inside. Still, no body was found.

The ex-teacher is now wanted for possession of child pornography and a warrant has been issued for his arrest.

Mother and Child

We all know that most of the parents want only the best for their children. But even parents make mistakes and especially when raising their children. Many of the mistakes they make, of course, are caused by too much love, concern, affection, care and sometimes ignorance.

One of the mistakes that parents make is nursing the child to an exaggerated extend. Mothers tend to be excessively protective with their children. Parents that do this, only develop their child’s fear. Parents who encourage their children to face the world, increase their self confidence.

Another mistake that most parents make is to involve their children in too many activities from an early age. They try to keep their children busy all the time and to achieve more and more knowledge about everything. Usually the child feels overwhelmed by all these activities.

Specialists say that one of the worst mistakes that parents can make is for them to expect the child to fulfill their dreams. Although parents try to form their child’s personality, the only thing they can do is to shape it and not build it. Every child is born with a character and a personality. Parents should try NOT to impose their own goals and dreams on their chidren’s life.

One of the best piece of advice that a parent could follow is to be their child’s best friend.

Internet Child

The Internet has become the fastest means of communication. People of all ages communicate to each other by Internet. Is the Internet the new way of making friends or just a way that leads to isolation and alienation?

From one generation to another, friendship acquires new values. Some time ago, when a boy wanted to tell a girl that he was in love with her, he would write a little note and put it in her backpack. This was happening a few generations ago. Teenagers back then, used to go to the cinema, used to play football in the backyard or used to go to the park and take long walks. 

Girls, on the other hand, used to go at one another’s houses and talk about everything that was important in their life. Younger children used to get together outside and play until late at night, when parents had to drag them home. How many children do you see nowadays playing in the park, or playing football in the backyard? Or haw many little girls go out with their dolls and carpets to play outside on the grass? Unfortunately, none…

Today’s children and teenagers communicate to each other via Internet, very fast and constraint by time or distances. Nowadays there’s no need to go out for a drink with your friends in order to talk to them. Just a buzz and an “ r u there?” is enough to start a conversation.

But is this enough? Do children really make friends by using the Internet? Actually, it has been proven, that the Internet leads to loneliness, isolation and even alienation. Why is that? Because there is no face-to-face contact, there is no hand shaking and because sitting in front of a computer obliges you to stay indoors and not have any live human contact.

Where is the fun in that? Where is the physical and intellectual activity in that? Where is the skin-on-skin contact? Where is the real friendship? Are true friends behind an “asl pls”?…

Mother and Child

Over the past few years Europe has been confronted with an evermore concerning phenomenon: the decrease of annual birth rates in all countries.

Young women are more interested in having a career, in having a good and stable job; a maternity leave would mean having to catch up on a lot of work, and in extreme cases, even losing their jobs.

At present, working mothers in Europe benefit of over 14 weeks of fully-paid maternity leave. The European Commission has proposed an extension of the minimum period to 18 weeks, as psychologists say it would help women go back to work easier.

Those in contrary of this proposal argue that it would represent a greater financial effort for small companies who would have to pay more.

Nowadays, for example, a German mother-to-be has 14 weeks of leave and a Swedish one has 18 weeks. EU Social Affairs representatives declared that national governments have the right to extend this period, if considered necessary.

Also, in issuing this proposal, they emphasized the psychological aspects: women would be more prepared and motivated to go back to work, they would feel better about combining work with their family life and dividing their time between a full time job and the upbringing of their offspring.

Stress

Loads of files, a million of tasks and impossible deadlines… Everyday chores from work can push us on the edge of patience and at a thin limit of supportability. All these lead to stress. Nowadays we live and work in a very stressful environment, where we have to be fast and efficient. The question is: how do we handle stress? How do we manage to cope with stress, in order to succeed professionally and keep ourselves mentally and physically healthy?

The main key to coping with stress is to put a fair limit between professional and personal life. If we manage to have a clear distinction between the time spent at work and the time reserved for our own exclusive use, the pressure that stress causes will disappear.

Psychologists say that almost 80% of people are affected by stress. It is the “disease” of the new millennium. The golden rule of keeping your body and mind healthy and stress free, is to take distance. Take distance from what stresses you (work, colleagues, neighbors, environment, husband… ) and analyze what makes you become so tense. Analyze everything from a cold perspective and try to find the best solution to eliminate the stressful elements from your daily life.

When it comes to work, a way of making sure that you are not going to get stressed, is to be realistic with yourself. Set up realistic goals and accept only fair deadlines. Don’t accept something just because somebody else imposes it on you, otherwise you’ll gather a lot of frustration and, sooner or later, you will explode.  And, of course, do not work under pressure!

Remember: you will do a great job and you will succeed in everything, only if you are NOT stressed about it!

Resentment

Resentment is a quite common emotional state nowadays. It appears as a natural reaction to conflictive situations, and is characterized by feelings of anger, discomfort, indignation and bitterness.

The main question is “how do we deal with it?”.

The first step in getting over it is understanding the emotional steps a person goes through before reaching this state of mental discomfort. Some of the most commonly met are shock, tendency to react aggressively, and a feeling of despair.

After conducting several studies, psychologists have advised that the best way to “treat” resentment consists of three main elements: releasing the anger (through physical and mental exercises), understanding the others involved and forgiving them.

Physical exercises help you to express your anger in a safe way, help get rid of the negative energy and relax the body. Mental exercises help in bringing one to better terms with their feelings and allow the brain to take control over the more shallow human pride.

Understanding the other person’s reasons for treating you unjustly is also a good way to deal with resentment. Walking in their shoes for a while may bring to light problems you never suspected were there.

Finally, forgiveness brings with it the peace we all need in order to have a good inner life and good relationships with those around us. Forgiving ourselves and the others is the best way to evolve and grow emotionally and spiritually and it is the most recommended attitude in such cases.