Tags » ‘Children’
August 1st, 2010 by admin
The Benefits of Music for Young Children
Young children just love music and often it is through music that young children communicate for the first time, whether it be through gesture, smiling or action.
But is there more to it than that?
There is a growing amount of evidence to show that music enhances a childs ability to think, learn, reason and create and it is in the first five years of a child’s life that all of the formative brain development and connections are being formed. Music brain researcher, Dr Gordon Shaw describes music as “a window into higher brain Function”.
Here are three compelling reasons why we should be sending our children to music lessons while they are young.
Reason#1 – Music Makes Children Smarter
Neurologiacal Research indicates that because music involves ratio’s, fractions, and thinking in space and in time that it provides learning not only for foundation musical learning,but also learning for foundation math learning being a pre requisite to learning both these subjects at higher levels.
In a study carried out by Debby Mitchell at the University Of Central Florida it was found that young children with developed rhythm skills perform better academically in early school years.
In a paper compiled at a Music Educators National Conference, 2001, it was noted that high school music students score higher verbal and math score than their peers and in research done by Phi Delta Kappan, 1994 and a paper prepared by Peter H Wood, It was found that Music Majors are the most likely group of college grads to be admitted to medical school.
Reason#2- Music is a recognised form of intelligence
In an article called ” The Changing Workplace is changing our view of education”, Business week, 1996 it was said “The nation’s top business executives agree that arts education programs can help repair weeknesses in American education and better prepare workers for the 21st Century”
Howard Gardner, a renowned Professor of Cognition and Education wrote a book in 1983 called Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences, suggests that there are many kinds of human intellegence and identifies musical intellegence to be one of them.
Reason#3 – Skills learned through music can transfer into skills which are useful in every part of a child’s studies at school and can help with general well being.
As Senator Jeff Bingaman said “Music Education can be a positive force on all aspects of child’s life, particularly on their academic success”
It was reported in a Texas Commission on drug and alcohol abuse that secondary students who were involved in band and orchestra reported the lowest life time and current use of all drugs.
Skills learned through the discipline can transfer into study skills, communication skills and cognitive skills useful in every part of a child’s school life and a Harvard university study named the “Mozart Effect” found that spacial- temporal reasoning improves when children learn to make music.
As Michael Greene the Recording Academy President and CEO said at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards in February 2000, “Music is a magical gift we must nourish and cultivate in our children, especially now as scientific evidence proves that an education in the arts makes better math and science students, enhances spatial intelligence in newborns, and let’s not forget that the arts are a compelling solution to teen violence, certainly not the cause of it!”
Kevin Tuck, together with his wife Janice own and run The Fun Music Company, a business specializing in helping parents and teachers make music more enjoyable and fulfilling for young children. Parents can get useful information at the Parents Music Guide, while music teachers can contribute and learn more about Fun Music Company solutions at the Music Teachers Blog
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July 28th, 2010 by admin
Children of The Incarcerated: Discarded Forgotten Society
MODE Of Cosmic Therapy: Our Moralistic Duty To Mankind
A broken society of forgotten children is banging its way up the ladder of their demoralizing childhood while very few people are aware of the devastating lives they are being forced to live. The unfortunate circumstances imposed on them are due to no fault of their own. Surprising as this may seem to some, this particular segment of population, abandoned and neglected, (children) has grown beyond imaginable leaps and bounds in the last few years. Not many people have any reason to give a thought to the overwhelming effects caused by having a parent (s) incarcerated. But, today I propose a moment of conscious thought on their behalf. The spiraling effects are more than upsetting. Not only do the children suffer due to their loss of parental love, supervision, respect, guidance and comradeship; they must endure the awful demoralizing labeling stigma referred and projected on them as ’prison spawn.’
These children regrettably, without any negligible say so, pay a heavy life-long penalty for their parents’ poor decision making faculties (mistakes). It’s a heart rendering sobering reality for the children to endure, but sadder still is the stunning statistical data that states that more than 70 % of the children whose parents are incarcerated will end up in behind bars themselves. Who cares? You should and every one else who is living in this land of the free civilized society of America, today.
Mandatory sentencing guidelines and a growing number of drug-related convictions are factors in a continued growth of inmates held in federal, state and local prisons and jails in the United States. In other words, the bulk of the prison population is not found among those who have committed violent crimes. The United States imprisons significantly more people than any other nation in the world. In fact, the PewCenter on the States reported in 2008 that an astounding one in every 100 adults in the U.S. now lives behind bars! And over the next two years, researchers predict the situation will get even worse.
At a particularly mind-blowing rate, more people are being locked up then ever before. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in June 2008, a staggering 2,310,984 prisoners were held in federal or state prisons or in local jails – an increase of 0.8% from yearend 2007. More importantly and certainly surprising, – The number of women under the jurisdiction of state or federal prison authorities increased 1.2% from yearend 2007, reaching 115,779, and the number of men rose 0.7%, totaling 1,494,805. The vast majority of these incarcerated women are mothers.
What do these figures have to with you and your family? Everything! [Because, esoterically, humanely, conscionably and spiritually everything has something to do with “it”]. Why are these numbers important and how do we, as law abiding citizens, fix a stake in the activities of non-violent criminals? First on the agenda is awareness. We can not bury our heads in the sand and pretend like it doesn’t matter. If you’re alive, reading these words, breathing, enjoying the benefits of your ‘somewhat’ preferred existence, then you can idealistically acknowledge that nothing that occurs is exempt from your own life. We can not simply dismiss these people as not belonging to the entire body of our civilization any more than we can cut away the heart from the lungs. They are not some sort of unclassifiable insects to be placed under an undignified microscope for investigation, as if they are not part of the viable human race
IF, you simply can not relate on any recognizable human level, just think about the astronomical economical deterring negative impact the extenuating problems will present. FYI: We have countless prisons that are inestimably overcrowded. This dilemma, alone, at the very least, would consume the best strategic minds to reduce the surmounting cost to house, feed, clothe and educate confined inmates. And, although local jails are generally operating under their stated capacities, all state and federal prisons are extremely overcrowded — some as much as 33 percent higher than their official capacities.
Based on current projections, by 2011 the U.S. prison population will increase by 13% – which is triple the growth of the entire population as a whole – to more than 1.7 million. Supporting that increase in incarcerated people will cost American taxpayers and local/state budgets an estimated .5 billion. At that time, another 4 million people will also be on probation or parole.
Back to my original concern, however, what happens to the children of this huge cancerous growth? The net effect is that states, counties, courts, sheriffs, and administrators are actively looking for ways to address the almost unmanageable issue. According to the latest findings, it is now estimated that 7 million children, or 10 percent of the population under the age of 18, have a parent under some form of correctional supervision. While research is limited in this area, early indications from preliminary studies suggest, that children of incarcerated parents are three to six times more likely to exhibit violent or serious delinquent behavior.
Further Statistics:
* The Bureau of Justice Statistics estimates that 2.3 children are affected by the 1.1 million parents incarcerated in prisons or jails, up from 500,000 children in 1991.
* Approximately 75 percent of incarcerated women are mothers and two-thirds have children under age 18.
* Seventy-two percent of female inmates with children under age 18 lived with those children before entering prison.
* Six percent of women entering prison are pregnant.
* From 1990 to 2000, the number of mothers in prison grew 87 percent, while fathers increased by 61 percent.
* Fifty-four percent of mothers in state prison said they never had visits from their children.
* Approximately 55 percent of incarcerated men are fathers of children under the age of 18.
* Thirty-two percent of men in prison have two or more children under the age of 18.
* On any given day, there are approximately 1 million fathers behind bars.
* Fifty-seven percent of fathers in state prison report never having visits from their children.
The humanistic resolution concerning this life debasing problem resulting from the forgotten society of the children of inmates will not resolve itself without consciously motivated intervention. I have merely presented to you statistics without presenting or dissecting the emotional, mental, financial, spiritual, physical and educational needs of these deprived young ones. Every child is precious; their talents/gifts irreplaceable, and their unique contribution significantly important to the entire weaving of the intricate fabric of mankind. What can we do? It begins with recognition of the sacred profound desire to move into this technologically advanced meteorite propelled American civilization with an upsurge in our consciousness. We must embrace that which we don’t understand fully, comprehend completely and typically turn a deaf ear to simply because our minds are bombarded with other time-consuming meaningless activities. If we can realize the catastrophic consequences of consuming plates that are much too full, we may just get a cosmic glimpse of the unbearable penalties. “…Suffer not the children to come unto me: if anyone offends one of least of these; he has done it unto me…” (Paraphrased) It’s worth pondering when you get the time.
Proud Native {Born, Bred, and Resident} of North Carolina, married 39 spectacular years, 6 children, 11 grandchildren.
I am passionate about love, living, laughter, liberty, learning, listening, loosening up, lounging, lunch, liveliness, literacy, lip stick, letting my hair down, leaping, leaning, libido, lifting, linking, looking, lodging, lemons and lyrics.
My personal and professional background is wide and varied. I have a BS in Communication with a MA in Art Education. I am a Cosmic Therapist, artist, entertainer, singer/songwriter, musician, composer, playwright, perfumer, astrology, author, teacher, speaker, poet and self-taught chef.
I am also a radio/television talk show creator, host and director. In addition when I’m not busy, I maintain a presence at M.O.D.E International School of Esoteric Arts and Sciences of which I founded many years ago,
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July 23rd, 2010 by admin
Charity foundation gifts happiness to poor people and children
Charity opens the gates of development for various people, who do not have access to various facilities of life. And such people are poor or backward class inhabitants living a tough life. In India, there are a lot of people and children living below the poverty line. Out of these, many are such that are found begging on streets, selling books or other small items on traffic signals or working as masons. This class of people and children, usually, do not have any financial support. In this regard, it becomes the duty of the Indian citizens to help them in every possible manner.
This section of people and children, generally, live a miserable life that includes various days that goes without food. For this purpose and to help them out, charity foundation devoted for them have been initiating. Their main aim has been to contact people, who are willing to donate a part of their earnings for the betterment of poor people. Though, such people do not have basic amenities of life; still, they do not deserve to live a despondent lifestyle. Their contacts and network enable the poor people to see a ray of hope in the kind of help provided by them.
These foundations organize help camps from time to time, through which these destitute people are provided food items, medications, free treatment, education, clothes and water facility. At times, these camps also organize awareness camps to enable the poor people to know about various social evils and ways to eradicate them from the society. Apart from this, one will also find child foundation that deals with improving the life of deprived children. In our daily course of life, we find a lot of children working as labors in factories and begging on signals. It is not their destiny, but a helplessness that drags them towards doing such things.
With a little contribution from every responsible citizen, it seems that the picture of the poor people and children will portray happiness and contentment. After all, people that have not seen books or have worn good clothes before will surely feel happy in receiving such things. This will ensure them a better lifestyle and will keep them away from getting into wrong habits like drug addiction, alcohol intake and smoking. Charity foundation work continuously for the benefit of children, poor, adults and old aged ones. There are various old aged people, who wander on streets and beg for their living. Such organization helps them in providing a shelter through old age homes. This makes it comfortable for the poor old people, who have been left out by their children or families.
Anyone can contact these organizations, either through their websites or locate their offices in newspapers and television ads. Helping someone is the best thing one can gift to poor children and people that have been living a distorted life. In fact, it is such a gesture that tends to give a new life to someone, who has only been dreaming of it.
July 17th, 2010 by admin
Donating for children education and welfare
Children are the face of god. Their innocent smiles win our hearts and this innocence
should be nurtured and not wasted away in the harshness of life. But to think of reality, million of children in India are deprived of a normal childhood, they are forced to set out on the footpaths, streets begging for a rupee or two. A number of these underprivileged children are thrown into early labor and the bitter ways of earning. They do not need our sympathetic looks but a simple encouraging help. You can help those children, the victims of harsh destiny by donating to charity homes or institution spread across the country.
A single rupee from your pockets can bring a vital change in their lives. The funds donated can be utilized in child development education. A number of NGOs and charity homes have mushroomed across the cities and towns and these work hand in hand to promote child welfare and weed out the social evils which have clutched the future of India, the children of India. There are many good charities out there, the need is to do a little research to find them and stretch out a helping hand as your helping hands will guide these children to a bright future. One need not go hunting for the charities, the information is available online and even easier, one can donate online too.
The internet has grown tremendously over the years and it is today, the most powerful tool one can use to help donating to charity and thus, aid in the education and welfare of impoverished children. However, the donors should also be vigil enough to search amongst the many, many charities which are out there and ready to exploit the good will of people. You can take the help of many websites and thus, keep yourself from being fooled by the scammers. A list of guidelines will help you decide the charity you would want to give a donation to. And yes, while donating for charity always make sure that you donate it only to the charities you are familiar with. A number of known and popular charities like Plan India and many others are available online with all their information and guidelines. In case of other charities not so familiar to you, always check their details at your state or local government offices.
Do not give out your information to anyone asking for donations through e-mails; especially if you have not asked for any solicitation as a good chance lies for it to be fraudulent. Always explore well before making donation for children and check the
financial records of the charity that asks you to donate. Concentrating on child welfare India has also taken crucial steps wherein the donations from the public are directed to child development education. National charities and the reputed charities let the donors know, where their donated money really goes. Therefore, research well and then bless the impoverished children towards a developed future.
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July 17th, 2010 by admin
Anxiety Attacks in Children Are More Common Than Most Realize
Read a full insiders review here Anxiety-Free Child Review
Many fill own suffered anxiety attacks, and a destiny of these fill don’t realize it. The heartbreaking information is with the purpose of children can plus suffer from these frightening experiences at the same time as well. Imagine how terrible an experience these episodes are used for adults – without hesitation apply with the purpose of to a adolescent, it’s staggering! Now is what did you say? You be supposed to know concerning anxiety attacks taking part in children.
Knowing these the whole story can help you cook to deal with a adolescent who has a panic attack. Chief sour, children own the same anxiety and emotions with the purpose of grown-ups prepare, simply used for out of the ordinary reasons. Many children spirit start sour by being anxious with the purpose of they spirit suffer an attack while open not in to various sitting room. Exactly the notion of having an attack taking part in community is very stressful used for a adolescent.
In attendance are various forms of anxiety attacks taking part in children with the purpose of you be supposed to know concerning. Chief on the inventory is the universal anxiety disorder. This disorder is as a rule characterized by an unnecessary amount of alarm before anxiety finished proceedings from the precedent, proceedings to show your face before proceedings taking part in the current while. Children be inclined to agonize concerning the same things, such at the same time as proceedings with the purpose of are appearance up, educate issues, their links before things with the purpose of own happened taking part in the precedent. Typically this is an hysterical anxiety.
If you wish for to help your own children to deal with this matter, followed by you can prepare so by coaching them out of the ordinary ways to relax. Try to step them to calm down, and lecture to them so they don’t agonize. If you can’t seem to prepare this well, followed by you need to take your child(ren) to a taught specialist to help. The proficient mental strength thoughtfulness doctor can teach your adolescent convinced self-talk methods versus pessimistic self-talk.
It’s plus collective to get the drift children suffer from separation anxiety disorder. This is archetypal of younger children, at the same time as they’re separated from their loved ones often. When such a adolescent is placed taking part in an unfamiliar spot before natural environment, they can suffer from anxiety. These anxiety attacks taking part in children can manifest what time their parents are not in used for a time night, before for the period of vacation what time the parents leave.
In attendance are a pair of ways to cope with this type of anxiety. You can lecture reassuringly to your children, charter them show your face to understand you fancy them and nothing bad is concerning to come about. Teach them you’ll return very soon. Any more way to pick up the tab it is to really leave habitually – when a week be supposed to prepare it – until they simply ascertain with the purpose of it’s natural. With any luck with these tips, you can help to pick up the tab these anxiety attacks taking part in children.
Read a full insiders review here The Anxiety-Free Child Program Download
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July 13th, 2010 by admin
Are Children Ever Illegitimate?
I am always fascinated by the rules around succession to a throne and how monarchs exclude their children that were born of some women, but include the children that were born to them of other women. I get upset when children are described as “illegitimate” – as if God made a mistake with that child. And not too long ago – in the youth of our grandparents – children that were born to unmarried parents were as a rule given away for adoption. Some of those children never even found out that they were adopted, or finding this out was a very painful experience to them, because it reflected the “shame” of their births.
In some cultures children that are born “out of wedlock” carry that stigma with them for the rest of their lives, simply because their parents were not married when they were born. In other cultures people fall in love, live together and have children, and later on they get married. Are those children illegitimate?
All children come into this world because they have planned to do so, like us. They choose their parents and they choose their paths in this dimension. I believe that they also choose the experience of “being illegitimate”, probably because they have to deal with feelings of inadequacy and rejection.
Why are the children “illegitimate”? Because their parents were not married when they were born.
Marriage should be a celebration of two souls joining together in love, and finding fulfillment in that love. For most people marriage is also about raising children in a loving environment.
Does that mean that marriage has to be a ceremony with a legal contract? No. A wedding is any celebration of two souls joining in love. The legal contract was added because of the rules of society. Without a legal contract a mother cannot claim what is due to her children when people decide to end a relationship. Without a legal contract a father does not have the right of access to his children. What a strange world we created for ourselves! Of course the church likes the idea of a legal contract between people, and so this legality was integrated into the traditions and ceremonies of the church.
I understand that the church can play a role in helping couples to understand the contract between themselves – that is the love contract. But I am afraid I find it difficult to understand how people who chose to be celibate could think that they are in a position to explain and regulate the relationship between couples, when they personally rejected that type of relationship in the first place. My own experience of being counseled by a man of the cloth about marriage was an attempt to give me a huge injection of fear and the threat of rejection from society, when I was emotionally in tatters. Fortunately I was immune to this treatment. I am also sure there are also people that gain much benefit in such situations, even though it did not work for me.
A marriage contract, like any other contract, can reach a logical end. When that happens, there is a divorce. When people get divorced, they reach the end of their love contract. That is in most instances also the end of the legal contract between them. In cultures where there is a stigma attached to divorce, there is a strong fear base. Those cultures can be quite cruel and will often see people living in misery because they can no longer be their true selves in a relationship that has changed, but people would rather have that than have those people question the institution of marriage as a binding contract even if it destroys both parties.
In this context of messed up adults who create fear and who blindly follow the rules that are imposed on them, children happen to come into this world to parents who are not caught up in the bureaucracy of marriage. The children are then expected to take on the same heritage of fear and rejection when you do not toe the cultural and religious line. Those children then take up an entire lifetime to fight that heritage. And the more they fight their heritage, the more that heritage rules their lives, because fighting something means you put more and more energy into exactly what you do not want, and you make it real.
I am not saying that it is all right to have many babies from one or more relationships. We all need to control ourselves and our destinies. If our destiny is to be a parent to many children, then so be it, as long as we take responsibility for each one of those children and raise them in love.
Can we really look at a new-born baby, an innocent child, and reject that baby outright because the parents were not married? Hardly. Then how do we justify doing it when that same child is older and can understand the rejection, but cannot understand the reason for it?
We justify it by having our own warped understanding of love. We do not open ourselves up to the beauty of unconditional love.
Every single child that comes to this planet is a legitimate child, because it is part of God’s plan. And when that child grows up, it becomes an adult that is legitimate. Whenever we question the legitimacy of any person on the basis of our own biases, we need to look inside, identify the fear that we project and eliminate that fear. When we accept everyone on this planet as God’s creature, we will have more love for ourselves and the world will be a better place.
Elsabe Smit hereby grants a NON-EXCLUSIVE license to any and all persons and entities to copy and reprint any article she posts as long as the article is left IN-TACT and UNALTERED and proper credit is given to her as Author.
Elsabe Smit is the author of A Tapestry of Life and of the blog http://www.mypurpleblog.com , Spiritual interpretations of everyday life.
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June 26th, 2010 by admin
Does Music Help Children?
Why is Music Important for Kids?
This question has been debated for as long as time has existed. Even the great Greek and Roman philosophers approached the question: is music something that should be taught and does it help the development of children? Plato answered “I would teach children music, physics, and philosophy; but most importantly music, for in the patterns of music and all arts are the keys to learning.” And again “what then is the education to be? Perhaps we could hardly find a better than that which the experience of the past has already discovered, which consists, I believe, in gymnastic, for the body, and music for the mind.”
In all cultures of the world music plays an important role. While these roles may change depending on the culture it is impossible to separate music from the life of an individual. While some may argue the role of music in our lives it is impossible to escape it. Even in the popular culture of Australia it is impossible to go shopping without hearing music. Music provides a means of communication and expression of culture and individual identity.
Children are immersed in music from birth and will be for their entire life. If this is the case why teach it? Is not the constant immersion in music enough? To this I say; is the fact that we witness the results of scientific principals on a day to day basis result in the understanding of those scientific principles? No it does not and likewise for music it does not either. The day to day encounters we have with music can move us but the understanding of this music can help us grow as individuals.
In many cultures the family plays the main role in music education. Families are most commonly the ones that teach children the music of their culture. As young children, we are commonly sung nursery rhymes. These provide entertainment for the child and often information in small repeated fashion. Children learn through the repetition and structure that the information was delivered in. many nursery rhymes teach fundamental life lesson and therefore sets music up as a means of educating. Children learn from music from a young age and will continue to for the rest of their lives. In a world where globalization and consumerism are dominating cultural identities are drifting into the background and children are more likely to be sung pop songs as lullaby’s than nursery rhymes. The benefit of nursery rhymes and progressive learning has become an issue. Children are missing out on fundamental learning opportunities.
The Mozart effect which gained a large following in the 1990’s claimed that listening to Mozart as a baby will make a child smarter. While this movement was short lived and there is little proof that it works there has been no denying that children who learn music will achieve higher in other aspects of their academic life. In earning music children learn to express their identities, gain confidence and develop sense of time and space. A research team at the university of Munster in Germany discovered that students who study music have more developed abstract reasoning skills which are closely linked to learning in the areas of science and maths.
I do not believe that there is any argument to this question…music is a vital part of a child’s education and should be taken seriously. Listening to music is not enough! A child must learn to think musically and that is what will help assist the development of the child and their academic development.
written by Gemma Lee from www.shinemusic.com.au teachers of piano, saxophone, violin, singing, drums, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, flute and clarinet
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