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Lead Poisoning

Recently having found out that my three year old had higher lead levels was a very scary moment. Having our house tested by the city Health Department made it worse. Every surface in our house from the window sills to the old fashion radiators was covered in lead paint. Even the walls that had been painted over the years had lead paint were the new paint had started cracking. Contacting our landlord proved to be useless. So this is what I learned:

What is lead poisoning? Lead is a poison that is harmful to your children’s nervous systems. Even low-level lead poisoning can reduce intelligence, motor control, hearing and emotional development. Children with blood levels as low as 10 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood – think one drop in 16 gallons of water – can have health problems. Adults can also have problems when exposed over time but leads effects on young children are worse. Young bodies absorb lead more readily and children are involved in more hand to mouth activities; plus lead tastes sweet. A blood test is the best way to detect lead poisoning since there are no immediate symptoms to alert you to a problem.

What causes lead poisoning? Lead based paint in the home is the major source of lead poisoning. Lead based paint for interior or exterior residential use was banned in 1978. Therefore, paint hazards are primarily a problem for homes built before 1980. The most likely interior surfaces coated with lead [...]

November 23rd, 2012 | Category: Protect your Children | One comment

Instilling a Positive Body Image in our Daughters

Growing up & reaching those dreaded teenage years can be very distressing on our daughters, they not only have to adjust to all the changes happening with their bodies but also with all the social pressures coming from school, her peer groups and the media.

As many as one-third of high school girls believe they are overweight, when they’re actually not. The fact is that these girls are so inspired by models and skinny actresses that the media portray as perfect women that they don’t want to follow the height-weight charts that doctors advise for them. Instead, they want to be lean and fit like movie stars so they can carry off similar clothes. But the truth is that teenage girls undergo hormonal changes and have a developing body which only means that their bodies will be fuller than that of a fashion model, as well as the fact that a fashion model virtually starves themselves to look the way they do.

Sadly, an unhealthy body image can make impressionable teenagers resort to crash dieting and even result in eating disorders. Both anorexia and bulimia have severe health-damaging consequences.

If you want your daughter to see beauty in her body, you need to take a close look at how you speak of your own. Most young girls find their mums beautiful, so imagine how they feel when you as a mother do nothing but put yourself down, the way you feel about your own [...]

November 23rd, 2012 | Category: Education, Protect your Children | Leave a comment

Over To You – Issue No 14

As much as abstinence is the right route for some people, a lot of teens don’t want to wait to have sex until they’re ready to have a baby. Puberty brings with it a lot of sexual feelings, and many choose to have sex for the first time during their teenage years, would you as a parent of a daughter allow them to use birth control to avoid a teenage pregnancy? Would you put them on it prior to losing their virginity? My Mother gave birth to me 5 months after her 17th birthday and in-turn my sister gave birth to her daughter when she was also 17, we never had the birds and bees conversation and in Europe we didn’t have sex education in school, so what is the route you as a parent take in regards to your teenagers and sex? HomeFront

Our Readers…………

Margy Button: All I can say is thank the gods I have boys and don’t have to pain over this. I have already had the birds and the bees talk with them and stressed the need for ‘protection’ should they find themselves doing more than holding hands!

Spring Towry: I put my daughter on it at 17. It was as a precaution and also for her heavy periods. We had a pregnancy scare and that was enough. Teens like to say they are not active but I know that is a lie. BC is not a permission slip it’s a just in case [...]

June 29th, 2012 | Category: Family, Family Life, Uncategorized | One comment

A refresher in manners

“Someone once said, that manners make the man.” The reason why we are forbidden by good manners to do certain things is that doing of such things gives pain or causes inconvenience to others. Rules of behavior have been made in order that people may live together in harmony.

At Home

Good manners require that a person be helpful and kind at all times.

Boys, never let your mother carry the groceries in, mow the yard, take out the trash, shovel snow if you can do the work for her. Dry the dishes and put them away so she can finish up her work.

Girls, you can help clean the house, do the laundry, dishes, make the beds and help with meals. Do your work cheerfully; because your mother will not be happy if you are cross and disagreeably.

Do you have good manners at the table? Are you on time at meals or do you come late? When you come to the table, see that your hands, nails and face are clean, and your hair combed. Do not begin to eat until everyone is at the table and served. Never play with your sliver. Do not reach across the table or in front of a person, but ask the person nearest the food to pass it to you.

Always take bread with your fingers, never with your fork. Break your bread into small pieces, [...]

June 29th, 2012 | Category: Family Life, Relationships | 2 comments
 
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