Wednesday, November 26, 2008

What About the Children in Africa?


I missed an opportunity to teach in Africa a few years ago. I applied to teach in a program, but the selection process dragged on. While waiting months for an answer about the job, I accepted another job. I was selected to teach in Africa, but I was on the other job for several months at that point.

In any case, I've kept an eye out for information concerning children in Africa. Today at Economist.com I found a summary of a recent report titled The African Report Child Wellbeing from the African Child Policy Forum. The report provides a comprehensive account of how countries in Africa treat their children. One would expect the more wealthy countries to have the best record in caring for their children. That is not the case, however. Quality care of children in African results more from moral conviction than the wealth of a country. Sadly, in many locations still, the treatment of children is horrible.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Are Toys Safer Toys Safer in 2008?

According to an MSN report:
"You can calm down, say both government regulators and toy experts. This season's toy selection is safer than just a year ago, thanks to increased testing."

Sunday, November 23, 2008

What a Difference A Year Makes



I checked my blog posts from this time last year and was reminded that last year the public was up in arms about unsafe toys. This year that complaint seems nowhere to be found. I can't believe the problem has been corrected, however.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Rock and Rock Camp for Girls Only

Here is a link to a MSN story concerning a rock and roll camp for girls.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Exploitation of Children

Increasingly, I've been thinking of how adults exploit children. My thoughts are in this direction because of seeing children being used in commercials, political campaign ads, and in print ads. While walking from the office-computer room-storage area in my house, my attention was drawn to a picture of a little girl on the cover of a learning materials catalog. Something was odd about the beautiful little girl's face. It took a while for me to decipher what the issue was. Lo and behold, the child had on eye makeup! Why should an elementary school girl--I'm guessing 2nd-3rd grade--have on makeup? This discovery was so disappointing to me.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Social Comparisons Among Preschoolers

Note the following from an article titled Social Comparisons in Early Childhood in Science Daily News:

"A new study by University of Michigan psychologists Marjorie Rhodes and Daniel Brickman questions these previously held conclusions about preschoolers’ behavior, by demonstrating that young children do indeed respond negatively when they perform more poorly than a peer—if that peer is of the other gender (e.g., if a girl learns that a boy has performed better than her, or vice versa)."