Tag: fairfax

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News

Shorts Banned for Girls

The way it should be. Girls wearing shorts and playing. Image courtesy of pat138241 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
The way it should be. Girls wearing shorts and playing. Image courtesy of pat138241 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Why would a school would ban shorts for girls! Well there is one, and it is Bathurst Public School. In a Sydney Morning Herald article it talks about how parents learnt of the decision via their children. Parents of course did not take the news seriously and thought that the kids had got it terribly wrong.

The news was correct and shorts have indeed been banned for girls at the school. Who does this? Shorts are good to wear and being a girl makes you no different to boys who want to wear shorts. Shorts allow you to play sport, run around the playground and not show your knickers to all. It gives you more freedom and confidence than a dress or a skirt.

Bathurst gets hot and shorts for a uniform is a good idea! Why is it that they are penalising girls not boys?  One woman quoted in the article touches on a very good point. She says that when she does yoga or sport she does not wear a dress. She wears pants or shorts, so why should not her little girl? Silly don’t you think!

It is 2013 and soon to be 2014 so why are we making girls wear only dresses for a school uniform? It is showing and teaching girls that they are limited in choices from a very early age.

Not every girl feels comfortable in a dress and prefers to wear shorts. Why would this not be thought of? Why is it essential that girls wear dresses at all times? Times have changed and girls and women do wear shorts and pants. Executives even have the pant suit, YES it does exist. I had some in my former life as a corporate climber.

Wearing a dress all the time is not practical and it is very sexist. One parent in the article is quoted as saying:

”Bella doesn’t really identify with gender stereotypes and that’s been a really conscious thing from me and my husband,” Ms Rodwell said. ”She owns dresses and likes to wear them out to dinner or when she goes to the theatre.”

 
An edited version of the school uniform policy has now allowed shorts for sport only. I for one don’t see the problem with girls wearing shorts to school all day instead of the dress. As long as the shorts are in school colours and match in with what they are supposed to wear there should be no issue.

The school principal did not comment on the Fairfax article and it mentions that if parents want their daughters to wear shorts to let the school know. If my girls were enrolled in the school I would let them know the girls would be wearing shorts.

Why is it that we are being so backward? Girls can do whatever they want, be whatever they want. Why are we making them wear a dress when sometimes shorts are much more appropriate and practical, stupid if you ask me!

This is from a mummy to two girls who live in shorts, pants and sometimes skirts and dresses. My kids wear the right outfit to have a rough and tumble outside and love the freedom that shorts allow. I think this is a silly change in policy from a school.

In the Fairfax article it mentioned that a uniform committee had been formed and will meet on December the 11th. Let’s hope that they see sense and allow girls to wear shorts like the boys do!

What would you do if your school banned shorts for girls? Send in your comments.

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News

Why Super is Not Super

Our new piggy bank
Think the coins will come in handy!

I for one would love to have heaps of money in my superannuation account, but alas due to the GFC and also looking after kids this is not be so. Hopefully it is just for now, and the bank account will rise in the future. I for one have been listening with interest about the call to tax higher income earners for their super, but it appears that the lower income earners are not having it easy either.

I do understand that taxing the rich more is sensible but I for one have never understood why our money that we are saving for our old age is taxed so heavily. Why can’t we just save this money with little tax threat, or maybe none at all? The more you can squirrel away the better, and the less you would rely on government pensions. I for one think that if you make saving for your retirement harder it ruins what you are trying to achieve. What about you?

My personal opinion is that you should not be taxed on any of it, and it should be able to provide for your old age. People are living longer and things in life are much more expensive. Grown up children are staying longer and longer with their parents, so adding to the costs of older parents who by this stage might not be working and only relying on their super for income.

I also found this line incredible in Peter Martin’s article today in the Sydney Morning Herald, see below:

“A middle earner on the average male wage gets $1293.”  

Why are we setting out differences between male and female earnings?  Why are we still making the distinction that men have a different wage compared to women? What would be the average middle earner wage for women? Where is this scale? I hope that I have not earned a female wage ever, just a wage. I don’t want to be treated differently due to gender. I would like to be just paid accordingly to my skills and ability. Maybe if I was paid a male wage my superannuation figures might look healthier? Who knows? People would never admit to giving you less money for being female. Interesting line in the article don’t you think? What are your thoughts?

If you are like me and your eyes glaze over when all intricate details of superannuation is discussed, this page from Wikipedia about Taxation on Superannuation might be of assistance.

I would make the rate that everyone pays the same for superannuation, as the more you put in only helps the individual and takes the stress away from the government to provide. So they are doing themselves an injustice to stop us saving more money.

Why not continue the discussion on our Twitter or Facebook pages.

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4 years and beyond

Melting Temperatures

The Girls at the Airfield
The Girls at the Airfield

Today was cooler than yesterday and Saturday. Tomorrow is going to be a day that I think any human who is outside will melt and not ever be the same. In the city it is meant to be 43 degrees and in the west of Sydney it is meant to be 45 degrees.  So all those that rate things in Fahrenheit rather than Celsius 45 degrees is 113 in Fahrenheit, so it is going to very hot. It is listed to be 34 degrees here which is normally cooler than the city but it is expected to be even hotter.

As you can imagine it is a complete fire ban, people have been asked to make sure they have an escape plan and to keep cool. The local veterinary has put a list of what to do in a fire if you have pets – Fire Safety for Pets.

Not only will we have extreme hot temperatures we are set to have gale force winds tomorrow. Let’s just pray and hope that we have no fires and we are all safe and sound. Tonight we took advantage of hubby still being on holidays and managed to go to the the airfield for their regular Monday night BBQ. We normally miss it as with the twins and hubby working long and late hours it is hard to get there.  It was hot and dusty there, but it was nice to see the sun setting and to walk in cooler but balmy summer night.

I send out my thoughts to all in a fire prone place and hope that you are not affected by fire. To all those that are volunteers that help us fight any fires that are here or in the future I send you thanks for your time and the danger you put yourself in to help the community.

Our aim tomorrow is to get under the sprinkler, have ice blocks, sit under the fan and to maybe go to the pool like everyone else to stay cool. Maybe we will have to go to the pictures to see the latest film to be in air conditioning or at the very least sit at the shopping centre having a drink. I hope you all try and stay cool and safe tomorrow.

As you will see there are reports to say to prepare for the worst.

Send in your comments and why not continue the discussion on our twitter or facebook pages.

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News

Chocolate Makes You Brainy

Chocolate for an improved you!
Chocolate for an improved you!

If you looked at the heading of this post, you would say “really does chocolate make you smarter?” Well according to “The New England Journal of Medicine in the October issue contains a paper written by Franz H. Messerli M.D. on the relationship between the per capita number of Nobel Laureates that a country has produced and its level of chocolate consumption.” Yes there is a relation to how much chocolate a nation eats and its cognitive performance as a population. Interesting right!

I know it is hard to believe but it all comes down to flavanols. “Flavanols have been shown to slow or reverse the drop in cognitive performance that often accompanies aging. It so happens that cocoa is a rich source of flavanols.” (Kasey Edwards, How chocolate makes you smarter)

Don’t think that Australia is up there as a huge chocolate consumer or even having the highest number of Nobel Laureates, we have 13  and as you can imagine Switzerland has the highest chocolate consumption and of course nobel laureates. Maybe eating more chocolate high in flavanols is a good idea.

In Kasey Edwards article, “How chocolate makes you smarter” she asks how much more chocolate do we need to eat to make us smarter? Well…

‘The minimally effective chocolate dose seems to hover around 2 kg per year, and the dose–response curve reveals no apparent ceiling on the number of Nobel laureates at the highest chocolate-dose level of 11 kg per year.’ “In short, the good doctor is telling us that the more we eat, the cleverer we get.”

So when you are eating chocolate this holiday season or at any time during the year, you are improving yourself by eating the chocolate and each bite will hopefully make you smarter and maybe younger.  So don’t panic when offered another choccy.

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3 years and beyond

Mental or Not?

The government has implemented a new program to test three year olds for signs of mental illness.  This new program will start from July 1, 2012 and will be run by GP’s with the standard health check for kids; it is a voluntary program that allows parents to go to the doctor with any concerns.

The idea is that behaviour/issues will be noticed and help will be found for these children.  However I am a big believer in labels and kids will be marked as early as three years old for being shy, upset, and anxious or other things and some or all of these things kids grow out of, some might not, but most do.

According to Jill Stark who wrote “Mental health checks for preschoolers” that is published online at Fairfax’s Essential Kids website, the program:

“…will consider behaviour such as sleeping with the light on, temper tantrums or extreme shyness as signs of possible psychological problems.”

I for one would not want to bring my kids for a check-up to then have normal behaviour seen as possible signs of mental illness. I do understand that early diagnose for kids that need help is essential and I applaud any program that helps families and especially these kids. However I worry that kids who are just being kids will clog up the system and not give the time for kids that really need the program.  Unless my girls give me any sign to worry, which has not happened and I think not, I will not use this service.

Another worry for me is who is this information shared with? Schools – pre-schools, primary, secondary, universities, future work places, and the list can continue. Is giving the child a label going to hurt the chances of recovery if there is an issue? I do know that finding out what ails you is helpful, as then you can work to fix it, and I do agree.

However for me it is like telling a kid that they are stupid and then hoping that they achieve. When I was at school, if you were not good at maths you were put in the dumb class. Teachers gave you easier tasks and did not attempt to teach you what you really should know, for example algebra. If these teachers did not tell you were dumb/stupid and spent some time teaching you in different ways how to understand the maths problem, then this would lead to kids getting better at maths and achieving.

What are your thoughts to this new program for mental health checks for three year olds? Currently it is a voluntary program, but what if it becomes mandatory?  I for one would not want to have to go and do it, some things are just private. Although, I do think that this service is great for people that really need it, and I hope they can access the service that should be for them, not the average kids who are just being challenging children. Send in your thoughts?

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3 years and beyond Pre-School Teaching and Learning

Learning styles

One of the reasons we chose the Montessori pre-school for the girls was that they look at how different children learn and work with the child’s talents. When I was at school you just had to do as you were told and learn the way all others learnt. This looks like it has changed, it is good that differences are being acknowledged. Today I saw an article about “Your child’s learning style” on Fairfax’s Essential Kids website.

This article on essential kids looks at all different styles, the below list is taken from the article:

1. Visual learner – These children enjoy drawing, colouring, puzzles and creative art. They need to “see” information to learn best.

2. Verbal learner – These children love listening to stories and may learn to talk at an earlier age. They follow verbal instructions easily and love to talk.

3. Tactile learner – These children enjoy getting “a feel” of different materials. They like to be shown how to do things.

4. Kinaesthetic learner – These children, like tactile learners enjoy learning through touch, but they also learn by “movement and sensory interaction”. They may learn better if movement is incorporated into the lesson.

Just thinking about the girls style without study, they are visual and verbal more, I think they have a bit of all of the styles in their learning.  I will need to observe them more during the day and see which one is the more dominant.

There are great links that are mentioned in this article on essential kids. Here are some of them:

What do you think your learning style is? I think I am visual and verbal. I love images and art, this would obviously explain why I ended up creating films and studying film/tv production.  Understanding what your strengths are, can really help doing well with other areas of your life and learning especially.

According to this article schools are teaching in all different styles, making sure children are able to learn to their strengths. I applaud this and hope that it helps kids excel at school and life.

Have you found your learning style for yourself or your child?  Has this led to you or your child getting better results at work or school? Has it been a wonderful discovery? Has it helped if your child, or yourself, have issues learning?  Send in your comments.