Our post about volunteering with the elderly is by Amy Shoemaker, an author who writes about nursing homes and the importance of volunteering. Her website focuses on nursing home abuse and how the general public can stop this phenomenon.

Volunteering is always a great activity your family can do together to become closer, learn, and take on new experiences.

When you get your children interested in volunteering at a young age, they will be able to learn more and they will have the drive to volunteer on their own in the future. Inspiring your child to volunteer will start in your home. If your children see that you are excited about volunteering, they will be more likely to follow your example. As parents, it is our responsibility to get them started so that they will continue to be charitable throughout their lives.

Getting your children involved doesn’t have to be difficult. You don’t need to go on a month long mission trip to South America to volunteer. Start with a weekly trip to your local nursing home. Your child’s smile could make someone’s day, and they will learn a lot more during their visits than you could imagine.

Involvement is the key to keeping children interested, and helping the elderly will do just that. Depending on the age of your children and the capabilities of the elderly you visit, there can be a wide variety of activities your family can do when volunteering.

Some of the people you visit may like gardening, but they have difficulty bending over to do some of the tasks gardening requires. By helping them, your children could learn about working hard to reach a goal and healthy eating as well. Maybe your child has just started to learn to read. You could have them read to many people at once, or one person in the nursing home could sit down with them and help them learn. The possibilities are truly endless, and you can use your child’s strengths to help them stay interested in the project and improve on their skills in the process.

Your children could especially help those with Alzheimer’s and dementia. Combining children and these elderly people will not only benefit the children, but the elderly as well. Research has shown that these elderly people become more interested in others, get more exercise, fall less, and feel happier and more loved after spending time with children. Their loved ones have said that they seem more engaged and less isolated. This same research showed that these children will usually have higher social development scores, fewer behavioral problems, and enhanced perceptions of older adults. Also, children who have been involved in programs with the elderly have been proven to have a better vocabulary as well as better reading skills.

You may think that you won’t have time to share these wonderful experiences with your children. When you work long hours or have many other commitments that are keeping you from volunteering, it may seem impossible to take on another task.

However, you need to remember how important your time will be for those you are helping and for your children’s future. With just a little bit of your time, you will be able to show your children how important volunteering is to the community, and you will leave each visit feeling more fulfilled.

Volunteering helps create new friendships, and it will also help you feel a purpose in your life. Your children will learn these skills while they are volunteering as well, and the experiences they have will affect the rest of their lives.

Yesterday’s “Can Do” Street kids blog introduces the idea that some children may have difficulties with reading and that there is nothing wrong with getting extra help.

The blog post plants the seed that needing help with reading is nothing to be ashamed of..that we all need help in one thing or another during our lives.

For many children developing reading skills  is a natural process. For other children,  reading is a continuous struggle. According to the National Institutes of Health, one out of every ten children has significant problems with reading skills.

An article on readingrockets.org, states that:

• Children may struggle with reading for a variety of reasons. Good readers are phonemically aware, understand the alphabetic principle, apply these skills in a rapid and fluent manner, possess strong vocabularies and syntactical and grammatical skills, and relate reading to their own experiences.

• Learning to read begins far before children enter formal schooling. Children who have stimulating literacy experiences from birth onward have an edge in vocabulary development, in understanding the goals of reading, and in developing an awareness of print and literacy concepts.

•  Children who are most at risk for reading failure enter kindergarten and the elementary grades without these early experiences. Frequently, many poor readers have not consistently engaged in the language play that develops an awareness of sound structure and language patterns. They have limited exposure to bedtime and lap time reading.

• Children raised in poverty, those with limited proficiency in English, those from homes where the parents’ reading levels and practices are low, and those with speech, language, and hearing disabilities are at increased risk of reading failure.

The article goes on to say that:

• Many children with robust oral language experience, average to above average intelligence, and frequent early interactions with literacy activities also have difficulties learning to read. Why?

• Programmatic longitudinal research, including research supported by  the national Institute of Child Health and Development (NICHD), clearly indicates that deficits in the development of phoneme awareness skills not only predict difficulties learning to read, but they also have a negative effect on reading acquisition. Whereas phoneme awareness is necessary for adequate reading development, it is not sufficient. Children must also develop phonics concepts and apply these skills fluently in text.

•  Substantial research supports the importance of phoneme awareness, phonics, and the development of speed and automaticity in reading. Unfortunately, we know less about how children develop reading comprehension strategies and semantic and syntactic knowledge. Given that some children with well developed decoding and word- recognition abilities have difficulties understanding what they read, more research in reading comprehension is crucial.

According to a recent report in CNN Health, 5,000+ kids are hurt each year in the U.S. from window falls.

The Journal of Pediatrics reports that the number of children treated in U.S. emergency departments for falls from windows approached 100,000 between 1990 and 2008. The research shows that the number of injuries declined during the first decade of the study period, but has since plateaued.

“We still are seeing over 5,000 children a year treated in hospital emergency departments across the country for injuries related to window falls, said Dr. Gary A. Smith, study author and director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. “That’s 14 children a day. This continues to be a very common, important problem.”

Researchers studied data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System,which is maintained by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The group monitors injuries involving consumer products treated in emergency departments nationwide. Researchers divided data from almost 4,000 patients into two groups: 0-4 years and 5-17 years.

Boys were involved in more falls from windows than girls were. In addition, the younger children made up two-thirds of the injuries. The injury rate was highest at age 2.

“These are kids who don’t recognize danger – they’re curious, they want to explore and when they see an open window, they are going to investigate,” Dr. Smith said. “Kids at that age tend to be top heavy. Their center of gravity is up near their chest and so as they lean out of the window to see what’s going on, they’ll topple.”

Many of the young children experienced injuries to their head or face, and, often times, these led to hospitalization or death. On the other hand, children in the older group were more likely to have fractures to their arms or legs.

While a few children did fall from a third story or higher, many more fell from a first or second-story window.

“What we’re finding is that most of these window falls aren’t in these really high-rise buildings,” Smith added. “These are just often homes or apartments that aren’t high-rise, where children live. This is a problem that extends to small towns and even rural areas across the country.”

He reinforces the message that a screen does not offer protection and should give parents no feeling of comfort.

Dr. Smith, who is a pediatric emergency medicine physician, suggests:

Parents of children younger than 5:
Use window guards or locks
Do not allow any window to be open more than four inches
Move furniture away from windows so children cannot climb on it

Parents of children older than 5:
Educate children and teens of the risk of climbing out of a window or jumping from it

The authors also note that the landing surface made a difference. The patients who ended up on a cushioned surface often fared better than those who ended up on a hard surface.

“Our focus should be on preventing the child from falling in the first place, but cushioning the fall can help,” Smith noted.

“If a child falls from a window and they land on bushes or a planted flower bed, that often is enough to cushion the fall so that they’ll end up with bruises or scrapes instead of a severe injury,” he said.

The study points out that great reductions were seen in New York and Boston after programs were implemented there to combat the problem. The programs involved education in the community and among parents. Window guards were also made available. In New York City, window guards became mandatory in apartments where young children lived.

“We know what works,” Smith said. “We need to now go out and implement that.”

Dr. Smith said there were limitations with the set of data, especially with fatality numbers, and therefore these numbers under represent the problem.

Most children need help learning to be a good sport.

Being a good sport means being a gracious winner as well as a gracious loser. Losing is no fun and many children have a hard time losing. Some even demonstrate unacceptable behaviors such as throwing things and stomping off the game area.

Being a good sport  is a life skill as well as a social skill that children need to develop early in life as it will help them in so many life situations.

According to the United States Olympic Committee’s education program of 2007  on sportsmanship, a real athlete is a good sport. In the education materials the Olympic Committee gives the following definition of what it means to be a good sport:

An athlete who is a good sport is someone whose conduct and attitude demonstrate gracious behavior before, during, and after competition.  In fact, good sportsmanship demands that nothing be done before, during, or after a game to cheapen or detract from victory.

In yesterday’s “Can Do” Kids’ blog, Coach Campbell speaks with Hector about his behavior after losing a ping pong match and explains good sportsmanship.

The following resources can help a parent, teacher or coach help a child to understand the need for good sportsmanship and the ability to develop the attitude of a good sport.

Real Athletes are Good Sports:

http://www.teamusa.org/resources/u-s-olympic-education/real-athletes-are-good-sports

Kids’ Poster: “Being a good sport makes you a winner.”

http://assets.usoc.org/assets/documents/attached_file/filename/4977/USOCKids2007.pdf

Lesson Materials for Teachers from:

http://www.edgate.com/summergames/

“Olympic Spirit,” slideshow

http://www.teamusa.org/multimedia/photo_gallery/2449

Source: Ned Campbell, History Teacher, Head Wrestling Coach, James Madison High School, Brooklyn, NY

If you are looking for free craft projects, lesson plans and educational materials for children 3-7 years, spend some time in the “Can Do” Street Mall checking out the Crafts/Games and Teaching Resources.

Take advantage of the free materials that are there for your use. The materials are the work of parents, grandparents, educators, recreation and crafts personnel.

Each week we add more resources, shared by individuals, organizations and companies with the hope that you will visit their sites and make use of the 1,000s of free materials that they offer.

There is no catch, no hidden costs to using the free materials you find on the sites that list in the mall.

Prior to listing each of the free sites in the mall, the staff of “Can Do” Street check out the content to make sure it is suitable for out audience of parents, teachers and other adults involved in the care of young children .

To list your site in either Crafts and Games or Teaching Resources the content must meet the following criteria:

• Contain free resources suitable, in all or in part, for children 3-7 years

• Resources must be easy to download and use

If you wish to list, please send the following information about your free site to jeanc@candostreet.com:

• A brief description of your site
• A logo, if you have one
• Your URL address so that we may create an active link to your site

We look forward to having you visit the “Can Do” Mall where the resources are free and fun!