England Slides Closer To Communism: Malnourished Children Fill Pockets With Food

The heads of schools from various parts of England and Wales have described differences in the appearance of some of their pupils. Poverty stricken children are “grey and pale” and fill their pockets with food so they can have something to eat.

And the problem is only worsening as government regulations and tax burdens continue to make it hard for everyday people to get by.  According to the BBC, on school head was quoted saying, “My children have grey skin, poor teeth, poor hair; they are thinner.” Lynn, a head teacher from a former industrial town in Cumbria, who did not want to give her full name, was one of a number of head teachers speaking to reporters at the National Education Union conference in Brighton.

Even though the government said measures were in place to tackle poverty, much of the UK is sliding into abject poverty as the country inches closer to Communism. “Children are filling their pockets with food. In some establishments that would be called stealing. We call it survival,” Lynn said.

Jane Jenkins, a head teacher from Cardiff, said children in her school often only brought a slice of bread and margarine for lunch and that teachers supplemented this. “It’s really difficult and when people are asking you about standards, why we don’t go up the league tables?

There’s also becoming a stark difference between the wealthy and the poor. “When you take children out to an event, maybe a sporting event, you see children of the same age from schools in an affluent area. It’s the grey skin, the pallor. It’s the pallor you really notice,” said another teacher.  “Monday morning is the worst.  There are a number of families that we target that we know are going to be coming into school hungry. By the time it’s 9:30 am they are tired.”

The teachers are also washing the grubby clothes for the children who can’t afford to even clean the few pieces of destroyed clothing they own. “We have washing machines and we are washing the children’s clothes while they do PE,” said Lynn.  “We wouldn’t have it that these children are stigmatized because their clothes are dirty.”

Howard Payne, a head at an inner city school in Portsmouth, said there had been a four-fold increase in the number of children with child protection issues. “Every one of these issues has had something to do with the poverty that they live in,” he said. “It’s neglect. It’s because they and their families don’t have enough money to provide food, heating or even bedding.”

As poverty increases too, governments usually attempt to solve the problem by raising taxes, which pushes those already borderline into poverty as well, exacerbating the problem exponentially. More government is never the solution to the problems the government created in the first place.

Staying Safe Online: Five Cyber Safety Tips Every Parent Should Teach Their Kids

Years ago, when my kids were in elementary school, I let one of them play a kid’s game on my computer. Hours later, when I got back on the computer, I had a virus. This was our first of many discussions about cyber safety.

It’s safe to say that the internet is increasingly becoming more of an unsafe place thanks to new cyber threats coming out and child predators finding more sophisticated ways of accessing our children’s accounts. While this frightens parents, it doesn’t seem to stop children from wanting to get online to play games, hang out with friends, or research. Parents must stay ever vigilant in making sure children know the threats that are out there.

As a parent, I have explained the dangers on the internet and what they need to avoid, but is this enough? We say our “Stay Safe Online and Keep Away From Perverts” lecture and send them on their merry way? There is much more that we must explain to them!

Part of having the responsibility of being on the internet is using it safely. These tips are musts for ensuring your kids are staying safe online.

1. What you put out into the internet stays there even if you delete it. It is important to understand this and avoid making off-hand comments, bullying statements to other kids, etc. What you put on the internet now will stay on the internet. That means your future boss could read it, your children’s children could read it, so be aware of this.


2. Check your basic security to see what is showing up on search engines.Doing a simple Google search on your name, address, etc. to see if your personal information is protected is a great start in making sure your kids are staying safe. Moreover, teach them to keep this information off the internet. That means not adding this to social media accounts. To be clear, kids and teens should not post their email address, physical home address, phone numbers or any information that compromises the safety of the family.


3. Use the strictest privacy settings for social media accounts. With 73% of teens and 68% of young adults on social media, it’s hard to avoid. You still have a say in where they “socialize” online, so be present when they are setting up their accounts to ensure their privacy is protected. As well, instruct them not to put personal information out there. For instance, a teen posts a message on Facebook indicating the family is leaving for the weekend and the house will be vacant. If the teen has posted their address at any time on their account, then they have painted a target on themselves and exposed that family to a possible break-in. Asking a trusted friend to see what personal information they can find on your social media accounts can also give you a different perspective and see what others are seeing on your account.


4. Change your passwords. Keep your accounts safe from hacking by regularly changing the password. And no matter what you do, don’t use “password” or “12345” as your password. Make your password unpredictable using alphanumeric phrases. Here are some tips for creating an unhackable password.


5. Check your computer regularly and search for viruses. Part of being on the internet is ensuring the computer you are using isn’t infected with virus software.

For added safety, use these same tips for cellular phone and text message safety as well. Instruct children not to accept unknown phone numbers. Kids should only answer phone calls and text messages from their contact list.

The post Staying Safe Online: Five Cyber Safety Tips Every Parent Should Teach Their Kids appeared first on The Sleuth Journal.

Young Mother In California Threatened With Arrest At A Bus Stop For Not Vaccinating Her Children

Could you imagine being threatened by law enforcement authorities over vaccine records as you are waiting with your children for the school bus?  This is something that literally just happened to one young mother down in California.  One morning she walked her kids to the bus stop and she was approached by an official from the Claremont school district and a police officer.  In very intimidating fashion, they began questioning her about whether or not her children had been vaccinated.  When she refused to answer and started recording the interaction they walked away, but that wasn’t the end of it.  Later she called the police department and explained what was going on, and she was told that she could be arrested for refusing to vaccinate her children.

You can see the video for yourself on Facebook right here.  It has already been watched more than 159,000 times, and we need to get this out to as many people as we possibly can.  The following is the description that Porsha Rasheed posted along with the video…

Please watch this Video and share I am. I am being set up by the Claremont school district to be arrested and they are trying to force me to give my child immunization shots! I woke up this morning and walked my kids to the bus stop like I always do. Guess who was waiting the Claremont police department along with another man asking me about my child’s shots! I called the police department to make a complaint for harassment and was told by the sergeant, that me not giving my kids shots is a criminal act and that I will be arrested. This is why they were at the bus stop to try to incriminate me by me attempting to them that my son does not have any shots. This is crazy!! I want the world to know if I am arrested this is why! I will follow up with the facts!!!!

This is the kind of thing that health freedom advocates were warning would happen in California.

In 2016, a new law went into effect that mandates that all children be fully vaccinated unless they have been granted a medical exemption…

The law requires all children entering day care, kindergarten or 7th grade to be vaccinated unless they have a medical exemption. It also gives physicians broader discretion to grant medical exemptions based on a child’s condition or family history. The law eliminated personal belief exemptions, which experts say created hotspots of unvaccinated kids and contributed to the spread of contagious diseases.

Medical exemptions were rare before the law took effect last summer. Between 2000 and 2015, just .2 percent or less of California kindergartners had one each year. After the law took effect in 2016, the number of kindergartners statewide with a medical exemption increased threefold.

Fortunately, some doctors are fighting back against this draconian new law by granting medical exemptions to parents that do not want to submit to forced vaccination.

The vaccine industry considers California’s new law to be a model for the nation, and they are going to push hard to get laws like this in all 50 states.

So what can we do?

Well, first of all you need to know your rights as a parent.  Most states still allow religious vaccine exemptions, and you can see a sample letter on Health Freedom Idaho’s website right here.

Secondly, we need to fight relentlessly for health freedom on the local, state and federal levels.  Here in Idaho, Health Freedom Idaho is doing an amazing job standing up for parents, and we need similar organizations in all 50 states.

And we also need health freedom candidates to run for office all over the nation.  If I win my race for Congress, I am going to fight relentlessly for health freedom, and we need to strongly support all other candidates that will help protect us from this sort of tyranny.

If we lose this battle, what just happened to that young mother in California will soon start happening all over the nation.  It is hard to believe that we have already gone so far down the road toward becoming a police state, and we must fight back with everything that we have got.

The post Young Mother In California Threatened With Arrest At A Bus Stop For Not Vaccinating Her Children appeared first on The Sleuth Journal.

Gov’t Warns Dad: Your Kids Can’t Be Left Alone ‘In Or Outside The Home’ EVER

Image source: Pixabay.com

Riding mass transit has been added to the list of activities that are too dangerous for our children.

In fact, one father — Adrian Cook — was investigated by social workers because his kids rode the public bus to school.

Cooks’ five kids had been riding the public bus in Vancouver, British Columbia, for two years without any problems. The father even received an email from another bus passenger praising his well-behaved children.

“So imagine my surprise when I received a call from the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD),” Cook wrote on his 5 Kids 1 Condo blog.

Following an anonymous tip, ministry case workers visited Cook’s home and interviewed his kids.

Put God Back Into History And Teach Your Kids What They Won’t Learn Anywhere Else!

Cook, who lives in downtown Vancouver and does not own a car, relies on public transit to get around. Cook taught his kids to ride the bus to be independent and self-reliant.

Public Bus Too Dangerous for Kids

“Our 45-minute bus ride is straightforward,” Cook wrote. “It begins with a bus stop visible from my living room window and ends at a stop directly in front of the kids’ school. We’ve had no issues riding the bus over the last two years, unless you count losing a cell phone or getting off a stop too early (their GPS-tracked cell phones easily resolved that).”

Despite that, Ministry social workers made Cook sign a safety plan stating his kids wouldn’t take the bus alone because they are under 12. That means Cook now must spend several hours a day escorting the kids to school and back.

Cook’s description of the MCFD’s rationale for its actions is chilling.

“The Ministry had checked with their lawyers ‘across the country’ and the Attorney General, and determined that children under 10 years old could not be unsupervised in or outside the home, for any amount of time,” he wrote. “That included not just the bus, but even trips across the street to our corner store, a route I can survey in its entirety from my living room window.”

It looks as if childhood freedom is dead in the United States and Canada.

What is your reaction? Share your thoughts in the section below:

WARNING: Resistant Head Lice On The Rise, Docs Urge Prescriptions Meds

Head lice: a giant pain in the backsides of parents taking their children into public and an annoyingly itchy irritating parasite that must be eliminated. But the new super lice could present a problem with treatments and has become much more daunting over the past years. Yet, there’s a solution…

According to Today,  the effectiveness of over the counter preparations had declined to 25 percent, a level described as being “no better than placebo.” Even with “nit combing,” the process of removing some of the younger and recently hatched lice from the hair follicle, according to a  review article published in Pediatric Dermatology late last year found that the tedious process is as effective as a placebo. Worse, even higher doses of the over the counter product aren’t any more effective, researchers said.

But a prescription doesn’t necessarily equate to efficacy, and there is something that can help.  Doctors are now saying that the treatments are not effective because they aren’t done properly and with dedication.  They are done with lazy impatience making prescription medications the only avenue for frustrated parents.

Dr. Kenneth Polin became aware of the growing problem of “head lice” resistance more than two decades ago (20 years) when his 5-year-old daughter came home with lice. “We used the over-the-counter stuff and it didn’t work,” said Polin, a pediatrician at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. “When we called the company, they blamed us, saying that the patient just didn’t know how to use the product.” But it does appear that working thoroughly to rid your child of lice without prescription interference will work in a very vast majority of cases. But this isn’t something a doctor wants one to know.  They obviously make money when a parent succumbs to the prescription method.

“We used the over-the-counter stuff and it didn’t work,” said Polin, a pediatrician at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. “When we called the company, they blamed us, saying that the patient just didn’t know how to use the product.” As the percentage of resistant lice has increased, Polin has adapted his advice to patients. “I tell families not to bother with the over-the-counter stuff,” he said. “It’s not consistently effective. I recommend prescription medications.” The prescription medications are “very safe,” Polin said. “And they are all very effective. I’ve not seen any resistance personally and I’ve not seen anything about resistance in the medical journals either.”-Today

What most parents miss, however, is that cleaning of all bed sheets, clothes, and rugs should be done as well to ensure there is no passage of lice to other family members or visitors. A thorough treatment of all possibly infected areas will kill the lice. 

It’s also important to clean up all bed linens and coats, Polin said, adding that sometimes lice [is often]spread by jumping from one child’s coat to that of another. Another solution to the problem of lice that have jumped from the child onto household furniture and fabrics is to spend the night in a hotel. “Off the human body lice they can’t live more than a day,” he explained.

There may be some good news on the horizon, said Kyong Sup Yoon, an assistant professor in the department of biological sciences and environmental sciences at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Yoon was coauthor of a 2016 study showing that resistant strains had spread to nearly every state as well as the 2016 review. “Currently, several companies are in the process of developing new pediculicides,” Yoon said. “I hope this will give us some options to implement more efficient resistance management.” -Today

Doctors want parents dependent on the medical system to treat lice on children.  With diligence and a dedication to your child’s health, however, you should be able to help your child beat the odds and become lice free without medical interference.

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Author: Mac Slavo
Views: Read by 184 people
Date: September 11th, 2017
Website: www.SHTFplan.com

Copyright Information: Copyright SHTFplan and Mac Slavo. This content may be freely reproduced in full or in part in digital form with full attribution to the author and a link to www.shtfplan.com. Please contact us for permission to reproduce this content in other media formats.

What Baby Teeth may Tell Researchers About Autism

Researchers are constantly studying and learning more about autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but they have yet to be able to pinpoint specific causes. The origins of the disorder seem to be based in genetics and environmental factors. Now a study funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health and Sciences (NIEHS) seems to suggest that exposure to heavy metals could be one of the environmental triggers of autism. [1]

The researchers behind the study found that the baby teeth of children with autism contain more lead and fewer vital nutrients, including manganese and zinc, compared to the teeth of children without the developmental condition.

Cindy Lawler, Ph.D., head of the NIEHS Genes, Environment, and Health Branch, said:

“We think autism begins very early, most likely in the womb, and research suggests that our environment can increase a child’s risk. But by the time children are diagnosed at age 3 or 4, it’s hard to go back and know what the moms were exposed to. With baby teeth, we can actually do that.” [1]

The study is the work of researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital. It involved 32 sets of twins recruited from a national database of twins in Sweden, and was intended to see whether levels of lead and other metals correlated with an increased risk of autism. [2]

Source: Autism Speaks

Read: Possible Causes of Autism

Of the 32 sets, 6 had only 1 twin with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), 7 had both twins with ASD, and 19 were unaffected by ASD.

Lasers were used to extract precise layers of the hard substance beneath tooth enamel, called dentine, to be analyzed for metals. Umbilical cord blood was used to check prenatal levels of metals.

Manish Arora, Ph.D., an environmental scientist and dentist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, said:

“What is needed is a window into our fetal life. Unlike genes, our environment is constantly changing, and our body’s response to environmental stressors not only depends on just how much we were exposed to, but at what age we experienced that exposure.” [2]

Researchers got a closer look at fetal life when they uncovered major differences in pairs in which only one twin was diagnosed with autism, and less significant changes among pairs in which both twins had ASD. They were able to show dissimilarities in six metals, including lead, zinc, tin, chromium, manganese, and strontium, out of the 10 metals studied and autism rates.

They found that:

• Lead levels were consistently higher from 10 weeks before birth to 20 weeks after birth in children with ASD than in children without the disorder.

• The most significant difference appeared to occur at 15 weeks after the twins’ birth; lead levels were 1.5 times higher in kids with ASD than in their co-twins.

• Manganese levels were found to be consistently lower in children with ASD at 10 weeks prenatal to birth, and at 5-20 weeks after birth. The largest difference was seen at 15 weeks, at which point manganese levels were 2.5 times lower in ASD cases. [2]

Source: Deal With Autism

Perhaps the most compelling finding from the study was that lead appears to replace zinc and manganese in autistic children’s baby teeth. This is similar to what happens in the brains of some people who are exposed to lead, only in the case of the brain, lead takes the place of calcium and makes the patient more crime-prone. [3]

It’s heartbreaking to think about what the children of Flint, Michigan, may be facing after being exposed to lead in their drinking water.

The study is in no way the final word on environmental causes of autism. The research involved a small number of subjects, and looked only at twins in order to isolate environmental factors. Not all the pieces fit together. Lead exposure in children was at its peak during the ’50s into the late ’70s, so why didn’t autism rates climb during those decades and then decline? It’s entirely possible that lead plays such a small role that it ends up getting muted in the historical data by other things.

Researchers previously had mixed results about autism and exposure to metals, particularly lead; but genetics and other factors could have limited the findings. The scientists had hoped that studying twins would rule genetics out as a factor and isolate metal exposures from the environment.

Said Arora:

“We have identified the time period when we are most susceptible. We hope to be able to provide clinical recommendations to help as we continue to do more research.” [2]

The study was published in Nature Communications.

Sources:

[1] The Huffington Post

[2] ABC News

[3] Mother Jones

Autism Speaks

Deal With Autism

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About Julie Fidler:
	Julie Fidler is a freelance writer, legal blogger, and the author of Adventures in Holy Matrimony: For Better or the Absolute Worst. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two ridiculously spoiled cats. She occasionally pontificates on her blog.

Study: Teen Pot Dependency DOWN Despite Looser Marijuana Laws

The legalization of marijuana around the country has many parents concerned that it will only get easier for their kids to get their hands on the vilified plant. But a study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis should calm parents’ fears.

Researchers there studied a national database on drug use by over 216,000 preteens and teens ages 12-17, and found that fewer kids are dependent on marijuana, or struggling with school or relationships. All of these problems declined by 24% from 2002 to 2013.

During that time period, the number of kids who said they used marijuana in the previous 12 months dropped by 10%. Minor declines were also observed in the number of behavioral problems, such as fighting, shoplifting, and selling drugs.

Debunking the Myth: Legal Weed Does Not Increase Teen Marijuana Consumption

Behavioral issues and drug problems tend to go hand-in-hand. The “why” can go either way – when kids are no longer dependent on drugs, they have fewer serious problems. But kids who have fewer serious problems, or resolve them, are also less likely to be dependent on drugs.

The team wrote in the study, published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry:

“The reduction in the past-year prevalence of marijuana use disorders among adolescents took place during a period when 10 US states relaxed criminal sanctions against adult marijuana use and 13 states enacted medical marijuana policies. During this period, teenagers also became less likely to perceive marijuana use as risky, and marijuana use became more socially acceptable among young adults.”

Read: Physician Group Supports Federal Decriminalization, Regulation of Marijuana

Lead study author Richard Grucza, PhD, an associate professor of psychiatry atWashington University School of Medicine, said:

“We were surprised to see substantial declines in marijuana use and abuse. We don’t know how legalization is affecting young marijuana users, but it could be that many kids with behavioral problems are more likely to get treatment earlier in childhood, making them less likely to turn to pot during adolescence. But whatever is happening with these behavioral issues, it seems to be outweighing any effects of marijuana decriminalization.”

In 2002, about 16% of young people reported using marijuana during the previous year. By 2013, that number had dropped to below 14%. And the percentage of young people with “marijuana-use disorders” declined from about 4% to about 3%.

Grucza said:

“Other research shows that psychiatric disorders earlier in childhood are strong predictors of marijuana use later on. So it’s likely that if these disruptive behaviors are recognized earlier in life, we may be able to deliver therapies that will help prevent marijuana problems — and possibly problems with alcohol and other drugs, too.” [1]

The findings don’t mean that the loosening of marijuana laws are the reason behind the drop in marijuana dependence and behavioral/personal issues. But they do suggest that other factors – including broader behavioral and mental health trends – have a much broader effect on teen marijuana use than laws and attitudes towards pot.

Last year, a study published in Lancet Psychiatry found that legalizing medical marijuana had no effect on teen marijuana use at the state level. Other large surveys of adolescents have found that marijuana use among kids has been flat. And state-level federal survey data shows teen marijuana use has remained about the same, even in states where it has been legalized for adults.

Marijuana offers many health benefits, and there has never been a fatal overdose of cannabis in recorded history, though some studies have suggested that marijuana use may harm the developing teen brain.

Sources:

[1] Pain News Network

[2] The Sydney Morning Herald

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About Julie Fidler:
	Julie Fidler is a freelance writer, legal blogger, and the author of Adventures in Holy Matrimony: For Better or the Absolute Worst. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two ridiculously spoiled cats. She occasionally pontificates on her blog.

Teaching Your Kids Survival Skills, Just Like They Did In The Old West

Those of us who have kids must take them into consideration in our survival planning. As parents, we want to protect our children from harm, which could very well cause us to do everything for them. But in doing so, we can inadvertently create a more dangerous situation for them.

Granted, all children need to be protected, especially small children. But as they grow, they need to learn the skills which allow them to become more independent. Please note that this is different than just being granted independence; it’s not about authority, but rather skills and knowledge.

In the Old West, children were given as much responsibility as they could bear. This required parents knowing their children and what their limits were. It also required the parents to train their children, giving them the skills and knowledge to be able to effectively fulfill those responsibilities. This also meant having the character to do the chores, without mom and dad having to get after them.

When Mom and Dad Are Gone …

But the real test of a child’s responsibility was when they were left alone. While this did not happen very often, there were times when it did, especially in the case of a single parent (where the other parent had died). But what would happen to the children if the single parent died while away from home? There were countless dangers in the Old West, ranging from marauding Native Americans to wild animals. Death could happen at any time, and when it did, the children were left alone.

Turn Drive Time Into Fun-Filled, History Time With Your Kids!

How long they would be left alone would depend a lot on the circumstances. If something happened to someone who lived in town, it would be noticed immediately. But for those who lived on isolated homesteads, it could be days or even weeks before anyone was aware that children were being forced to live on their own and care for themselves. Only then would the community rally around to help them.

Parents wanted to avoid such a situation. They wanted to train their children so that if something happened to them, their children would be able to care for themselves and survive. This caused children to grow up fast on the frontier, learning skills that we would normally avoid teaching our children until they were much older.

At 10 years of age, most children knew how to start and tend a fire, care for the livestock, work the farm, and shoot a gun accurately. Some would have the responsibility of hunting for the family’s food. Others would be working alongside their parents, tilling and harvesting the fields. There were no idle hands on the frontier.

But Not Just the Old West

A survival situation would probably be much like the life they had on the frontier. As such, the same need to train our children would be imperative.

To a child, many of the things we would consider survival skills are exciting and fun to learn, giving them the motivation to learn, without having to know why they are learning them. Let’s use the example of teaching them gardening and animal husbandry, important skills for long-term survival. So, you start gardening and get some animals to raise, having your children work right along beside you. With the animals, that will be no problem, as most children naturally gravitate toward animals anyway, especially small ones. With gardening, most kids love to get their hands dirty.

Crazy Gadget Makes Every Window A Cell Phone Solar Charger

Shooting is probably the easiest skill of all to teach your children, as they usually have a fascination with guns, anyway. Besides, if you’re going to have guns in the home, you should start teaching them about gun safety at an early age. That’s the only real way of protecting them from accidents. If they are too young for real guns, start them with Nerf guns or Airsoft. Then you can move them up to pellet guns, before taking the big step up to the real thing.

Most other survival skills can be taught on camping trips. If you make camping a normal part of your family’s recreation early on, your children will grow to love it. Each trip can be planned around one lesson: teaching them a new survival skill, but talking about it as a “camping skill” rather than as a survival skill.

Tap into the natural curiosity and sense of adventure that your children have. Use their questions about life and things that they learn in school as a springboard for teaching them new survival skills, whenever you can. In other words, make survival training a part of your day-to-day life and your children will see it as normal — not something with ominous potential.

What advice would you add on teaching kids survival skills? Share your thoughts in the section below:

More Kids Are Getting Head Lice … Because of Smartphones?

Younger and younger children are being handed smartphones by their parents; and for many children, access to 24/7 technology has resulted in attention and sleep problems and family arguments. Now it appears that smartphones are bringing a fresh misery to parents and children everywhere: head lice. [1]

Researchers recently studied over 200 school-age children and found that those who owned a smartphone or tablet were twice as likely to be infested with lice. This is because the phones encourage children to gather in groups – the perfect opportunity for the bugs to make a beeline from scalp to scalp.

Only 29.5% of children who did not have a mobile device experienced head lice, compared to 62.5% of smartphone- and tablet-owning kids.

Nearly half of the participants had been chomped on by head lice in the previous five years, up to 22 times more than the previous numbers: 2-8%.

Unlike with earlier studies, the researchers didn’t find a specific link between increased cases of head lice and selfies.

Dr. Tess McPherson, of Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said:

“Compared to previous estimates of head lice incidence our figures were much higher, showing that almost half of children have had them in the last five years, which may not come as a surprise to parents.

We also noted that children with smartphones or tablets were more likely to get head lice, which is interesting but we can only guess that this is due to the way that young people gather around them, though there could be other reasons.

Selfie culture gets its fair share of negative press so it’s worth noting that despite previous speculation it seems that selfies can’t specifically be blamed for helping the spread of head lice at this stage.” [1]

What’s more, previous estimates of how many children in the U.K. have experienced head lice “may be conservative.”

Those who were most affected by lice were girls with siblings aged 6-9. [2]

The team of scientists also found that 45% of the children in the study had been infested with head lice in the last five years, a longer period than covered by earlier research. [1]

Matthew Gass, of the British Association of Dermatologists, said:

“Head lice are a pain to deal with, both for children and their parents.

Speaking from experience, they are intractable misery bugs that take far more time and effort to remove than is reasonable.

Not to mention the obligatory quarantine period that they necessitate. That’s why a better understanding of how these pests are transmitted is useful.

Prevention is always better than a cure, particularly if the cure means wrenching your poor daughter’s hair with a fine-toothed nit comb, or relying on over-the-counter remedies that head lice are increasingly resistant to.

We’re not saying that smartphones are causing children to get head lice, but that there is a link, so if there’s an outbreak at home or at school, consider how electronic devices might cause children to congregate, allowing head lice to spread.” [1]

Contrary to popular belief, head lice don’t care about the cleanliness or length of hair. They’re not usually spread via combs, hats or pillows, and lice cannot be caught from animals. Head lice can’t swim, jump or fly, and people typically become infested with them when the insects crawl directly from one person’s hair onto another’s. [2]

Read: Natural Solutions for Head Lice

Another factor in the growing spread of lice not mentioned in the study: resistance to the pesticides most commonly used to eradicate them.

The findings of the study were presented at the British Association of Dermatologists annual conference in Liverpool.

Sources:

[1] The Telegraph

[2] The Sun

The Last Rebels: 25 Things We Did As Kids That Would Get Someone Arrested Today

With all of the ridiculous new regulations, coddling, and societal mores that seem to be the norm these days, it’s a miracle those of us over 30 survived our childhoods.

Here’s the problem with all of this babying: it creates a society of weenies.

There won’t be more rebels because this generation has been frightened into submission and apathy through a deliberately orchestrated culture of fear. No one will have faced adventure and lived to greatly embroider the story.

Kids are brainwashed – yes, brainwashed – into believing that the mere thought of a gun means you’re a psychotic killer waiting for a place to rampage.

They are terrified to do anything when they aren’t wrapped up with helmets, knee pads, wrist guards, and other protective gear.

Parents can’t let them go out and be independent or they’re charged with neglect and the children are taken away.

Woe betide any teen who uses a tool like a pocket knife, or heck, even a table knife to cut meat.

Lighting their own fire? Good grief, those parents must either not care of their child is disfigured by 3rd-degree burns over 90% of his body or they’re purposely nurturing a little arsonist.

Heaven forbid that a child describe another child as “black” or, for that matter, refer to others as girls or boys. No actual descriptors can be used for the fear of “offending” that person, and “offending” someone is incredibly high on the hierarchy of Things Never To Do.

“Free range parenting” is all but illegal and childhood is a completely different experience these days.

All of this babying creates incompetent, fearful adults.

Our children have been enveloped in this softly padded culture of fear, and it’s creating a society of people who are fearful, out of shape, overly cautious, and painfully politically correct.  They are incredibly incompetent when they go out on their own because they’ve never actually done anything on their own.

When my oldest daughter came home after her first semester away at college, she told me how grateful she was to be an independent person. She described the scene in the dorm.  “I had to show a bunch of them how to do laundry and they didn’t even know how to make a box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese,” she said.  Apparently they were in awe of her ability to cook actual food that did not originate in a pouch or box, her skills at changing a tire, her knack for making coffee using a French press instead of a coffee maker, and her ease at operating a washing machine and clothes dryer.  She says that even though she thought I was being mean at the time I began making her do things for herself, she’s now glad that she possesses those skills.  Hers was also the room that had everything needed to solve everyday problems: basic tools, first aid supplies, OTC medicine, and home remedies.

I was truly surprised when my daughter told me about the lack of life skills her friends have.  I always thought maybe I was secretly lazy and that was the basis on my insistence that my girls be able to fend for themselves, but it honestly prepares them for life far better than if I was a hands-on mom that did absolutely everything for them.  They need to realize that clothing does not get worn and then neatly reappear on a hanger in the closet, ready to be worn again. They need to understand that meals do not magically appear on the table, created by singing appliances a la Beauty and the Beast.

If the country is populated by a bunch of people who can’t even cook a box of macaroni and cheese when their stoves function at optimum efficiency, how on earth will they sustain themselves when they have to not only acquire their food, but must use off-grid methods to prepare it? How can someone who requires an instruction manual to operate a digital thermostat hope to keep warm when their home environment it controlled by wood they have collected and fires they have lit with it?  How can someone who is afraid of getting dirty plant a garden and shovel manure?

Did you do any of these things and live to tell the tale?

While I did make my children wear bicycle helmets and never took them on the highway in the back of a pick-up, many of the things on this list were not just allowed, they were encouraged. Before someone pipes up with outrage (because they’re *cough* offended) I’m not suggesting that you throw caution to the wind and let your kids attempt to hang-glide off the roof with a sheet attached to a kite frame. (I’ve got a scar proving that makeshift hang-gliding is, in fact, a terrible idea). Common sense evolves, and I obviously don’t recommend that you purposely put your children in unsafe situations with a high risk of injury.

But, let them be kids. Let them explore and take reasonable risks. Let them learn to live life without fear.

Raise your hand if you survived a childhood in the 60s, 70s, and 80s that included one or more of the following, frowned-upon activities (raise both hands if you bear a scar proving your daredevil participation in these dare-devilish events):

1. Riding in the back of an open pick-up truck with a bunch of other kids


2. Leaving the house after breakfast and not returning until the streetlights came on, at which point, you raced home, ASAP so you didn’t get in trouble


3. Eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the school cafeteria


4. Riding your bike without a helmet


5. Riding your bike with a buddy on the handlebars, and neither of you wearing helmets


6. Drinking water from the hose in the yard


7. Swimming in creeks, rivers, ponds, and lakes (or what they now call *cough* “wild swimming“)


8. Climbing trees (One park cut the lower branches from a tree on the playground in case some stalwart child dared to climb them)


9. Having snowball fights (and accidentally hitting someone you shouldn’t)


10. Sledding without enough protective equipment to play a game in the NFL


11. Carrying a pocket knife to school (or having a fishing tackle box with sharp things on school property)


12. Camping


13. Throwing rocks at snakes in the river


14. Playing politically incorrect games like Cowboys and Indians


15. Playing Cops and Robbers with *gasp* toy guns


16. Pretending to shoot each other with sticks we imagined were guns


17. Shooting an actual gun or a bow (with *gasp* sharp arrows) at a can on a log, accompanied by our parents who gave us pointers to improve our aim. Heck, there was even a marksmanship club at my high school


18. Saying the words “gun” or “bang” or “pow pow” (there actually a freakin’ CODE about “playing with invisible guns”)


19. Working for your pocket money well before your teen years


20. Taking that money to the store and buying as much penny candy as you could afford, then eating it in one sitting


21. Eating pop rocks candy and drinking soda, just to prove we were exempt from that urban legend that said our stomachs would explode


22. Getting so dirty that your mom washed you off with the hose in the yard before letting you come into the house to have a shower


23. Writing lines for being a jerk at school, either on the board or on paper


24. Playing “dangerous” games like dodgeball, kickball, tag, whiffle ball, and red rover (The Health Department of New York issued a warning about the “significant risk of injury” from these games)


25. Walking to school alone

Come on, be honest.  Tell us what crazy stuff you did as a child.

Teach your children to be independent this summer.

We didn’t get trophies just for showing up. We were forced, yes, forced – to do actual work and no one called protective services. And we gained something from all of this.

Our independence.

Do you really think that children who are terrified by someone pointing his finger and saying “bang” are going to lead the revolution against tyranny? No, they will cower in their tiny apartments, hoping that if they behave well enough, they’ll continue to be fed.

Do you think our ancestors who fought in the revolutionary war were afraid to climb a tree or get dirty?

Those of us who grew up this way (and who raise our children to be fearless) are the resistance against a coddled, helmeted, non-offending society that aims for a dependant populace. In a country that was built on rugged self-reliance, we are now the minority.

Nurture the rebellion this summer. Boot them outside. Get your kids away from their TVs, laptops, and video games. Get sweaty and dirty. Do things that makes the wind blow through your hair. Go off in search of the best climbing tree you can find. Shoot guns. Learn to use a bow and arrow. Play outside all day long and catch fireflies after dark. Do things that the coddled world considers too dangerous and watch your children blossom.

Teach your kids what freedom feels like.

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EPA Delays Rules Limiting Methane Admission, Admits it may Harm Kids

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will delay a federal air pollution rule for 2 years, admitting that the decision will disproportionately harm children.

The agency said it will suspend standards aimed at preventing leaks from the oil and gas industry while it mulls the rule, which the Obama administration introduced in June 2016. The rule would reduce methane, a greenhouse gas, and emissions that lead to smog.

The EPA says the move will save the oil and gas industry roughly $173 million. [2]

The agency says not to worry – any harm the delay might cause children would be for a “limited” time.

“Any impacts on children’s health caused by the delay in the rule will be limited, because the length of the proposed stay is limited. The agency therefore believes it is more appropriate to consider the impact on children’s health in the context of any substantive changes proposed as part of reconsideration.”

Environmental groups are furious over the delay, saying children would especially be at risk from carcinogenic pollutants like benzene if the EPA lifts the regulation. The law applies to approximately 18,000 oil and gas facilities across 22 states. [1]

Peter Zalzal, lead attorney at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), said:

“It is unconscionable that this unprecedented loophole for oil and gas pollution will increase dangerous smog, methane, and cancer-causing benzene when commonsense solutions are at hand. Every day that these clean air safeguards are delayed, thousands of oil and gas wells across the country will emit dangerous pollution in the air, harming the health of our children. We are taking legal action to carry out our nation’s clean air laws and fight for the health of children across America.” [2]

The EDF takes particular exception to a section of the EPA’s announcement of the delay that states:

“EPA believes that the environmental health or safety risk addressed by this action may have a disproportionate effect on children… However, because this action merely proposes to delay the 2016 Rule, this action will not change any impacts of the 2016 Rule after the stay. Any impacts on children’s health caused by the delay in the rule will be limited, because the length of the proposed stay is limited.”

The lawsuit states:

“The cornerstone of the rule is its requirements for leak detection and repair, which direct oil and gas companies to monitor their well sites and compressor stations at regular intervals to detect leaks (also called fugitive emissions) of air pollutants, repair those leaks within specified periods, and report periodically on those actions.”

The EDF points out that the announcement acknowledges that the delay may sicken children, but argues that more illness for only 2 years is acceptable.

Air Pollution IS Harmful

Air pollution does, indeed, cause cancer, and that’s based on the EPA’s own research. In the U.S. alone, pollution causes about 200,000 deaths each year. Toxic nanoparticles from air pollution have been found “in abundance” in human brain tissue, and these toxins may cause Alzheimer’s disease. Air pollution has even been linked to suicide.

The EDF and other environmental groups are suing the EPA over its decision to delay the rule. The agency had originally planned to delay the ordinance by 3 months, but it has since been stretched to 2019, following a period of public comment and a final EPA decision. [1]

Said Joanne Spalding, chief climate counsel at the Sierra Club:

“This isn’t simply mean-spirited, it’s a deliberate attempt to benefit the oil and gas industry at the expense of our public health. Delaying the implementation of the standards last week was illegal and extending that 90-day stay to 2 years is equally valid.” [2]

The EDF, Sierra Club, and other groups involved in the lawsuit argue the EPA lacks the authority to issue a stay that is likely to cause irreparable harm to the residents living in close proximity to the aforementioned more than 18,000 new and modifiable wells subjected to the Obama-era rule. They said:

“Promulgated rules remain in effect unless and until they are validly changed through the Clean Air Act’s enhanced rule-making procedures.”

Mark Brownstein, EDF’s vice president of climate and energy, said in a statement:

“The oil and gas industry tell us natural gas is a clean, low carbon fuel, but industry lobbyists and lawyers then argue to remove the protections necessary to deliver on that claim. Sadly, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is only too happy to do their bidding. Every day these common sense rules are not in effect, the public’s health is at risk, the climate is threatened, and the nation’s valuable energy resources are being wasted.”

Sources:

[1] The Guardian

[2] Think Progress

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About Julie Fidler:
	Julie Fidler is a freelance writer, legal blogger, and the author of Adventures in Holy Matrimony: For Better or the Absolute Worst. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two ridiculously spoiled cats. She occasionally pontificates on her blog.

3 US Million Teens Per Year Suffer with Depression

The Center for Mental Health Services at the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has released a report citing that 3 million teens in the United States suffer from depression each year.

The number of 12- to 17-year-olds suffering from depressive episodes has been steadily increasing in the past few years. The overall rate of depression amongst teens has jumped from 9.9 percent between 2013 to 2014 to over 11 percent the following year.

According to the report, the state with the highest rate of depressive episodes amongst teens was Oregon, where an average of 14.6 percent of teens were affected. In contract, the District of Columbia only saw 8.7 percent of teens suffering from depression, which is the lowest in the nation.

Paolo del Vecchio, Director of SAMHSA’s Center for Mental Health Services said of the study:

“Adolescence is a critical time in a person’s development, and battling with depression can be devastating for teens unless they receive effective treatment. Effective treatment is available, but parents, teachers and all concerned members of the community must work to assure that adolescents in need get help.”

As of 2014, 1 in 9 adolescents in the US were receiving care to combat trouble sleeping, lack of concentration, lost interest in activities, and plummeting self-esteem among other symptoms.

Teens who are depressed typically lose interest in activities they once enjoyed, and typically lasts longer than two weeks. They may also struggle with low self-esteem and have trouble concentrating and sleeping. Some teens may also either stop eating as much as they normally do due to their feelings of depression, or begin to eat in excessive amounts in order to find comfort. They may also talk or move slowly, sleep more than normal, complain of excessive fatigue or have trouble remembering things. Teens with depression may also report feelings of sadness, emptiness, anger, numbness or worthlessness.

Aside from Oregon, other states with higher instances of depression included:

• Rhode Island


• Virginia


• Maine


• Utah


• Washington State


• Wisconsin


• Arizona


• Indiana

Many states in the southern United States recorded very low instances of depression, in addition to several other states. These states include:

• Alaska


• Connecticut


• Georgia


• Hawaii


• Kentucky


• New Mexico


• North Dakota


• South Dakota


• Tennessee

It is recommended that if you or someone you know is suffering from depression to seek advice from your GP. You can also phone the National Institute of Mental Health’s 24-hour helpline for free professional service at 1-800-273-8255.

Sources:

The Daily Mail

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About Anna Scanlon:
	Anna Scanlon is an author of YA and historical fiction and a PhD student at the University of Leicester where she is finishing her degree in modern history.

Letting Your Baby Cry Himself To Sleep Is Safe, Study Finds

You just put your baby in his crib for the night, and he’s wailing up a storm. You just want to watch a little Netflix before getting some sleep, but you’re wracked with guilt. If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Not by a long-shot. But a recent study finds that letting your baby cry himself to sleep won’t harm him, so grab the remote control.

Researchers in Australia worked with 43 sets of parents who had babies between 6 and 16 months of age, all of whom had the same problem: their little ones had trouble sleeping. The researchers taught about 1/3 of the parents about graduated extinction, or simply “crying it out.” Parents were asked to leave the room within 1 minute of putting their baby back to bed and, if their baby cried, to wait increasingly longer periods of time before going back into the room and comforting them.

Another third of the parents were asked to try an approach called bedtime fading, in which parents put their baby to bed closer to the time he or she usually fell asleep and were allowed to stay in the room until their child dozed off.

The rest of the parents, the control group, did not attempt any sleep training and instead received information about infant sleep.

Three months after the experiments began, the babies in the cry-it-out group were falling asleep 15 minutes faster than babies in the control group. The babies in the bedtime fading group fell asleep about 12 minutes faster compared with the control group.

Michael Gradisar, associate professor of psychology at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, said:

“What our data probably does not capture is the peace of mind surrounding bedtime that we see when we work with families.”

Additionally, the graduated extinction group bested the fading group in other measures, including the number of times the babies awoke during the night and their total sleep time. [1]

One of the concerns that parents and medical professionals share is that letting a baby cry itself to sleep could cause the child stress, which could lead to bigger problems. The study measured levels of the stress hormone cortisol in the infants’ saliva both in the morning and in the afternoon, looking for elevated levels that could indicate long-term stress.

The study did not find elevated levels of cortisol in the infants in the graduated extinction group, and no significant differences were observed in parental attachment or behavioral problems in those infants 12 months later.

Gradisar said of the findings:

“It looks like you’ve got two effective treatments that don’t necessarily lead to negative outcomes.”

He acknowledged, however, that listening to your child cry himself to sleep could make you want to rip your hair out. He said:

“It is a stressful thing for parents to go through.”

A 2012 study of 326 children with sleep problems at age 7 months had similar results. There was no evidence that letting babies cry themselves to sleep had any long-term negative impact on their sleep or behavior 5 years later. [2]

Letting your baby cry it out might be tough to handle, but it might be worth it for those extra 15 minutes of “grown-up time.”

The new study is published in the journal Pediatrics.

Sources:

[1] CNN

[2] CBC News

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About Julie Fidler:
	Julie Fidler is a freelance writer, legal blogger, and the author of Adventures in Holy Matrimony: For Better or the Absolute Worst. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two ridiculously spoiled cats. She occasionally pontificates on her blog.

Study Reveals Yet Another Reason to Limit Kids’ Screen Time

There is ample research which should give parents pause when considering whether to let the TV babysit their kids. One study even suggests that too much tube time can lead to poor bone health later on.

I don’t like to bash TV. A decade ago, I worked with teen moms and their babies in a group-home setting, and nothing seemed to calm the little ones quite like Baby Einstein videos. Those videos also had a soothing effect on my nieces and nephews when they were babies.

Baby Einstein videos are both colorful and educational, and they benefit adults, too, by helping them to not lose their minds.

However, in excess, TV can be very harmful to children, both physically and psychologically. The evidence is overwhelming.

Science says you can tell the difference between children who were regularly being read to in infancy and children who were entertained by a TV or some other form of electronic screen by how talkative they are.

The interactive activity of reading to a child tends to produce “chattier” kids, whereas kids who are left to zone out in front of the boob tube don’t have as much to say. This is because children who are read to end up developing better language skills.

Last year, a study presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting revealed that kindergarten-age children who watched more than an hour of TV a day were 39% more likely to become overweight and 86% more likely to be obese by the time they entered 1st grade.

Yet another study, published in 2013 by Public Health England, showed that British kids who spent most of their time in front of TVs and computer screens had more depression and anxiety, and limited social interaction and physical activity. [1]

The latest study, known as the longitudinal Raine study, followed 2,900 prenatal clinic patients enrolled in utero by their mothers. Researchers checked the children at birth and then at 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 10, 14, 17, and 20 years of age.

Complete data were provided on TV watching, bone mass, physical activity, serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D, dietary calcium intake, smoking habits, and alcohol consumption of 1,181 individuals in the 2,900 cohort.

Parents reported their child’s TV-watching habits at ages 5, 8, and 10 years of age. The children self-reported at ages 14, 17, and 20.

Participants who consistently watched 14 hours of TV per week were found to have lower bone mineral content than those who watched less TV, even after researchers adjusted for physical activity, height, body mass, calcium intake, vitamin D levels, alcohol, and smoking, all at age 20. [2]

The authors wrote:

“Since attainment of optimal peak bone mass is protective against osteoporosis later in life, reducing sedentary time in children may have long-term skeletal benefits.” [2]

The researchers believe that healthy bone growth may be adversely affected by the high- fat and high-sugar foods that typically go hand-in-hand with long hours of TV watching. [1]

It’s also possible that spending large amounts of time sitting motionless could cause systemic changes in bone metabolism, as often seen in bed rest studies.

It’s understandable that a child may not want to play outside on a 95-degree day, but the dog days of summer shouldn’t be spent in front of the TV. Opt for a trip to the pool, or find an indoor activity that requires your child to concentrate and move around a little.

Sources:

[1] HCPLive.com

[2] ScienceDaily

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About Julie Fidler:
	Julie Fidler is a freelance writer, legal blogger, and the author of Adventures in Holy Matrimony: For Better or the Absolute Worst. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two ridiculously spoiled cats. She occasionally pontificates on her blog.

Brain Scans Catch Autism Months Before Symptoms Appear

The symptoms of autism generally begin to emerge in a person between 12 and 18 months of age. Oftentimes, babies develop normally until this age, but then they start regressing and lose skills. Now, a recent study suggests it may be possible to spot autism on an MRI scan months before symptoms start. [1]

Geraldine Dawson, a clinical psychologist and autism researcher at Duke University who was not involved in the new work, says:

“We’re learning that there are biological changes that occur at [the time] or before the symptoms start to emerge. It’s the ability to detect autism at its very earliest stages that’s going to allow us to intervene before the full syndrome is manifest.”

Read: New Scientific Discovery Could Make it Easier to Diagnose, Treat Autism

For the study, researchers conducted MRI scans on 150 children, 3 times: at 6 months old, 1 year, and 2 years. More than 100 of those children were at high risk for autism because they had an older sibling diagnosed with the disorder. Infants with older siblings who have autism have about a 1 in 5 chance of developing autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

The team found that 8 times out of 10, they could correctly predict which children would go on to develop autism based on the faster growth rate of the surface areas of their brains. They detail their findings in the journal Nature. [1] [2]

Source: ABC News – A 2011 study found that people with certain types of autism have bigger brains.

Washington University child psychiatrist Dr. Kelly Botteron, explains:

“It was basically 80, 85% predictive of being able to basically make a diagnosis based on just their MRI scan changes from 6 to 12 to 24 months.” [3]

The study’s lead author, Heather Hazlett, a psychologist at the University of North Carolina’s Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities (CIDD), says that enlargement of the brain seemed to correlate with the onset of symptoms, but more research is needed. The study was small, and doctors shouldn’t start conducting MRIs on children in an effort to diagnose them. [1]

Read: 1st Trimester Ultrasounds may be Linked to Autism Symptoms in Children

Still, if the findings can be recreated in a larger study, MRI could become a new diagnostic tool for high-risk children before their symptoms begin, giving parents the opportunity to start treating their child at a time when treatment will be possibly most effective. We just have to be careful with recommending such measures, or we could see issues similar to those arising from mammograms (causing issues due to being unnecessarily overused). Currently, the average age of diagnosis is about 4 years. [2]

Botteron says:

“There’s pretty good evidence that the earlier we can make a diagnosis and begin interventions, even things like speech therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, kinds of behavioral interventions that we can have a much better long-term outcome.” [3]

Some of those interventions and treatments could include “hyper-parenting,” McPartland explains, meaning that a child headed for autism might benefit from more parental interaction such as cooing, singing, and laughing. He says:

“Supersaturate a child’s environment with social information as much as you can. And hope that it takes.” [1]

Sources:

[1] Scientific American

[2] USA Today

[3] CBS News St. Louis

ABC News

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About Julie Fidler:
	Julie Fidler is a freelance writer, legal blogger, and the author of Adventures in Holy Matrimony: For Better or the Absolute Worst. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two ridiculously spoiled cats. She occasionally pontificates on her blog.