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Tag: children

  • Teaching Your Kids To Respect Other Cultures

    Teaching Your Kids To Respect Other Cultures

    One of my daughters and her husband recently adopted my precious and beautiful grandson. He is from the mountain aboriginal people of Taiwan. His beautiful black hair, long legs and broad shoulders are amazingly like his daddy’s.  But his bronze skin is very different from that of my three-year-old granddaughter’s, who when she saw a picture of her new baby cousin said, “He looks funny.”

    We are all different yet…

    There will come a time when your children will be exposed to children and adults from other countries and continents. Their color, dress, habits and language will be different than what they consider normal.

    These cultural differences should not be viewed as embarrassing or inappropriate by you. Instead you should view their questions as an opportunity to broaden their horizons and educate them on the differences that make us all unique and special.

    …the same

    It is important to teach your children that though their skin may be lighter or darker than the child sitting behind them, they are both very much alike in the fact that they both need to be loved, both need to be treated with kindness and respect and both enjoy doing all the things kids love to do.

    It is important that you teach your children that cultural diversity is not a reason to exclude, demean or even bully someone. A child in Singapore is a child throughout the world.

    Experience is the best teacher

    When it comes to understanding and being comfortable with cultural differences, the best thing you can do is to give your children a variety of cultural experiences. This can be done by:

    • Visiting exhibits and various cultural events such as festivals and ceremonies
    • Eating a variety of foods favored in other countries
    • Reading about different places or origin and cultures of people you and your children come in contact with
    • Befriend the parents of children from other cultures in your child’s classroom, sports team or dance class
    • Focus on the similarities rather than the differences-help your child realize that different clothes, accents, etc. don’t change the fact that both children enjoy soccer or that both children struggle with spelling

    Set the bar

    In spite of the fact that our children test our patience and push our buttons, they look up to us. They mimic our attitudes and actions. So by being respectful and accepting of  people from all walks of life, we will be teaching our children to do the same.

     

    Source: http://sg.theasianparent.com

  • More Parents Opting For Beyond Parenting Control Order

    More Parents Opting For Beyond Parenting Control Order

    More parents are taking up a Beyond Parental Control (BPC) order, the Singapore Children’s Society Youth Services said. This order applies to children aged 16 and below and have behavioural problems in school or at home, leading to their parents applying to the Court for assistance in managing them.

    Every Friday at Youth Court, a team of social workers and counsellors from the Singapore Children’s Society Youth Service Centre screen complaints from parents wanting to pursue a BPC order. In the first three months of 2015, the team has screened 113 complaints. It screened a total of 373 complaints for the whole of 2014.

    Among the common complaints by parents – that their children were involved in truancy, were runaways or stayed out late at night.

    “A lot of parents who come to court every Friday to lodge the BPC complaint, a lot of them are desperate,” said Dr Carol Balhetchet, Senior Director at the Youth Service Centre. “Some of them are desperate but are open to listening to other possible alternative care or alternative help. But the majority of them come to court with the intention of forcing through the BPC order, of obtaining the BPC order.”

    Before an order is obtained, counsellors organise a pre-mediation session with parents and their children to see if their issues can be resolved. But if such measures fail, the BPC complaint will proceed. Once accepted by a judge, the child is put into a closed institution – either the Singapore Boys’ Home or Singapore Girls’ Home – for four to five weeks. During that time, an investigation is carried on the child’s background, which will be presented to the judge.

    The judge then has three options: To keep the child in a closed institution, or admit the child in an open institution like Boys’ Town, where they can come out during weekends. The child can also be put under a Statutory Supervision Order, where a counsellor will supervise youth and parents. All options can last between one and three years

    GIRLS MAKE UP MAJORITY OF BPC CASES

    In 2013, there were 83 Beyond Parental Control cases, compared to 66 cases in 2014. But a consistent trend has remained since 2008 – girls form the majority of BPC cases. In 2014, 40 cases involved girls, while 26 cases involved boys. The Youth Service Centre of Singapore Children’s Society says it is also seeing girls become tougher and more aggressive.

    “During adolescence, generally youth could face challenges in regulating their emotions and girls tend to have higher emphasis on maintaining good relationships with significant others and friends,” said counseling psychologist at PsyFit Gerald Boh. “If they could not have quality relationships, they might face difficulty fulfilling their underlying need for love and belonging and, as a result, might exhibit inappropriate behaviours.” These could actually be a cry for help, he said.

    There were three Beyond Parental Control cases involving 11- to 12-year-olds, and 24 cases involving 15-year-olds. The age group of 13 to 14 years old, which comprised 39 cases, made up the majority in 2014.

    The Singapore Children’s Society Youth Services said this is a newer trend. In previous years, the majority of BPC cases were between the ages of 14 and 15 years old.

    The Society said this could be due to the fact that parents are now receiving less family caregiver support. In response, they are encouraging parents to spend more quality time with their children to get to know them better. The Society adds that ultimately, community support is a better solution for a delinquent child than intervention from the authorities.

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • Preschoolers Taught The Art Of Pottery And Meditation

    Preschoolers Taught The Art Of Pottery And Meditation

    To mould young minds, the Da Vinci Group advocates taking a hands-on approach to learning, getting preschoolers to use clay to illustrate what they have learnt. So rather than reading about sea creatures or colouring pictures of them, children get to make their own.

    Mr Saravanan Manorkorum, Director of the Da Vinci Group, said this is a form of what is known as neuroeducation. “When you are learning something, what you are doing is you are only engaging one part of the brain. But when you are touching something, it fires up all the different sensory aspects, so you’re engaging multiple parts of the brain,” he said.

    “When that happens, and you introduce a new idea or a new concept, it gets retained better because of the strengthening of neuro networks. What we are trying to do is we’re trying to incorporate a platform that is going to give the maximum amount of touch to brain activity,” he added.

    Having tangible, finished products also helps the children remember what they have learnt. It is similar to how photographs can trigger memories, teachers said.

    The Da Vinci Group started these pottery workshops in 2012. It offers them on its own premises, and has also partnered with various preschools and kindergartens to carry out enrichment classes off-site.

    Mother of two, Nisha Mohammad Ibrahim, said her children respond well to this method.

    “Especially when they see their art pieces at home, they try to relate whatever they’ve learnt in the class. They talk a lot about it. They incorporate or infuse themes into their work, so it’s very practical, and very creative as well,” she said.

    Her daughter, five-year-old Deinara Deira Mahesh, proudly showed off her creations – including a starfish. “I learnt about other creatures, like a crab, starfish, great white shark and turtle,” she said.

    LEARNING THE ART OF MEDITATION

    At My Little Gems Preschool, students learn to take deep breaths to improve their concentration. It is part of the curriculum for the children to meditate with teachers every day. Sessions go on for about 15 minutes, and children keep their fingers on their lips to help them focus on their breathing.

    Said Mr Sim Chong, a father of three: “We found that there was a remarkable improvement in their ability to focus and concentrate, even if it’s for a family meal or in the evenings, when we sit down to read story books.”

    Mr Sim’s daughter, Kay Ann, said she practises meditation as it helps her to think faster and clearer. “When mummy and daddy read story books, I can pay attention,” she said.

    “Those children with training in mindfulness and meditation would be able to be more perceptive of the environment, and hence have a choice in focusing their attention in what they need to do,” said Mr Ben Lim, the principal at My Little Gems Preschool.

    Singaporeans we spoke with were generally in favour of such alternative teaching methods. Said Mr David Chia: “I hope my daughter will be able to access more of such choices. Different ways of learning would be good.”

    Said Ms Adelyn Chan: “I think that’ll be very interesting, like having yoga activities to take their minds off just memory work.”

    Others said even with less-conventional methods of teaching, traditional classroom lessons are still important to them.

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

     

     

  • IS Posts Video Of Little Children From Southeast Asia Undergoing Military Training

    IS Posts Video Of Little Children From Southeast Asia Undergoing Military Training

    In its latest effort to reach out to supporters in South-east Asia, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has posted photos and a video of Malay-speaking children training with weapons.

    The footage depicts a group of at least 20 boys studying, praying, eating and undergoing defence and weapons lessons in territory held by the terrorist group.

    It comes amid warnings by experts that ISIS is beefing up its external operations wing and courting further support in the region.

    “There has been a surge in Indonesian- and Malay-language material posted by ISIS online,” Mr Jasminder Singh, a research analyst at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, told The Straits Times.

    “There have been previous videos featuring Arab and Central Asian children, and it is clear they are now reaching out to target supporters in South-east Asia.”

    Titled Education In The Caliphate, the video was posted over the weekend by the Malay- language media division of ISIS, as a teaser for a longer piece to be posted later.

    Also uploaded are “exclusive” photos of students at the Abdullah Azzam academy, which uses Malay as a medium of instruction and was set up for the children of South-east Asian fighters.

    Abdullah Azzam was a radical ideologue who mentored Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

    Analysts say the school indicates that ISIS’ Malay Archipelago Unit, set up last year and called Katibah Nusantara, has grown. The decision to say the school teaches in Bahasa Melayu, rather than Bahasa Indonesia, suggests a defiance of the boundaries of the nation state.

    The video is also the first to show children from this region being trained for active combat. An estimated 500 fighters from the region, including southern Thailand, have joined ISIS.

    “They want to seek financial support, and to attract Indonesians and Malaysians to migrate to the caliphate,” said analyst Robi Sugara of research outfit Barometer Institute.

    The video comes as Turkey said last week it had detained 16 Indonesians trying to cross into Syria, and two weeks after Malaysian police identified two Malaysians in a beheading video.

    This month, Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean told Parliament that returning fighters posed a danger to the region, and self-radicalised individuals may also be influenced by ISIS to carry out attacks in their home countries.

    The two-minute video features Indonesian Katibah member Bahrumsyah, who left for Syria last May. Its message is that these children will “finish all oppressors, disbelievers, apostates”, and ends with a child firing a revolver.

    Mr Abdul Halim Kader of Muslim group Taman Bacaan said there is a fear that some young people might be influenced by such videos, and educators had to do more to counter their message.

    Said Mr Singh: “The message they aim to send is, ‘These children will be the next generation of fighters. You can capture us, kill us, we will regenerate, no matter how hard you try.’ ”

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com

  • IS Militants Targeting Minorities, Women And Children

    IS Militants Targeting Minorities, Women And Children

    LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Islamic State militants have abducted, injured and killed thousands of civilians across northern Iraq and uprooted millions from their homes in a bid to eradicate the country’s ethnic and religious minorities, rights groups said on Friday.

    Several minority communities, including Christians, Yazidis and Turkmen, have been subjected to killings, rape and sexual enslavement, and women and children have been targeted in particular, a report by four human rights organizations said.

    Islamic State seized the Iraqi city of Mosul in June last year while sweeping through the north towards Baghdad, meeting virtually no resistance from the army and declaring a caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria under its control.

    Around 8,000 civilians were killed and more than 12,000 wounded between June and December 2014, the United Nations said.

    Alison Smith, legal counsel of No Peace Without Justice, said Islamic State had committed war crimes, crimes against humanity and possibly even genocide against minorities in northern Iraq.

    Iraq’s U.N. ambassador told the U.N. Security Council last week that Islamic State had committed genocide.

    Sectarian violence across Iraq has worsened since June last year according to Mark Lattimer, executive director at Minority Rights Group, who said the abduction of thousands of women by Islamic State was “particularly concerning”.

    “Islamic State have sold Yazidi slaves to families in Mosul, which wasn’t hidden or kept secret,” Lattimer told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “Enslavement has become an accepted fact of life in areas under (Islamic State) control.”

    The report said that thousands of women and girls had been raped, tortured and forced into conversion and marriage, while a pregnant teenager who escaped Islamic State said captives were forced to donate blood to keep wounded fighters alive.

    The bodies of women raped and killed by Islamic State in the Turkmen majority town of Beshir in June last year were stripped naked and hung from lamp posts around the city, the report said.

    Children as young as 13 have been used to carry weapons and act as human shields for the militants during combat, it said.

    “HUMANITARIAN CRISIS”

    More than two million people in Iraq have been displaced, primarily in the north, according to the latest figures from the International Organisation for Migration.

    The majority are living under bridges or squatting in abandoned buildings, while those in refugee camps face a lack of food, water and healthcare because of government failings and limited aid from international agencies, the report said.

    International donors have so far provided 37 percent of the $2.23 billion requested for humanitarian aid for Iraq, according to the United Nations.

    “The sheer number of displaced people means the country continues to face a humanitarian crisis… many of them are in a difficult and precarious situation,” Lattimer said.

    Many minority groups are now trying to leave the country, fearing that the government will be unable to support any return to their communities, locate missing people and ensure the recovery of possessions looted by Islamic State.

    “It’s a feeling that we are no longer welcome in our own home,” one Christian leader told the writers of the report.

    The report said the Iraqi government lacked a legal framework to address the rights and entitlements of those displaced, and should clarify its role and responsibilities.

    It also called on Iraq to investigate and prosecute corruption in the delivery and acquisition of humanitarian aid, provide urgent assistance to the humanitarian effort, and resettle minorities who have been displaced.

    The report was co-authored by the Institute of International Law and Human Rights, Minority Rights Group International, No Peace Without Justice and The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com